Road Tips

Drake's - Indianapolis

I was staying on the north side of Indianapolis on a recent trip out there and I was looking for places to eat in the area.  Sometimes, I'll find a place on a map or GPS and when I pull up in front of it, I realize that I've already eaten there.  That happened to me this time, as well.  I was sort of resigned to go back and eat there until I looked across the parking lot at another place called Drake's that looked like it was interesting.  

Bruce Drake was a restaurateur in Lexington, KY running a seafood restaurant - Drake's Regatta.  One of his regular customers was Brian McCarty who had an opportunity to buy a restaurant.  McCarty called upon Drake for advice, both in purchasing the restaurant and then running the place.  In 1997, McCarty bought A.P. Suggins restaurant in Lexington.

Two men who were regular customers at McCarty's restaurant were also developers of the Landsdowne Shoppes upscale shopping and entertainment area in Lexington.  An upscale steakhouse in the immediate area had moved to a new location and the developers asked McCarty if he would be interested in putting a similar restaurant in the development.   Once again, McCarty called upon Drake - only this time it would be more than just advice.  He asked Drake to become a partner in the new restaurant.  

McCarty and Drake worked on a concept and traveled to other markets to try restaurants for ideas.  It was at a restaurant in Atlanta where the owner there told the two that they needed to go to Chicago to try a couple of the "prime beef" restaurants there.  Following a couple meals at the Chicago steak houses, Drake and McCarty came up with the concept for Malone's, the first prime beef restaurant in Lexington.  They opened Malone's nearly 20 years ago and it continues to be the top destination for prime beef steaks in Lexington.  

Using Malone's as a cornerstone, McCarty and Drake set up a restaurant group called Bluegrass Hospitality Group.  Early on, the corporation was a Damon's Ribs franchisee, but they also developed restaurants in and around Lexington such as Sal's Chophouse, Meats BBQ, Harry's, Aqua Sushi and OBC Kitchen.  

One of the first restaurants that McCarty and Drake came up with was an upscale casual eatery/piano bar by the name of Oscar's.  Oscar's opened in 2000 in Lexington and was open for nearly 9 years until the piano bar craze sort of ended.  Bluegrass Entertainment rebranded Oscar's as Drake's - a casual eatery/sushi bar (Aqua Sushi), and a dance hall with the tag line "Come Play".  The concept went over so well that they soon opened two more Drake's in Louisville and one in Huntsville, AL.  The Indianapolis Drake's was opened in 2012 by a franchisee, and there's also company-owned and franchisee locations in Florence, KY, Franklin, TN, and Knoxville, TN, with two more locations opening (if they haven't opened already) in a suburb of Lexington, and one in Bristol, TN.    

The Drake's in Indianapolis is located near the Keystone Crossing area along E. 82nd St.  (see map)  I got into Drake's around 8 p.m. on an unseasonably warm early spring evening.  Record high temperatures had been broken in Indianapolis that day and the staff had opened the large patio windows that looked out from the bar.  Because of that, the bar area was pretty full, but I was able to find a spot at the bar.  

The back part of Drake's featured what appeared to be a shamrock shaped bar, and had a number of tables throughout the area.  This was also the area where their Aqua Sushi sushi bar was located.  I had a hard time reconciling the fact that a sports bar had a sushi place located in it.  But, there seemed to be some people having sushi in this area.

After I was seated, I was greeted by Krystal, one of the bartender/servers that evening.  She offered up a food menu and asked me what I'd like to drink.  They had 20-some beers on tap and I noticed that they had the Three Floyd's Alpha King pale ale on tap.  I like to drink the Alpha King and when I have it I think of my buddy Craig who died of cancer unexpectedly five or six years ago.  He was the one who turned me on to Alpha King a number of years ago.  

For supposedly being an upscale sports bar, the menu didn't really reflect that.  It featured foods that were your standard sports pub fare - burgers, sandwiches, appetizers, salads, and a few entrees such as seared salmon, tacos with beer-battered fish, pan-seared chicken breasts, and a Korean BBQ chicken flatbread.  I also could have ordered sushi at the bar, if I wanted.  

I almost ordered the chicken tenders, but I ended up getting the Mushroom/Swiss cheese burger instead.  I asked Krystal if they could put bacon on the burger, as well.  I got a choice of a side with the burger and there wasn't much to choose from - seasoned fries, broccoli florets, waffled sweet potato fries, and cole slaw - but they did have tater tots!  I was set.  

The burger was presented to me in a metal pan on a bed of wax paper.  The burger patty was sitting on chopped lettuce, shredded red onion, and a slice of tomato.  I could tell pretty easily that the bun was dry, but I decided I'd be able to get around that.  

Well, it turned out that it was a good thing the bun was dry because the burger was juicy and messy from the first bite.  The bun did a good job of staying together and sopping up the juiciness from the burger and the messiness from the Swiss cheese and mushrooms.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  It turned out to be a lot better than I initially thought it would be.

The tater tots were a great side with the meal.  The only problem is that they couldn't find any hot sauce for me to use on the tater tots until someone came from the kitchen with a bottle of Tabasco where they had purposely pulled out the drip hole at the top of the bottle.  I had to gingerly pour some of the Tabasco sauce out onto the wax paper making sure that I didn't pour the whole damned bottle out onto my plate.    

Drake's might not have been my first choice that evening, but it turned out to be pretty good one.  The Swiss/mushroom/bacon burger I had was juicy and messy, the tater tots were a nice compliment to the burger, and they had a good beer selection including the Three Floyd's Alpha King of which I enjoyed a couple of those.  While the place was busy - the bartenders were hopping the whole time I was there - they were still able to keep up with any needs that I had.  The only thing that I can't reconcile is having a sushi bar in a sports pub.  But other than sushi, it's pretty much your standard sports grub.  If you're looking for something like that on the north side of Indy, Drake's is a good place to try.  

Wildwood Tavern - Niles, IL

A place that has popped up over the past couple years is the Wildwood Tavern at the corner of Touhy and Caldwell Avenues in the northwest Chicago suburb of Niles.  (see map)  I've thought that the place looked pretty nice from the outside with its mountain cabin-type exterior with a nice patio on the side and I always had it in the back of my mind for a place to try out at some point.  During a trip into Chicago earlier this year, I decided to stop in and have something to eat at Wildwood Tavern.

Mark Freedman was only 11 years old in 1971 when his father Myron, and his uncle, Phil, opened a steakhouse - the eponymously named Myron and Phil's - along Devon Ave. in Lincolnwood.  Mark Freedman started out bussing tables shortly after the steakhouse opened up and he eventually worked his way up in nearly every capacity from kitchen work, to waiter, to manager, finally taking over ownership of the restaurant in 1998.  Mark's wife, Ellie, became a defacto partner as Ellie's background in business and the food service industry made it a match in heaven for the both of them.

In May of 2013, a devastating electrical fire destroyed Myron and Phil's. It was a double shot of grief for Freedman as his father passed away the same day at the age of 95. But the Freedman's held their head up and vowed they'd rebuild and reopen.  However, negotiations with the insurance company dragged on long enough that Freedman decided to not rebuild Myron and Phil's, but to have a new place that catered to a more casual crowd rather than a steakhouse clientele.   

Pictured right - Ellie and Mark Freedman.  Photo courtesy Chicago Tribune.

The Freedman's found a place in Niles that had recently been a steakhouse/barbecue spot that closed in 2013.  They gutted the building and gave it a northwoods motif.  Since the restaurant before them had a smoker, the Freedman's incorporated smoked meats into a mix of food items that included burgers, sandwiches, pizza, and some entrees.  With everything in place, the Wildwood Tavern opened in late August 2015.  

It was around 1:30 when I went into Wildwood Tavern in between appointments in the area.  There's a good-sized dining area off to the right when you come into the restaurant.  It has a high ceiling with a number of tables and booths interspersed throughout the area.  An outdoor patio is just off the main dining room.  

I took a seat at the large rectangular bar that had metal high-back chairs around it.  There was an island in the middle with glass refrigerators below and a line of flat panel televisions that were perched above for viewing on all sides of the bar.  The bartender that day, Marissa, was also going to be my server.  She got me a food menu and showed me a beer list that had a number of domestics and a smattering of craft brews.  Wildwood Tavern also had a pretty good wine menu, as well.  I ended up getting a Lagunitas IPA while I looked through the menu.   

It was a wide and varied menu at Wildwood Tavern.  They had a handful of sharable appetizers, as well as soups and salads.  Since they do have a smoker from the restaurant they took over, they have ribs, brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken on the menu.  They have a number of burgers and sandwiches, as well as signature entrees such as the original Myron and Phil's skirt steak, pork chops, fish and chips, a charbroiled New York strip, and another Myron and Phil's specialty, braised brisket.   Wildwood Tavern also had thin-crust pizza that looked pretty good, as well.  They had a lot of things to choose from, but I just wasn't certain what I wanted.   

For starters, I got a cup of their chicken/andouille sausage and rice soup.  It was similar to gumbo, only not as thick of a consistency as good gumbo.  Still, this was very good soup.  It had a bit of a spicy bite from the andouille sausage, and the chicken was cut into big chunks.  If I had just gotten a bowl of the soup, I would have been happy.  

For my lunch that day, I went with one of their specials - Gramma's meatloaf.  It came with mashed potatoes and a hearty mushroom gravy.  It was two slabs of their house-made meatloaf with the mushroom gravy slathered over the top.  Getting meatloaf in a restaurant can be an iffy proposition, but this was actually very good.  While it wasn't as moist as I may like my meatloaf, it had a good consistency and taste quality.  I enjoyed the mushroom gravy with the meatloaf, but the pieces were pretty big.  I had a couple bites of the adequate mashed potatoes with the gravy and was able to finish off one of the meatloaf pieces and had the other one about halfway gone before I threw in the towel.  It was such a filling and well-rounded meal that I was full the rest of the day and didn't even bother getting dinner that evening.   

For my first time into Wildwood Tavern, I would have to say that I was more than happy with the meatloaf special they had that day.  The cup of chicken/andouille rice soup was also a warm and hearty opener to the meal.  While I sat at the bar, the service was prompt and attentive.  And it was a nice wholesome atmosphere at Wildwood Tavern.  Since it's not too far from where I stay when I go to Chicago, I'm sure I'll be back at some point to try their pizza.  The ghost of Myron and Phil's has come back in the form of the Wildwood Tavern.  (Photo courtesy Tripadvisor.) 

Ruby's - Davenport, IA

Another place in downtown Davenport that opened up last fall is a unique pub called Ruby's.  It's a combination beer pub/bike sales/repair/rental shop concept that the owners modeled after similar places in Colorado, South Carolina and Texas.  Early on, the place only served what they called gourmet brats.  Initially, we weren't too whippy on going there just to have a beer and a brat.  But a friend of ours had told us recently that they had expanded their menu to include appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and wraps - including vegetarian items.   On a very nice Saturday afternoon, we made our way down there to have lunch.  

Ruben Garcia is a native of Southern California who has worked as an artisan woodworker/cabinet maker most of his adult life.  His vocation took him all over the United States working on everything from high-end homes to hospitals to hotels.  When a chance to settle down in the Quad Cities to work at Elliott Aviation at the Quad City International Airport refurbishing private jets, he took the job in 2012.  

On his trips to different places around the United States before he landed in the Quad Cities, Garcia ran across combination pubs and bike shops that also rented bikes such as Denver Bicycle Cafe in Denver, CO, Piney Mountain Bike Lounge in Greenville, SC, and The Wheel in Austin, TX.  Wanting to do something similar in the Quad Cities became a significant dream for Garcia.  

Garcia eventually met Sidney Rognoni, a Davenport restaurateur who owned RAW, an upscale cocktail lounge with esoteric appetizers in downtown Davenport; and who is also a co-owner in Bowls Urban Eats, a noodle/pasta place with Asian and Italian specialties in downtown Davenport.  Garcia sold Rognoni on the concept and the two looked for a place to house their restaurant.  

Pictured right - Ruben Garcia and Sidney Rognoni.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times.  

There was a building along E. 3rd Street in downtown Davenport that used to house Jaguar Alley, a used foreign car sales and repair shop.  The group who owned the building bought the property planning to tear down the building and use the space as parking for a loft building they were constructing a block to the north.  But when it turned out that the owners didn't need the property for parking, they sought out people to lease the building.  It turned out to be a perfect place for the pub/bike rental  and sales shop as it was near the main bike path along the Mississippi River in Davenport.  After a full restoration of the building, Garcia and Rognoni opened Ruby's - which is Ruben Garcia's nickname - on September 1st of last year.   

The building also houses Panini and Friends, a panini/sandwich shop that is located on the north side of the building.  But much of the building at the corner of E. 3rd St. and LeClaire Ave. is occupied by Ruby's.  (see map)  Parking is available in a lot off 3rd St., but there's also on street parking by the restaurant on both sides of LeClaire Ave.  

Ruby's is housed in a long narrow space with an exposed ceiling and ductwork.  High-top tables line the barn board wall opposite the bar.  

The bar featured a long metal top with barn board front.  The lighting above the bar featured a hanging row of spoked bicycle wheels with Edison lamps coming through the axle.  It was a nifty lighting fixture, to say the least.

And Ruby's is also a working bicycle shop with sales, service and rentals.  They had a number of road and trail bikes on display.

When we were in there, Ruben Garcia was working with a guy who was looking at purchasing a trail bike.  He allowed the guy to take the bike for a spin around the outside area where there will eventually be a volleyball court and a dog area.  My wife has been on me to buy a new road bike for her for awhile now, so coming into Ruby's probably wasn't a smart thing on my part.  

There is also a large outdoor patio area with picnic tables and metal tables and chairs for people to enjoy during the warmer months.  There's a garage door that opens to allow people to walk freely from the patio into the bar area with a side door access when the garage door is closed.  

We took a seat toward the back corner of the restaurant and took a look at a menu that was on our table.  The place was about half full with a large party at a table toward the center of space.  We thought we saw a waitress working the table, but it turned out it was someone from the party being helpful in removing empty beer glasses and putting them on the bar.  It turned out that there was only one person working as a bartender and server when we were there.  And it took her a long time to get over to greet us.  We thought that was kind of ridiculous for a place to only have one person trying to take care of bar patrons and wait tables at the same time.  

When she finally got over to us, she said her name was Renee and she apologized for not getting over sooner.  She said that she recognized us from her previous job as a barista at a little drive-thru coffee shop that we frequent on weekends.  My wife immediately said, "Oh, yeah!  Sure!  I remember you!"  She asked us what we wanted to drink and I ordered an Avalanche amber ale from the Breckinridge Brewing Company in Colorado along with a Bloody Mary.  My wife ordered something we both weren't familiar with - a Wolf Pup Session IPA from the Golden Road Brewing Company out in Los Angeles.  She let me have a taste of it after Renee brought our drinks to our table and it had a nice hoppy flavor with a bit of a citrus taste on the back end.  When I ordered a second beer, I got the Wolf Pup instead of the Avalanche amber.  But I passed on a second bloody Mary - I wasn't too enamored with the mix they used.  It was sort of sweet in taste and not as spicy as I would have liked.  

Ruby's new and expanded menu features a number of appetizers, wraps, chicken sandwiches, burgers and brats to choose from.  They also had tacos made with either chicken or seasoned sausage, and they had a number of vegetarian options for the more health conscious bikers they hope to pull in, as well.  

My wife was looking for a more healthy option for lunch that day and she ended up going with a vegetarian wrap called the Sante Fe Black Bean wrap.  It featured black beans and chopped red peppers with chopped fresh romaine lettuce, pico de gallo, sliced avocado with a chipotle cream sauce all wrapped in a spinach tortilla shell. She got a side of their regular slaw to go with the wrap.  (I was hoping she would get a side of Ruby's blueberry slaw so I could see what that tasted like.)   My wife really enjoyed the overstuffed black bean wrap and ended up opening the second wrap to concentrate on the veggies inside.    

I was up for a burger and they had one that was topped with a peppercorn sauce, blue cheese crumbles, chopped green onions and crispy fried red onions on a pretzel bun.  For my side, I got the salt and pepper seasoned fries.  

I always have a bit of trepidation when I get a burger with blue cheese on it.  Sometimes the blue cheese overpowers the other flavors on the burger that you can't really enjoy the overall taste of the burger.  But the blue cheese they used on this burger was mild enough that I was able to pick up the flavor of the beef even with the peppercorn sauce, chopped fresh green onions, and the fried red onion straws.  It was a multi-napkin affair where the bun held together very well with the messy nature of the burger.  

The seasoned fries were also surprisingly good.  Each French fry was coated with a mixture of salt and pepper and the outer shell was crispy with a nice pillowy potato texture inside.  

While we were eating, we noticed that another server had shown up to help Renee out and Ruben Garcia was going around bussing tables after he finished with his bike customer.  Renee came out to check on us and to give us our bill.  "How was everything," she asked.  

My wife said, "It was great.  How are you holding up?"

Renee said that she was overwhelmed for awhile, but things had settled down for her since more help came in.  We told her we really liked Ruby's and we would definitely be back again when the weather got warmer, if not sooner.  She said, "This is really a great place.  We're going to continue to improve on the menu and change some things around.  Do come back and see what we're doing."  

So, really other than the lack of a wait staff on our first visit, we couldn't really come up with anything that we thought was that bad at Ruby's.  I really enjoyed my peppercorn/blue cheese burger and my wife was more than happy with her vegetarian black bean and pepper wrap.  While they had an interesting array of craft beers to choose from, my only quibble would be with the bloody Mary where I felt their mixture was a little too sweet for my tastes.  Still, we would have no problem recommending a trip down to Ruby's for a nice casual meal and some good beer.  And if you can do it on your bicycle, it makes the trip even better.  

Missipi Brewing Company - Muscatine, IA

On our visits to Muscatine over the years, we've gone past a place a few times that has sort of intrigued us, a place called Missipi Brewing Company (the mis-spelling of Mississippi is intentional, in this case).  We actually thought it was a brewpub, but it turns out that it's a longtime bar/restaurant/music venue that the locals refer to as Missipi Brew, or just "The Brew".  I had my car in for service at the local Toyota dealership and my wife and I ended up heading down to Missipi Brewing Company for lunch after I got my car back.  

The concept for the Missipi Brewing Company actually got its start up river in Rock Island, IL nearly 40 years ago.  Oak Brook, IL native Dan Carmody was a 24-year-old guy who took a look at the closed down and boarded up storefronts in financially strapped downtown Rock Island as an opportunity to start his own urban renewal project.  Along with his father, John, his brother, Gerry, and a close friend, Jerry Ludden, Carmody started the Rock Island Brewing Company in 1979.  At first, it was just a bar and pub grub kind of place, but it wasn't until Dan Carmody did an outdoor music show in the summer of 1979 on the plaza out in front of Rock Island Brewing Company - also affectionately known as RIBCO to the locals - where the Carmody's saw the light that having a music venue would be a good thing.  

Sensing a sure-fire good thing ready for expansion, the Carmody family and Ludden looked for other places to open similar music/food/bar venues in the area.  In 1980, the group found a spot in Muscatine along River Drive in the old Fitzgerald Building in downtown Muscatine.  They took over a long narrow building and built an adjacent outdoor beer garden with a stage for live music.  They called the place the Missipi Brewing Company, the quick way some people pronounce Mississippi.

The Carmody's and Ludden eventually opened two more Missipi Brewing Company locations - one in Galesburg, IL and the other one in Moline, IL - within the next year.  However, like most rapidly expanding businesses, their expenses exceeded their revenues.  Eventually, the group was forced to either sell off or close down their bars.  

(Aside No. 1 - A number of years later, Dan Carmody became the general manager of the historic Eastern Market in Detroit, Gerry Carmody became a farm manager in Indiana before succumbing to a heart attack while on vacation in Florida in 2010, and Jerry Ludden became the owner of O'Meara's Pub in Bettendorf, IA, another at-one-time iconic music destination in the Quad Cities that shut down in 2002.)

(Aside No. 2 - over the years since I've lived in the Quad Cities, I've seen a number of national, regional and local musical artists both on the inside stage at RIBCO, as well as on the outdoor stage the City of Rock Island built in the middle of the plaza near the front of RIBCO.  Today, the District of Rock Island is a thriving entertainment destination with bars and restaurants.  And the impetus for the District began with the Rock Island Brewing Company.)

The group sold the Muscatine Missipi Brewing Company to local Muscatine residents Ron McGowan and Dan Vegter who ran the business for around 11 years.  It was in 1994 that McGowan and Vegter sold the bar to local realtor Dave Armstrong and his sister, Mary Kisner.  Armstrong and Kisner immediately made their sister, LeAnn Weinke, the general manager of the place.  Other family members have chipped in over the years with Armstrong's son, Skippy, eventually become the co-manager of the place.  

Pictured right - Dave Armstrong and Mary Kisner.  Photo courtesy Muscatine Journal.  

From the original bar/restaurant/outdoor patio, Armstrong and Kisner eventually bought the building to the west of them to expand the dining area of the Missipi Brewing Company.  Then when a spot on the other side of that building became available, Armstrong and Kisner bought that spot for an indoor music venue and secondary bar.  Annually, Missipi Brewing Company hosts over 100 nights of live music indoors and out.  

It was right about noon when we pulled up to the front of Missipi Brewing Company just up from River Drive on Iowa Ave. (see map)  Parking is at a premium in downtown Muscatine until River Drive is fully open from a major renovation it has been undergoing for the past couple of years, so we parked across 2nd Street on Iowa and walked back to the Brew for lunch.  

Inside the front door, we found a long, narrow space with large booths up front, a bar area toward the back and a handful of hightop tables along the wall opposite the bar.  The bar/restaurant had an antique tin ceiling, a large beer can collection along shelving high on the walls, and a number of beer signs.

The bar wasn't very big, but they had a number of craft brews on tap.  There were a number of flat panel televisions on the wall above and behind the bar.  It was a Saturday with a lot of men's college basketball games on that day, but they only had one television turned to basketball - and it was a women's basketball game, at that.  I'm sure that if I would have asked they would have changed the channel to some basketball on one of the TV's, but it wasn't that important.   In the background, contemporary country music was playing on the bar's sound system.  

The next room over is the overflow dining room complete with beer signs and pictures hanging on an exposed brick wall.  More booths and regular tables were in that room.  And just beyond that room was the indoor music venue with the second bar for Missipi Brewing Company.   All told, it was a surprisingly large space that was cut into thirds.  

It was a cold late winter day when we were there and the outdoor patio was closed down.  It also featured a stage and a bar area with the patio overlooking the Mississippi River beyond River Drive and the Canadian Pacific rail line that parallels River Drive in downtown Muscatine.   

We took a seat at one of the high top tables opposite the bar and our server, a lady with the interesting name of Aarin, came over to greet us.  Menus were on the table, but I was having trouble reading the beer taps from the glare of the window behind them.  She pulled up a tap menu from an iPad she was using and showed me a list of beers they had on tap.  She suggested a couple of local beers - an Arms Race pale ale from the Big Grove Brewery in Solon, IA, and the Iowa pale ale from Millstream Brewing Company in the Amana Colonies.  My wife took the Arms Race pale ale while I thought I'd do the Iowa pale ale.  I've had it before and while Millstream isn't my favorite beer, their pale ale is fine.  The Arms Race pale ale, however, was very bold and hoppy.  My wife really enjoyed the flavor.  

Missipi Brewing Company has what I would call typical bar fare - burgers, sandwiches, appetizers, and wraps.  After 5 p.m. their menu expands to include nightly specials and pizza.  I was hungry when we got there so a lot of things sounded pretty good to me.  And we were pleasantly surprised at the reasonable pricing of some of their offerings on the menu. 

My wife ended up getting the Southwestern grilled chicken wrap - large chunks of grilled chicken along with chopped lettuce, red onions and tomatoes with a corn and black bean salsa along with slices of pepperjack cheese rolled into a spinach tortilla.  It was a large wrap and she ended up having to pull the second half apart and eat the filling without the tortilla.  She thought it was very good.  

I went with a "build-your-own" burger - a flame-grilled burger that I had topped with pepperjack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon along with dill pickles and chopped fresh onions.  When our server - another one of the ladies working there (they were tag-teaming serving us) - asked if I wanted a side to go along with the burger, I sort of turned up my nose at the fries.  She said, "We have waffle fries," and I sort of thought about that for a moment.  I asked about onion rings and she sort of hesitated making it appear that maybe she wasn't a fan of their onion rings. 

My wife said, "Too bad they don't have tater tots."  The young lady lit up and said, "We DO have tater tots!"   So, of course, I got the tater tots.

When Aarin brought the burger out to the table, I sort of looked at the bun and was not happy to see that it wasn't toasted.  It looked sort of thick and dry.  The burger patty was pretty thin, but it looked like it was misshapen from being hand-pattied.  But it was topped with an oozing chunk of pepperjack cheese, copious amounts of sautéed mushrooms and a couple three strips of crispy bacon.  A generous portion of tater tots accompanied the burger.  

My misgivings about the bun quickly vanished when I took my first bite.  The bun was light and airy.  With the thick cheese on the burger, it was a bit of a mess - a multi-napkin burger, for sure.  The flavors all complemented each other, but the fresh onions were especially forward in their taste.  I love a good fresh onion on a burger.  The bun held everything together very well.  While it wasn't an outstanding burger, it was still very good for what it was. 

The tater tots were a bit of a disappointment.  They had a freezer-burned taste to them, even drips of Tabasco didn't help the taste of them.  But my wife didn't seem to mind - she ended up eating a good portion of them.  I don't want to say that I'm a tater tot connoisseur, but I know a good tater tot and these were far from it.  

But overall, we enjoyed our first visit to the Missipi Brewing Company.  After driving by it so many times on prior visits to Muscatine, we're happy we finally made the decision to stop in for lunch.  The food was good - not great, but good enough.  The service that we experienced was friendly, prompt and efficient.  Missipi Brewing Company isn't a fancy place, but it's far from a dive.  And don't think that you're going to be able to try any of their beer because it's not a brewpub.  But they do have a pretty good selection of craft beers.  We were very comfortable in the place and I'd like to go back at some point when the weather is nice to enjoy some drinks on the large outdoor deck.  It's another place that is worthy of checking out for lunch when you're in Muscatine.   

Burgers and Bottles - Eagan, MN

Since I've been staying out near the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport the past few times I've been to the Twin Cities, I've been on the look out for places to eat that aren't too far from the hotel.  Unfortunately, many of those restaurants near the hotel are national chains or are in the Mall of America - or both.  I've had some places scoped out and marked on my "Restaurants to Visit" list and one of those places is a burger and beer place over in Eagan by the name of Burgers and Bottles.  I was coming back to Minneapolis from Eau Claire one afternoon and I decided to stop in there for lunch.  

Tony Donatell had started to work in the convenience store sector after he graduated from college.  He worked up to become the manager at a handful of Super America locations before he decided to open his own convenience store in 2008, Lone Oak Market on Lone Oak Road in Eagan.  In 2014, Donatell renovated the space and added a restaurant which evolved into a deli/bodega/smokehouse called Farmer's Grandson Eatery, named in honor of Donatell's grandfather who started what turned out to be a major dairy and potato farm in northwest Wisconsin.  

Lone Oak Market was attached to a small strip mall at the corner of Lone Oak and Eagandale Place in Eagan.  (see map)  In 2015, a spot just behind Lone Oak Market opened up in the strip mall and Donatell came up with a concept burger and beer place that he wanted to put in there.  Using the same kitchen that Farmer's Grandson Eatery had, Burgers and Bottles opened in the space in December of 2015.  Donatell also opened another restaurant late last year in Farmington, just south of Eagan, called Bourbon Butcher.  It features a smokehouse, gourmet burgers, a large selection of bourbons, and a number of local craft beers.  

It was around 1:30 when I finally made it to Burgers and Bottles.  I found a place that had hardwood paneling on the walls and ceiling with a number of booths and a small bar area.  On one of the walls was a large shelf displaying hundreds of colorful soda pop bottles.  In fact, the place - along with some interested electrical conduit piping and pop bottle lights on the wall - seemed to be more about showcasing soda pop than beer.  

Now, in the back of Burgers and Bottles is a second bar that is a "secret" bar called the Volstead House.  It's  behind a black curtain by the restrooms, but it doesn't open until 4 p.m. through the week.   Named after the Volstead Act, the informal name for the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution that outlawed the sale of alcoholic beverages, the Volstead House is a modern day speakeasy and whiskey bar that has its own drink and food menu available.  It also has a weekend brunch that starts at 9 a.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. on Sunday.  Had I known the place was in the back behind a curtain, I would have gone in there to look around.  

I sat at the bar and was greeted by one of the bartenders, a pleasant and friendly young lady by the name of Taylor.  She gave me a food menu that also included a drink menu of beers, cocktails, milkshakes, and glass-bottled soda pop.  I ordered up a Traitor India pale ale from the Badger Hill Brewing Company in nearby Shakopee.  I hadn't had this beer before and I found it to be very flavorful with a hoppy, but smooth taste.  

Since the place is called Burgers and Bottles, it's a given they have a number of burgers to choose from.  They have about a dozen burgers on the menu that included a Brunch Burger with a fried egg, bacon and cheese; a white cheddar cheese curd and bacon burger, and the Fired Up burger with pepperjack cheese and fresh jalapeños.  They also have their own version of the Twin Cities burger staple, the Juicy Lucy, a two pattied burger stuffed with both Swiss and American cheese.  

They also have a number of sandwiches and wraps for those not looking for burgers, they have chicken tenders and a fish and chips basket, and they have a handful of appetizers including chicken wings, fried cauliflower in a Buffalo sauce, and even a poutine that has smoked brisket in with the cheese curds and fries all topped with gravy.  God, I love good poutine and that sure sounded good. 

I got the Mushroom/Swiss burger for lunch that day.  I asked Taylor if she could have them put bacon on the burger, and she said it would be a slight upcharge.  No problem with that, I said.  Nothing comes on the side with the burgers, but for an upcharge you can get fries, sweet potato waffle fries, battered fried green beans or cheese curds.  They also had beer-battered onion rings as an option and I went with those.  

The burgers at Burgers and Bottles are flame grilled and served two patties to a burger.  Instead of putting the toppings on the top patty, the make a "topping sandwich" with the bacon, cheese, and sautéed mushrooms between the two patties.  In fact, I thought they had forgotten the bacon, but I found it in with the cheese and mushrooms between the patties.  Lettuce and a tomato slice topped out the burger.   

The burger, itself, was very good.  The bun was fresh, lightly grilled and held together very well with the messiness of the burger.  It was juicy, had a great burger taste and I was very impressed with what I was eating. 

The onion rings were equally as good.  The onion rings are tossed in a beer batter made with the lager beer from the F-Town Brewery in Faribault, MN.  The batter wasn't heavy, but had a great batter taste that went well with the warm and pungent fresh-cut onions.  They were some of the better onion rings I've had in my travels.  

I thought the burger I had at Burgers and Bottles was very good.  Just as good were the wonderful beer-battered onion rings.  The flame-grilled double burger was juicy and had a great flavor to it.  The Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon helped enhance the overall flavor of the burger.  With a good beer selection and the "secret" whiskey bar in the back, Burgers and Bottles would be a great place just to go for a drink.  This is a good little burger bar that I'm glad I found on this trip to the Twin Cities.   

The Garage - Chicago

I was at one of my favorite little pizza joints on the northwest side of Chicago last summer - Dino's Pizza (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Dino's) - having a pizza at the bar.  Some people seated down from me were talking about places in the area that they thought had a pretty good burger.  One of the guys mentioned a place that I had heard about, but had never been to - The Garage on Milwaukee Ave.  In fact, he was raving about how good the burger was.  One evening last fall, I decided to head over to The Garage to find out if the burger was as good as this guy was saying it was.  

Jesse Roman wanted to put a bar with good sandwiches in a spot along Milwaukee Ave. in the Gladstone Park neighborhood of Chicago.  Along with his wife, Lisa Kennedy, they partnered up with Tim Camastro whose family had a long history of running restaurants in the Chicagoland area.  At the time The Garage opened, Camastro was also running his highly successful made-to-order Italian sandwich shop in Evanston, Rollin' to Go.  Camastro came up with food items that initially included burgers, Italian beef sandwiches and chicken parmesan sandwiches.   

Camastro left The Garage to go back to running his sandwich shop full time (it eventually closed in 2013), and Roman and Kennedy carried on with tweaking the food at the bar.  In addition to owning The Garage, Roman and Kennedy also own Old 41 Saloon, a beer bar on the far west side of Chicago that opened last May.  

I was able to find a parking spot in front of The Garage on Milwaukee Ave. (see map) and went inside around 7 p.m.  The Garage appears to have been - at one time - well, a garage.  It was long and narrow with brick walls, a large garage door up front, a bar area toward the back and a number of flat panel televisions on the walls that seemed to be providing much of the lighting in the place.  I understand there is an upstairs deck that is open in the warmer months.

I ended up sitting at the bar and was greeted by Matt who gave me a food menu to check out.  They also had a large number of beers to choose from and he scrambled to find a beer list for me to look over.  They had about a dozen beers on tap and well over 100 different beers in cans and bottles.   I finally decided upon getting a bottle of the Stone Delicious IPA.  

While I was told the burger at The Garage was very good, I saw a few other items on the menu that caught my interest.  Even though they were listed as appetizers, the beef tenderloin sliders on small pretzel buns sounded pretty good.  They had a similar sandwich called The Uptown that had three beef tenderloin medallions and they were topped with crispy onion straws and it is served on an asiago ciabatta bun.  They had pork belly tacos, a New England lobster roll, a pot roast and Swiss cheese sandwich, and a sandwich called "The Dolly" - buttermilk-battered chicken breast topped with Merks aged cheddar cheese, spicy mayo and Sriracha pickles.  Actually, THAT sounded pretty good to me.  

They have a couple of specialty burgers on the menu, but you can also build your own and that's the route I took.  All the burgers at The Garage are 1/2 pound Black Angus patties and are served on a toasted butter bun.  I had it topped with Swiss cheese and bacon - I would have also gotten sautéed mushrooms had they had them available.  But the pleasant surprise was that they had tater tots as a side for a $3 dollar upcharge.  

The burger was thick and juicy, but I don't know if it was as good as what the people at Dino's were raving about.  I mean, it was good - definitely above average.  But it just didn't knock me off my stool like I thought - or even hoped - it would.  The tater tots were a nice little addition to the meal and they were cooked perfectly with that crisp golden brown outer shell and lots of flaky potato consistency inside.  

I really hoped for more when I was told they had great burgers at The Garage.  Don't get me wrong - it was a very good burger.  But the person who was telling me about their burgers had me so hyped up and convinced that it would be one of the better ones that I've ever had really made me overshoot my expectations.  Still, they had a lot of interesting things on the menu at The Garage.  And with a large number of beers to choose from, it's still one of the more interesting places I've found on my recent travels.  It's a nice little neighborhood bar and eatery, exactly what I like to find when I'm on the road.  

Groveland Tap - St. Paul, MN

I've had the Groveland Tap on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for awhile now, mainly because I was somewhat of a fan of the restaurant group that owned that restaurant/bar and many others around the Twin Cities.  Having some time one afternoon on a recent visit up to the Twin Cities, I decided to head over to St. Paul and have lunch at the Groveland Tap.

In the early 1990's, David Burley and Stephanie Shimp worked together as servers in the restaurant the Nicollet Island Inn, an upscale hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  After their shifts were over, the two would have drinks and talk about their shared dream of running their own restaurants some day.   Both agreed that the Twin Cities didn't have enough places that served good, hearty breakfasts.  Burley and Shimp decided that they should join forces and came up with a business plan to open their own place.  The two couldn't get a loan from a bank, so they scrimped and saved - Shimp sold her car to help fund the start-up of a restaurant.  They found a building that had previously been an ice cream parlor on S. Cleveland Ave. in St. Paul, and in 1993 they opened the Highland Grill, a trendy breakfast cafe that served made-from-scratch foods in their kitchen.

With friends and relatives helping out - sometimes working for free - it wasn't long before Highland Grill was a success and Burley and Shimp set their sites on buying another long time St. Paul institution - the Groveland Tap.  The two then formed their own restaurant group - Blue Plate Restaurant Company - and expanded into a number of other restaurant concepts including The Lowry, the Longfellow Grill, the Edina Grill, Bottle Rocket, and The Freehouse all located around the Twin Cities.  

Pictured right - David Burley and Stephanie Shimp.  Photo by Shari Fleming.

I first became familiar with the Blue Plate Restaurant Company when I dined at the Red Cow, an upscale burger place in Edina in the summer of 2013.  (Click here to read about Road Tips' visit to Red Cow.)  Stephanie Shimp's younger brother, Luke, was a minor investor in the Blue Plate restaurants and he opened Red Cow in early 2013. (Luke Shimp now heads three Red Cow restaurants in both Edina and Minneapolis.)  Later that summer, I dined at The Lowry in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.  (Click here to see the Road Tips review on The Lowry.)  I've had some of the other Blue Plate restaurants on my radar since then, but the Groveland Tap is the first one I've been to since my visit (and subsequent visits) to The Lowry 4 1/2 years ago.  

The Groveland Tap is located near the corner of St. Clair Ave. and S. Fairview Ave. in St. Paul.  (see map)  The Bottle Rocket is located across Fairview to the east of the Groveland Tap and the two share a parking lot on the southwest corner of Fairview and St. Clair.  It was an unseasonably warm day for mid-fall in the Twin Cities and there were a small group of ladies that were seated out front at one of the tables they have for sidewalk dining at the Groveland Tap.  

Stepping inside the Groveland Tap, I found a small dining area up front with some wooden tables and chairs along with small number of high-backed wooden booths along the wall.  Beer signs and a number of beer spigot handles hung from the walls in the dining area.

There was a back room to the Groveland Tap that also featured high-backed wooden booths, more beer signs and even more beer spigot handles hanging on the wall.  It was a pretty impressive collection of handles at the place.  If I had time, I would have lingered a bit longer to take a look to see all the different ones they had.

I ended up seated at the small bar that's in the center of the place tying the front and back dining areas together.  I was greeted by Andy who was in charge behind the bar that day.  He gave me a menu and I ordered up a Summit Oktoberfest that they had on tap.  They had about 3 dozen different types of craft brews available on tap.  

The menu - while extensive - is actually pretty basic with a number of appetizers, sandwiches, and burgers.  They had their own versions of the Twin Cities staple "Juicy Lucy" cheese-stuffed burger.  And that's what I went with - the Cajun Lucy that was stuffed with pepperjack cheese and jalapeños.  Fries or cole slaw came with the burger, but I told Andy that I wasn't really interested in either.  He said that for a slight upcharge I could get an order of their onion rings.  "They're very good," he said to me.  I went that route.  

Some Juicy Lucy burgers I've had around the Twin Cities have gone from "meh!" to "very good".  And this one at the Groveland Tap was in that very good category.  The cheese oozed out from inside the burger, but didn't explode when I initially bit into it.  (I learned a long time ago to let a Juicy Lucy burger cool down a bit after it's placed in front of me.)  The burger patties were nice and juicy, not overcooked, and it had a bit of a spicy bite with the pepperjack cheese and the jalapeños stuffed in.  Andy also didn't steer me wrong when I picked the onion rings.  They were beer-battered, thick cut and delicious.  I didn't even bother tasting the cole slaw because the burger and the onion rings were a great tasting combination.  

The Groveland Tap is a nice cozy little neighborhood place that has good burgers and a good selection of craft beers.  The bartender was friendly and did a good job of taking care of me that day.  And there's some interesting decor on the walls in terms of their beer spigot handle collection.  The Groveland Tap is nothing fancy, nor is the menu all that exciting.  But it more than makes up for it in terms of the interesting burgers they have and the comfortable surroundings in the place.  

CityGrille - Denver

Burgers are big in Denver.  My all-time favorite burger joint in the world is the Cherry Cricket in Denver.  (Click here, here and here to read about previous visits to the Cherry Cricket.)  A devastating kitchen fire shut down the Cherry Cricket for a portion of last year and I wasn't certain it would be open when I went out there last fall for a trade show.  (It was - and it was very good.)  But some people in Denver are partial to some of the other very good burger joints in the city and I have received e-mails ([email protected]) from various people over the past few years that I really needed to try the burger at CityGrille.  After I arrived in Denver one sunny fall afternoon and found one of my colleagues at the hotel who had gotten in earlier, it didn't take much to convince him to accompany me to CityGrille for lunch.  

Actually, a former owner of the Cherry Cricket was the one who started CityGrille in 1998.  Dick Salturelli was a marketing executive for the Ford Motor Co. and he'd had enough of the corporate world.  Along with his brother, Salturelli bought the Cherry Cricket in 1976 and ran it until 1991.  In 1998, Salturelli started CityGrille, a smaller version of the Cherry Cricket, and almost immediately it was a hit with the burger loving population in Denver.  For the next few years, if the Cherry Cricket wasn't getting voted as having the Best Burger in Denver in local polls, CityGrille got the nod.  

From the CityGrille, Salturelli opened other burger joints and watering holes around Denver including CityPub and Burger, Blake Street Tavern, and Benders Bar and Grill.  In 2013, Salturelli sold CityGrille to sisters Helen Patterson and Nancy Brady who happened to own the Fork & Spoon restaurant next to CityGrille.  Knowing that they had a great thing going in both spots, the sisters kept the Fork & Spoon focused on their breakfasts that were famous for the large portions, and the wonderful burgers and other food that kept the lunch and evening crowd hopping next door at CityGrille.  

CityGrille is located on East Colfax street, the main east-west drag through Denver, not far from the Colorado State Capitol building.  (see map)  It was pretty much tough to miss the building on the north side of Colfax with a huge "The Best Burger in Denver" banner across the facade of the building.  We found a parking lot behind the building - my colleague was observant enough to see a sign that showed some of the parking spots were reserved for CityGrille behind their building.  

In back of the restaurant was a small outdoor seating area that featured a small number of mismatched tables in a narrow space.  It wasn't the most inviting outdoor space that I've seen, even with the brightly painted countryside murals on the walls.

Going into the back door, we were in a small dining area with a number of booths along the wall and small tables in the middle.  Cozy would have been almost an overstatement for the description of this room.  

We made our way up to the hostess stand and an outgoing and effervescent young lady from behind the bar told us that we could sit anywhere.  We ended up going into the bar area and taking a seat in a booth along the wall.  The bar, itself, wasn't all that big.  It was three-sides and featured about a dozen high-backed metal chairs.

It turns out that they lady behind the bar who greeted us was the same one that was going to take care of us.  I never did get her name, but let me just say this - she was a great waitress.  She was funny, accommodating, gave great recommendations, and was quick as a hiccup in getting our beers out to us.  I got a Dale's Pale Ale to start off the festivities at CityGrille.  

Burgers are definitely the main item on the menu at CityGrille.  All their burgers are made from ground steak and they feature about a dozen different types of burgers on the menu.  They also have turkey, salmon, and veggie burgers, as well as a number of soups, salads, and sandwiches to choose from.  They also had a number of appetizers to choose from including wings, onion rings, bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers, and mac and cheese bacon bites.  

Like most places in Denver, CitiGrille had the wonderful green pork chili - and, of course, I had to try some.  I got a cup of it and it was very good and very thick.  After I finished that up, our burgers came to the table.  My colleague got the Western burger - a 1/2 pound patty topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, barbecue sauce and onion straws.  I went with the CityGrille Burger - a Swiss cheese and bacon burger with a Caesars dressing.  I asked our server if I could get the dressing on the side and if she could put some sautéed mushrooms on the burger.  She didn't disappoint me as the mushrooms were swimming in the melted Swiss cheese.  And for my side, I got the tater tots.  (When I ordered the tots for my side, our server said, "Yeaaaahhh... tater tots!  Woo!")

Now, this burger was very good.  Was it as good as my gold standard over at the Cherry Cricket?  It's tough to say.  The burger was juicy, flavorful and the taste combination of the fresh ground steak burger with the mushrooms, bacon and Swiss cheese was fabulous.  The lightly toasted bun held together very well with all the stuff going on with the burger.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger at CityGrille.  And after the cup of the thick and rich green pork chili, then the burger and about half of the tater tots on top of that, my colleague almost had to roll me out of the place.  

I went out front to take a picture of the front of CityGrille and their audacious signage proclaiming them to have the best burger in town.  A guy walking by when I was taking the picture asked, "Is it the best burger in Denver?"  While I couldn't really tell him yes or no, I felt the burger at CityGrille was very good.  I may still like the burger at Cherry Cricket just a bit more, but I'm not certain I've had one or two burgers in Denver better than the one at CityGrille.  It was a fun little place with great service and a nice craft beer list.  If you're in downtown Denver and don't want to venture out to the Cherry Cricket for a burger, CityGrille is a worthy back-up plan - or even one that some in Denver says is even better than the Cricket burger. 

Stonewood Ale House - Schaumburg, IL

There is a high-end audio trade show - AXPONA - that takes place each April in Chicago at which my company participates.  The trade show was at the Westin in Rosemont near O'Hare International Airport for the past few years, but it will be moving out to the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg for the upcoming show in April.  Being that Chicago is "my town" (an old joke in our company to signify that any city in our given territories are "my town") I'm usually called upon to provide the eating arrangements for our ever growing group of colleagues who attend the show.  When it was held in Rosemont, that was no problem for me because I usually stay around there when I go into Chicago.  However, with it now 13 miles to the west in Schaumburg, I wasn't really familiar with restaurants in the area.  I knew that I needed to check out some spots to see if they would be up to snuff for us to dine in when we all got together in Chicago in April.  After calling on an account in Hoffman Estates one day, I drove back toward Schaumburg to look around at the various restaurants and to give one a try.  One that stuck out to me was a place called the Stonewood Ale House.  I pulled into the parking lot to see what the place was all about and to have some lunch.  

Louis Gatziolis grew up in a family that had restaurants in their blood.  His father, John, ran Finley's Grill Room on Finley Road in Downers Grove for a number of years, and along with his brothers Alex, John Jr., and Tom, they ran a number of dance clubs in the western suburbs of Chicago for years.  Louis decided to open his own place where he wanted to strike a balance between having a great classic restaurant and a great bar.  He opened Stonewood Ale House in early 2005, featuring a good beer list and food that is wood-fire cooked.  

It was around 2 p.m. when I got into the Stonewood Ale House, located on the corner of Mall and Kimberly Drives, just south of Woodfield Mall.  (see map)  There was plenty of parking available on the south and east sides of the 

The front door of Stonewood Ale House took me right into the large bar area.  There was a long, rectangular bar with an island of flat screen televisions hanging in the center.  The bar area was bright, open and roomy.  Along the wall near the ceilings were reproductions of old-time beer signs from breweries such as Genesee, Grain Belt and Adler Brau.

The restaurant was segmented into smaller rooms or areas.  There was a large room toward the back of the place that could be used for receptions, parties or gatherings, and possibly for overflow dining.  Other areas featured tables with banquette seating and tons of televisions throughout the place.

There was a nice room the featured a large stone hearth fireplace as the centerpiece in the room.  The room had a number of tables and booths, and was well lit in the daytime from natural light coming in through skylights in the ceiling.  

It wasn't very busy at 2 p.m., so I ended up taking a seat at the bar.  The bartender that day was a nice young lady named Margaret who handed me a food menu to check out.  They have a number of beers on tap at the Stonewood Ale House and I ordered up a Bells Two Hearted pale ale while I looked through the menu.  

Stonewood Ale House has a wide and varied menu that sort of told me that they probably did a lot of things all right, but nothing really well.  There was a full slate of appetizers to choose from - your standard sports bar variety of wings, nachos, mozzarella sticks, and fried pickles.  They had a large number of salads on the menu, as well as pasta and seafood dishes, a number of sandwiches and burgers, and a number of wood-fired entrees including pork chops, steaks, ribs, and chicken.    

Two things that really caught my attention were the pot roast sandwich and the meatloaf.  The pot roast is slow roasted for six hours, then simmered in a demi-glace.  It's served with mashed potatoes and gravy along with a medley of vegetables.  The meatloaf sounded almost as the pot roast as it featured a blend of ground chuck, brisket and short rib beef topped with a sweet-tomato demi-glace.  It was also served with mashed potatoes, gravy and an assortment of vegetables.  

But I'd had a pretty big breakfast and I didn't think that either the pot roast or the meatloaf would sit too well on me for the rest of the afternoon, so I ended up going the safe route and got a burger.  They have over a dozen assorted burgers to choose from at the Stonewood Ale House and I went with my old standby burger - the Swiss/mushroom burger.  I asked Margaret to have the cook throw a couple slices of bacon on the burger, as well.  A side of fresh cut fries came with the burger.  

The burger featured a blend of chuck, brisket and short rib - like the meatloaf - and hand-formed into 1/2 pound patties.  It was grilled over a wood fire and came on a sesame seed bun with sliced red onions and tomatoes, pickles and shredded lettuce.

For a wood-fired burger, it wasn't overcooked or dried out like most burgers cooked over wood can be.  It was actually a very juicy and flavorful burger.  The only complaint I had was that there was too much bun for the burger.  The crown of the sesame seed bun was too thick and I ended up pulling away chunks of the bun as I made my way through the burger.  But other than that, the burger was pleasantly surprisingly good.  

Even the fries were good.  I'm normally not big into fries all that much these days, but these fries had a nice crispy outer shell and a nice puffy inside.  I could easily tell these were the fresh cut variety and not out of a freezer bag.  

My colleagues and I usually have lunch together the day we get into a city for a trade show and I'll be able to put the Stonewood Ale House at the top of the list for a lunch opportunity this coming spring.   The burger I had was very good - a little too much bun came with it, but it was still a good burger.  The place was clean, comfortable and had a lot of space.  The service I received that day was fast, efficient and friendly.  Along with a good beer selection, there wasn't much to not like about the Stonewood Ale House.  

Mogie's Pub - Eau Claire, WI

My old neighbor was telling me a couple three years ago about a place in Eau Claire, Wisconsin that he felt had a terrific burger.  "Do you get up to Eau Claire," he asked me over the phone when we were talking football one Saturday afternoon.  I told him that I really didn't, but he told me that if I ever did make it to Eau Claire, I had to stop in and have a burger at Mogie's Pub.  Well, it turned out that I had an inquiry from a dealer in Eau Claire in the fall of last year and I had to go to Eau Claire to interview them.  And I made a point to stop at Mogie's for a burger.  

Husband and wife John Mogensen and Lisa Aspenson were both Eau Claire natives who were real estate agents in their hometown.  They both wanted to do something a little different with their lives and they ended up buying a building on Water Street that had been sitting empty for three years.  In 1994, they opened Mona Lisa, an upscale restaurant with an eclectic Italian-inspired menu and featured one of the first craft beer menus from breweries around the state of Wisconsin.  Many of the city leaders felt that Mogensen and Aspenson were going to fail - most of the establishments along Water Street catered to the college students at nearby University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire - and they didn't think they would be able to get adults to come to their restaurant, especially since it was the first non-smoking establishment in the city.  At first, they wouldn't even issue them a liquor license because the pair were going to renovate the building.  But the couple persevered and Mona Lisa turned out to be a very popular restaurant and continues in business today. 

Mogensen and Aspenson continued to work in real estate, but after they got a taste of the restaurant business they looked for new opportunities to buy property to put restaurants into.  Just down the street from Mona Lisa was a building that became available in 1996 where John Mogensen wanted to put a little burger and beer joint.  His vision of the burger place he had in mind was that it would be more than a shot and a beer joint.  He wanted the burgers to be the best in the city and to also have other items to sell for lunch.  He named the spot after his father's nickname - Mogie's Pub - and it opened later that year.  

Pictured right - John Mogensen and Lisa Aspenson.  Photo courtesy Chippewa Herald.  

Success of their two restaurants allowed them to procure other buildings around Eau Claire and turn them from blighted properties into restaurants.  The pair also run Stella Blues and the attached Red Room tavern, as well as The Livery (also known as the Cowtown Saloon) in downtown Eau Claire where they own a number of other properties that house offices, living quarters and storefronts. Over the years, Mogensen and Aspenson have renovated over 100 buildings in Eau Claire and have owned over 300 parcels of property in and around the city.  Lisa Aspenson oversees the couple's restaurant operations while John Mogensen looks after the couple's interests in developments and properties.    

My GPS took me right to Mogie's and I was able to find a parking spot just down Water Street from the place in front of a tattoo parlor.  (see map)   Mogie's Pub is located in a long narrow space that features wooden booths along the wall that is lined with local pictures and whimsical signage.  There's a smaller dining area - complete with a moose head hanging on the brick wall - in the back of Mogie's.  There's a pool/game room down a flight of stairs in the back room, and there is also an outdoor garden off to the side of the back dining area.   

I ended up sitting at the long wooden bar and was given a menu by the bartender.  I noticed that they had the Surly Overrated West Coast IPA on tap and I ordered up one of those.  Just as he began to pour, the keg blew effectively ending my chance to have the beer.  But Mogie's also honors the age-old bar rule that you get a free beer on a blown keg.  I ordered up a pint of the Summit Extra Pale Ale.  I like the Summit EPA and it was a nice - and free - consolation prize since I couldn't the the Surly Overrated.  

Even though I was there for a burger, I noticed that there were other items other than burgers on the menu at Mogie's.  Of course there were the normal bar-type appetizers (the jalapeño cheese curds were an interesting item), and they also had salads, wraps and grilled sandwiches such as a hickory-smoked ham and cheese, a grilled portabella mushroom sandwich, and four different types of grilled chicken sandwiches.  

They had nine different burgers to choose from at Mogie's.  They had a Swiss cheese/mushroom burger, but I've been getting kind of burnt out on that combination (topped with bacon, if available).  And I didn't know if I just wanted to get a regular Mogie's Pub Burger that is served with lettuce, tomato and onions with six different types of cheese available to top the patty.  The Garcia burger that came with guacamole, salsa, sour cream and sliced tomatoes just sounded too busy for the taste buds.  

But one burger that completely caught my eye was the Pepper Jack cheese burger.   It featured a 1/2 pound burger patty coated in Southwestern spices and a spicy aioli sauce, then finished with sliced red onions, leaf lettuce and roasted sweet red peppers.  It came on a sesame seed bun.  For $1.50 more, I could have gotten a side of fries ($2.50 for onion rings), but I knew that I wouldn't be eating many - if any - of the fries.  

The burger patty was juicy and flavorful with the Southwestern spices giving it just a bit of spicy bite.  The spicy aioli was also a bit spicy, but not overpowering to the overall taste of the burger.  The bun was spongy, airy and light, and it held together well with the juiciness of the burger.  

For over 20 years, Mogie's has been serving some of the best burgers found in the Eau Claire area - some may even say they are the best.  I thought the burger I had at Mogie's Pub was very good - not the best I've ever had - but I could see why my old neighbor was singing the praises of their burger.  Mogie's also featured a wide and varied craft beer list with many beers from around the Upper Midwest.  It was a nice, clean, well-lit and comfortable.  I could tell very easily why it's a favorite place for UW-Eau Claire students and locals, alike.  It seems to be a nice little neighborhood place to hang out for food and cold beer. 

Hi-Pointe Drive-In - St. Louis

While I've been to Sugarfire Smokehouse a couple of times since they first opened five years ago, I've just not thought much about their barbecue like I do other barbecue places around St. Louis.  But other people must really like Sugarfire because they now have five locations in the greater St. Louis area and a sixth location out in Washington, MO.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the original Olivette location for Sugarfire.)  Since my initial visit to Sugarfire, I've heard from people both via e-mail ([email protected]) and in passing conversation that the burgers they sell at Sugarfire are worth the wait (instead of the cafeteria-style ordering that is done for barbecue).  However, earlier this year, I heard that the owners of Sugarfire had opened up a place to showcase their burgers with no barbecue.   While we were down spending some down time in St. Louis this past summer, we stopped in to have lunch at the Hi-Pointe Drive In.  

I'm just gonna be really lazy here and basically cut-and-paste the background on the owners of Sugarfire Smokehouse and Hi-Pointe Drive In from my original Sugarfire entry - 

Chef Mike Johnson started out his career studying at the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont.  After graduating from there, he went to Europe to try his hand at cuisines served at restaurants in France, then he moved out to Napa Valley, then down to Los Angeles before settling in at the highly-regarded (and now closed) Charlie Trotter's in Chicago.  Johnson then went to work for another celebrity chef, Emeril Lagasse at Emeril's in New Orleans.  

Johnson settled in St. Louis and worked at a handful of restaurants before he ended up at Boogaloo as chef/owner serving Caribbean and Creole food.  Johnson then sold his share in Boogaloo and went on to Cyrano's in Webster Grove working with Charlie and Carolyn Downs.  Johnson eventually became a part-owner in Cyrano's, but he had other ideas for another restaurant.  

Johnson decided that he wanted to get into barbecue and he began to travel to New York to learn more about that city's exploding barbecue scene. Eventually, Johnson went down to Georgia to study under legendary pit master Myron Mixon who heads Jack's Old South Barbecue cooking school that takes place once a month over a long weekend at Mixon's home. 

With barbecue in his blood, Johnson then found a location in the Olivette area of St. Louis that used to house a former Dickey's Barbecue franchise that had gone out of business.  He went out and bought a smoker - the same smoker that Pappy's Smokehouse uses (click here to see my entry on Pappy's).  And along with Carolyn Downs who was in charge of making pies, cookies and pastries for the new endeavor, Sugarfire Smokehouse opened in the fall of 2012.  

As I said, Johnson and Downs now have six Sugarfire locations (as well as Sugarfire Pie which is right next to the original location on Olivette), but it was the clamoring for their burgers that made them look into opening a burger joint with no barbecue.  Their burgers are flat-grilled, and are a blend of grass-fed brisket, chuck and boneless short rib.  For sometime, Johnson had his eye on a building that used to be a former Del Taco just off I-64 (or 40 Highway, to the locals) in the Hi-Pointe neighborhood just south and west of Forest Park.  (Previous to that, the building had been a drive-in restaurant.)  At first, he wanted to put a hot chicken place there, but when a couple hot chicken places opened in St. Louis, he decided to put in an off-shoot of Sugarfire's award winning burgers.  Hi-Pointe Drive In opened in early January of this year.  

The outside of the building is rather unique and visually striking.  Architect Tom Cohen did sort of a reverse contemporary industrial look to the building by using recycled shipping containers on the facade of the building.

We pulled into the parking lot at Hi-Pointe Drive In around 1:30 in the afternoon and promptly found that it was full.  We ended up parking on a side street behind the restaurant located at the corner of McCausland and Ethel, very near where Clayton, McCausland, Skinker and Oakland all meet up, and in the shadow of the largest Amoco sign in the world.  (see map)  There was a nice little patio out front with an arched awning covering it.  Up a couple steps next to the patio was a small dining area that was made out of a shipping container. 

Inside the restaurant, we found a sort of contemporary industrial decor with wooden high-backed booths and a series of wooden tables and chairs.  It wasn't a large place, but it wasn't like people were on top of one another either.  

The drill for ordering at Hi Pointe starts at the front counter with the menu on boards above the prep area.  The burgers are flat grilled and feature hormone and antibiotic free grass fed-raised and grain-finished beef from Creekstone Farms in Kansas.   There's really only one burger on the menu and you can get different toppings on it, but they do have a signature taco burger that was created in conjunction with the Mission Taco Joint in St Louis.  For the health conscious, they have a turkey burger and a veggie burger for vegans.  

They also have a number of sandwiches to choose from on the menu including a turkey club, a roast beef sandwich, and a hot salami sandwich that featured Genoa salami and soppressata and topped with a spicy giardiniera and an Italian dressing.  They also had a handful of salads such as a chef salad, a grilled salmon salad and a Caesar salad.  A kids menu is also available at Hi Pointe.   

I got a double Swiss cheese and bacon burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and pickles.  I got a side of fries to try out with the burger.  I knew I wouldn't eat many, but my wife wanted some, too.  The burger was served on a grilled potato bun that Hi Pointe gets from Fazio's Bakery located just across Interstate 44 from The Hill in St. Louis.  The toppings were all very fresh, the bun was spongy and the burger patties were juicy and delicious.  This was, indeed, a very good burger.  And it went very well with the City Wide American Pale Ale from the local 4 Hands Brewing Co. they had available from the list of craft beers served at Hi Pointe.  

My wife got the single burger with provolone cheese on it.  For her side she got the roasted Brussels sprouts, a staple in her diet as of late.  She, too, thought the burger at Hi Pointe was very good.  She especially liked that they provolone slice was thick and gooey, melted precisely on top of the burger.  

The people at Sugarfire Smokehouse saw the potential to focus on their very good burgers and that's how Hi Pointe Drive-In came to be.  With a burger/sandwich centric menu and a good selection of craft beers, Hi Pointe has quickly become one of the more popular new spots in St. Louis.  We were both very impressed with the burgers we had and my wife was happy that they had roasted Brussels sprouts as a side.  About the only negative thing that popped out at us was the somewhat cold and surly attitude we received from the guy we ordered our burgers from.  But other than that...  There's a lot of good burger places in St. Louis and Hi Pointe is definitely one of the better ones in the area.    

Ankeny Diner - Ankeny, IA

Another burger joint that has enjoyed a nearly perennial status as a finalist for the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" over the past few years is the Ankeny Diner located in Ankeny just north of Des Moines.  After a morning meeting in Des Moines and just before I drove back home, I decided to head up the short trip to Ankeny to try the burger at the Ankeny Diner.  

The Ankeny Diner is the restaurant that is part of the Ramada Inn in Ankeny just off of Interstate 35 at the corner of E. 1st St. and SE Delaware Ave. (see map)  Menadue Development, a commercial property management and investment company headed by Ankeny physician/lawyer Dr. Mark Menadue, owns the property that houses both the hotel and restaurant.  Menadue Development bought the hotel 30 years ago, but updated the restaurant into the present day Ankeny Diner in 2003.    

The restaurant has a muted-50's style decor with art deco accents.  The spacious dining room was well-lit and made to look even bigger and brighter with mirrors along the walls above the booths.   

I was escorted to a table in the dining room and given a menu to look over.  They have a full bar with a limited beer selection at the Ankeny Diner and I thought a cold beer would taste pretty good with my lunch on what was a hot summer day.  

There is also a soda fountain at Ankeny Diner that offers milkshakes, malts, root beer floats, and ice cream treats.  There was a lot of mirrors and neon in the soda fountain area giving the small area a well-lit illusion that it was larger than it was.  

Looking through the menu, it's definitely a full menu at the Ankeny Diner.  They serve breakfast all day starting at 6 a.m. (closing at 9 p.m. Sunday thru Thursday, 11:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights).  In addition to their burgers they have typical diner foods - sandwiches, salads, soups and a number of appetizers.  They also offer a couple three pasta dishes, as well as a ribeye or a sirloin steak platter.  And like any diner worth their weight, the Ankeny Diner serves up a hot roast beef or a hot turkey blue plate special complete with skin-on mashed potatoes and gravy.  (I'll have to remember that if I'm passing by Ankeny in the colder months around lunch time.)  

But I was there to try the burger.  They have about a dozen featured burgers on the menu at the Ankeny Diner and I ended up getting the bacon/Swiss cheese burger.  I asked my server if they could put some mushrooms on the burger.  She said it was no problem.  A side of crinkle cut fries came on the side.  I knew I wouldn't eat many - if any - of the fries.  

The burger was big and juicy.  It was on a spongy toasted bun, but the cheese was sort of just laid on top of the bacon and mushrooms rather than allowed to melt on top of the patty.  Nonetheless, I took a bite of the burger.

And it was good.  Not outstanding, but it was good.  The mushrooms were canned with a sort of bland taste, but the bacon had a positive flavor on the burger.  The Swiss cheese, however, was also sort of bland.  I really wished they would have allowed the cheese to melt onto the patty to mix in all the flavors.  Melted cheese always tastes better, anyhow.  As I said, the burger was juicy and it was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

I did end up trying some of the crinkle cut fries and I thought they were undercooked.  They were sort of cool like they had been sitting for awhile, but they were sort of mushy like they had been taken out of the fryer too soon.  That's all right - I wasn't really going to eat them anyway.  

I've tried a number of burger joints across Iowa that have either won or have been finalists for the Best Burger in Iowa contest sponsored by the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  Being that the Ankeny Diner had been named a finalist a number of times, I guess I was expecting more out of the burger I had during my visit.   While the beef patty was juicy and flavorful, the mushrooms they used on it were sort of "meh", and the Swiss cheese wasn't allowed to melt into the patty before the mushrooms and bacon were put on top.  Sometimes I wonder what the judges who go around to these places to see who may have the best burger in Iowa are really thinking.  I've had some bad burgers in places that were declared winners, and had some great burgers in places that didn't win.  I'd have to put the burger at the Ankeny Diner as somewhere in between.  It wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst of the places I've tried.

PerXactly's Bar & Grill - Maquoketa, IA

For the past couple of years, one of the finalists for the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" contest was a bar up in Maquoketa, about 30 miles north of Davenport.  I had always been wanting to go there to try the burger and one evening when my wife was next door at our neighbors house for some "women's night out" thing, I decided to drive up to Maquoketa to try the burger at PerXactly's Bar and Grill.  

PerXactly's Bar and Grill is like many small town taverns - it's a neighborhood hangout located just off the two main drags in downtown Maquoketa.  (see map)  It's the kind of place that has domestic beers on tap and a handful of craft beers in the case.  The building for PerXactly's looks like it could have been a garage at some point in time as two corrugated metal coverings flank the front door.  

The inside of the place isn't all that large and features a three-sided bar with the kitchen on the backside.  A number of high top tables were in a small dining area.  Flat-screen televisions, beer signs and sports paraphernalia were hanging on the walls.  The were doing a pretty brisk business when I stopped in just after 7 p.m. and took a seat at the bar.  

The first thing I noticed about the place was the overpowering smell of the oil from the deep fryer.  They really needed to change the oil out, I thought to myself.  And it was sort of smoky from the grill cooking any number of burgers.  Their fan system wasn't able to keep up with clearing the smoke from the kitchen.  

They had a mushroom and Swiss cheese burger on the menu that I ordered up.  I asked the bartender if he could have the cook throw some bacon on top of the burger, as well.  I had a choice between home fries or potato wedges and I took the home fries.  

The burger came out of the kitchen with a knife stuck in the  top of it - a serious no-no in my book.  The home fries were really nothing more than French fries that I figured I wouldn't be eating many of them because of the smell from the fryers.  

It was a good sized burger on a larger than normal toasted bun.  The Swiss cheese was slathered over the top of the burger patty and oozed down along the sides.  The mushrooms were the canned variety and the two strips of bacon were average in thickness.  

The burger, itself, was, well...  It was all right.  I mean, it wasn't bad, but I didn't think that it was what I would call a multi-finalist for the Best Burger in Iowa contest.  It was juicy enough, but the taste wasn't anything special to me.  I've had a few burgers over time and while it was good, there were other Best Burger finalists that I thought had a much better tasting burger.  

A minor surprise at the end of the meal came when I pulled out my credit card to pay for the burger and a couple of beers.  The bartender said, "Uh, we don't take credit cards.  But we got an ATM over there," pointing to a machine along the wall near the restrooms.  Fortunately, I had enough cash on me to take care of the bill and a tip for the bartender.  

Talking with a friend of mine on the phone as I was driving home from Maquoketa that evening, and he asked me what I thought of PerXactly's.  I told him that I liked the bar - it was the kind of place where I felt comfortable in, even though I didn't know anyone in there.  But I felt that while the burger was good, I didn't think that it was worthy of a couple finalist nods for the Best Burger in Iowa.  At least compared to other finalists and winners that I've had over time.  But, all in all, for a small town tavern having a big burger, PerXactly's Bar and Grill was a good place to visit.  

BeerBurger - North Liberty, IA

Earlier this year when the Iowa Beef Industry Council named their Best Burger in Iowa winner for 2017, one of the places on the 10 finalists list caught my eye.  It was a place in the Iowa City suburb of North Liberty that I wasn't familiar with.  That's because it had just opened in November of 2016 and I hadn't heard of the place before that.  On a trip that took me past North Liberty earlier this summer, I decided to stop in and try BeerBurger.  

In December of 2015, local businessman/developer/investor John Burchert announced that he was going to build a nearly 40,000 square foot family entertainment center on the northwest side of North Liberty.  Burchert was the founder of the Iowa City call center TMONE (now called Mass Media), and was an investor in the Eden nightclub and the Iowa Chop House in Iowa City.  Burchert's company, MAiNGREDIENT also dabbled in social media, wearables and catering in addition to working on new developments.  

On part of the land that Burchert was going to put his large entertainment center, he put up a building that would eventually house BeerBurger.  Along with co-owner Bobby Thompson, the two were able to convince Craig Vorba, the chef who helped start the Iowa Chop House, but went on to become the executive chef at Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines, to come back to the Iowa City area to head up the culinary team at BeerBurger.  The restaurant opened just a little bit less than a year ago.  

It was around 1:30 when I walked into BeerBurger located just off the North Liberty exit on I-380.  (see map)  The decor was of a contemporary industrial with some service station signage and some pretty interesting light fixtures.  There was a rather interesting round fluorescent light hanging in the middle of the dining area.  Metal framed chairs with heavy duty tables were in place in the dining area of the restaurant.

There is a very nice outdoor patio area in front of the restaurant.  It was a nice day and a handful of people were eating outside under the large trellis.  

There is a lot of artwork in BeerBurger.  The graffiti-style mural below right features Abraham Lincoln drinking a beer and wearing a large foam "No. 1" hand.  The mural is part of the artwork done by local artist Keaton Rogers for BeerBurger.  

The keg storage room is also part functional, part art museum.  The room will hold over 70 kegs of beer, but some of the kegs had artwork painted on them.  Rather than hide the kegs, Burchert wanted to showcase the beer selection BeerBurger has, as well as make it sort of interesting to look inside.      

I ended up sitting at the L-shaped copper-topped bar that features open windows looking into the kitchen. I was greeted by my server and bartender that day, Tasheanna, who dropped off a food menu and asked me what I would like to drink.  They have over 40 beers on tap at BeerBurger and I immediately saw the distinctive handle of my favorite beer Kona Big Wave Golden Ale.  I don't see Big Wave on tap in a lot of places, but I like the ones that do.  

There are much more than just burgers on the menu at BeerBurger.  In fact, I was sort of surprised they only had 8 feature burgers on the menu - 9, if you count the ground turkey burger they have.  They also had a number of sandwiches including a grilled chicken sandwich, a beer-battered pork tenderloin, a grilled three-cheese and bacon sandwich, and a dry-rubbed smoked pulled pork sandwich.   They also had entrees such as a bone-in porterhouse pork chop, beer-battered cod and fries, a 16 ounce sirloin steak, and chicken & waffles.  Appetizers included the standard chicken wings, burger sliders, beer-battered cheese curds, and a plate of applewood-smoked bacon with a maple/black pepper glaze.  Salads are also available, as is a kid's menu.  

I was definitely going to get a burger, but Tasheanna was really pushing me to get the Caesar's salad with salmon they had featured that day.  "It's really delicious," she said more than once to me.  I thought it was sort of weird that she was trying to get me to order the Caesar's salmon salad.  Maybe she was concerned that I needed to drop a few pounds, but it was probably more along the lines of the chef needing to move some of the salmon before it wasn't sellable any longer.

For my burger that day, I ordered the #5 - a 6-ounce Iowa beef patty topped with carmelized onions that were sautéed in Iowa beer, sautéed mushrooms, roasted red peppers, gruyére cheese, and finished with a Worcestershire aioli.  I asked Tasheanna to throw some applewood-smoked bacon on the burger, as well.  A leaf of lettuce, a sliced tomato, sliced red onions and hamburger dill pickles came on the side.  I also got a side of fries, but I was certain that I wouldn't eat many - if any - of them.

The burgers are flat-grilled and served on a pretzel bun.  The burger was very juicy and very flavorful.  It was one of those "Mmmmm....." moments when I took the first bite.  The gruyére cheese, the roasted peppers, the smoked bacon, and the sautéed mushrooms were all prevalent in the taste, but they didn't overpower the rich taste of the beef patty.   The pretzel bun held together very well with all the juice and toppings going on.  The only quibble I had was this was a multiple napkin burger, but they use linen napkins at BeerBurger.  Yeah, I liked the classy touch, but the burger had so much going on with its juiciness and all the toppings including the gooey gruyére cheese that it wasn't long before I made a good sized mess out of the napkin that I had.  It just didn't make sense to me that they had linen napkins at BeerBurger.  I had to ask Tasheanna for another napkin to get me through the meal.  

And it also turned out that the fries were very good.  Crispy on the outside with a great flaky potato taste inside, the fries appeared to be hand-cut and flash-fried.  I actually ended up eating more than half of the fries because they tasted so good.  

Getting a finalist nod for the Best Burger in Iowa was a great public relations boost for BeerBurger in their first year of business.  And I can attest that the taste of the burger was excellent and worthy of the honor.  They have an impressive list of beers to choose from, and the service I received was prompt and friendly.  I still don't know why my server was trying to push the salmon Caesar's salad when the place is clearly a burger joint.  And a very good burger joint, at that. 

Smitty's Garage - Omaha, NE

Thanks to Brian F. who e-mailed me earlier this year to tell me about a place in Omaha that he thought had a very good burger - Smitty's Garage.  I was in Omaha earlier this summer and had some time to get lunch, so I sought out Smitty's Garage to see how good the burger really was.  

First of all, I didn't realize that Smitty's Garage was a chain. The birth of Smitty's Garage started in Norman, OK about five years ago when Hal Smith was brainstorming with a couple friends about a concept restaurant that featured great burgers with a great craft beer list in a laid-back, but interesting setting.  It wasn't Smith's first rodeo in the restaurant business.  In fact, you could possibly call Smith a "serial restaurateur".  

While going to school at the University of Oklahoma as a pre-law major, Hal Smith found work at a restaurant called Across the Street.  It was similar to the old King's Food Host restaurants where patrons called in their orders via phone.  When the restaurant was sold in the late 60's, the new owner of Across the Street was in the final stages of opening a steakhouse on the outskirts of Norman called Crosstimbers.  Impressed with his  work ethic, the new owner tapped the young Smith to open and manage the new steakhouse.  Hal Smith suddenly found himself in the restaurant industry instead of studying law.

However, it was one evening in 1970 not long after the new restaurant opened when Smith's life changed again.  A gentleman - who had just enjoyed one of the marinated steaks Crosstimbers was becoming famous for - handed Smith his card.  This gentleman was Norman Brinker, the founder and owner of the Steak and Ale.  Brinker told the young Smith that if he was ever looking to do something different to look him up.  

Pictured right - Hal Smith.  Photo courtesy Mark Hancock/405 Magazine

After five years at Crosstimbers, Smith decided that he wanted to do something else with his life.  He had stayed in touch with Brinker over the years and contacted him to say that it was time for them to talk.  Since he was in the process of selling Steak and Ale to the Pillsbury corporation, Brinker didn't promise Smith anything.  However, Smith said that he and his family would go anywhere that Steak & Ale wanted to send him.  Brinker hired Smith and his first stop with his new company was in Columbus, OH as a management trainee.  

Smith worked hard in his first couple of years at Steak and Ale and his hard work and dedication didn't go unnoticed by Brinker who was still the president of the chain of restaurants.  Smith's skills at starting and running restaurants took him and his family to 8 cities in 4 states during the first four years of his time with Steak and Ale.  By 1979, Hal Smith was in the Washington D.C. area overseeing 50 Steak and Ale locations as a regional manager.  

One of the other restaurants under the Pillsbury umbrella at the time - Bennigan's - was just starting out.  When Brinker was told he would be moved over to run Bennigan's, he called Smith in to see who should replace him as president of Steak and Ale.  Brinker named six or seven colleagues who he thought should be worthy candidates of taking over for Brinker.  But Brinker had his mind made up already - he put Hal Smith into his vacated chair as the head of Steak and Ale.  The restaurant chain was doing about $400 million in annual sales when Smith took over at the age of 33.  With an aggressive business plan and expansion, annual sales at Steak and Ale rose to around $700 million within the first three years Smith was in charge.  

In 1983, Pillsbury was looking at the possibility of buying a small chain of restaurants based out of Texas.  When they passed on buying the restaurants, Norman Brinker immediately resigned from his position with Bennigan's and bought the chain - Chili's.  The first thing he did was recruit Hal Smith from Steak and Ale and made Smith the president of Chili's.  Under Smith's leadership, Chili's became one of the more popular casual restaurants in the nation.  But in 1986, a restaurant chain that was bloated with bureaucracy and poor management came calling for Smith's help.  After just two years with Chili's, Hal Smith became the president and CEO of Chi Chi's.  

With a complete corporate restructuring and a new marketing campaign, Smith was able to double Chi Chi's profits within the first two years of him at the helm.  When Jack in the Box bought Chi Chi's in 1992, Hal Smith made a small fortune on the sale of his company stock.  He was independently wealthy and for the first time he had the means of doing something else with his life.  

Smith moved back to Norman in 1992 and started a company called Hal Smith Restaurant Group.  An old friend from his days at Steak and Ale - Chris Sullivan - was starting up a steakhouse with an Australian theme in the Tampa Bay area and wanted Smith to invest $250,000 into the business.  Smith passed on investing with the company - Outback Steakhouse - but soon became a franchisee for the 19 locations in Midwest.  Had Smith invested in Outback Steakhouse in its infancy, his investment would have been worth hundreds of millions of dollars when the company was sold in 2012.  

Smith went on to become the exclusive Krispy Kreme franchisee in Oklahoma City and Tulsa.  He invested in, franchised, or started a number of restaurants around the state of Oklahoma and the Midwest including Charleston's, Mahogany Prime Steakhouse, Pub W, Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill, and Hefner Grill.  When a bar went out of business in Norman about four years ago, Hal Smith took it over for his newest concept which, at first, was simply known as The Garage.  There are now 17 Smitty's Garage locations in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Nebraska with a new location getting ready to open in Kansas City at any time.

There are two Smitty's Garage locations in Omaha.  The first Smitty's Garage in Omaha opened near Oak View Mall on Omaha's southwest side in September of last year.  The second location along Dodge Street opened in March of this year.  That was the one that I went to, located at the end of a strip mall on the north side of Dodge Street at N. 76th Street.  (see map)  It's set back a bit from Dodge and I didn't see it when I first went by.  I did see a small sign that said "Burgers and Beers" on a marquee in front of the strip mall along Dodge, but didn't see the Smitty's Garage logo with it.  I finally turned on 76th Street and just before the intersection with Cass Ave., I saw Smitty's Garage on my left.  

Entering the restaurant, there's a front counter with a menu on the wall behind it.  The menu was all on flat-screen monitors and even though I saw a bar in the back of the restaurant, there wasn't any place to order beer up front.  One of the ladies who took my burger order told me that I could order beer back at the bar.  License plates were affixed to the front of the counter, and various signs were hung on the wall around the front counter.

The dining room was spacious and open - sort of like a garage.  It was sort of a contemporary industrial decor with exposed duct work, walls adorned with flat-screen television and signs, and a concrete floor.  The place was about a quarter full when I got in there around 1:30 and I could only imagine that it would be pretty damn loud in that place if it filled up.

I sat at the bar and set down my little number sign that they gave me at the front counter so they could get my burger to me.  The bartender came up to me and said, "Oh, honey.  Did you already order your food?  You know you can just order from me back here at the bar in the future."  I thought that was sort of confusing that you had to order your food from up front and go back and get the beer separately.  I'm glad she told me because I didn't know the drill.

The bar was a three-sided high-top with metal chairs around it.  Larger flat-screen televisions were on the wall behind the bar and they had a very good selection of craft beers to choose from.  I ended up ordering a Ballast Point Sculpin IPA.  "Good choice," she said as she took my order.  "I love that beer."  It turned out that she knew her beers very well.  We spent a good portion of time talking about various beers that we both liked and disliked.  

Now, it turned out that they had more on the menu than just burgers at Smitty's Garage.  They also had tacos, as well as sandwiches, and foot-long hot dogs that were smothered in either chili and cheese, or in a Mexican salsa/cheese combination.  But, of course, I got the mushroom/bacon/Swiss cheese burger with a side of fries.  I don't know why I got the fries - I usually don't eat them or if I do it's only a handful that I will eat.  But these fries were surprisingly very good.  I had more than a handful of the fries on this visit.

The burger was flat-grilled and came with a fresh tomato slice and fresh lettuce greens.  From the first bite, I knew this was a good burger.  It was sort of charred on the outside, but juicy inside.  The bun was light and held together very well with the juiciness of the burger.  The Swiss cheese was melting over the top of the burger patty, and the mushrooms and bacon gave the overall taste of the burger an exquisite flavor.  For as juicy as the burger was, and as much Swiss cheese that was on it, it was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

One again, my thanks to Brian F. who turned me on to Smitty Garage.  The drill of ordering food was a little confusing to me - if you don't want beer or an alcoholic drink, you can order from the front counter.  But you can go back to the bar and order your food and drinks from the bartender if you like.  I'll have to say the burger was exceptional at Smitty's Garage, as was their list of craft beers they had available.   And I even liked the fries at Smitty's Garage, too.  My server/bartender was pleasant and helpful giving me the lay of the land on how to order at Smitty's Garage.  And she also knew her craft beers very well.  There's a lot of good places to get a burger in Omaha and Smitty's Garage has jumped into my top five places to go for a burger when I'm in the city. 

Steel Plow Burger Company - Moline, IL

A friend of mine had mentioned earlier this summer that he had eaten at a new burger place over in Moline and he thought it was pretty good.  I had heard that a new place had opened in September of last year in what used to be the old Governor's space in Moline, but we had not been there to give the place to try.  On a lazy Sunday afternoon, my wife and I made the trip over to 53rd St. just north of Avenue of the Cities to give Steel Plow Burger Company a try. (see map)

The Steel Plow Burger Company is a collaborative effort between four men - Dan Whitaker, Mike Harper, Larry Anderson and John Barrett - off of an idea Harper had for a restaurant concept of classic gourmet burgers and monster-sized ice cream drinks for adults and kids.  Whitaker had restaurant experience - he runs the River House in Moline (a place that we like to go to from time to time, but curiously I've never done a Road Tips write-up on the River House) - and when the old Governor's space along 53rd St. became available, the group jumped on the chance to open their burger joint there.  

Now, the old Governor's location in Moline held a special place for my wife and me.  It was the spot where we had our first legitimate date 24 years ago.  We both got taco salads and I drank a lot of water because I was severely hungover from a previous long day of heavy drinking - it turned out to be my last as an unattached man.  So, we got a minor kick out of going back to the place where we had our first meal together so many years ago.  

And the place had changed dramatically.  While Governor's was a little cozy and dim with dark wood booths, the atmosphere at Steel Plow Burger Company was much more lighter and lively.  The main feature was a large fireplace in the middle of the dining room - the placement was sort of curious to me, but I figured that it also acted as a support for the roof.  There was a nice bar toward the back of the dining area and a number of booths along the other walls of the room.  

There was an indoor/outdoor space on the back of the building that looked like it could also seat people in the winter.  We had a chance to sit out there, but I asked to be put into a booth in the dining room.

After being seated and given menus to look over, our server - Chelle (Shelley) stopped by to greet us.  I was looking over the beer selection they had to offer - it wasn't extensive, but it was good enough.  I ended up getting a Revolution Fist City pale ale.  My wife was marveling at the huge ice cream milk shakes that were being delivered to tables near us.  I tried to talk her into getting one with a shot of liquor mixed in, but she said that if she had one of the "above-the-rim" milk shakes she would go into a coma just from the sugar alone.  

The burgers at Steel Plow are a mixture of prime rib steak trimmings that are ground together and flat grilled.  They also feature hormone and antibiotic-free grass fed beef for burgers, as well as lean ground bison.  My wife is a big fan of bison, but I find that it can get dried out pretty quickly during the cooking process if it isn't handled properly.  For the health conscious, turkey and black bean burgers are also available.

They have a number of specialty burgers on the menu including a French onion burger, a Firehouse burger that is topped with jalapeños, chorizo, pepper jack cheese and a hot sauce, a truffle sauce Swiss cheese and mushroom burger, and the "Double Dare Ya" burger that features a 1 pound ground prime burger stuffed with jalapeños, red onions and bacon, then mixed with an onion mix with American and Swiss cheese.  Steel Plow also as a number of non-burger sandwiches including a grilled or breaded pork tenderloin, a New Orleans-style muffuletta, a grilled chicken sandwich, and something that caught my eye - mahi mahi grilled tacos.  They also had a smoked gouda/American/cheddar/Swiss grilled cheese sandwich with tomatoes and bacon added.  For a dollar more, you could get avocado slices added.  My wife perked up when she saw that.

Appetizers at Steel Plow featured large chicken wings - they looked more like legs for the ones I saw, a poutine appetizer, nachos, housemade deviled eggs, and a large 12" pretzel that they called family size.  One other interesting thing I found on their menu was a number of variations of macaroni and cheese, all named for one of the Three Stooges.  The "Moe" was just basic mac and cheese with aged cheddar, the "Larry" had chorizo mixed in with the mac and cheese, the "Curly" had sliced hot dogs mixed in (something I'd never seen in a mac and cheese before), and the "Shemp" had bacon mixed in.  They had a little bit of everything on the menu at Steel Plow.  

They have a "build-your-own" burger on the menu at Steel Plow and that's the way my wife and I ordered up our burgers.  The first step is choosing your type of burger (she ordered bison, of course), then the type of bun (or you can go "topless" as my wife ordered), then a choice of cheese (six different cheeses to choose from) and then if you want lettuce, tomato, pickles or onions.  For a $1 upcharge, you can get jalapeños, bacon, avocado slices, sautéed mushrooms or onions, and a fried egg.  My wife got cheddar cheese on her burger.  For her side, she got the cole slaw after Chelle told her that it was a vinegar-based cole slaw.  Only it wasn't - it was cream-based and she thought it tasted pretty bland.  But she enjoyed the burger very much.  She said that the bison burger wasn't dried out and had a wonderful flavor.  I don't know how she could taste the bison as there was a big slab of melted cheddar cheese on top of it.  

I went with the regular prime rib burger on an onion bun with smoked gouda cheese.  I also had them put sautéed mushrooms, a slice of red onion and pickles on the burger.  I also asked her to put bacon on the burger, but they forgot to put the bacon on.  (I pointed that out to Chelle about halfway through finishing the burger.  She offered to bring some bacon out, but I just had her take it off the bill.)  For my side, I got what they called a medley of fries - French fries, waffle cut fries, sweet potato fries, steak fries and curly fries.  My wife ate more of the fries than I did considering she didn't care for her cole slaw all that much.  

The burger was juicy and flavorful.  The slice of smoked gouda was pretty thin and I didn't get much of a taste sensation from the cheese.  But the onion bun was light, fluffy and held together very well with what turned out to be a multi-napkin burger.  The red onion was very forward in taste and went well with the other things on the burger.  Yes, this was a very good burger.  

My wife and I pretty much liked everything about our first visit to Steel Plow Burger Company.  Oh, I had a couple quibbles along the way - they forgot the bacon on my burger and the craft beer list was just OK, in my opinion.  And my wife didn't care much for her cole slaw that she got as a side.  But the burgers we both had - she had the bison burger with no bun, and I had the regular prime beef burger with an onion bun - were very good.  We like to go out and get a good burger from time to time, and Steel Plow has now entered into the rotation of places that we'll head to for a burger and a beer.  I just don't know if we'll ever try one of those huge ice cream drinks that they have. 

Cin Cin Burger Bar - Winston-Salem, NC

While we were in Winston-Salem, N.C. for a relative's wedding, we did some roaming around town to check things out.  When it came to lunch, we found a burger joint on the west side, but then we found out that it was a chain.  My wife remembered a burger place that we had passed a couple times that morning that looked interesting.  We doubled back to the place and found Cin Cin Burger Bar on W. 1st Street just off the Highway 421 Expressway near the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.  (see map) 

Christakis "Chris" Michael was born and raised on the island of Cyprus and his parents ran one of the more upscale resorts on the island.  The young Chris hobnobbed with the rich and famous of Europe learning the hospitality trade while growing up.  Zoe Rizos was born in Pennsylvania and literally grew up in her parent's restaurant in Ellwood City, PA, a high-volume family-style restaurant where nearly everything was made from scratch.  So you could say that restaurants and hospitality were in the blood of the two before they even met.  

After Zoe graduated from college with a dual degree in business administration and food service management, she met Chris Michael who had emigrated to the United States a few years before.  The couple married in 1984 and settled in Southwest Florida opening their first restaurant Plaka II the same year.  The Michael's eventually sold Plaka II and opened four more restaurants in the Fort Myers area over the next 20 years culminating with a Mediterranean restaurant by the name of Cin Cin Bar and Grille in 2004.  However, in 2007 plunging land values foreshadowed the beginning of the recession in Florida prompting the family to move to Winston-Salem to seek new opportunities.  

Along with their son, Vasili, the Michael's opened Mama Zoe's in 2008 which featured down-home Southern-style cooking.  The family opened Mama Zoe's Seafood Shack in Wilkesboro, NC (about 50 miles west of Winston-Salem) in 2011, but closed that down after they opened up Waldo's Wings, Burgers and Brews in Winston-Salem in 2015.  While he was working on a new concoction for a burger at Waldo's, Chris Michael came up with the concept for an upscale burger restaurant.  They cut the "burgers and brews" out of the name and their restaurant simply became Waldo's Wings in 2016.   When the former Twin City Diner closed in 2015 after 28 years in business, the Michael's leased the space to put in their new concept Cin Cin (pronounced "chin chin", the Italian phrase for "cheers") Burger Bar.  

We got into Cin Cin just after the noon rush hour and we were able to get a seat in a booth in the main dining area of the restaurant.  There was a nice patio out in front that was full, but we wanted to sit inside in the air conditioning on a hot Carolina day.  The dining room featured a number of booths with tables interspersed throughout the place.  The restaurant had a combination of contemporary and Prohibition-era decor.  

The bar area featured a step up area with a long bar with flat panel television along the back wall.  The bar features a number of rotating craft beers on tap and a list of "Speakeasy-style" mixed speciality drinks.

Cin Cin Burger Bar had a dedicated Prohibition-era motif to the place.  Signs and posters recreated from just before the beginning of Prohibition in 1919 through the ratification of the 21st Amendment in 1933 were all throughout the restaurant.  On a shelf along a wall were the antique products and utensils used to make homemade "moonshine" whisky during - well, actually, also before and after - Prohibition.

Our server for the day was a lady by the name of Jennifer who gave us a couple menus to look over after we sat down.  Beer was the first order of the day, however, and I got a Bell's Two Hearted pale ale while my wife got the Jade IPA from Winston-Salem's Foothills Brewing Company.  

There's much more than just burgers on the menu at Cin Cin Burger Bar.  They feature a number of appetizers and sharable plates, salads, sandwiches and entrees such as bourbon molasses-glazed meatloaf, cherry-chipotle salmon, and a 12 ounce ribeye topped with a garlic herb butter.  

But we had burgers on our mind and my wife went with a "topless" burger adorned with aged Vermont cheddar cheese, garlic aioli, cucumbers and arugula.  She got a side salad with a housemade lemon vinaigrette dressing.  

The burgers at Cin Cin Burger Bar are pure Black Angus beef, ground in house and flat-grilled.  Her burger was cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  She thought it was very good.  

They have about a dozen specialty burgers on the menu, all with Prohibition-era or gangster-phrase names.  The Speakeasy burger was topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion slices and a champagne burger sauce.  The Juice-Joint Dipper was topped with gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, a fried onion ring, scallions, and finished with a roasted garlic aioli with some au jus sauce for dipping the burger into.  But they also had a "Build-Your-Own" burger with a long list of toppings, buns and cheese that you can add to a burger.  

And that's the route I took.  I got the Black Angus burger on a brioche bun.  I had it topped with gruyere cheese, pickled red pepper slices, sautéed mushrooms, bacon slices, dill pickles and a sliced red onion.  I went with the onion rings for a side.  The burger was thick, juicy and very tasty.  Even with all the stuff on top of it, I could still taste the big beefy flavor of the burger with nearly every bite.  

The onion rings were also very good.  They were a little overcooked, but still very delicious.  They came with a side of a spicy sauce that was simply outstanding.  It was so good that I put some of the sauce on my burger. It had a creamy and spicy bite to the palate.  I would have bought a jar of that sauce had they had it available.   

The Cin Cin Burger Bar was an excellent find in our quest for a good burger for lunch.  It was an interesting place with interesting decor, the booth we had was spacious and comfortable, the service was fine, and the burgers we both had were very good.  I especially liked the onion rings with the spicy sauce that came with them, and they had a pretty good selection of beers at Cin Cin.  We were more than happy with our visit to Cin Cin Burger Bar.   (Photo courtesy Trip Advisor.)

317 Burger - Indianapolis

I have an account in the Broad Ripple Village area of Indianapolis, a vibrant entertainment and shops district on the north side of the city.  There are a number of restaurants in the immediate area and after one recent morning visit I decided to have lunch at a spot I've had my eye on for a couple years, a burger and craft beer place by the name of 317 Burger.  

Bill Ficca is sort of a serial restaurateur around Broad Ripple.  Ficca, his wife, Nancy, and various investors have stakes in a number of restaurants in the area including the Vanguard, Delicia,  and the Northside Social.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Northside Social.)  When Boogie Burger moved a few blocks east Broad Ripple in 2011, some say it left a void for a good burger in the neighborhood.  The Ficca's came up with a concept gourmet burger joint/craft brew house that grinds their own steak burgers.  317 Burger (317 is the area code for Indianapolis) opened in December of 2013.  

It was just before the noon rush on a beautiful day in Indy when I pulled up to a parking spot across the street from 317 Burger on Westfield Ave. in the heart of Broad Ripple.  (see map)  I walked into the place to find a very nice bar with an upscale pub decor.  317 Burger wasn't very large, but it was clean and comfortable.  It wasn't busy inside, but nearly all the tables on the patio in front of the place were full.  

In the corner of the bar is an area called the Indiana Speakers Corner.  It features a number of quotes from some of Bill Ficca's favorite famous Indiana natives.  A local art/mural company - Blice Edwards - was commissioned to do the artwork for the Indiana Speakers Corner.  There was a booth and table set up for people to converse in a pub-style setting.

Off to the side of the main bar was a smaller game room set up in an informal hodgepodge of bar stools with high top tables, and a sofa with a table that had a number of board games stacked underneath the table top.  Two real dart boards - not the electronic kind you find in most bars these days - were hung on the wall of the game room. 

Next door and attached to 317 Burger is a tap room called None the Wiser.  The name, of course, comes from a play on words signifying that they don't sell Budweiser products in the tap room.  They feature a full bar with 16 different craft brews on tap.  It's more elegant than 317 Burger with real cowhide back coverings on the booths and high quality wood paneling throughout the room. 

I took a seat at the bar and the bartender handed me a menu to look over.  I ordered up an Oaken Barrel IPA to enjoy while I looked through the menu.  The menu featured a number of interesting appetizers such as a seasonal veggie poutine, French onion soup dumplings, Caribbean pulled pork nachos, and crispy chicken tenders.  317 Burger also features wings, quesadillas and salads.  

In addition to burgers at 317 Burger, they also feature a number of sandwiches - a couple of which caught my eye.  They had a grilled four cheese (American, Gouda, Swiss and Provolone) sandwich where you could add pulled pork to it for a $3 upcharge.  And they had a pork tenderloin sandwich - breaded and fried, or grilled - a true Indiana signature sandwich. 

I was still thinking about the grilled four-cheese with pulled pork sandwich when I saw that they had a similar burger - the 317 Burger - with the American/Swiss/Gouda/Provolone combo with a garlic aioli sauce and pepper bacon.  I asked the bartender if they could do some sautéed mushrooms on the burger and she said it would be no problem.   

The burgers at 317 Burger are all ground in house from high quality Black Angus beef.  The burger was lean with a hint of juiciness to it.  But with all the cheese on it, along with the, garlic aioli, bacon and mushrooms, it didn't need to be an overly juicy burger.  It was pretty messy in its own right and was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

The burger - when I could taste it through everything that was on it - had a great, rich beef flavor.  Flat-grilled, the burger was thick and had a bit of pink in the middle.  The garlic aioli was very strong in flavor and something was very salty on the burger.  I figured out later on that it was the bacon.  Because it was so salty, I didn't seem to get much of a peppery taste from the pepper bacon.  

The fries that came on the side were a little lukewarm when they were served.  They were fresh cut, but they'd obviously been made earlier and set into a warming pan.  But that was fine with me.  I wasn't much interested in the fries as I was finishing the delicious big burger I had in front of me.   

317 Burger - nice place, nice bar, good burger, good service, good beer selection, comfortable setting.  There's not much more to say than that.   They have a number of other things on their menu if you don't want a burger, and their appetizers are interesting.  And even if you don't want to get something to eat and would like to enjoy a beer, 317 Burger and its taproom - None the Wiser - are a great place to relax with friends.  317 Burger fits in wonderfully with the rest of the Broad Ripple places of choice.  

The Assembly American Bar and Cafe - Hoffman Estates, IL

I have a dealer out in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago and he and I were talking one day about our favorite burgers in the Chicago area.  He then told me about a place that wasn't too far away from his store that he thought had a great burger, a place called The Assembly.  "You haven't had a burger an Assembly burger," he asked me incredulously.  Right then and there, I put The Assembly on my "Restaurants to Visit" list on Google Maps.  Earlier this year, I finally had a chance to stop in and try one of their burgers.  

The story behind The Assembly starts with Glenn Taylor, a long time CPA.  However, his off-hours hobby was home-brewing beer.  Along with his sons, Gary and Steve, and his wife, Amy, the Taylors were having fun with coming up with different types of beers in their basement.  

Glenn Taylor was getting burned out on his accountant job and he certainly enjoyed brewing beers with his sons. He ended up chucking his CPA career in the early 90's and in 1994 the Taylor family opened up a brewpub - Taylor Brewing Company - in an old furniture factory in Naperville.  By 1999, the Taylors had moved the brew pub to a new location along Butterfield Road in Lombard.  

The man who Glenn Taylor worked for as a CPA had a side business that he had opened in 1978 - The Assembly American Bar and Cafe.  If he wasn't enjoying brewing beer at home, Taylor liked to hang out at The Assembly with its fun atmosphere and regular clientele.  In 1995, Taylor's old boss informed him that he was looking to retire and sell The Assembly.  Glenn Taylor jumped at the chance and bought The Assembly later that year.  After Taylor Brewing Company shut down in late 2011, Gary Taylor came over to The Assembly to run the day-to-day operations.  

It was a cold and rainy spring day when I made it out to The Assembly which is located between W. Higgins Road and Interstate 90 along Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates.  (see map)   I pulled in just before noon and I took pause for a moment when I saw "Awesome Food Here" spelled out underneath The Assembly sign on the front of the building.  I sort of cringed when I saw that thinking that they were trying too hard to lure in customers.

The inside of The Assembly was dimly lit, cozy and looked a little dated.  There was a large rectangular bar in the middle of place with step-up booths on the outer side of the floor plan.  There were a number of flat panel televisions that were hung throughout the restaurant.  There was an appreciable number of people in the place when I got there and more came in through the noon hour.  Many of the patrons seemed to be older men.

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by Brenda who doubled as a bartender and grill cook.  She gave me a menu and I ordered up a Sweetwater 420 extra pale ale that they had in cans.  Her co-bartender that day was a spunky lady by the name of Denise. She was wearing a t-shirt that said on the back "I Hate Kale - I Like Burgers - Have a Burger".  

The grill area for burgers was in between the bar counters.  It featured a gas char-grill cooking surface and a flat cooking surface next to it.  Opposite of the grill area was a condiment area where burgers were dressed.  There was a kitchen for other items on the menu in the back of the restaurant.  

The Assembly's gourmet burgers are their signature item on the menu.  The burgers are all 10 ounce, never frozen beef patties that are blended with different cuts of beef to The Assembly's specification.  Gary Taylor once said in on an on-line video that they serve over 1600 burgers a week and that loosely translated out to a total of over 2.5 million burgers in the 39 years The Assembly has been in business.  Their Bionic Burger - topped with bacon, sautéed onions and a choice of Swiss, mozzarella or cheddar cheese - is also known as the Hulk Hogan Burger as the Hulkster himself named it "a bionic burger" after eating at The Assembly in the late 70's.  It continues to be one of The Assembly's most popular burgers.  

In addition to the Bionic Burger, The Assembly also has a Parmesan burger topped with garlic butter and Parmesan cheese, The Grand Champion that is topped with bacon, sautéed onions, grilled peppers, sautéed mushrooms and a choice of Swiss, mozzarella or cheddar cheese, and a Bloody Mary burger topped with bloody mary seasonings, tomatoes, pickles and finished with a green olive.  They also had a burger that was topped with macaroni and cheese.  

Their selection of gourmet burgers are the most prominent feature on the menu, but they also had a number of other items to choose from.  The menu consisted of a number of pub-style appetizers, many of them deep-fried such as onion strings, mozzarella cheese triangles, fried pickles and mushrooms stuffed with a bread crumb mix of chopped bacon, celery, onion, and red and green peppers.   They had five grilled chicken sandwiches, as well as entrees such as pork ribs, ribeye steaks, beef tenderloin filet medallions, and grilled tilapia.  Corned beef reubens, as well as turkey reubens and turkey club sandwiches were also featured on the menu along with a variety of salads.  

I ended up getting the mushroom and Swiss cheese burger.  I asked Denise if I could get some bacon on the burger and she said it would be no problem.  Creamy cole slaw came with the burger along with The Assembly's signature mushroom/onion sherry wine sauce.  And I also got a choice of a potato side and it was a no-brainer for me to pick the tater tots.  In fact, the tater tots come out about three or four minutes before the burger was placed in front of me.  

The burger was thick, juicy and cooked to a perfect medium with a bit of pink in the middle.  And when I mean it was juicy, well, it was a multi-napkin burger.  The sautéed mushrooms were fresh and earthy, the bacon crisp and smoky, and the Swiss cheese was slathered on top of everything.  The bun was soft, yet it held together very well with all the good gooeyness going on with the burger.  The mushroom/onion sherry sauce was interesting - it was sort of thick and I suppose that you were supposed to put it on the burger.  But I ended up dipping some of the tater tots into the sauce.  And while the tater tots tasted good on their own, the mushroom/onion sherry wine sauce helped give them a savory taste.  

I thought the burger at The Assembly was very good.  It was thick, juicy and full of great flavor even without the sautéed mushrooms, bacon and Swiss cheese.  The tater tots were a nice change of pace - especially outside of the states of Minnesota and North Dakota where tater tots are a potato staple.  The cole slaw - honestly, I don't know if I even tried the cole slaw, I concentrated on the burger and the tater tots because they were so good.  The interior of The Assembly appears to be a little dated, but it was still homey and comfortable in its feel.  And the service I received sitting at the bar was very good.  Overall, this was a very good place to get a very good burger.  

HF Crave - Lincoln, NE

A guy I know at a dealer in Lincoln was telling awhile back that there was this place that he really liked in the city that served a good burger.  It's evidently owned by a farm family who raises their own beef not only to serve at their restaurant, but at other restaurants around the Omaha and Lincoln area.  On a recent visit out to Lincoln, I decided to stop into HF Crave and have one of their burgers.  

In 1901, Isaac and Rachel Hollenbeck left St. Joseph, MO and homesteaded a farm on federal ground about 20 miles east of Lincoln.  They farmed the land and raised Hereford cattle.  Issac and Rachel passed the farm along to their son Don who, in turn, eventually passed the farm along to his son Myron.  

In 1992, Myron Hollenbeck and his son Myron, Jr. - known to all as J.R. - started to do an artificial breeding technique that would create a herd of genetically superior cattle known as Maine-Anjou.  Maine-Anjou cattle originated in France and was registered in the United States in 1969.   There are about 20,000 head of Maine-Anjou in the U.S. and most - if not all - are bred for beef consumption.  The Hollenbeck's cattle were range-free and grass-fed with no injected antibiotics, steroids or hormones.

Now the fourth generation Hollenbeck at Hollenbeck Farms, JR and his then-wife Marcy started marketing Hollenbeck Farms All Natural Beef in 2005 in frozen packs at farmers markets and local grocery stores around Nebraska, often grilling burgers on site at local events for people to try.  It wasn't long before restaurants took notice and a number of places started to use Hollenbeck beef on their menus.  When the Twisted Cork Bistro in Omaha was named as having the best burger in the state of Nebraska by the Food Network in 2009, they said that their main secret was using Hollenbeck Farms beef.  (Click here to read about the Road Tips visit to try a burger at the Twisted Cork.)  

By 2010, the Hollenbeck's began to look more in depth at the burgeoning gourmet burger market and came up with an idea called the Better Burger concept that they would use to highlight the beef they sold to stores in a restaurant setting.  They looked for a spot to open their restaurant and found an opening in a strip mall on Lincoln's far south side that used to house an Indian restaurant.  HF Crave opened in the summer of 2011.  Partners in the business at the beginning, J.R. and Marcy Hollenbeck eventually divorced in 2015.  

HF Crave is located along Pine Lake Road as it intersects with S. 27th St. across from the SouthPointe Pavilions shopping district.  (see map)   It's counter service at HF Crave with the menu hanging on the wall behind the front counter.   They had a dozen signature burgers to choose from including a smoked bacon, cheddar cheese and ancho chile barbecue sauce burger, a pepper-crusted patty topped with cheddar cheese, onion strings and steak sauce, and for the really hungry they had the Barnyard Massacre burger that featured three-8 ounce burger patties, topped with 3 eggs, ham, bacon and six slices of cheese.  And it also comes with a pound of fries.  It's also a "food challenge" burger as for those who finish the burger and fries in 25 minutes they'll get a gift certificate, a t-shirt and their picture up on a "wall of fame" at HF Crave.  

The dining area at HF Crave is what I would call contemporary industrial.  The space was narrow, but open.  The booths were basic wood benches while the chairs at the various tables were a heavy metal.  And they weren't very comfortable.  HF Crave definitely didn't want their patrons to linger after eating as the seats were pretty hard.

When I placed my order at the counter, I went with the "build-your-own burger".  When I stepped up to the register to order, I told the young lady that I wanted to build my own burger.  "You don't want one of our specialty burgers," she asked.  Uh, no.  Sorry.  She then proceeded to tell me that she was new and she really didn't know the procedure for the build-your-own burger.  I had to point out to her that it was a five-step process - 1) select the type of meat you want (HF burger, chicken breast, portobello mushroom or veggie burger), then 2) select what kind of bun you wanted.  Step 3 was to choose the type of cheese you wanted on the burger from a list of seven different types of cheese, then the fourth step was to choose the type of veggies or condiments you wanted on the burger.  (Interestingly, mustard and ketchup was not made available as a choice.)  The final step was the "extras" such as smoked bacon, a fried egg, guacamole, onion straws or an extra patty - all for a price.  

I placed my order for my burger - a Swiss cheese burger on a brioche bun with bacon, sautéed mushrooms, red onion slices and dill pickles.  She was having trouble figuring out what to push on the point-of-sale register to get my burger made up.  I thought, "Oh, boy.  This could be interesting."  When I ordered up a bottle of the Omission pale ale, she excitedly remarked before she handed it to me, "This beer is gluten free?  Really?  I'm into gluten free foods.  I didn't know you could get beer that was gluten free!"  Geez, come on!  Just give me the beer and let me go sit down!

As I was sitting there, one of the guys came out of the kitchen and came to talk to me.  He asked me questions about my burger - what exactly did I order and did I not want fries with the burger.  I let him know what I had ordered and, no, I didn't want any fries.  But I became more and more concerned as it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time to get my single burger out to me.  After about 20 minutes after I ordered, another guy from the kitchen brought it out to me.

Well, someone screwed up.  It didn't have the bacon - for which I paid extra - or the Swiss cheese on the burger.  By this time, I was so disgusted by the experience that I just wanted to eat what I had and get out of there.  Once again, there was no ketchup or mustard on the table and there was only some ketchup in a dispenser in the corner for fries.  I got some ketchup out of that and put some on my burger since it didn't have the bacon or Swiss cheese on it.  

The chargrilled burger was thick and juicy, something that I've found is tough to do for some places who chargrill their burgers over direct flame.  It did have a good taste to the meat, but I was still somewhat discouraged by the lack of the cheese and bacon they forgot to put on the burger.  The brioche bun was lightly toasted and was spongy.  It held together very well with the juiciness of the burger.  The sautéed mushrooms were tasty, the red onion slices were very fresh and forward tasting, and the dill pickles had a great vinegary taste.  Yeah, it was a good burger, but they really screwed it up for me.  

Sometimes bad experiences in restaurants puts a sour taste in my mouth.  Psychologically, it doesn't make the food taste any better when they screw up my order.  And that's exactly what happened on my visit to HF Crave.  I can't give the new girl at the counter a pass, nor can I give a pass to the cook who came out to confirm the toppings on my burger.  They still left off the Swiss cheese and the bacon - and I paid extra for the bacon.  It was a good tasting burger, but it would have been better with the toppings I had ordered.  I wish my experience would have been better at HF Crave.  I really don't know if I would go back to see if they could get it right a second time.  

Stacked Burger Bar - St. Louis

"So, let me get this straight," a friend of mine from St. Louis was asking me one night over the phone.  "How many times do you come to St. Louis each year?"  I told him four or five times.  "And you've never been to Stacked?"  I admitted that I hadn't.  He chastised me for my oversight and told me that the next time I came to the city that I needed to go there to get one of their burgers.  "They're the best in St. Louis," he said as he admonished me.  I promised him that I would give Stacked Burger Bar a try.  And on a trip to St. Louis earlier this year, I was able to stop in.  

Matt Windisch and Sam Siebenman grew up in the Carondelet neighborhood on the south side of St. Louis which dates back to 1767.  After graduating from St. Mary's High School in St. Louis, Windisch went on to Webster University in the St. Louis suburb of Webster Grove and Siebenman went to school at Missouri State University in Springfield.   Both took different paths in college - Siebenman was a business major at Missouri State, while Windisch was an audio production and engineering major at Webster.  Windisch was also a standout soccer player at Webster and a drummer who toured from time to time with other musicians.  

After graduating from their respective colleges, Siebenman and Windisch decided to open a small bar along Ivory Ave. near the "Ivory Triangle" of shops, bars and restaurants in Carondelet.  The two young men opened the S&M Bar and Grill in 2012, but less than a year later a larger spot that used to house the Ivory Coast Bistro just up Ivory Ave. became available.  The two recruited chef Laura Borghardt to come up with a cuisine plan which included a number of featured gourmet burgers and ones that customers could design with various toppings and condiments.  Stacked Burger Bar opened for business in late June of 2013.   (Stacked in St. Louis is not affiliated with Stack'd Burger Bar in Milwaukee, a place Road Tips visited in the summer of 2012.) 

It was around 1:30 when I got into St. Louis and was able to find Stacked at the corner of Ivory and Schirmer Streets.  (see map)  I parked just south of the restaurant on Schirmer and went in.  The front part of the place was smallish, but well-lit from the natural daytime lighting.  Classic 80's rock music was playing at moderate levels throughout the room.  There is evidently another room toward the back of the place for additional seating.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by Jamie, a pleasant young lady who dropped off a menu for me.  She asked what I would like to drink and I saw that they had the Schlafly pale ale from an ever changing selection of tap beers.  I got one of those while I looked through the menu.   

They had a list of about a dozen signature burgers on the menu.  Stacked sources the beef for their burgers from Boeckmann Family Farms, a turkey, beef and pork farm in central Missouri.  Their South Poll Beef is grass-fed and naturally raised on the Boeckmann farm.  (The South Poll breed of cattle was developed in the early 1990's by Teddy Gentry, the bass player in the famous country band Alabama.)  Some of the burgers were pretty interesting - the Wet Nap featured a burger patty topped with chopped barbecued brisket, a three-cheese sauce, and crispy onion straws.  The En Fuego burger was topped with a combination of pepperjack cheese, roasted corn guacamole, fried breaded jalapeños, and a chipotle aioli.  They had a goat cheese burger, a BLT burger and some health-conscious burgers featuring ground turkey or a black bean burger.  

They also had some interesting appetizers on the menu including mac and cheese balls - homemade mac and cheese, breaded and deep fried; guacamole bites that featured a roasted corn/guacamole mix that are wrapped in wontons and lightly fried; and a roasted red pepper hummus served with pita bread and veggies.  Stacked also had a handful of salads on their menu, as well.  

Not on the menu, but on the bar in front of me was a small pad with "Think You Can Do It Better?" at the top.  It allowed customers to build their own burgers first choosing the type of patty for your burger, then you choose from different variations of buns or bread (or no bun or bread).  From there, you can go hog wild by choosing 9 different types of cheese, a handful of veggies (lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions), and a number of different sauces and mustards.  For a slight upcharge from 50 cents to a dollar, you can go even more crazy with toppings such as bacon, slaw, pickled veggies, roasted tomatoes, artisan jams, and chili.  I checked off a number of items on the list and handed it to Jamie.  It took about 15 minutes for my burger to come out to me.  

I ended up building my own burger with grass-fed ground chuck beef, cooked medium.  On it, I got pickles, red onions, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed red peppers, bacon and a slice of pepperjack cheese.  It all came on a brioche bun with a side of fries.

The burger was thick and juicy and the brioche bun was light and spongy.  The burger patty was covered with a thick slice of the pepperjack cheese.  It sat on the sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, the dill pickle slices and a slice of what turned out to be a very fresh red onion.  Thick smoked bacon criss-crossed the burger patty.  

From the first bite, I went, "Mmmm..."  With each bite, I could tell this was a fabulous burger.  The burger patty was flavorful and even with all the stuff on the burger, I could get a great beef taste with each bite.  The burger was overly juicy and I used a number of napkins as I made my way through the burger.  The brioche bun held together very well with the messiness of all that was going on with the burger.  This was an outstanding burger.  

Usually, I don't have many of the fries - especially with a big burger like the one at Stacked.  But on the condiment caddy they had a spicy ketchup that I tried on a couple of the fries.  The taste literally knocked my socks off.  It had the basic sweetness of ketchup but had a wonderful spiciness on the backside of the taste that had me wanting more.  I asked Jamie about the spicy ketchup and she said they made it in house.  "It's basically a mixture of sriracha sauce and ketchup," she told me.  "I don't know the exact measurements.  But it's good, isn't it?"  Oh, God!  It was great!  I almost stole the bottle of spicy ketchup to take with me.  

A day or two later, I called my buddy in St. Louis and told him that I went to Stacked for a burger.  "You didn't let me know you were coming in town," he whined into his phone.  "Well, that's all right - I was out of town all week."  I thanked my friend for turning me on to what was an excellent burger at Stacked.  Everything about the burger was outstanding - the moist and juicy grass-fed beef patty was cooked to a perfect medium.  The fresh and tasty toppings such as the sautéed mushrooms and red peppers, the very fresh red onion slices, the thick cut smoked bacon and the thick slice of the pepperjack cheese all contributed to a wonderful overall taste of the burger.  The spongy brioche bun that held together very well in what was a multi-napkin burger was the perfect choice, as well.  And I would be remiss in not mentioning the spicy sriracha ketchup that was some of the best ketchup I've ever tasted.  I think I just found a new favorite burger joint in St. Louis in Stacked.  

Moody's Pub - Chicago

Last summer, I saw a post from a friend on Facebook where he said he was having adult beverages at the outdoor beer garden at Moody's Pub in Chicago.  I asked him later on what he knew about the place.  "Best beer garden in the city in the summertime," he told me.  "And they have excellent burgers."  I put Moody's on my "Restaurants to Visit" list and while in Chicago awhile back, I was able to stop in and have lunch at Moody's Pub.  

Moody's Pub dates back nearly 60 years when partners John Kahoun and Ray Zago opened their little tavern on North Ave. just west of where the new Northwest Expressway (now the Kennedy Expressway) was being built.  The place was named after Kahoun's maternal grandmother who had a farm in Iowa.  After that place burned down, Kahoun and Zago moved to a new location further east on North at Larabee Ave. in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.  

After a second fire caused Moody's Pub to close in 1967, John Kahoun bought three parcels of land along N. Broadway that were formerly used car lots and had a new building built to house the new Moody's Pub.  Kahoun had a buddy from college design the building complete with the signature high arch over the front door.  An apartment over the pub housed the Kahoun family for a number of years.  

Kahoun built the bar and the booths in the place, as well as building the fireplaces that were a signature part of Moody's Pub.  And once the new Moody's Pub opened in 1969, Kahoun purposely kept the lights low so that people would have a feeling of intimacy.  

With a wrought iron fence around the property, Kahoun put in a beer garden - an idea he got when he was in the service in Germany and a holdover from his second location - and it became a hit with the Edgewater neighborhood residents and with students at nearby Loyola University.   Business was so good at the new pub that within six months Kahoun was able to pay off the loan he took out to start the place.  Moody's Pub has been going strong ever since relying upon an affordable menu that Kahoun once said was "recession-proof".  Now into his 80's, Kahoun turned the reins of Moody's Pub over to his son, Jake, a number of years ago.  

It was around 1:30 when I pulled up to Moody's Pub on a cold and cloudy day.  (see map)  I was able to find on-street parking just around the corner from Moody's and went inside.  I found a place with wooden beams across the ceiling and a combination of wood, stucco and brick along the walls.  Now, when they say they keep the lights low for an intimate atmosphere, they aren't kidding.  Even with using my flash to take pictures, the place was still dark, to say the least.  I don't know how one could get a feeling of intimacy with the lights that low, unless you were going to neck with your sweetheart in the place.  I had to use the flashlight app on my smart phone just to look through the menu

There were two fireplaces burning brightly in the place giving it somewhat of a cozy atmosphere.  But with even the lighting level so low in the place, the flicker of the fire was evident in the back of the restaurant.  I took a seat near the back fireplace and picked up a menu to look through.  My server for the day - Eduardo - came over to greet me and asked what I would like to drink.  I was sort of surprised to see a lack of selections for draft beers.  They did have Anchor Steam on tap and I got one of those.  However, the beer that was served to me was a little warm and a little flat in taste.  

I did take a gander out into the beer garden that, of course, was closed up for the winter months.  What I saw were a pile of tables and chairs pushed together in a corner and a number of trees with small brick walls around them in a courtyard.  I found this picture on the Moody's Pub web site and saw why my friend likes going to their beer garden in the summer time.  With leafy trees and an inviting space that defies the fact that its in the heart of a major metropolis, it's easy to see why Moody's is such a popular place in the warm months.  

Burgers rule the roost on the menu at Moody's Pub.  But they also have other sandwiches such as a grilled chicken breast, a fried fish sandwich, and even Moody's own Sloppy Joe sandwich.  They also have a couple steaks on the menu, as well as pork chops, chicken, fish and fried shrimp.  

I ended up with the Moody Burger - a half-pound beef patty cooked over an open-flame grill that is next to the bar area.  I asked Eduardo to add some Swiss cheese and sautéed mushrooms to the burger.  It was presented to me open-faced with a gob of sliced mushrooms on top of a burger that was blanketed in Swiss cheese.  I leaf of lettuce and a tomato slice came with the burger, but I discarded them and put the sesame-seeded crown on top of the burger.  A large side of fries came with the burger, too many for me to even think about eating all of them.    

The burger was big, thick and juicy.  For a flame-grilled burger, it had a wonderful taste and it was not overcooked at all.  The bun was spongy and held together very well with all the juices coming out of the burger.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.   The taste of the Swiss cheese was prevalent in each bite and the sautéed mushrooms had that great earthy flavor that went very well with the burger.  My buddy was right - this was certainly an excellent burger.  

Established in 1959 and at their N. Broadway location for nearly 50 years, Moody's Pub was one of those great finds for an excellent burger served in an old-world pub setting.  I was sort of dismayed with the selections of beer on tap and the Anchor Steam was a little warm and a little flat in taste, but I couldn't complain about my burger or the large quantity of very good fries that came it.  The service was prompt and efficient, and the atmosphere was, well, dark.  But I guess that's part of Moody's allure and one that's been a winning combination along with their burgers for years.  I may have to go back in the Summertime to spend some time in their beer garden.  

The Cider House - Fairfield, IA

Earlier this week, the Iowa Beef Industry Council in conjunction with the Iowa Cattlemen's Association named their "Best Burger in Iowa" for 2017.  That was awarded to Smokin' Hereford BBQ in Storm Lake for their 8 ounce hand-pattied flame-broiled Hereford beef burger which means I'll have to stop there sometime in the near future to give that burger a try and post about it on Road Tips.  In the meantime, there have been 7 previous winners that date back to 2010.  Up to a few weeks ago, I had visited all of them except for one, the Cider House in Fairfield.  On a recent warm Saturday afternoon, my wife and I made the pilgrimage to Fairfield to try the Cider House burger.  

The concept for the Cider House began with two couples who were good friends - Clint Stephenson and Hopi James, and Cole Fishback and Annalisa Thompson.  One of the hobbies the couples had was making hard apple cider, usually during times that they were cooking burgers on the backyard grill.  Friends would come over to try the cider and to enjoy a burger made from locally-raised beef.  Once during a cookout with friends, Stephenson, James, Fishback and Thompson decided that they needed to open their own burger place in Fairfield - a place where people other than their friends could try the cider and burgers they were making at home.  

The group found an old building that used to house Ron's Barber Shop west of the square in Fairfield.  With the help of local wood and metal craftsmen they spent months gutting and renovating the building into a small restaurant, and in October of 2014 they opened the Cider House.  The group then began to produce and market their signature cider simply called Fishback and Stephenson.  

(Pictured at right - Clint Stephenson, Hopi James, Annalisa Thompson and Cole Fishback.  Picture courtesy Fairfield Ledger.)

Using fresh ground beef sourced from Tony Adrian, an old friend of Stephenson's, the Cider House burgers were getting rave reviews.  (Ironically, Stephenson was a vegetarian before he started making burgers with Adrian Family Farms beef).  The cattle at Adrian Family Farms are grass-fed, then finish with a steady diet of corn.  Less than six months after they opened, they were nominated for the Best Burger in Iowa contest and were named finalists in March.  They were subsequently named the winner of the contest in May of 2015.

The Cider House is located on N. 2nd St. on the west side of Fairfield's downtown area.  (see map)  They open at 4 p.m. (closed Sunday and Monday) and we got there around 5:30 p.m.  There's a parking lot across the street, but it was full.  We ended up finding street parking on E. Briggs Ave. and walked the short block to the restaurant.

The Cider House is not a large place.  It may seat 50 people and that may be a stretch.  There's a front area when you first come in that has tables and the bar area.  The walls were made from reclaimed barn boards.  It was cozy, but not really cramped.  

The bar area was pretty nice.  It was a full bar that featured a number of liquors and libations including artisan beers and, of course, a selection of hard apple ciders including the Fishback and Stephenson hard cider.  Clint Stephenson was tending bar and holding court with a small group of patrons seated at the bar that evening.  

We were greeted by Hopi James and she asked if we wanted to wait for a table to open in the front, eat on the deck or have a seat in the backroom.  It was a warm and windy day, but also rather dusty in the air.  We decided to sit in the back.  

The back room wasn't all that big - I think there was seating for 18 people in there.  And it, too, was cozy - probably too cozy.  We estimated that our bedroom at home was bigger than this room.  I wouldn't say that we were on top of other tables, but we were in very close proximity making it somewhat like community dining.   

Hopi dropped off a couple menus for us and it wasn't long before one of the other owners, Annalisa Thompson, came over to greet us.  I ordered up a Stone IPA that they had and my wife had a glass of the house Malbec wine.  

The menu isn't big at the Cider House - it featured six burgers (seven, if you count the vegetarian burger), as well as a handful of appetizers including chicken wings, sautéed green beans, and a Jewish rye cheddar and American grilled cheese sandwich with housemade pickles and housemade pickled jalapeños.  Sides included thrice-flashed French fries and a housemade potato salad.  Their signature burger is the Das Kraut burger that's topped with sauerkraut, grilled pineapple, pickled jalapeños and Swiss cheese.  

I ended up getting the bacon/American cheese burger with a side of fries.  The burger was on a toasted sesame seed bun and served in a waxed paper basket.  I got a side of both the housemade pickles and jalapeños with the burger.  (It said on the menu that there was an upcharge for extras for the burger, but I didn't seem to get charged for the jalapeños.)  I would have liked to have gotten some mushrooms to go on the burger, but they didn't offer mushrooms on any of their burgers which was a bit disheartening to me.  

The burger was flat-grilled and much smaller than the bun. It was topped with a couple small pieces of applewood-smoked bacon and curiously just a single slice of American cheese that wasn't melted onto the burger.  

My wife had the Barber Shop Special burger - named after the business that used to be in the building that now houses the Cider House.  It, too, came on a toasted sesame seed bun and was topped with caramelized onions, a caper aioli, and Boetje's mustard.  For her side, she got a shaved carrot salad that was mixed in olive oil with fennel seed, red onions and parsley.  

The 6.5 ounce burger is cooked medium-rare - unless you ask for it prepared another way. It looked pretty rare both in person and in the picture below.  But the leanness of the beef held it together very well and it didn't have that uncooked hamburger taste or messiness that you sometimes get from an undercooked burger.  It was like they had taken a tenderloin filet and ground it into burger meat.  

The burger may have been small on the bun, but it was thick.  As the beef was very lean, it wasn't all that juicy - sort of like bison meat.  But it had a good burger flavor to it.  I was sort of amazed at how well it stayed together for a medium-rare cooked burger.  The quality of the beef was outstanding giving the burger an equally superb taste.  The pickles had a great vinegar taste, and the pickled jalapeños - while not all that hot - gave the burger a bit of spicy bite.  

Now, I know that some people are starting to detest others who take pictures of their food in restaurants, something I try to be discrete in doing.  But the room was darkish and I needed to change to the flash feature on my phone camera.  I was taking some pictures of our burgers when a lady at the larger table in the small room remarked in somewhat snarky manner to her dining partners, "Maybe we should take pictures of our nearly eaten burgers."  Because of the close proximity of the tables, what was supposed to be a table joke for them was pretty much broadcast around the room.  My wife shot the lady a glance that reminded me of the look she gives me when I do something something stupid in public.  It was another reminder of just why I married this woman nearly 23 years ago.  

The larger party got up and left - I believe they were on motorcycles as there were a number of them parked across the street in the lot as it was a nice day - albeit a little breezy - to ride.  We were talking with an older couple next to us and the lady told us that they lived about 30 miles away and had never been to the Cider House before.  "My niece works at the one who won the best burger contest in 2013," she told us.  

I said, "The Chop House in Mediapolis?  That place has been closed for a couple years."  

"No, she works for the Front Street Grille in Keosaqua," she replied.  I told her that while I had heard of the Front Street Grille, they certainly didn't win it in 2013.  "Well, maybe it was 2014," she said.  

No, that would have been the Brick City Grill up in Ames.  "The one in Keosaqua has been named one of the 10 finalists a couple times, but has never won it,"  I explained to her that I had a restaurant/travel blog and I had now eaten at all seven (up to that time) of the Best Burger winners in Iowa.  She asked what my favorite one was.  I told her that while I could tell her that a couple of the winners I had a really hard time believing that they were even finalists, let alone winners.  I said, "I like the Rusty Duck out in Dexter and Brick City Grill very much, but I have to say that this is an outstanding burger on its own."  

Another older couple had just been seated at the other table in the room when we conversing with the first couple and the man chimed in that they were from Fairfield and had never been to the Cider House before.  "We've always heard this place had a good hamburger," he told us.  

My wife said, "I don't think you'll be disappointed."  

Now having tried all seven of the Best Burger winners in Iowa (2010-2016), I would have to say that the Cider House is more than worthy of their 2015 honor.  The burger meat was lean and very flavorful, and we thought the whole meal was a pretty good value.  $12 bucks for a gourmet burger and a side, $4.00 for a bottle of Stone IPA (usually a buck or two more in other places), and $6.00 for glass of a good Malbec wine.  Fairfield is sort of off the beaten path, but if you're in the area Tuesday thru Saturday after 4 p.m. I would highly recommend stopping in to try one of the burgers at the Cider House.  

Daddy Ray Burgers - Dardenne Prairie, MO

I was in Indianapolis earlier this year and I was talking with one of my dealers telling him I was going from there to St. Louis.  "Oh, man," he exclaimed.  "We delivered some stuff to a customer over on the far west side of St. Louis a couple years ago and there's a place out there that has the best burgers in the world!"  He couldn't remember the name of the place, so he called to one of his colleagues in the back and asked what the name was of the great burger place over in St. Louis they had eaten at weeks before.  "Daddy Ray Burgers," is what I heard from the backroom.  Immediately putting that on my "Restaurants to Visit" list on Google Maps, it turned out that I wasn't far from Daddy Ray Burgers when I finished a recent Friday morning meeting with a dealer on the far west side of St. Louis.  

The "Daddy Ray" behind Daddy Ray Burgers was the fun-loving Ray Morris who came up with a secret blend of beef and spices to make his burgers for family and friends starting back in the early 1960's.  Ray Morris had grown up in St. Louis, the son of a factory watchman who didn't make a lot of money during the height of the Great Depression.  Ray eventually made it through a technical high school and graduated from Washington University before joining the armed forces as a radio operator during World War II.  

After the war, Morris answered an ad for a company who was looking for someone who was "good with numbers" and he joined the Pet Milk Company in St. Louis and in a few short weeks was named the company's advertising product manager.  Morris rose through the ranks at Pet eventually becoming President of Pet's Grocery Group.  In 1984, Morris was named the CEO of Pet following a hostile takeover by the conglomerate ICI Corporation (whose name later was changed to the Whitman Corp. which later became PepsiCo) and was in charge of some selling off some of Pet's properties and making acquisitions such as Progresso soups.  Pet expanded internationally under Morris' watch until he retired in 1989.    

When Ray Morris passed away in 2010, he passed along his burger recipe to his family to use however they wished.  His grandson, Jason Boergadine, had restaurant experience as his mother and step-father owned an upscale restaurant in the Lake of the Ozarks region while he was growing up, then the family owned a dueling piano bar/restaurant in California about 10 to 12 years ago.  With his grandfather's secret burger recipe in hand, Boergadine opened Daddy Ray Burgers in what was a former custard stand along Veterans Memorial Parkway in O'Fallon, MO in September 2012.  

The original Daddy Ray Burgers was a carry-out only establishment with a drive-up window and a couple three picnic tables in front of the building.  Boergadine did a delivery business for Daddy Ray's during this time period.  But business suffered when the cold months came around and Boergadine went looking for a new spot for Daddy Ray Burgers that had indoor seating.  He found a spot next to a Mobil gas station in Dardenne Prairie on the far western side of St. Louis in the summer of 2015.  He opened his new location along the South Outer Road along Missouri Highway 364 at the Bryan Road exit in September 2015.  (see map) 

Daddy Ray Burgers was a nice little space, well-lit and bright with red and yellow accents.  The whimsical logo of Ray Morris was prominent on the east wall of the place.  The chairs and tables gave the place a 50's diner feeling.  The kitchen is in the far back with plexiglas windows between the grill and the dining area.  There's a pick-up lane for phone-ahead orders on the side of the building and it seemed to getting a lot of use going unto the noon hour.  Walking from my car to the front door, I could easily smell the smoky beef aroma of burgers getting grilled.

The menu at Daddy Ray Burgers hangs from a corner above the order counter.  It's a basic menu consisting of burgers, chicken sandwiches, a BLT, hot dogs, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a turkey burger for the health conscious.  Sides include fries, onion straws, chili cheese nachos, sweet potato waffle fries and a family recipe cole slaw.  

The burgers all start out with 5 ounce patties - with the exception of the "Classic" burger which features a thicker 9 ounce beef patty - and you can add a second or third patty to make it a nearly 1 pound burger.  For the adventuresome, Daddy Ray's will make you a burger consisting of four - 9 ounce patties with all the toppings.  Seven different types of cheese are available as well as a number of free toppings including lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayo or ranch dressing.  For an upcharge, items such as bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried jalapeños, and onion straws can be added.

I ended up a double Daddy Ray burger topped with Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, onion slices, pickles, ketchup and yellow mustard.  Daddy Ray Burgers get their fresh-baked buns from Fazio's Bakery, one of the oldest in St. Louis.  All burgers are made to order and it took about 10 to 15 minutes to have my burger made. 

The burger was served on a piece of wax paper in a basket.  It stood tall and majestic in the basket with a split-top bun on top.  The burger patties were char-grilled over a gas-grill and crispy on the outside.  The burger turned out to be good, juicy and flavorful.  I prefer a flat-grilled burger over a char-grilled burger, mainly because most char-grilled burgers are over-cooked.  But the burger patties had a bit of pink in the middle and the only thing charred on the burger were the outer shells of the patties.  About the only quibble I had was that the bun wasn't toasted.  It held together all right, but it seemed a little dry and lifeless.  

The burger at Daddy Ray Burgers was good, as in above-average good.  I can't call it the best burger I ever had, but it was good enough.  I can see where some people really like the burgers at Daddy Ray Burgers, but it didn't really trip my trigger like it did the guys who told me - and raved - about the place.  It's much better than fast food burgers, but Daddy Ray's is just a step or two above average in my book.

The Flippin' Cow - Elkhart, IN

I was staying at a hotel off Interstate 80 in the Elkhart area one night as I was going to be seeing a local dealer in the morning.  I really didn't want to eat at the hotel, and there was a restaurant that was walking distance from the hotel that didn't really appeal to me.  I started to do some on-line searches for places in the immediate area and I found a place with an interesting name just up the road from the hotel - the Flippin' Cow.  It sounded fun and I thought I go give it a shot.  

Cam Snyder is a local restaurateur who bought the Lakeshore Grill in 2002.  From there, he opened the Chubby Trout, a steak and seafood joint, in February of 2006.  In March of 2011, Snyder took over what was the second location of a restaurant by the name of Michael's Italian Restaurant and renamed it Fat Tomato.  Snyder ran Fat Tomato for a year and a half before he sold it to his chef Bill O'Brien.  (Fat Tomato closed in November of 2014 after business suffered due to road construction in front of the building.)  

Meanwhile, Snyder and his son, Ryan, came up with a new concept for the Lakeshore Grill - a hand-crafted burger place.  They closed the Lakeshore Grill after Thanksgiving weekend in 2012, then reopened the Flippin' Cow in December of that year.  

(Last summer, Snyder closed the original Chubby Trout restaurant and moved it to what was an old barn on the north side of Elkhart that originally housed D'Antini Italian Restaurant, then it was a breakfast place by the name of Golden Egg Pancake House.  It turned out the Chubby Trout was the restaurant within walking distance from my hotel that I wasn't interested in trying that evening.)  

The Flippin' Cow is located on the west end of Simonton Lake on State Road 19 about a half-mile south of the Indiana/Michigan state line.  (see map)  The parking lot was not that large and there were a lot of cars in the lot.  Thanks to someone who was leaving when I pulled in I was able to find a single spot.  (I'm guessing that in the summer time they have a large dock that accommodates boaters on the lake.)

In front of the door going into the building is a life-size statue of a Holstein cow.  I rubbed its nose, then I walked into a place that seemed sort of cozy, but had a summertime vibe to it.  A mural of a blue sky, a beach, palm trees and water was painted across the ceiling.  It had a sort of a cabin-type decor along the walls. I first found a high metal table, but it was wobbly.  The people who had just left were seated in a booth and once they cleaned off the tabletop, I moved over there.  

There's a four-seasons room between the main dining area and the lake just off the building.  It featured picnic table-type seating in a room that was surrounded by windows.  A small deck for outside seating was off to the side of this dining room.  I took a mental note to come back sometime when the weather was nicer to see what this place looked like.

The place was packed with people playing "Opinion".  From listening to the M.C., from what I gathered is that groups of people were polled and their answers were the basis of questions like "What's the all-time Best Movie Sequel?" or "What's the Most Recognized Hotel Chain?"  And then teams of players would submit their answers to match up against the top 3 answers of the opinion groups.  I believe the top answer would get the players 5 points, the second top opinion answer would get 3 points if you picked that one, and the third one would get a team 1 point.  (For the record, the top movie sequel was Godfather II, a no-brainer in my book.  But the most recognized hotel chain?  I guessed Holiday Inn, but the M.C. told the crowd that the opinion group said it was Hilton.  Now, I almost exclusively stay in Hilton properties, but I probably would have even picked Super 8 over Hilton.)  

While all this was going one, my server had come over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  Her name was Kristen, a friendly young lady who was effervescent and outgoing.  She was telling me of a couple house beers they had on tap - Cam Snyder is also somewhat of a brewer who has his beers brewed at the Mountain Town Brewing Co. in Mt. Pleasant, MI.  I ended up getting a Bell's Two Hearted Ale in a 25 ounce glass.  

The menu at the Flippin' Cow is, of course, burger-centric with a number of signature burgers including the Stella Moo - a double-patties burger topped with smoked brisket, jalapeño bacon, onion straws, pepper jack cheese and BBQ sauce on a toasted wheat brioche bun.  They also had the Maui Wowie - two steak patties cooked in teriyaki glaze, then topped with Swiss cheese and a grilled pineapple slice and served on a toasted sweet pretzel bun.  The one that I immediately said "NO!" to was the Hunka Hunka Love burger - two patties topped with peanut butter, jalapeño jelly, melted pepper jack cheese and smoked bacon, served on a toasted pretzel bun.  Actually, that burger sounded good without the peanut butter.

In addition to burgers, the Flippin' Cow featured a number of sandwiches including a smoked brisket sandwich; a "grown-up" grilled cheese sandwich with three different types of cheese, bacon and a tomato slice; and an open-faced strip steak sandwich smothered in grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms.  Appetizers included pretzel sticks, deep-fried pickles, and mojos - sliced deep-fried potatoes with a dusting of some spices.  Evidently mojos were big in Elkhart back when Shakey's Pizza Parlors were proliferating the restaurant landscape across America.  

And for the people who can't handle burgers or deep-fried foods, the Flippin' Cow also has salads and wraps.  But the most sinful thing on the menu was the "Not yo Mama's" Mac & Cheese.  It featured a mixture of three cheeses baked with macaroni noodles and topped with cheddar cheese.  You could add Buffalo chicken and a blue cheese topping or get the Bacon-Cheeseburger mac & cheese that was topped with crumbled bacon and ground steak beef.  

Most of the crowd had filtered out by the time Kristen brought my burger out to me - which was fine with me.  I ordered up the "Build-Your-Own" burger with two ground steak patties and had it topped with pepper jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and a couple slices of bacon on a potato bun.  The presentation wasn't fancy - the burger was served in a basket with wax paper underneath.  But I wasn't thinking anything was going to be too fancy at the Flippin' Cow.  

I'm glad I got the double burger as the patties start out as 5 ounce ground steak and are cooked on a flat-top grill.  The patties were thin, but still juicy.  The pepper jack cheese was slathered on the burger patties and it gave the burger a bit of a spicy taste.  The sliced mushrooms appeared to be fresh and along with the bacon gave the overall taste of the burger a very enjoyable flavor. 

For my side that evening, Kristen sold me on the loaded tater tots.  The tots were topped with a cheddar cheese sauce, chopped jalapeños and real bacon bits.  The loaded tots were just outstanding.  I usually don't eat potatoes all that much when I'm out at restaurants, but these were simply wonderful.  I complemented Kristen for her recommendation.  

It was a very good burger at the Flippin' Cow.  The double ground steak patty topped with the pepper jack cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon on a potato bun was definitely well above average for a burger.  But the loaded tater tots were simply outstanding.  It was a nice, laid-back atmosphere that probably only gets better during the summer months when boaters are hooked up to the docks for burgers and brews at the Flippin' Cow.  Winter or summer, the Flippin' Cow is a good place to stop for a good burger and a good choice of beers.  (Photo courtesy Flippin' Cow Facebook page.)

 

Maxie's Restaurant & Lounge - West Des Moines

Every once in a while, I'll forget that I've been to a place until I come across some pictures I've loaded onto my computer from previous trips.  One Saturday morning not long ago, I was going through a file of pictures and came across a number of shots from a visit I had to Maxie's Restaurant in West Des Moines, IA.  I thought, "Holy crap!  I forgot all about going to Maxie's!"  I don't know how I could have, given that I had one of their famous Maxie Burgers on that visit.  Here's my story of going to Maxie's.

As the logo on the left says, Maxie's has been around for 50 years serving steaks, seafood, chops, pasta and sandwiches.  Named after patriarch Max Glenn who founded the restaurant, the Glenn family were the longtime owners before Max's son Jim sold Maxie's in 2006.  However, the family was forced to take the restaurant back a couple three years later.  Jim Glenn continues to run Maxie's today.  

It was around 1:30 one afternoon when I got into Maxie's.  It's located along Grand Ave. in West Des Moines in a windowless, nondescript brick building that doesn't really look like a restaurant from the outside.  (see map)  I was met by a young lady at the hostess stand who took me into the dining room and put me into a booth on the step up platform along the wall.  She gave me a menu and I ordered a beer while I looked to see what I wanted to eat. 

The dining room was kind of nice with soft lighting and pictures of classic cars were highlighted along the wall.  It was a mix of young and old in the dining room having lunch that day.  

Now, I had eaten at Maxie's before - it was over 20 years ago when I was being interviewed for a sales position with a manufacturer based in West Des Moines.  (I was offered the position, but the pay was so low that I didn't take the job.)  I don't remember much from that visit other than almost spitting out my sandwich when I was offered the job and told how much the starting pay would be.  

I had been told about the Maxieburger by someone a number of years ago and I had been hoping to get in to have one at some point.  I pretty much knew I wanted to try a Maxieburger, but I wanted to look through the lunch menu to see what else might catch my eye.  The lunch menu at Maxie's is more condensed than the dinner menu, but they have a number of salads, pasta dishes and sandwiches - the Maxie's Italian sausage grinder particularly grabbed my attention.  But I decided on getting the Maxieburger.

The Maxieburger starts out with 1/2 pound of blended beef and it comes on a lightly-toasted bun.  I got the mushroom and Swiss cheese Maxieburger along with a side of Maxie's famous onion rings.  Raw onion slices and dill pickles came with the burger.  

The burger was fabulous.  It was thick and juicy with a great beef flavor that came through the Swiss cheese and earthy sliced sautéed mushrooms.  The bun was light and spongy and held together very well with the juiciness of the burger.  The Maxieburger was as good as advertised in my book.  

But the highlight of the meal were the onion rings.  Named the "Best in Des Moines" for a number of years by a local magazine , the onion rings were more like onion strings with a great batter on the outside.  I could have done nothing but eat the onion rings and I would have been more than happy.  

It was nice to reconnect with Maxie's after over 20 years and to finally try one of their Maxieburgers.  But their onion rings were especially delicious.  Maxie's has been a local favorite for 50 years and it continues to offer good food at a fair price with great service.  It doesn't look like much from the outside, but you'll be happy with your meal if you head to Maxie's.    

 

The Grafton Pub - Chicago

A shout-out today to Larry L. who sent me an e-mail last summer telling me that I really needed to try the food at the Grafton Pub in Chicago.  While I was in Chicago late last year for some meetings, I decided to seek out the Grafton Pub for lunch one day.  It turned out it wasn't that tough to find.  

Malcolm Molloy was a native of Dublin, Ireland who moved to the United States in the 1990's.  Ending up in Chicago, he met a young lady from Texas whom he eventually married.  Malcolm Molloy had always wanted to open an Irish pub in Chicago based upon some the famous pubs on or around Grafton Street in Dublin.  

In 2001, Malcolm Molloy, his wife Andrea, and a silent partner acquired Winners, a sports bar in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago.  It took them nearly a year to remodel the place into what they called a contemporary Irish pub.  The Grafton Irish Pub and Grill opened in late 2002 and almost immediately established a loyal clientele.  

Within four years of opening the Grafton Pub, Malcolm and Andrea eventually bought out their silent partner and set their sights on doing their own craft brewery somewhere.  Digging into the Irish craft brewery scene, Malcolm discovered that there appeared to be a dearth of craft breweries in his home company.  In 2010, Malcolm, Andrea, and their three children moved back to Ireland and landed in Wexford on the southeast Irish coast about 90 miles south of Dublin.  There, they established the Drew Fox Brewing Company which brews the Clever Man Irish craft beers.  The Molloy's continue to run the Grafton Pub flying back and forth between Chicago and Ireland to oversee their interests in both countries.  

The Grafton Pub is located along N. Lincoln Ave. in an area in Lincoln Park that houses a number of restaurants, bars and grills.  (see map)  I was able to park on the street just down from the Grafton.  The outside of the place has a definite Irish/English pub-type look to the place with accents around the windows and 5 round-shaded lights shining down on the facade at night.

Inside, the Grafton is a long, narrow space that features booths along the wall, a long and elegant bar, and a back room for overflow during busier times.  It had a tin ceiling and antique-style lights hanging from the ceiling over the bar.  The attention to detail to make this as close to a true Irish bar as possible was impressive.  Late 60's and early 70's classic British rock and roll was playing in the background.  Sunday thru Wednesday - and sometimes on Thursday - the Grafton hosts live music with Sunday evenings featuring Irish music.  

I ended up seated at the bar and was greeted by the bartender that day, a nice young lady by the name of Melissa.  She gave me a food menu and asked what I would like to drink.  I saw that they had the Founders Centennial IPA on tap from their ever-changing beer menu and I ordered up one of those.  (They also had a pretty impressive list of whiskeys from Ireland, Scotland, Japan, Canada and America, as well.)  

Larry had told me that the burger at the Grafton was very good, but they also had some other interesting items on the menu such as the grilled chicken sandwich topped with a bacon-leek puree; a chilled smoked salmon BLT; an Irish lamb stew; and a traditional Shepherd's pie.  I came about *that* close to ordering the Shepherd's pie.  

But I decided to get the Grafton burger made with 100% USDA-certified black angus choice beef.  (They also had a grass-fed beef burger on the menu for a slight upcharge.)  I had a choice of eight different cheeses to choose from and I got the Swiss cheese to go on my burger.  From there, you have a handful of toppings available and I ended up getting roasted red peppers and sautéed mushrooms on the burger.  I ordered up the slightly salted fries as a side.  

The burger came with lettuce leaves and a tomato slice that I pulled off and put on the side before I ate it.  It was served on a pretzel bun that did not hold up very well with all that was going on with the burger.  Between the juiciness, the thick Swiss cheese, the chopped red peppers and the sautéed mushrooms, the bun literally disintegrated within four or five bites.  

But the taste of the burger was delicious.  It was cooked a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The sautéed mushrooms, roasted red pepper slices and the Swiss cheese all heightened the taste of what was already a great burger.  After the bun fell apart, I used my fork to eat the rest of the burger.

The lightly salted fries were just all right.  They tasted a tad oily like they hadn't changed their fryer oil for awhile.  But I wasn't really interested that much in the fries as the burger was good sized and very filling.  

I liked everything about my visit to the Grafton Pub.  Great atmosphere, great beer and whiskey list, and they had a very good and delicious burger that was part of an interesting pub-style menu.  I would like to make it back at some point to try their Shepherd's pie or their tenderloin beef and stout stew at some point.  My former neighbor who had deep Irish roots in his family would very much approve the Grafton as an authentic Irish pub. 

TAG Burger Bar - Denver

Out in Denver for a trade show last fall, I was talking with a dealer from the area about good burger places.  If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you'll know that my all-time favorite burger place - anywhere - is the Cherry Cricket in Denver.  (Click here to read a Road Tips entry on the Cherry Cricket.  Unfortunately, the Cherry Cricket suffered a kitchen fire toward the end of November last year and has since been shut down for remodeling.)  The dealer told me, "Yeah, the Cricket is good, but for my money the best burger in Denver right now is TAG Burger Bar."  I made a mental note of that and the next evening I ended up going to TAG Burger Bar to see if the burger was as good as he said it was.  

TAG is an acronym of the owner's initials - Troy A. Guard.  Guard was born in Hawaii and raised there and in San Diego where he loved to cook and barbecue with his father.  While in college, he got his first restaurant job at the famous La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, CA.  After college, Guard went to Hawaii to work for famed Hawaiian/Pacific Rim-fusion chef Roy Yamaguchi.  Under Yamaguchi, Guard learned to make dishes with fresh fish and locally grown ingredients, all the while working with and learning from guest chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, Bradley Ogden and Michael Mina who would stop by to visit Yamaguchi at his famous Roy's restaurant in Honolulu.

Within four years, Guard was Yamaguchi's right-hand man helping open and overseeing a handful of Yamaguchi's restaurants in Asia.  After working for Yamaguchi for eight years, Guard decided to spread his culinary wings and seek other challenges.  Guard moved to New York City to become the executive chef at the highly acclaimed Tao Asian restaurant.

Pictured right - Troy Guard.  Photo courtesy Zagat.  

The frenetic pace in the kitchen at Tao allowed Guard to learn how to work with a large staff and that enabled him to eventually move to Singapore to become the chef de cuisine at the internationally famous (and now closed) Doc Cheng's.  While at Doc Cheng's, Guard met Richard Sandoval, the famed Mexican-fusion restaurateur who was in the midst of opening new restaurant concepts in the United States.  Sandoval convinced Guard to move back to the U.S. and Denver to help him open a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant Zengo.  

After getting Zengo up and running, Guard left there to work at other restaurants in Denver, most notably Ocean and the now-closed nine75.  Guard wanted to control his own restaurant destiny and in 2009 he opened his first restaurant - TAG - along with his wife of five years Leigh Sullivan.  The two opened a second restaurant - TAG Raw Bar (later called Bubu) - in 2011.  (Later in 2011, Guard split from Sullivan who divested herself from the TAG restaurants as part of their divorce.)  

From there, Guard has been a busy man over the past few years.  In addition to the TAG restaurants, he opened Los Chingones, a Mexican-inspired restaurant; Sugarmill, a dessert bar for people with a sweet tooth day and night; Guard and Grace, a steakhouse named after one of his two daughters; and in 2014 he opened TAG Burger Bar in the former Madison Street Grill that Guard ran in Denver's Congress Park neighborhood.  (A second TAG Burger Bar opened in the Highlands neighborhood of Denver in early 2016, but it closed down about six months later with Guard vowing to reopen a second location at a more desirable location in 2017.)  In all, Guard now runs 13 restaurants in the greater Denver area.   

On a Saturday night after the show ended for the day, a large group of us were relaxing having some drinks at our hotel in the Tech Center area of Denver discussing dinner plans.  I didn't want to go out with such a large group - 15 of us in total - because our sales manager always wants us to sit together.  It's pointless to try to participate with conversations all over a large table, especially in a large group, and I always argue that we should break up into smaller groups of four as service usually suffers with a large group at a table, as well.  Well, nope, I got out-voted on that idea - again.  Finally, I just said, "Screw it.  I'm going to go find TAG Burger Bar and get a burger."  I invited anyone who wanted to go with me to fall in.  No one did.  I was perfectly fine with that.  I eat by myself on the road all the time.  (It turned out that they went to a steakhouse near the hotel and they didn't get their food served until after 10 p.m. when most of the patrons had left the restaurant.  "You were right, man," one of my colleagues who went with the large group texted me later that evening.  "Service sucks here.  I should have gone with you.") 

It was about a 15 minute drive from the hotel to TAG Burger Bar located at the corner of Madison and E. 12th Street.  (see map)  For a Saturday night after 8 p.m., I was sort of surprised that I was able to get in and grab a small booth off to the side of the nifty little bar area in the place.  I was given a menu when I sat down.  

TAG Burger Bar was a quaint, cozy little place.  There was a long community table in front of the bar that took up the bulk of the dining space near the bar.  But there were a number of tables and booths in the place for those who didn't want to sit at the long community table.  The low ceiling to the place gave it an intimate feeling.  

My server for the evening was Marc, an out-going young man who asked me if I had ever been to TAG Burger Bar before.  He gave me a short lesson on the drill of ordering burgers  - you pick what you want your burger to be (Black Angus beef, bison, turkey, salmon or a veggie burger); then your bun (an artisan bun from the Bluepoint Bakery in Denver, a lettuce wrap, or a gluten-free bun); then the choices escalate.  

The "Old School" burger was topped with American cheese, grilled onions, and a house-made sauce; while the "Congress Park" was topped with guacamole and a spicy mayo sauce.  The "Lady Gaga" featured toppings such as whipped mozzarella cheese, basil pesto, grilled red onions and balsamic vinegar.  The "Truffle Shuffle" had mushrooms, Swiss cheese, a truffle aioli, and parmesan truffle chips on it.  And the "Blind in Texas" burger was topped with chile-rubbed onion straws, aged cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, and a smoky chipotle barbecue sauce.  But the one that seemed to be the king of the menu was the "Andrew Jackson" - sliced prime rib, topped with pepper jack, fried avocado, grilled onions, a fried egg, applewood smoked bacon, and sautéed mushrooms, and it came with a side of porcini parmesan-dusted fries.  

Marc - who was overly helpful and pleasant all evening long (he probably felt sorry for me since I was dining alone on a Saturday night) - then showed me the bottom of the menu where you can build your own burger with choices of eight different types of cheese, and then additional toppings (for a small fee) such as the applewood smoked bacon, a fried egg, sautéed mushrooms, either guacamole or avocado slices, and grilled onions.  Even though some of the specialty burgers sounded interesting, I ended up building my own.  

I got a Black Angus burger topped with green chiles, sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and the applewood smoked bacon.  Marc told me that all their burgers came with tomato and lettuce and I could either get it on the burger or on the side.  I opted for the veggies to come on the side.  I also got a side of the green chile-cheese fries.  ("Excellent choice," Marc said when I ordered the green chile-cheese fries.)  

For beer that evening, I ended up getting the Melvin IPA, one of the many interesting beers they had to offer at TAG Burger Bar.  I had never had a Melvin beer before whose brewery is located up in Jackson, Wyoming.  It was a good beer.  

The burger was - well - it was very good.  Was it as good as the ones at the Cherry Cricket?  I didn't think so, but it certainly gave the Cricket burgers a run for their money.  The beef was juicy and flavorful, the sautéed mushrooms and the green chiles were a great topping on the burger, the bacon was a nice touch, but almost overpowering in taste, and the Swiss cheese was thick and oozing off the burger.  The bun held together very well with all that was going on with this multiple napkin burger that I was eating.  

The green chile-cheese fries were definitely an artery-hardener.  But they were absolutely delicious.  They were very rich and while I didn't clean the whole plate, I made a significant dent in the pile of fries.  I probably ate more than I wanted to. 

Denver is a burger town with some very good burger places.  I've eaten at most of the places that the locals have told me had good burgers and while I'm still partial the the burgers at Cherry Cricket, I would say the burger I had at TAG Burger Bar was nearly as good as a Cricket burger.  I liked everything about TAG Burger Bar - the atmosphere was cozy and laid-back, Marc's service was wonderful making me feel comfortable and welcome as a lone diner on a Saturday night (I probably undertipped him for as good of service that he provided that evening), and the burgers were top-notch.  While the Cricket is shut down for renovations after their fire, I'd have to say that TAG Burger Bar could be the best burger in Denver for the moment.  

Kelly's Irish Pub - Davenport, IA

I've lived in the Quad Cities for over 25 years and I've made a number of great friends during that time.  One of the more well-known families in the area are the Kelly's whose patriarch Jerry Kelly was the long-time owner of one of the more popular watering holes in Davenport, the Circle Tap.  I've known Leo and Bob Kelly for about 15 years working festival stages with them in their band Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  From the friendship with the brothers, I've gotten to know their mother Nancy, as well as their other brothers Dan, Dave and Jerry, Jr. pretty well over the years, and I've met their sister Kate a handful of times.  Unfortunately, I never really got the chance to know Jerry Kelly, Sr. as he passed away in 1999.  

Two of the sons - Dan and Dave - followed their father into the restaurant business.  Dave managed and owned restaurants in northeast Iowa before moving back to Davenport to help start Van's Pizza (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Van's) and Dan opened the family namesake restaurant - Kelly's Irish Pub - in 2006.  Dan got hold of me sometime last year as he knew I had a blog and he wanted me to come in and try something new on his menu - the audaciously named Quad Cities Best Burger.  I told him I would, but it was months later before I was able to make it in one evening to give it a try.  

Dan Kelly was working in the Quad Cities not really knowing what he wanted to do in life when his wife Elizabeth landed a job in Dallas as a registered nurse.  The Kelly's moved down to Texas and he found work in number of bars and restaurants including a barbecue restaurant that did about $5 million in annual sales.  Dan learned from his father that if you do something that you really love, you'll never work another day in your life.

Pictured right - Dan Kelly.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times.   

Dan started to get the itch to run his own place and he and Elizabeth moved back to the Quad Cities around 2004.  With the help of long-time friend Marc Van Severen - the "Van" in Van's Pizza, as well as the owner of a handful of other bar/restaurants around the Quad Cities - and a couple three silent investors, Dan was able to open Kelly's Irish Pub in August of 2006.  Dan Kelly eventually bought out Van Severen and the silent investors and is the sole proprietor of Kelly's Irish Pub today.  

Kelly's Circle Tap, as it was known when Jerry, Sr. ran the place for 21 years, was famous for their baby back ribs.  The fall-off-the-bone ribs were the favorites of many people in the Quad Cities.  Dan does the same ribs at Kelly's Irish Pub, but I don't particularly care for the way they prepare them.  They either parboil or bake the ribs - possibly both - then they put them on an open fire grill to char the outsides before they slather them with a sweet smoky sauce and send them out to the masses.  There's no smoker at Kelly's Irish Pub, nor is there one at the Circle Tap which continues to make the same style of ribs to this day.  And both places continue to serve dozens of racks of ribs each week.  (I will say that I do like the barbecue sauce that both Kelly's and the Circle Tap uses.)  It's sort of like Quad City-style pizza - people who grew up in the Quad's like that style of pizza, just like people who grew up in the area like Kelly's and/or the Circle's ribs.  Me?  Well, let's just say I don't care for either.  

Kelly's Irish Pub is also famous for the large party they throw on St. Patrick's Day.  Carrying on the tradition of his father's place, Dan Kelly only does it on a bigger scale.  He has large tents put up in the parking lot to house tables for people partying and enjoying corned beef and cabbage (they go through over a ton of corned beef over the St. Patrick's Day period), they have live bands in the tents, and they have skydiving leprechauns.  Well, actually, they're skydivers who dress up in green suits, but it's still quite the sight.  They'll easily have over 10,000 people at Kelly's on the day of the Grand Parade held the closest Saturday to St. Patrick's Day.  

I had stopped into Kelly's Irish Pub a couple three days after St. Patrick's Day this year and I tried to order the Quad Cities Best Burger.  But I was informed that Kelly's was still serving off of its St. Patrick's menu and the Quad Cities Best Burger wasn't available.  I didn't stick around for corned beef and cabbage or a grilled pork tenderloin sandwich, but I did finally make it back after I got home from a recent three day trip.  My wife had gone to an art exhibit in downtown Davenport with our neighbor, so I decided to head up to Kelly's on 53rd Ave. for dinner.  (see map)

Kelly's Irish Pub is located in a strip mall and the space its in is spacious enough.  However, my former neighbor - who is of deep Irish heritage - sniffed at Kelly's calling themselves an Irish Pub saying that putting up a couple Irish flags and serving Guinness on tap doesn't necessarily make a place an Irish bar.  While I tend to agree with him, Kelly's is still a nice place on the inside.  It features a large bar area, a couple of dining areas, and a number of flat screen televisions throughout the place that offers any number of sporting events.  If I couldn't categorize Kelly's as an Irish bar, I'd call them an Irish/sports bar.

There weren't many people in Kelly's when I went in around 7 p.m.  Dan Kelly is usually there, but he wasn't this evening - which sort of relieved me since I really just wanted to see how the kitchen would deal with a person coming in off the street ordering the Quad Cities Best Burger, rather than Dan overseeing the preparation.   I saddled up at the bar and got a menu from one of the bartenders.  The cover of Kelly's menu is drawn by Leo Kelly, who - in addition to being a very good guitar player - is an outstanding caricature artist who draws at events and festivals, and who has become the Sunday Editorial Page artist for the Quad City Times.  The menu cover changes regularly and features caricatures of celebrities - both pop culture and local celebs - as well as some of the regulars of Kelly's and a few creatures from time to time.  

The food served at Kelly's is your typical pub fare.  In addition to their signature ribs, they also have a number of appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads.  It's nothing fancy and the food is all right.  They have a good beer selection at Kelly's Irish Pub and I ordered up a large mug of Sam Adams OctoberFest.  

I did order the Quad Cities Best Burger and I got a side of cole slaw to go along with it.  The burger was presented to me with a steak knife sticking out of it - one of my largest pet peeves at a restaurant.  If you need to keep the bun on top of the burger, do it with a long toothpick.  

The burger was on a toasted bun topped with Swiss and American cheese, mayonnaise, bacon, shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, red onions and pickles.  The 1/2 pound patty was thick and chargrilled to a medium temperature.  

And the burger was good, as in well above average good.  The burger had a nice beefy taste, it was juicy and flavorful.  The key to a good burger is the bun and the bun on the Quad Cities Best Burger was light, spongy and held up very well with all that was going on with the juiciness of the meat and the condiments on top.  Could I call it the best burger in the Quad Cities?  I would probably put it up over many other similar bar/pub burgers I've had in the area.  But I'm not certain it's the best in the area.  

I've been apprehensive doing a review on Kelly's Irish Pub as I'm a friend of the Kelly family, but Dan invited me in to try his Quad Cities Best Burger knowing that I'd give it a fair review.  And the burger was good, probably not the best I've had in the Quad Cities, but it was still in the mix with some of the better ones I've tried.  Kelly's Irish Pub is quickly becoming an iconic watering hole in the area, and with their annual St. Patrick's Day festivities it gains more popularity each year. Their food ranges from OK to good, service is always friendly and prompt, and it's a great place to meet up with friends.

(Update - I was informed that after 13 years of business Kelly's Irish Pub closed their doors on or about August 21, 2017.  They've taken down their web site and have taken down their Facebook page.  No word on why they closed, but a number of people in the Quad Cities are bummed that they'll no longer have a place to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.)

Johnny Ray's Drive In - Lee's Summit, MO

A couple three years ago, one of my dealers was telling me  about a Kansas City area drive in that he has gone to since he was a little boy.  "Johnny Ray's still has the best burgers in Kansas City," he told me with a certain conviction in his voice.  "I get a hankering for a Johnny Ray's burger and I have to drive over to Lee's Summit every once in a while to satisfy my jones."  On a trip to Kansas City and after seeing one of my dealers in the Lee's Summit area, I stopped in for an early lunch at Johnny Ray's.  

Johnny Ray's has a link to Winstead's burger places, the local favorite burger chain in the Kansas City area.  (Click here to see Road Tips' entry on Winstead's.)  The first Winstead's opened on the Country Club Plaza in 1940 with a young Bill Winstead on the grill and his new wife Marietta serving the burgers that Bill cooked.  In 1951, the Winstead family opened a second Winstead's in Lee's Summit with Bill and Marietta running that place.  

Bill and Marietta went on to open two more Winstead's around the Kansas City area before they retired to the Ozarks in the 1960's.  In 1956, they opened a new location in Raytown, not far from Lee's Summit and they decided to sell the Lee's Summit location.  Johnny and Martha Ray took over ownership of the restaurant 60 years ago and the Ray family continues to run the place today.  Johnny Ray passed away a number of years ago, but Martha still owns the business and makes it in from time to time to check on things.  Her son Bob Ray runs the day-to-day operations of Johnny Ray's with Bob's son Sterling helping out in the summertime when he's home from college.  

Johnny Ray's is located along a frontage road that runs parallel to U.S. Highway 50 in Lee's Summit.  (see map)  It was just after 11 a.m. when I pulled into the parking lot and went inside.  It looks like not much has changed with the place that was first built in the early 50's with a tight U-shaped counter with a well worn top and a handful of booths along the walls.  The kitchen was visible through the serving window behind the counter.  

The menu for Johnny Ray's was on a 60's-style Coca-Cola wall board where the letters and numbers are interchangeable.  In addition to their burgers, Johnny Ray's also featured a pork tenderloin sandwich, a chicken sandwich, a fried fish sandwich and an Italian steak sandwich.  Sides were your typical Midwestern deep-fried foods - fries, tater tots, mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken strips and mushrooms.  They also have cheddar cheese balls, onion rings and curly fries that they call "Suzy Q's".  

I took a seat at the counter and ordered up a burger.  Actually, they are called steak burgers at Johnny Ray's as they grind their own sirloin beef on a daily basis, just has they have since they bought the property from Winstead's in 1956.  I ordered a double steak burger as I figured the patties weren't very thick as they were listed on the menu as 1/4 pound patties.

And it turned out that I was right.  The beef patties were thin having been smashed on a flat-grill and squashed out to have the burger cook in it's own juices.  The burger patties were crispy on the edges - I'm still not certain I like flat-grilled burgers like that - and it was piled high with chopped lettuce, onion slices, a tomato slice and dill pickles.  I had them put some American cheese on the burger, as well.  The bun was your basic burger bun and was slightly toasted.

The taste was, well, interesting.  The charred outer shell of the misshapen burger patty gave it sort of a crunchy and burned taste and it seemed to be overcooked.  The bun held together very well with all that was on the burger and while I'll have to say the burger was interesting, I just didn't know if I liked it all that much.  

The steak burger at Johnny Ray's I deemed as being just all right.  While I can see where generations of people on the southeast side of Kansas City can have a hankering for flat-grilled charred outer shell of the burger patty, I thought it was a tad overcooked with a pronounced crunchiness to the outside of the patties.  Now, don't get me wrong - I thought the burger was good - but I think it is an acquired taste for those who didn't grow up with Johnny Ray's. But for those who have an life-long affinity for the little 50's-style burger joint that has been around for over 60 years, Johnny Ray's is the best burger in the world.  

Burgerfeen - Cedar Rapids, IA

There was a place in Cedar Rapids that my sister-in-law was telling me about that served never-frozen 100% Black Angus beef burgers.  "It's pretty good," she told me.  "You need to try it!"  I tried to get to their location a couple years ago, but road work in the greater Cedar Rapids area deterred me from getting to the place without some roundabout and out-of-the-way driving.  In the meantime, they were forced to change their name, they opened a second location, and closed their original location.  On a visit to Cedar Rapids with my wife awhile back, we stopped in to try a burger at Burgerfeen.  

Burgerfeen is owned by the Igram family - father Jim and his sons Omar and Ali.  The Ingram's are not strangers to the restaurant business in Cedar Rapids as Jim Igram ran a burger joint called Jimbo's in the 1970's.  Through the years, the family also owned two other Cedar Rapids area restaurants - Charlie's Pizza and Laziz.  With the gourmet burger craze in full force across the nation, the Igram's opened their new place they called Burgerfry along 16th Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids in the fall of 2014.  The new burger place - that also served ice cream, hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches - was an immediate hit with Cedar Rapidians. 

It wasn't long that lawyers for Florida-based BurgerFi sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to the Igram family for trademark infringement because of the similarities of the two company's names.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on BurgerFi.)   The Igram's were forced to change the name of their place and chose Burgerfeen about the same time they opened a second location in the summer of 2015 in what was the old Spring House restaurant along Center Point Road in north Cedar Rapids.  Earlier this year, they closed the original location along 16th Ave. SW and continue to run the Center Point Road location today.

My wife's father had been hospitalized in Cedar Rapids for an ailment earlier this year and we went up to see him one evening.  We were there for about an hour or so before we decided we needed to let him get his rest.  As we were walking out to the car, my wife said, "Are we going to eat up here or down in Iowa City."  

"I was thinking of trying that burger place," I said to her.

"You read my mind," she said.  We took off through side streets around Cedar Rapids to get up to the Center Point Road location of Burgerfeen.  Once again, street construction and my wife's fuzzy memory of Cedar Rapids street grids (she was a native of C.R., but moved away 22 years ago) sent us on a somewhat wayward trek.  But we finally pulled up to the Burgerfeen location around 7:15 p.m.  (see map)

Just inside the restaurant was the front counter with the backlit menu situated just above the counter.  You order at the counter and there are a lot of options for toppings on the burgers.  "Spreads" include ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, steak sauce, hot sauce and peanut butter.  "Toppings" include lettuce, tomato, onions (raw or caramelized), pickles, and jalapeños.  You can also add Swiss or American cheese, as well as pepper jack cheese.  There is no alcohol served at Burgerfeen, but they do have specialty milk shakes as well as fountain drinks.  

My wife was having trouble reconciling the fact that this used to be the old Spring House Restaurant, a place that she had been to numerous times when she was a young girl and a place she had taken me to a couple times before it closed in 2014.  The remodel both inside and out of the building gave it a sleek contemporary look.  There was a main dining area with a series of sturdy tables and chairs, and there was also a smaller room off to the side that could be used for overflow or for group dining.  

We both went with basically the same thing - a pepper jack cheese burger.  Cindy went with a single, I went with a double bacon pepper jack cheese burger.  We got a small order of hand-cut fries to try along with our burgers.  The small order of fries were still a big helping and the right size for two people.  

On the double burger they put a slice of pepper jack cheese on the top of both patties.  The cheese oozed over the sides of the somewhat misshapen hand-pattied burgers.  The burger patty was reminiscent of many of the other and more famous "fast-casual" burger joints that have popped up such as Five Guys, Shake Shack and BurgerFi.  The beef patties were flat-grilled, thick and very juicy.  The bun was thick, but airy and spongy, and held together well with the oozing cheese and the juiciness of the burger patty.  

While some people may call Burgerfeen a rip-off of the growing number of fast-casual burger joints that are popping up around the country, my wife and I thought the burgers we had were very good.  Juicy and tasty, the double pepper jack cheese and bacon burger I had was worth many of the local accolades Burgerfeen has received since it opened.  If the national places aren't going to open in a locale like Cedar Rapids, it's up to a place like Burgerfeen to let the people experience what a good fast-casual burger can be like.  And I think they do a very good job of capturing the essence of those kind of places. 

BW's Burgers - West Des Moines, IA

Earlier this year, the Iowa Beef Industry Council in conjunction with the Iowa Cattleman's Association picked their choice for the place with what they deemed was the best burger in Iowa for 2016 - The Chuckwagon in Adair, IA.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on The Chuckwagon.)  However, one of the finalists on the list caught my eye, a place in the Des Moines area that I wasn't familiar with - BW's Burgers.  When I did a little research on BW's Burgers, I soon realized that I needed to try the place.  Coming back through Des Moines from Kansas City one day earlier this year, I stopped in to try a BW's burger.   

What piqued my interest in BW's Burgers was when I found out that it was owned by Brad Waldron, the owner of the Rusty Duck in Dexter, IA - the 2012 winner of the Best Burger in Iowa award.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Rusty Duck.)  Waldron wanted to expand toward Des Moines - he started in the restaurant industry over 25 years ago working in Des Moines area restaurants - and when a space that housed the former Patty Pat's, a NW Iowa-style loose meat and hot dog joint that I reviewed here; and before that was the equally short-lived E.P. True Burger Cafe came open, he jumped on the place.  BW's Burgers opened in May of 2015.  

Coming up from Kansas City, I pulled off I-35 at the Mills Civic Parkway exit and made my way to the east to E.P. True Parkway.  BW's Burger is located in a strip mall just to the west of the corner of E.P. True and Mills Civic Parkways.  (see map)  It was just after 1 p.m. when I walked into the place.  

The decor had changed somewhat dramatically since it was Patty Pat's.  Waldron installed a bar and there were a number of beer signs on the wall of the place.  There were a couple three flat screen televisions on the walls.  I found a table along the east wall and was given a menu.  It was just past the noon rush, but more people came in while I was there.  

Crystal was my server that day.  She was a young lady with a friendly and quiet demeanor.  She gave me a menu and I ordered up an Exile Brewing Company Ruthie to enjoy while I looked over the menu.  

Of course, it's burgers, burgers and more burgers on the menu at BW's.  They also have grilled chicken sandwiches, pork tenderloin sandwiches and a steak sandwich.  Burgers served during the lunch hour are a manageable 8 ounces of ground steak trimmings, while the burgers served after 5 p.m. are 14 ounces, the same size of the burgers served at the Rusty Duck.  Appetizers included onion rings and calamari, and they had a number of salads available made with Rusty Duck dressings.  

On my initial visit, I just went with the basic cheeseburger - a lean burger topped with American cheese with pickles and onions.  I got the steak fries as a side.  The burger was thick, juicy and very flavorful.  The bun was soft, spongy and delectable.  A good bun makes a good burger and this was a very good bun.  But the beef, alone, was worth the price of admission.  The ground steak trimmings they use for the burgers at both BW's and the Rusty Duck make the overall taste exquisite.  This was an very good burger.

The steak fries, too, were very good.  They looked a little overcooked when they were presented on the plate, but they had a nice crunchy outer shell with a light and flaky inner core.  They went very well with the great taste of the burger.  

To be quite honest, I think I liked the burger at BW's better than the 2016 Best Burger in Iowa award winner over in Adair.  For just a simple cheeseburger, it was definitely top-notch.  The beef was juicy and flavorful, and the buns they use are an integral part of their excellent burger.  The fries were also very good and I was happy with both the service I received and the craft beer selections they had to offer.  I'm hoping that BW's Burgers lasts much longer in this spot than the previous restaurants.  With the quality taste of their burgers, I'm almost certain it will.   

(Update - May 2018.  Sadly, BW's Burgers announced in April of this year that they were closing.  Owner Brad Waldron said that their lease was up and that the biggest problem they were having was finding qualified people to work at the place during the three years they were open.  I'd been back one other time and I thought the burger at BW's was just as outstanding as on my first visit.  A new Asian-fusion bistro - called Fusion Bistro - will open in the space in early July.  This will be - at least - the third restaurant at this location.)

Civil Kitchen - Springfield, MO

On a trip to Springfield, MO earlier this summer, I decided to find a place in the downtown area of Springfield. Well, there really isn't much of a downtown area, but what civic leaders in Springfield have done over the past few years, there's MORE of a downtown vibe these days than there was even 10 years ago.  One of the places that has helped with the revitalization of Springfield's downtown area is a place that has been open for a little over a year now - Civil Kitchen & Tap.  I had read about the place in a local business magazine on an earlier trip to Springfield and decided to give it a try on this visit.  

Tom Muetzel owned a couple restaurants in Springfield - the now-closed Ophelia's and Finnegan's Wake.  Anne Kim Baker came to work for Muetzel at Ophelia's, but he soon found that her skills were needed at Finnegan's Wake, a long time Irish pub in Springfield.  She became such a valuable employee for Muetzel that he made her an offer to become a partner in the restaurant.   

Muetzel and Baker came up with a concept restaurant - Sequiota Bike Shop - a small bistro that caters to bikers using the trails at Sequiota Park located across the street from the restaurant on Springfield's south side.  They opened Sequiota Bike Shop in the spring of 2015, but they weren't finished with coming up with and idea for a new restaurant in Springfield.  

Trolley's Park Central Pub had closed their doors in downtown Springfield about the same time that Muetzel and Baker were opening Sequiota Bike Shop.  They came up with a concept of comfort food with a gourmet twist bringing in Betsy Pruett as the chef for the new restaurant.  Muetzel and Baker enlisted the help of two of their managers - Thomas Hong who managed Finnegan's Wake, and Baker's husband Clayton whom she met when he was managing Ophelia's.  The restaurant opened in October of 2015.  Not long after they opened the doors to the restaurant and tap room downstairs, the Copper Still lounge opened on the second floor of the building.  

Park Central Square was developed in downtown Springfield in the early 70's.  About five years ago, the square underwent a nearly $2 million dollar renovation adding a large fountain, green space and a reconfiguration for pedestrian traffic.  It's basically the centerpiece of what I've felt is a somewhat dysfunctional downtown area ever since I started to come to Springfield 30 years ago.  Civil Kitchen is located at the corner of E. St. Louis Ave. and Park Central Square, about a block away from Finnegan's Wake.  (see map)  I was able to find a parking space on E. St. Louis and got into the restaurant around 1:00 p.m.  

The inside of the front part of the restaurant features garage door walls that open up to an outside eating area.  It was very warm that day, so the doors were shut.  The decor featured somewhat of a modern rustic interior with a small bar and a number of tables in the room.   Keeping with the theme of a hot southern Missouri day, I noticed that the songs they were playing in the restaurant had a "hot" theme including Nick Gilder's "Hot Child in the City", Foreigner's "Hot Blooded", and The Lovin' Spoonful's "(Hot Town) Summer in the City".

There's actually two parts to Civil Kitchen - a larger dining area with a larger second bar is located toward the back space.  The bar had a stone facade and there was barn board wainscoting along the far wall.  Antique-style Edison lamps hung from the ceiling.  The back room wasn't open for lunch that day even though there appeared to be people back there.  

I ended up sitting at the small bar up front and I was greeted by the bartender Tyler.  He gave me a food menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  They had the  Bronzeback Pale Ale from the Piney River Brewery located near the small southern Missouri town of Bucyrus available and I had one of those.   

The menu is what I would call Southern comfort food with an upscale bent.  Some of the more interesting items on the menu were chicken and waffles - or chicken and house-made donuts served with either syrup or gravy; pinko-breaded pork cutlet with a jalapeño gravy; and an open-faced "hot brown" turkey sandwich served on a waffle and topped with jalapeño gravy and a mornay cheese sauce.  Sandwiches included a roasted turkey panini with blueberry jam; the breakfast burger that featured two grilled beef patties served on a waffle bed and topped with a fried egg, bacon and American cheese and finished with a choice of syrup or gravy; and an apple bacon cheddar sandwich that featured sliced Granny Smith apples, peppered bacon and fresh cheddar cheese served on a waffle.  

It was down to the "hot brown" or getting a burger and I mentally did a coin flip and got the Smash Burger - two grilled beef patties served on a toasted brioche bun and topped with fresh lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions and American cheese.  I asked Tyler if I could get a couple pieces of bacon to go along with the burger.  For a side, I had my choice of nearly a dozen different items - house fries, smoked mac & cheese, steamed broccoli and red rooster potatoes were some of the sides they offered.  I saw that they had beer-battered onion rings as a side.  I asked Tyler if they were good and he said, "They're great.  My favorite thing for all the sides."  I got those and he was right - the onion rings were tasty.  They had a light flaky batter and the onions were sweet to the taste.  

The burger was also very good.  The American cheese was slathered on top of both burger patties.  The smoked bacon gave the burger another dimension in taste and patties were thick and juicy.  This was a big-assed burger - and very filling.  I ended up finishing up the burger mainly because it tasted so good and I think I left just one of the onion rings on my plate.  I was so full from this meal that I wasn't even hungry for any dinner that evening.  It was a great value as the burger with a side was $10 bucks and a $1.50 up-charge for the bacon.   

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Civil Kitchen.   I felt my burger was delicious and it was a great value.  The beer selection was varied and interesting.  The service was top-notch and friendly.  And the atmosphere of the place was friendly, inviting and unhurried.  There are a number of good restaurants in the Springfield area and I would have no problem recommending Civil Kitchen as a casual place that serves interesting food at a good value.  

The Anchor - Wichita, KS

During a trip to Wichita earlier this year, I had a chance to get some lunch before I had meetings in the afternoon.  I had read about a place near downtown Wichita that had a good beer selection, as well as a good burger, a place called The Anchor.   I ended up going there for lunch on that particular day.   

Schane Gross had a pretty interesting background story before she ended up as the owner of the Anchor.  An army brat who moved from place to place as a youngster, she started working in the restaurant business at a Wichita area Mexican restaurant when she was 14 years old and decided that she hated it.  She felt overworked and underpaid working at a restaurant.  But after stints working at various auto parts stores around Wichita, she ended up as a tattoo artist/piercer, eventually owning her own tattoo/piercing parlor in the city - Hell Bomb Tattoo and Holier Than Thou Body Piercing. 

Gross leased the space for the tattoo/body piercing parlor in a building along E. Douglas Ave. with her husband.  One day, the landlord came to her and said that the rent for the space was going to go up precipitously.  Gross made a counter offer - she wanted to buy the building from the landlord.  The deal went through and suddenly Schane Gross found herself as a commercial property owner.  

The space next to the tattoo parlor was open and the space was perfect for a restaurant/bar.  She went to the bank to get money to open her new business, but they didn't give her all the money she needed to open a full restaurant.  She opened the Anchor as a bar only in October of 2004.  A few years later, Gross expanded the Anchor into food service.

Pictured right - Schane Gross.  Photo courtesy Wichita Eagle.

Gross got burned out on running both the tattoo parlor and the Anchor, so she sold the tattoo/piercing business to her ex-husband who continues to run the operation next to the Anchor.  In March of 2014, she opened up Douglas Avenue Chop Shop, a high-end boutique-style butcher shop in the same building as the Anchor and the tattoo shop.  And in the fall of 2014, Gross opened a new restaurant in Wichita's College Hill neighborhood - Fork & Fennel, a French-style bistro that featured farm-to-fork foods.  However, less than two years later, Gross closed Fork & Fennel because she said she wanted to "focus on the Anchor.  That's where my heart is."

It was during the noon rush when I pulled up to the Anchor on E. Douglas just east of Washington.  (see map)   There's on street parking, but I was able to get the last space in a parking lot on the west side of the building.

Inside the restaurant, it featured a tin ceiling, exposed brick walls and an old-style bar.  I ended up sitting at the bar and was greeted by Daniel, the bartender.  He gave me a food menu and I ordered up a Stone IPA that they had on tap - one of over 50 beers the Anchor features on tap.  

At the top of the menu at the Anchor, you'll find a number of interesting appetizers including beer-battered jalapeño caps, truffle fries, and applewood-smoked chicken wings. They also had a number of salads including a baby wedge salad, as well as chili and a soup of the day.  Also prominently featured toward the top of the menu was the Anchor's roasted mac & cheese - cavatappi pasta made with four different types of cheese and topped with garlic bread crumbs.  Extras that could be added to the roasted mac & cheese included ham, bacon, grilled mushrooms, kimchi, pulled pork and grilled salmon.  

I had gone into the Anchor with the idea of trying one of their burgers.  The Butcher's Grind burger featured end cut Black Angus Certified Beef from the Douglas Avenue Chop House butcher shop and wrapped in bacon, then topped with white cheddar cheese and a Chambard onion jam.  The Anchor also featured an Akaushi Beef burger - a Wagyu-style beef raised in Kansas by Texas-based HeartBrand Beef.  The Akaushi Beef burger was ground in house, grilled and topped with pimento cheese, garlic aioli, and blackened tomatoes.  They also had a smoked beef burger topped with aged cheddar, bacon, smoked  caramelized onions and a barbecue sauce.  

In addition to their burgers, the Anchor also had some pretty interesting sandwiches.  They had a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich made with sliced Creekstone Farms beef and topped with provolone cheese, caramelized onions and grilled green peppers.  They had a smoked pastrami sandwich that caught my eye, as well as a couple of sandwiches - a pulled pork and a panko-crusted pork tenderloin sandwich that were made with locally-raised lean Red Wattle pork.  

Suddenly, I was in a quandary.  While the burgers sounded good, they weren't my only option.  The smoked pastrami was calling my name, but a couple of other things - fried flour beef tacos and a smoked maple/bourbon Red Wattle pork chop - caught my eye.  When Daniel came to take my order, I was at a loss as what to get.  I took a page from my wife when she finds herself not knowing what to get at a restaurant she's not familiar with and I asked Daniel what they were known for.  "The reuben is probably our best seller," he told me.  "Our burgers are great, but the reuben is my favorite thing on the menu."  

And that's what I ended up getting.  It was a basic reuben - slow-cooked corned beef topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and a house-made reuben sauce.  It came on marble rye bread and was lightly grilled.  A side of hand-cut fries came with the sandwich, but there was a large amount of beef on the sandwich and the fries basically became a throwaway as soon as I started to dig into the sandwich.

The beef was tender and flavorful - I love a good tender corned beef.  And this was very good.  Even though it was a messy sandwich - it was a multi-napkin affair - the bread held together very well with the juicy beef, sauerkraut, sauce and the Swiss cheese all blending together.  Daniel came over to check on me and asked if his recommendation was worth it.  It was - and then some.  This was a very good reuben sandwich.  

I'm hoping to get back to the Anchor at some point to try a burger, but I was thoroughly impressed with the top-notch reuben sandwich that I had on my first visit.  I liked the atmosphere of the restored building, the service at the bar was very good, and it was tough to beat the beer selection they had.  The Anchor is one of the more popular restaurants in Wichita - a city with a surprising number of good restaurants. And it's easy to see why with the meal I had this particular day.  The Anchor is a great little pub-style place with a laid-back vibe. 

The Chuckwagon - Adair, IA

The Iowa Beef Industry Council in conjunction with the Iowa Cattleman's Association named their top burger for 2016 and it belonged to the Chuckwagon located in Adair, IA, a small community about 55 miles west of Des Moines along Interstate 80.  I was going out to Omaha earlier this year and since I'd tried nearly every best burger award winner over the past few years (with varied results), I thought I'd make the time to stop in and have a burger at the Chuckwagon.  

Kim Reha was a native of Adair who started working in the restaurant business at the age of 14.  She had considered becoming a surgical technician, but she found that working in restaurants was more fun.  In 2008, Kim bought the Happy Chef restaurant along Interstate 80 at the young age of 22.  She eventually started to make improvements on the property - the building underwent a wholesale make-over in 2012, and in 2014 she changed the name to the Chuckwagon to commemorate the Jesse James Chuckwagon Days celebration that Adair has each July.  The Chuckwagon eventually beat out 6000 entrants of the Best Burger in Iowa contest for 2016, a 33% increase in the number of nominees from 2015.  

Now, I wasn't familiar with the Chuckwagon as much as I had been familiar with the Happy Chef located on a county road at Exit 76 on Interstate 80. (see map)  I know I had made hundreds of passes by the place since I first went out to Omaha in the 70's, stopping in at the Casey's across the street to get gas a handful of times.  (There's also a pizza place that I've wanted to try in Adair - Zipp's Pizzeria - but they're only open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through the week and the timing has never worked out on my trips to and from Omaha.)  When I found out that the Chuckwagon was the old Happy Chef, I immediately knew where the place was.  

Upon entrance into the place, the big plaque proclaiming the Chuckwagon to have the best burger in Iowa in 2016 hangs just inside the door.  The decor to the restaurant is somewhat modern rustic, if that's the right term.  

There are two dining rooms in the restaurant - I was escorted into the south dining room that was brightly lit from the day's brilliant sunshine.  I was given a menu to look over to see what I wanted to get.  In addition to burgers, the Chuckwagon has a wide variety of foods for breakfast. lunch and dinner.  

There isn't a designated "best burger" on the menu and that sort of threw me off.  When the waitress came by to take my order, I asked, "So, which one was the best burger in Iowa?" 

She said, "Oh, well, all of them are."  I was sort of confused because I knew from previous Best Burger competitions that a friend of mine who owned a restaurant had entered that there had to have a specific burger on the menu that was nominated.  "Any of the burgers that you order would be considered the best in Iowa," she explained to me.  I didn't quite buy that considering other "Best in Iowa" burger winners had one burger they served that was deemed as the best, but I went along with her anyhow.  She said that the namesake Chuckwagon burger - a six-ounce burger patty with sautéed onions, mushrooms, bacon, tomato and Thousand Island dressing - was probably their signature burger on the menu.  

I almost went with that before I saw that they had a mushroom-Swiss cheese burger on the menu.  I asked her if she could put a couple pieces of bacon on it.  She asked if I wanted fries with the burger - "We have never-ending French fries", she proudly proclaimed.  I told her I'd take some fries, but I doubted I'd want very many of them.  

After awhile she brought the burger and fries out.  The burger was covered with a blanket of Swiss cheese topped with sautéed mushrooms and a couple strips of bacon criss-crossed on top.  There was a dollop of mayonnaise on the top of the burger that I would have probably told her to hold had I known that's how they dressed the burger.  The bun was lightly toasted and spongy.  

The burger was flat-topped grilled, somewhat fat and juicy.   And the first bite told me this was a fine burger.  With everything that was going on with the different tastes - the bacon, mushrooms, Swiss cheese plus the ketchup and mustard I put on for condiments - I could taste the rich flavor of the burger meat through all of that.  The bun held it all together very well and the taste of the bun confirmed what I always say - the key to a good burger is a good bun.  This was a very good burger.

Judging who has the best burger in Iowa is both subjective and objective.  The judges have a subjective criteria in which they use as a baseline for determining which burgers are the best, but in the long run it's usually an objective opinion that determines the winner each year.  Is the burger at the Chuckwagon the best in Iowa?  I think they acquitted themselves nicely from any doubts that their burger was deserving of the title for 2016.  How did it shape up against the other best burgers?  I've only had six of the seven ones that have been awarded Best Burger in Iowa, but I think the burger at the Chuckwagon would definitely fall within the top three of the winners I've had so far. 

Palmer Place - La Grange, IL

A quick shout-out today to David S. who sent me an e-mail touting a place I wasn't familiar with in the western suburbs of Chicago - Palmer Place in La Grange, IL.  "It's obvious from your blog that you like burgers and you like beer," he wrote to me.  "I'm sort of surprised that you haven't been to Palmer Place before."  I immediately put the place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list and went there on a recent trip into Chicago.

I'm sort of surprised that I hadn't heard of the place either since it's been around for 33 years now.  It all started when Mike and Ruth Palmer had traveled to Europe in the summer of 1982 and found themselves loving the biergartens of Germany.  Determined to have their own authentic biergarten in the western suburbs of Chicago, they found a space along La Grange Road in downtown La Grange and opened Palmer Place in 1983.  

Mike Palmer passed away in 1990, but Ruth and her sons Phil and Steve continue to run the restaurant today.  Phil and Steve's children now also work in the restaurant making it three generations of Palmers to work in Palmer Place.  

Now, I had driven by Palmer Place a number of times as it's located along La Grange Road, the main north-south drag in La Grange.  (see map)  In fact, it's located just up the street from Q-BBQ, a wonderful barbecue joint that I visited a couple years ago.  (Click here to read about my experience at Q-BBQ.)  I found a parking space across the street from Palmer Place and made my way inside.  

There's a front part and a back part to the restaurant.  I took a seat in the smaller front part - quite probably the original part of the restaurant.  I was met by my server - Nina - and was given a menu.  They have a large beer selection at Palmer Place - domestics, imports and craft brews - and I got a Goose Island Summertime, a wonderful German-style Kolsch beer. 

The back part of the restaurant is substantially larger than the front part of the restaurant.  There was a bar, a number of tables and a brick wall along two sides.  Windows along the south wall allowed for natural light to come into the room.  

Behind the restaurant and next to the back room of the place was the biergarten.  For some reason the pictures I took of the biergarten didn't turn out - the umbrellas they had and the cloudy skies made the picture too dark.  So, I found this picture on the Palmer Place Facebook page.  It was a bustling and popular place for lunch that particular day.  

Not only did they have a large beer selection at Palmer Place, they had a number of burgers to choose from on the menu - over 30 different burgers.  They had basic burgers and they had a number of interesting and eclectic burgers such as a Wagyu steak burger; the Tuscan burger topped with sautéed peppers, grated parmesan, and basil pesto; the New York Deli burger featured toppings such as corned beef and Swiss cheese: the Belvedere burger was topped with blue cheese, Canadian bacon and grilled onions; and the California burger that was topped with Monterrey jack cheese, guacamole, sprouts, and artichoke hearts.  They also feature two signature burgers - the Ultimate Gourmet Burger that won a Silver Medal at the 2010 Chicago Gourmet Hamburger Hop, and the Benchmark Burger that won the People's Choice Award at the 2011 Gourmet Hamburger Hop.  The Ultimate Gourmet Burger features Wagyu beef and is topped with Nueske's bacon, aged white cheddar cheese, braised onions, sliced beefsteak tomatoes and a slew of other veggies.  The Benchmark Burger featured a blend of ground chuck, short rib and brisket beef, charbroiled and topped with a spice rub, aged Wisconsin cheddar cheese, smoked picante ketchup, a roasted red pepper remoulade sauce, chopped Nueske's pepper bacon, a slew of veggies.  

In addition to their extensive burger menu, Palmer Place also features a number of sandwiches including eight different variations of club sandwiches, grilled chicken sandwiches, a reuben, a pulled pork sandwich, and their signature corned beef sandwich.  Soups, salads and appetizers are also available as well as a handful of entrees such as steaks, ribs, seafood and Ruth Palmer's homemade meatloaf.  

I was really wanting to try the corned beef sandwich, but they had so many different types of burgers that I couldn't really make up my mind which direction to go.  The Frisco burger was topped with ham and Swiss cheese, the Black and Blue burger had Cajun spices and blue cheese on it, and the Breakfast burger featured a fried egg, bacon and cheddar cheese.  I could have gone in any direction and come up with a winning burger.

In the end, I decided upon the 3 Cheese Mushroom burger.  The burger was topped with Muenster, cheddar and provolone cheese and sautéed mushrooms.  I asked Nina if they could throw on some bacon with the burger.  She said it would be no problem.

The burgers at Palmer Place feature 1/2 pound char-grilled patties.  The burger came on a lightly grilled brioche bun with sliced tomatoes and onions as well as pickle slices and a lettuce leaf were all served on the side.  I got fries on the side, but I knew I probably wouldn't be eating many of them.

The burger was big and juicy, the three cheeses melted over the top of the patty.  I threw on the onion slice, pickles and some ketchup and mustard.  The bun was light and fluffy, a great accompaniment to the burger.  

The taste was very good.  I'd rather have flat-grilled burgers, but some places know how to make a good char-grilled burger.  And Palmer Place is one of them.  The patty wasn't dried out and it was very flavorful.  With all that was going on with the cheese, bacon, mushrooms and condiments, I could still taste the charred beef patty.  It was a very good burger, indeed.

With as large of a burger selection they have at Palmer Place, one could eat there every day for a month and still not experience all that they have on the menu.  And the menu at Palmer Place doesn't just stop at the burgers, they have some other interesting items on the menu that I would like to try including their signature corned beef sandwich.  The beer selection was top notch, I felt the service was fine and efficient, and I liked the atmosphere in Palmer Place.  I will be heading back there at some point for either another burger or a sandwich on my next visit.    

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern - Dana Point, CA

When I was out in Dana Point for a conference earlier this year, two of my colleagues and a couple of other guys we knew decided that we didn't want to participate in the luau they were having for us as part of the conference one evening - mainly because the temperatures were in the low 60's (F) and there was a breeze coming off the ocean.  When my wife and I were in Dana Point last year, we saw a restaurant in Dana Point Harbor that looked interesting, but we never did go there.  The place intrigued me enough that I suggested to the group about going down the hill to go have dinner at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.  

Jimmy's in Dana Point, it turns out, is part of a now five-location (and growing) chain that was started by David Wilhelm, a long-time restaurateur who reinvented himself after the recession of 2008 and 2009 forced him to close a number of fine dining restaurants that were under his corporate ownership.  Wilhelm is somewhat famous in the Orange County area for pioneering fine dining in nearby Laguna Beach.  He opened his first restaurant CdM in Laguna Beach in 1978, then opened other higher-end concept restaurants such as Kachina in the early 80's, Sorrento Grill in the late 80's and a number of other restaurants that stretched from Southern California to Arizona.  But he's probably most famous for French 75 and Chat Noir, two high-end fine dining establishments that were considered two of the best restaurants between Los Angeles and San Diego.  

Wilhelm was responsible for opening 30 concept restaurants since the late 70's, many of which ended up under the Culinary Adventures umbrella of restaurants headed by Wilhelm.  But the recession of 2008 forced Wilhelm to declare bankruptcy protection for Culinary Adventures and he ended up closing his last restaurant in 2009.  

Pictured right - David Wilhelm

As he was working his way through bankruptcy, Wilhelm worked as a consultant for HMS Host, the contractor for many concept restaurants at airports and shopping malls across the nation.  He was working with HMS Host coming up with a gastropub/small bites menu at one of their restaurants at John Wayne Airport in Orange County when he came to the realization that this was the way people were eating these days.  Wilhelm soon found that "Regional Americana" cuisine was a real thing and something that he looked into to get back into the restaurant business.  

Wilhelm partnered with a developer who was working on the new Point Loma Marina in San Diego to come up with the Jimmy's Famous American Tavern concept as the anchor restaurant for the marina.  He opened his first Jimmy's in 2010, while he opened the Dana Point location in the summer of 2013 in what was the old Ristorante Ferrantelli space in Dana Point Harbor.  That was followed a couple of years later with a location in Woodland Hills outside of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, and this year Jimmy's opened two more outlets - one in Brea in northern Orange County, and one in Santa Monica near the famous Santa Monica Pier.  Wilhelm has said that he plans to open 16 to 18 locations of Jimmy's Famous American Tavern in Southern California within the next five years.   

It was less than five minute walk down the hill to Harbor Drive and a small strip mall area that housed Jimmy's, or J-Fat's as they like to call themselves.  (see map)   Walking inside we found a bar area with a rectangular bar in the middle.  A large cut-out lettered sign that spelled out "Famous" with back lighting was on the wall of the bar area.  

We ended up getting seated at what amounted to a communal table with bench seats in a larger dining area  near the back of the restaurant.  With the wooden beams, concrete floor and the glass garage doors going out to the patio that were closed because of the cool night, it was sort of loud in there.  We were all given menus and I ordered up a Sculpin IPA from the Ballast Point brewery down in San Diego.  One of the guys ordered a bottle of wine, a Reckless Love blend from the Rebel Coast Winery, a relatively newer winery located in Rancho Palos Verdes just up the coast and south of Los Angeles.  Later on, after that bottle was finished, he ordered up a bottle of Syrah from the Plumpjack Winery located in Northern California.  Both bottles were a little pricey, but it turned out that we - as in me and my colleagues - weren't paying for dinner that night.   I'm not much of a wine drinker with burgers, but I did have a bit of the Plumpjack Syrah later in the evening.  

They had an extensive and somewhat interesting appetizer menu at Jimmy's including angus beef meatballs in a spicy Buffalo-wing sauce, whiskey-flamed shrimp with Cajun seasonings, charred Brussels sprouts, and a half-dozen spicy jalapeño deviled eggs served with applewood-smoked bacon.  My colleague Matt offered to order up some appetizers and we were fine with that.  He ordered a plate of the calamari.  It came with a spicy remoulade sauce as well as grilled serrano peppers and a twig of fried sage.  The calamari was pretty good.   

We also got an order of the ale-battered onion rings.  They were large, thick and piled high on a plate.  I had one and I thought the batter was over-herbed.  The taste of the herbs in the batter was a bit of a detraction to the overall taste of the onion rings.  

Entrees at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern range from steaks, pork chops, chicken dishes and a beef stroganoff dish that I damned near ordered up.  Seafood entrees such a Pacific red snapper and a pan-roasted sea bass were also on the menu.  They also had a big bowl of gumbo on the menu as an entree, another thing that I considered before I ordered.

It seemed like everyone was ordering up burgers and the spicy California burger had caught my attention.  It featured green chiles, pickled jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, and finished off with a slice of red onion, a tomato slice and a chipotle mayo dressing.  Guacamole also came on the burger, but I asked if I could get it on the side.  

The burger was thick and came with a knife stuck in the middle of the burger.  First of all, don't put a knife in my burger, please.  Secondly, it was messy.  There was a lot of stuff on the burger and I was worried that it would mask the overall taste of the beef.  I had to cut it in half just to be able to handle the burger.  

And there were a lot of tastes going on with the burger.  The green chiles had a nice smoky kick to their flavor. The pickled jalapeños had a sweet and spicy taste to them.  The bacon was thick and tasty.  But the burger was thick enough that all the tastes melded well with the taste of the beef.  The bun was thick and it needed to be to hold together all that was going on with the burger.  It was a good burger - not great - but fine for what I needed that evening.  

We all remarked that our meals at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern were fine - probably better than the food they were serving back at the hotel that evening for our conference.  The wine list was somewhat impressive as was the beer selection.  While we didn't do much more than just burgers and some fish & chips, Jimmy's appeared to have a pretty extensive - if not expensive - selection of entrees to choose from, as well.  I liked the laid-back atmosphere at Jimmy's Famous America Tavern and it was good enough for what we were expecting from a place like that for dinner that evening.

Pat's Tap - Minneapolis

I've become a fan of Kim Bartmann, the owner-operator of places like Bryant-Lake Bowl (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Bryant-Lake Bowl), and the Red Stag Supperclub (click here to see the entry on Red Stag Supperclub), as well as other restaurants in the Twin Cities such as Barbette and Tiny Diner.  One place that I've had on my culinary radar for quite sometime is a homey little tavern owned by Bartmann and her sister, Kari, along S. Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis - Pat's Tap.  On a recent visit to Minneapolis for work, I stopped into Pat's Tap for lunch.  

The "Pat" behind Pat's Tap is Kim and Kari Bartmann's mother, Pat.  Her illustrated face is part of the logo featured on the left.  The Bartmann's grew up in Wisconsin where neighborhood and backwoods pubs that featured burgers, cheese curds and pool tables were the social center for friends and family over the years.  Kim Bartmann loved the name Pat's Tap, not only because it was her mom's name and she thought it was a cool name for a bar, but because it's also a palindrome.   Kim Bartmann opened Pat's Tap in the fall of 2011 in the space that was formerly Casey's Bar, a retro neighborhood lounge that had been around for years before closing.  

Kim Bartmann is also big in environmental causes and is one of the local leaders in making her restaurants more energy efficient.  The Red Stag Supperclub was the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) restaurant in the Twin Cities (or the whole state of Minnesota, for that matter) and Pat's Tap was the second.  The urinals in the men's bathroom at Pat's Tap are waterless, they used reclaimed furniture for many of the fixtures, they feature a water reduction system in the kitchen and bar, and there's a solar panel array on the roof to help heat water and the building.    

It was a warm day when I pulled up to Pat's Tap near the corner of Nicollet and 35th St. in Minneapolis.  (see map)  The front exterior of the building was sort of a contemporary industrial brick facade.  The patio area out front was full of people enjoying lunch, but I was wanting to eat inside, preferably at the bar.

The inside of the restaurant features a mix of vintage fixtures including a number of old metal beers signs, a vintage juke box, a tiled floor and a tin ceiling.  A number of low and high top tables were interspersed throughout the small dining area.  

The classic-style retro bar looked like a throwback from the 50's.  Kim Bartmann initially felt when Pat's Tap opened that the bar was too sleek.  She wanted it to be more like the trashy and well-worn Northern Wisconsin bars her family frequented when she was growing up.  To me, the bar was pretty cool looking.  There's a vintage four-beer tap in the corner of the bar.  

The centerpiece of Pat's Tap is the skee-ball machine that is in the back corner of the building near the restrooms.  This is a vintage-1950's skee-ball machine that was restored by Kari Bartmann in her garage.  Kim Bartmann said one time that they have to literally drag her away from a skee-ball machine when she encounters one.  The one shown here costs just a quarter a play and I understand it's a popular diversion for people who come to Pat's Tap.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender that day, Pauley.  He gave me a menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  Pat's Tap features a number of local and regional beers on tap and in cans - no bottles.  Cans are easier to recycle than bottles and that's another part of Pat's Tap LEED-certification.  I ended up getting a 16-ounce can of the Summit Saga IPA from Pat's Tap's extensive beer menu.    

The menu at Pat's Tap is an interesting gastro-pub mix of appetizers and salads, burgers and sandwiches, and a number of eclectic entrees ranging from grilled pork chops and grilled chicken legs to mahi tacos and shakshuka, a Northern African/Middle Eastern-inspired dish of poached eggs in a tomato, onion and chili pepper sauce.  Pat's Tap also features cheese and charcuterie boards as an appetizer or an accompaniment to entrees.  

I was leaning toward getting a burger, but I saw a sandwich on the menu that sounded rather interesting - the Bloody Mary Sandwich.  It consisted of two fried eggs with bacon, pepper jam, a Worcestershire Sauce aioli, a slice of an heirloom tomato and served on slices of toasted tomato bread.  That sounded more like a breakfast sandwich and it's also featured on Pat's Tap weekend brunch menu.        

For lunch that day, I ended up ordering the cheddar cheese burger with fresh heirloom tomatoes slices and house-made dill pickle chips.  Pauley explained to me that the cheddar cheese was actually grill-top fried to give it a caramelized layer on top.  I thought that sounded pretty interesting.  House-fried chips came with the burger, but for a $2 buck upcharge I was able to get fries.  

The burger was thick and juicy, but the caramelized Wisconsin cheddar cheese helped bring the full taste to the burger.  The lightly-toasted bun was light and spongy, and was a great complement to the overall taste of the burger.  This was one burger where I went, "Mmmmm...." with the first bite and I did it again about halfway through again.  This was an outstanding burger.  

As I was enjoying my burger, a guy came in and sat a couple three seats down the bar from me.  He announced to the bartender that he was on a burger quest - his favorite burger joint had closed about six months prior and he was on a quest around the Twin Cities to find his new favorite burger.  I interjected that I had the cheddar burger and it was excellent.  He ended up ordering the bacon-Swiss cheese burger with a burger patty that was part beef and part bacon.  It came with onion straws on the burger.  As I was finishing up and paying my bill, his burger came out.   We had briefly compared notes on burger places around the Twin Cities and while he didn't say that the burger he had at Pat's Tap was the best he'd had on his journey to find his new favorite place in the area, he thought it was a very good burger. 

 

Kim Bartmann has hit another home run with the vintage, throw-back Pat's Tap.  From the interesting menu, to the large selection of beers, to the vintage skee-ball game and throwback decor, Pat's Tap was a great place to visit.  The burger I had was excellent and the service I received was also top-notch.  I don't quite think it's my favorite burger in the Twin Cities, but I'd go back time and time again just for the atmosphere great beer menu at Pat's Tap.  

Hanalei Gourmet - Hanalei, HI

Our new "Heaven-on-Earth" place is the small Hawaiian village of Hanalei on the north side of the island of Kauai.  We spent a good portion of two days in Hanalei during our visit to Kauai earlier this year and we really fell in love with the place - from the laid-back feeling of the shops and restaurants to the beautiful half-moon shaped bay where we spent hours just walking along the beach.  When I get in a funk, I switch on this video that takes me back to my mind's happy place.  As we were walking among the shops of Hanalei, we came across a little restaurant that was housed in the Old Hanalei School, an interesting little place called The Hanalei Gourmet.  After taking a look at the lunch menu posted outside the door, we decided to try the place for lunch.  (see map) 

Tim Kerlin grew up primarily in Virginia, the son of a career man for the United States Department of Defense.  Along with his wife, Andi, they moved to Hawaii in the mid-1980's.  Just after their two children were born in the late 80's, the Kerlin's were ooking for a place to open up as a delicatessen.  However, they were rebuffed at every turn from banks who wouldn't finance them in their endeavor.  Tim Kerlin then met Gaylord Wilcox, a developer whose family was at one time one of the largest land owners in Hawaii with sugar and pineapple plantations on four islands.  Wilcox had taken over ownership of the former Hanalei school and was looking to put in shops and eateries in the old classrooms.  

Kerlin had a 90 page business plan that was detailed down to the last penny of expenses he was expecting to incur and he showed it to Wilcox.  Wilcox was so impressed with Kerlin's business plan that he got in touch with his personal banker, arranged for Kerlin's business loan and co-signed on the loan.   The Hanalei Gourmet opened in March of 1990.  

Over time, the little deli was transformed into a formal sit down restaurant complete with a bar area.  The menu expanded and it garnered a reputation for interesting locally sourced foods in a laid-back atmosphere.  While Tim Kerlin oversees the restaurant, Andi Kerlin handles the books.  Tim has publicly credited Andi for keeping the business going all these years.

The space that houses The Hanalei Gourmet is a well-lit room that features artwork from local artists hanging on the wall.  The windows that look out behind the bar area frame the mountains that ring the small village.  While it was laid-back, it was also somewhat of a vibrant atmosphere.  An NBA game was playing on the televisions that hung above the bar area.  With a five hour time zone difference between Iowa and Kauai, it was sort of weird to see an NBA game on TV at 2 p.m. in the afternoon in Hawaii.  

Off to the side of the dining room was the deli part of Hanalei Gourmet.  The deli is the original part of Hanalei Gourmet before they expanded their menu a number of years ago.  The deli opens at 8 a.m. for people who are looking for sandwiches to take to nearby beaches or when they go hiking in the mountains along the Na Poli Coast.  Lox and bagels are also available from the deli all day long.   

Our server for our visit, Rachel, came over to greet us, drop off a couple of menus and to take our drink order. Cindy got a glass of pinot grigio and I saw that they had Kona Brewing Co. Big Wave Golden Ale on tap at the bar.  Big Wave is my favorite beer dating back to our first visit to Hawaii over six years.  

Lunch begins at 11 a.m. and goes through 5:30 p.m. when they switch over to the dinner menu at The Hanalei Gourmet.  Lunch is primarily sandwiches, burgers, salads, and appetizers - known as pupus in Hawaii.  For dinner, they take away the sandwiches, but add pasta dishes as well as main entrees such as seafood, steaks, chicken dishes and a charbroiled pork loin.  

I wasn't quite sure what I wanted for lunch that day.  They had peel & eat shrimp on the appetizer menu that I came close to getting.  A pastrami and Swiss on dark rye bread was also a thought.   They had a specialty reuben sandwich called The Hanalei Sailor that caught my eye which featured a double portion of corned beef topped with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut on dark rye, then grilled.  Any of those would have been fine for lunch.

But I ended up going the burger route and ordered one of the three burgers they had featured on their menu - Moe's Ultimate Burger.  The basic burger on the menu is called Big Tim's burger which is a 6 ounce local beef patty topped with lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.  Moe's Ultimate burger takes the Big Tim's burger and adds pepper jack cheese, an avocado slice, and bacon.  It's served on a toasted sesame seed bun.   A side of fries came with the burger.  

The burger was thick and juicy.  It was chargrilled and while I like a flat-grilled burger better, the taste of this burger was delicious.  It was cooked to what I would call a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The "toasted" bun wasn't all that toasted, but it was fine.  It was a four napkin burger with everything that was piled high on top of the patty.

Cindy went with the fish and chips - beer-battered fresh catch of the day fish, deep fried and served with fries, Asian coleslaw and a soy wasabi sauce.   The fish appeared to be light and flaky with a nice batter on the outside.  Cindy thought it was simply delicious.  

We lingered for awhile after finishing up our lunches enjoying the atmosphere at The Hanalei Gourmet.  Rachel tried to tempt us with some dessert or an after-lunch drink such as one of their house mai tai's.  We put a significant dent in the mai tai supply while we were in Hawaii, but we decided to go out and take a look at some of the shops that were down the way from The Hanalei Gourmet in the Old Hanalei School.   The slow pace and laid-back feel of the place was refreshing and relaxing.  

The Hanalei Gourmet was one of those memorable places where the food was good, the service was excellent, and the atmosphere was relaxing, cozy and comfortable.  I enjoyed my burger very much while my wife was more than happy with her beer-battered fresh catch fish.  Had we had more time in Hanalei we probably would have gone back just to have a mai tai at the bar while looking out the old school windows to the mountains beyond.  The Hanalei Gourmet is a "can't miss" if you go to Hanalei. 

Tendermaid - Austin, MN

There are a number of loose beef meat sandwich places around Iowa and Minnesota.  People can get a pretty parochial view of the ones they like the best.  It seems that people in Ottumwa, IA feel the Canteen makes the best loose meat sandwiches, while those who grew up in Marshalltown, IA feel that Taylor's Maid-Rite is the best.  Then there are people - like me - who grew up in Newton, IA who think the ones at Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop - the oldest continuous Maid-Rite diner in existence - are the best of the lot.  Well, there's a number of people who hail from Austin, MN who feel that the loose meat sandwiches from Tendermaid are the best in the world.  On a trip to Minnesota recently, I stopped into Tendermaid to see how good their loose meat sandwiches really are.  

Mildred Coffin grew up in Central Iowa near the town of LeGrand in the early 1900's in a home that had neither electricity or working plumbing.  After graduating from high school in 1928, she moved to nearby Marshalltown to work at a Woolworth's department store.  She met Jerry Thatcher in Marshalltown and the couple soon married.  But being that it was the height of the Great Depression, the two eked out a modest living in Marshalltown.

One of the more popular eateries at the time in Marshalltown was the aforementioned Taylor's Maid-Rite, started in 1928 by Don Taylor, a resident of Newton who liked the Maid-Rite shop there so much that he moved to Marshalltown to start his own.  The Thatcher's ate at Taylor's Maid-Rite many times over the years and as the economy was recovering in the late 30's, they decided to open their own Maid-Rite-style shop in another Midwestern town.

They looked at a handful of industrial towns in Iowa and Minnesota before deciding upon the Southern Minnesota city of Austin, home of Hormel Foods.  Jerry Thatcher diligently surveyed the downtown business climate, walking the streets of the city and counting cars at intersections before finding a spot that he felt would be highly visible with a high traffic count for both cars and pedestrians.   The Thatchers opened the Tendermaid Sandwich Shop in 1938, quickly becoming a social hub for Austin famous for their loose meat sandwiches and Mildred's pies.  The Thatcher's ended up running the Tendermaid for 40 years before selling the business in 1968 and retiring.  (Jerry Thatcher died a number of years ago, but Mildred lived to the grand old age of 101 before passing away in 2013.)  

The restaurant went through a number of owners over the next nearly 30 years before Gary and Sara White took over the little restaurant.  The White's were friends with Jerry and Mildred Thatcher's son, Bob, who lived in the same neighborhood.   When they took over in 1997, they didn't change much - other than adding some condiments to the mix.  They kept the place just about the same as it was when the Thatcher family had it for 40 years.  

One of the things that Sara White did implement was a food eating challenge where people had to consume 10 Tendermaid sandwiches, a bag of potato chips, an ice cream malt and 64 ounces of water in under 30 minutes.  In 1999, a young lady by the name of Amanda Dunning finished 10 Tendermaid sandwiches along with the chips, malt and water in 28 minutes.  That record stood for 13 years before Thomas Herrera finished the task in 23 minutes, but he consumed 11 of the Tendermaid's to take possession of the record.   

In September 2014, Ethan Teske (pictured right - photo courtesy Austin Daily Herald) made the trip from Mankato and devoured 12 Tendermaid's along with the water, chips and malt in 21 minutes.  That record was subsequently broken less than a year later by a St. Cloud man - Jeremiah Foster - who downed 13 of the Tendermaid sandwiches, along with the chips, malt and water.  Foster, who had partaken in over 80 food challenges to that point, finished the feat in 23 minutes.   

I wasn't going to be taking part in any food challenges on this day.  I just wanted to see how good their loose meat sandwiches were.  I found the Tendermaid in the same spot that Jerry Thatcher decreed would be the best spot for their little restaurant nearly 80 years ago at the corner of 4th Ave. NE and 2nd St. NE in downtown Austin.  (see map)  It was just before the lunch rush when I stopped in.  

And it was probably a good thing.  The Tendermaid is not very big.  In fact, it reminded me very much of the Canteen in Ottumwa.  It was a small rectangular counter with about a dozen seats.  There were just about six people in the place when I walked in including two young ladies sitting near me, one of whom was trying her first Tendermaid with her friend who was from Austin.  

The steaming bins were located in the center of the room between the counters.  These looked like the same bins used at the other places like the ones in Newton, Marshalltown and Ottumwa.  The steam was wafting away from the meat in the bin.

The menu was located on the wall on a circa-1970's Pepsi menu board.  They had a hamburger, cheeseburger, chili-cheeseburger, and bacon-cheeseburger on the menu, as well as a number of malts and shakes.  They don't have a fryer at the Tendermaid, so only potato chips are available as a side.  

They also had a specialty sandwich menu over the steam bins.  The Western Burger featured barbecue sauce, pepper jack cheese, and bacon on top, while the Bacon Ranch Burger had - naturally, bacon, ranch dressing and American cheese on top.  The Tender Island Burger was topped with Thousand Island dressing and American cheese.  Condiments and toppings included jalapeños, Sriracha sauce, mozzarella cheese and pickle relish

Judy was my server - it turns out that she is the sister-in-law of Sara White who just happened to be holding court in the center of the business.  I ordered up a Tendermaid with cheese - ketchup, mustard, onions and pickle on the sandwich.  It wasn't all that big and I didn't think of it as much of a good value at $4.15.  I would equate it to the size of a Joey-Rite, what Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop in Newton calls their smaller Maid-Rite sandwich.  The taste, however, was very good.  The beef was moist and crumbly with a great flavor to it.  The American cheese was melted slightly into the meat and the onions were strong and pungent.  

It didn't take me long to finish my Tendermaid and almost as soon as I finished the last bite of the sandwich, Judy turned to me and asked if I wanted another one.  I gave her a "thumbs-up" to signify that I did want another.  Quite honestly, they weren't all that big and if I were really hungry when I was there, I could easily finish three of them.  The second one was just as good as the first one.  

While I didn't think the Tendermaid loose-meat sandwiches were that good of a value, I still thought they were very good, taste wise.   It's easy to see why people who grew up in Austin think the Tendermaid's are best of all the loose meat sandwich, the same way people who are from places like Ottumwa, Marshalltown and Newton in Iowa think highly of their loose meat sandwich places.  The Tendermaid was a nice little place with a lot of history and a good loose meat burger.  

The Lowbrow - Minneapolis

Up in Minneapolis earlier this year, I was looking for a new place to try for lunch.  Actually, I had honed in a place along Nicollet Ave. - known as Eat Street for all the restaurants up and down the street for blocks - but when I went to go in, it was packed.  I looked across the street at a place that had a sign that said "Burgers - Beers - Brunch".  But the name alone was interesting enough for me to check out, so I went to The Lowbrow for lunch instead.  

Heather Bray and Jodi Ayers met when both were working at the Birchwood Cafe in east Minneapolis over 15 years ago.  Both became interested in the farm-to-fork movement while working at the Birchwood and when they went off in different directions - Bray to Lucia's To Go and Ike's Food & Cocktails; and Ayers at the Wedge Community Co-op and Moose and Sadie's.   They continued to promote farm fresh foods where they worked and they had ideas of their own restaurant they would like to do someday.

That day came in 2010 when they found a space along S. Nicollet in Minneapolis' Kingfield neighborhood.  Opening their restaurant in late January 2011, the name they chose was definitely a misnomer for the food they were serving.  Burgers made from locally sourced grass-fed beef, Wisconsin cheeses, organically grown turkey and chicken, and vegetarian options from locally-grown farms were the core of the foods they had.  On Sunday, the Lowbrow serves what they call a "Wisconsin Style" brunch with traditional items such as pancakes, classic eggs and bacon, and breakfast sandwiches, as well as unique items such as a jalapeño hash, a smoked salmon scrambled egg plate, chorizo breakfast tacos with jack cheese and scrambled eggs, and a good ol' grilled cheese sandwich where you can add bacon, avocado, tomatoes and jalapeños to the sandwich.  

Walking into The Lowbrow I found an open space with a high ceiling featuring exposed ductwork.  There was a small bar up front and a number of tables in the middle of the space with booths along the north wall.  It was far from a dive that the name Lowbrow might connote to most people.

Along the wall on the north side was a large mural featuring the Lowbrow logo, bear with the name of the place across its face.  It was sort of a surreal Northern woods winter scene.  But it was a great mural. 

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender/server Krista.  She gave me a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  The Lowbrow features only Minnesota craft brews and I ordered up a Fulton Lonely Blonde Ale.  

Actually the first thing that caught my eye were the vintage baseball cards from the 1960's, 70's and 80's that were under a polyurethane topping on the bar.  I immediately recognized a handful of baseball cards that I had when I was a little kid, as well as many of the players that would be obscure to most people sitting at the bar.  

Looking through the menu, there's a number of burgers and sandwiches to choose from.  They only featured three entrees on the menu, but I understand that they have nightly specials.  I thought about getting the turkey reuben for a moment, but I ended up getting the "Shrooms and Swiss" burger - a grass-fed burger patty topped with sautéed mushrooms and Wisconsin Swiss cheese.  It also came with a garlic aioli spread and I asked Krista if I could get a couple pieces of bacon on it.  

The burger was thick, juicy and delicious.  The garlic aioli gave a light hint of garlic, but it wasn't overpowering.  The bun - which is a big key to a good burger - was light and spongy, but it held together well with the juiciness of the burger patty.  The thick slice of Swiss cheese was melted onto the top of the burger giving it a gooey consistency and it had a very rich flavor.  The mushrooms were sautéed in butter and were a great addition to the burger.  This was a very, very good burger.  A large order of fries came with the burger as a side, but I may have had only three or four as I concentrated on finishing the rather large burger.

The Lowbrow was a great find for me.  It was a good thing the original restaurant I wanted to go to was full or I wouldn't have walked into The Lowbrow that day.  I probably would have found it sooner than later, but I'm glad I found it sooner.  The burger was excellent, the atmosphere was fun and laid back, and the service I received was prompt, cheerful and efficient.  I would have no problem recommending The Lowbrow for a burger or a sandwich if you're in the area. 

5 Star Burgers - Kirkwood, MO

An upscale burger place that has been on my radar for a couple three years has been 5 Star Burger with now three locations in the greater St. Louis area.  I'd read about their eclectic burgers and their extensive craft beer selection and I always wanted to give the place a try.  I was in St. Louis calling on a new account one afternoon and I decided to stop into the 5 Star Burger location in suburban Kirkwood to give it a try.  

Bob Gontram was an entrepreneur in the St. Louis area in the 1980's and he opened Zipp's Drive-Thru restaurants, a burger joint that eventually grew to 45 locations in Missouri and Illinois.  In 1992, Gontram sold the chain to Rally's (also known as Checkers in some parts) for a reported $15 million dollars.  From there, Gontram developed the Bagel Street Cafe restaurants that had three or four locations around the greater St. Louis area. 

Bob Gontram's son Steve had sort of followed his father into the restaurant business.  After graduating from the California Culinary Academy, a LeCordon Bleu-affiliated school that boasted alumni such as the late Charlie Trotter and Cheryl Forberg, Steve Gontram joined a Wolfgang Puck restaurant in San Francisco - Postrio (which closed in 2009) - that featured a menu of locally sourced foods. 

In 1996, the younger Gontram and a fellow chef at Postrio, Matthew Bousquet, were convinced by Gontram's father and restaurant consultants George Mahe and Charlie Downs to come to St. Louis to open a similar locally-sourced menu restaurant.  In 1996 with his father and the two restaurant consultants as the money backers, Steve Gontram opened Harvest with Bousquet as a partner in the business.  The restaurant was located in the Richmond Heights area of St. Louis, just north of 40 Highway on S. Big Bend Blvd. 

Bousquet eventually sold his interest in the restaurant and moved back to San Francisco, Bob Gontram sold his interest to his son, and the two consultants were eventually bought out.  Steve Gontram became the sole owner-chef for Harvest, which - for years - was the darling of many restaurant critics and foodies around the St. Louis area.  In 2004, Steve Gontram opened the short-lived Tejas Grill and Cantina in Clayton that specialized in Tex-Mex comfort food.  He closed that to focus primarily on Harvest a couple years later.

In 2010, Steve Gontram sold his interest in Harvest to his executive chef, Nick Miller.  (Miller ran Harvest for three more years before closing in 2013 citing cash flow troubles and increased competition of farm-to-fork concept restaurants in the greater St. Louis area.)  In the meantime, Bob Gontram had moved to Taos, New Mexico and opened a new concept gourmet burger place - 5 Star Burgers.  Using top notch beef in their burgers, the 5 Star Burger concept was wildly successful since its inception in 2008.  

Steve Gontram decided to bring the 5 Star Burger concept to St. Louis and in 2012 he opened his first location in Clayton.  In 2013, he opened a second location in Kirkwood, and earlier this year a third 5 Star Burger location opened in Creve Coeur.  In addition to the St. Louis locations run by his son, Bob Gontram runs four 5 Star Burger locations in New Mexico (Sante Fe, Albuquerque and Taos).  

It was the Kirkwood location of 5 Star Burgers on Kirkwood Road (which is Lindbergh Road outside of Kirkwood) that I went to on this trip.  (see map)  I found a parking space behind the building and went inside.  The dining room wasn't very large, but it seemed comfortable enough.  A large group of ladies were there having lunch, but that was about it in terms of people in the place when I walked in around 1:30 p.m. 

I sat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender/server, a young lady with bright red hair and a friendly demeanor.  She got me a menu to look over and asked me what I'd like to drink.  They had a number of beers on tap from local breweries such as 4 Hands, Civil Life, and Urban Chestnut.  I ordered up a bottle of a Kölsch beer from another well-known St. Louis craft brewery, Schlafly.  

The young lady tending bar was also a server for the large group of ladies - about 12 to 14 of them - who were having lunch.  She had to come up with separate checks for the women, so it gave me a long time to take a look through the menu to see what they had to offer at 5 Star Burger.  They get their Black Angus beef at 5 Star Burger from Creekstone Farms, a Kansas corporate ranch that supplies premium beef to restaurants around the U.S.  Many of the items on the menu are sourced locally or within a moderate drive from St. Louis.  

They feature about a half dozen burgers along with specialty non-beef burgers such as a veggie burger, a lamb burger, and a Duroc pork burger with a Vietnamese slaw and a peanut-hoisin sauce.  Their regular burgers included the Blue Ribbon burger that was topped with bacon, port-braised onions and gorgonzola cheese; the Magic Mushroom burger featured sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions and Swiss cheese; and the Gateway that featured a burger topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, onion rings and a house-made barbecue sauce. 

For people that don't want a burger - or any variation of a burger -  5 Star Burger has a grilled chicken sandwich, a grilled salmon sandwich, and a pale-ale battered cod sandwich.  They also have a number of salads and soups on the menu, as well. 

I went with Dad's Green Chile cheeseburger - a burger that was developed by Bob Gontram when he first opened 5 Star Burger in New Mexico eight years ago.  The burger was topped with crisp-fried Hatch green chiles and pepper-jack cheese.  A chile-mayo sauce came on the side along with garnishes such as red onion slices, dill pickles, tomato slices and lettuce.  I got a side of fries to go along with the burger - I had momentarily contemplated getting the fried dill pickles served with a Greek tzatziki sauce.  The fries were served in a small basket wrapped with paper.

From the first bite, I could easily tell this was an outstanding burger.  It was cooked with a bit of pink in the center, but it was juicy with each bite.  The fried Hatch green chiles had a bit of a spicy bite - I would have liked the burger even more had the Hatch green chiles were sauteed rather than breaded and fried.  But that's a minor quibble in describing what was turning out to be an excellent burger.   I added a bit of the green chile mayo to the burger, but I concentrated on dipping my fries in the sauce more than using it on my burger. I would recommend getting an extra side of the green chile mayo to go along with the very good fries at 5 Star Burger. 

The lettuce and tomato garnish were surprisingly fresh, as was the red onion.  I like a good red onion garnish on my burger more than just regular onions.  The bun that came with the burger was fresh, airy and spongy, and it held together very well with all the juiciness of the burger.  A great bun can make a great burger and this was a great bun.  At left is the aftermath of my burger with all the juices on the plate.  This was - easily - a five napkin burger.

I made pretty short work of the burger and was still dipping some fries into the green chile-mayo sauce when my server/bartender came over to check on me.  "How was the burger," she asked.  I told her that I thought it was outstanding. 

And the burger was outstanding.   With nearly each bite, I found myself going, "Mmmm..." as an affirmation of how good the burger tasted.  With the fresh garnishes, the excellent bun that held together despite the juicy burger patty, the fried Hatch green chiles offering a bit of a spiciness to the burger, as did the pepper-jack cheese, along with the tasty green chile-mayo, this burger may be the best one I've had in all my travels to St. Louis.  It's definitely in the top 3, but it would be tough to beat the taste of the burger I got that afternoon at 5 Star Burger. 

Shake Shack - Chicago

My wife and I went to downtown Chicago for a weekend visit awhile back and one place that I've had on my "places to try" list was Shake Shack, a New York-based burger joint that has become somewhat of an interesting phenomenon on the burger joint landscape.  Now, my wife had eaten there before when she was off on her own while I was working an event in Chicago a year ago.  And I'd heard that lines to get into the place would stretch well down the block.  But it was around 2 p.m. when we went to Shake Shack and we had a minor wait in line inside the building.  Here's my first experience at Shake Shack. 

Danny Meyer grew up in St. Louis, his father was an entrepreneur who owned hotels and restaurants before having to declare bankruptcy as he spread himself too thin.  Meyer's father re-invented himself and became the owner of a travel agency while Danny was in high school.  Danny Meyer eventually attended Trinity College in Connecticut, and while a student at Trinity he spent summers in Rome as a tour guide for his father's travel agency. 

After graduation and a short stint in Chicago using his political science degree, Meyer ended up in New York in 1983 thinking that he was going to become a lawyer.  He had taken the LSAT's, but the 25-year-old Meyer wasn't overly certain that he wanted to go down the legal pathway after he had taken a job as a host at Pesca, an upscale Italian restaurant in the Flatiron District of Manhattan.  The restaurant bug bit him and he decided to go back to Europe and study culinary arts in Italy and in France.  

Back in the U.S. and now 27 years old, Meyer opened his first restaurant - Union Square Cafe - a half block west of Broadway on 16th St.  It quickly became a popular restaurant in New York - named by Zagat as the top restaurant destination for a number of years - and Union Square Cafe became a five-time James Beard Foundation award winner.  (Union Square Cafe closed its original location in 2015 and is planning to move about three blocks away to open a new location sometime this year.)

But Union Square Cafe turned out to be the tip of an iceberg of multiple restaurant openings for Meyer - 28 in total over the years.  Some of the other restaurants under Meyer's Union Cafe Hospitality Group umbrella include the famed Gramercy Tavern, the very popular Blue Smoke urban barbecue spots, North End Grill - a fine dining spot in the heart of New York's Battery Park, and Maialino - an Italian fine dining restaurant located in the Gramercy Hotel.  In addition to the restaurants run by Union Cafe Hospitality Group, they also have a thriving catering business, as well as a concessions business with stands at Citi Field in New York and Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.

By the late 1970's, Madison Square Park - near where Meyer would later put his Gramercy Tavern location - was in deep need of a restoration.  One of the oldest urban parks in New York, the seven acre tract of land had fallen into disrepair with many of the statues crumbling.  Work began on restoration in 1986, but the lack of funding and vision caused work to start and stop on a regular basis.  Finally in the late 90's, a combination of public and private funds - spearheaded by Danny Meyer - would lead to the creation of the Madison Square Park Conservancy whose mission was to protect, enhance and nurture the park to make it a beautiful and dynamic green space in the heart of Manhattan.  By the turn of the 21st Century, Madison Square Park was well back to being a beautiful and vibrant green space. 

In 2000, Eleven Madison Park - one of Meyer's restaurants - set up a food cart in Madison Square Park that sold hot dogs during the summer months. The little cart was quite popular with people lining up to get food for three years running.  In 2003, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation sought bids on establishing a small permanent restaurant in the park.  Meyer outlined his idea for what was going to be a small, one-off version of Shake Shack.  Eleven Madison Park was ultimately awarded the rights to put up the Madison Square Park Shake Shack and it opened in June of 2004, located just inside the southeast corner of Madison Square Park. 

From the start, Shake Shack was an instant hit.  Long lines formed with people willing to stand in line for up to 30 minutes to get one of their delicious burgers.  The meat used for the burgers at Shake Shack was a proprietary blend that was devised by Danny Meyer in conjunction with Pat LaFrieda, a New Jersey-based meat purveyor that supplies top-end beef to over 600 New York City/Northern New Jersey restaurants daily.  In 2005, New York Magazine named Shake Shack the best burger in New York City. 

In 2008, Meyer split Shake Shack from Eleven Madison Park as the Union Cafe Hospitality Group decided to grow the Shake Shack brand.  (Meyer eventually sold Eleven Madison Park in 2011.)  A second Shake Shack location opened on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in 2008. and by 2010 there were four Shake Shack locations in Manhattan, as well as one at Citi Field Stadium, and another location in Miami Beach.  Today, there are over 80 Shake Shack locations - nearly 50 in the U.S. and the rest scattered in countries such as the U.K., Russia, Turkey, Japan, and throughout the Middle East.  Randy Garutti - whom Danny Meyer hired to work at Eleven Madison Park in 1999 - is the C.E.O. for the growing Shake Shack empire. 

The first Chicago location for Shake Shack opened at the corner of E. Ohio and Rush Streets in September of 2014.  (see map)  Long lines instantly formed down the street and around the block to try their burgers.  It was routinely a 45 to 60 minute wait to get into the first Chicago Shake Shack.  A second Chicago Shake Shack opened in the Chicago Athletic Association along Michigan Ave. across from Millennium Park right at a year ago, and a third location opened in the Old Orchard Mall in north suburban Skokie in September of last year.  It was the E. Ohio and Rush location that we went to for my first visit to Shake Shack.  

As I said, my wife had already gone to this particular Shake Shack, breaking a marital agreement that we usually have in place when new restaurants open that we both want to try.  I was in Chicago for a dealer event a year ago last March and she came in to stay with me and hang out in downtown Chicago while I was working the event.  She went to Shake Shack for lunch, getting there early enough that she didn't have to wait that long.  When we both went there it turns out that we didn't have to wait that long either

The menu board is on a wall where you come in to Shake Shack.  Of course, they have burgers, but they also have flat-grilled hot dogs, a portobello mushroom burger, and a chicken sandwich on the menu.  There's also a long list of frozen custard, shakes, floats, concretes, and cones on the menu.  Shake Shack also has their own beer that's brewed for them by the Brooklyn Brewery in New York City.  Wine is also available at Shake Shack. 

When you order at Shake Shack, they have a unique and somewhat ingenious plan of attack.  If you just want ice cream-based goodies, the have the "C-Line" that is just for those who want to bypass getting any food.  On a cold afternoon, there weren't many people in the C-Line.  Just beyond the order counter is the open kitchen. 

The dining room at this particular Shake Shack is what I would categorize as modern industrial.  It was also packed.  But we had time to wait for a table to open up before they called for us to pick up our burgers.  Cindy found a table along the east wall of the restaurant.  Less than 10 minutes after we ordered, we had our burgers. 

I ordered up a double Shack burger with fries.  My wife got the single Shack burger.  The burger patties were flat and mis-shapen with a crusty outer shell on the patty.   It was topped with American cheese, lettuce leaves and a slice of a rather fresh tasting tomato.  The buns were lightly toasted and the burger came in a small paper bag. 

The taste of the burger was enhanced by the secret Shacksauce - a mayo-based sauce that was sort of sweet, sour and spicy all at the same time.  I sort of wished I would have gotten a side of the Shacksauce to be able to dip the crinkle-cut fries.  The fries were pretty pedestrian and while I don't usually like a mayo-based sauce on my burger, the sauce was a nice complement to the overall taste of the burger.  The black angus blend of beef was very tasty.   

For my first visit to Shake Shack, yeah, I liked it.  It's certainly an interesting phenomenon that has gotten a lot of buzz through social media.  But the burger that I had was worthy of the hype.  Was it good enough to stand in line for up to 30 minutes to wait for a burger?  Probably not, so - thankfully - we didn't have to wait that long on this visit.  But Shake Shack is worthy of the accolades they've received for over 10 years.  And the one in downtown Chicago was a great place to try my first one.  

Central Standard - Bettendorf, IA

My wife and I went to the new location of Ross' Restaurant along Falcon Ave. in Bettendorf one Sunday evening last fall.  As we were leaving, we were going around a curve and noticed a building off to the side that appeared to be some sort of a restaurant that we didn't know was there.  We pulled into the parking lot and while there were people in the building, it was clearly closed.  We could see beer taps in the front window and wondered what the place was going to be.  A couple of weeks later, we found that it was going to be an upscale burger and beer joint by the name of Central Standard.  Not long after they opened, word got out through friends on social media that the place was pretty good.  We broke our cardinal rule of never visiting a new restaurant within 90 days of it opening and tried to get in to Central Standard in the early afternoon of New Year's Eve day.  The place was packed and there was at least a 30 minute wait.  We decided against going on that particular day and to just let things settle down for a few weeks more before we made our way back out to Central Standard on a Saturday afternoon.  

The people behind Central Standard are the same people who run Crust Pizza in Bettendorf (click here to see Road Tips' entry on Crust Pizza).  Mark Roemer is a long-time restaurateur who opened Crust in 2011 after owning other bars and restaurants in the area.  In March of 2014, Roemer bought the upscale Red Crow Grille across 53rd Ave. from Crust and gave it a much needed face lift.  (Roemer subsequently sold the Red Crow Grille to Aman Razden who turned it into Hemispheres Bistro last year.)

Roemer partnered with Dominic Rivera - who was the former executive chef at Red Crow Grille during its hey-day about 15 years ago - to open Central Standard last December.  After leaving Red Crow, Rivera tried his hand at running his own restaurant - Five, an upscale restaurant in downtown Moline - but it couldn't sustain appreciable business and closed about a year and a half after it opened.  Rivera, who studied culinary arts in Florida after realizing in his early-20's that he had a flair for cooking, then went to work for the food management group at Aramark before teaming up with Roemer to open Central Standard.

Central Standard is the anchor spot in a small strip mall developed by Roemer just south of 53rd Ave. in Bettendorf.  (see map)  When they were open the first few weeks, it was evident that parking was going to be a problem as the lot was seemingly always full because of Central Standard and there weren't any other businesses open yet in the other spots.  Cars have had to park up and down Falcon Ave. when the lot for Central Standard gets full on evenings and weekends. 

On our second try to get into Central Standard, we were able to get in right away.  We were seated in a booth along the wall and had a nice view of the open dining area and back into the open grill area.  Our server that particular day was Blake who came over to greet us and take our drink orders.  It was still before noon and a bloody mary sounded pretty good.  It turned out that they had a make-your-own bloody mary bar that day (available on Saturday and Sunday). 

The bar area is part of the dining area.  It features a number of craft beers on tap including beers from the Stone Brewery in San Diego, Exile Brewing from Des Moines, and Bell's Brewery from Kalamazoo, MI.  Standard Burger also has a number of specialty cocktails available.  Three large flat screen televisions hang on the wall above the back bar and they're always tuned on to sports, as are the other flat screens that hang around the dining area making it sort of an upscale sports bar.  

The kitchen area in the back of the restaurant was a beehive of activity.  There was a prep kitchen behind the grill area, but most of the work was being done out in the open.  They flat-grill the burgers at Central Standard, a technique that I like much more than a charbroiled burger.  

The menu at Central Standard is not large, which - to me - is good and bad.  They have 10 burgers on the menu including a turkey burger.  But they don't give the customer the ability to customize a burger.  All the burgers are made as is, meaning you can't deviate from the burger on the menu.  You can add bacon, a fried egg or another burger patty to the burgers, but you can't just order up a gruyere cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon burger.  They also have a pastrami sandwich on the menu for people who don't want a burger, as well as a grilled chicken sandwich, a pulled pork sandwich, and a lobster grilled cheese sandwich served on sourdough bread.  Actually, the lobster grilled cheese sandwich caught Cindy's eye.  

For my first burger at Central Standard I got the Standard burger with bacon.  It was topped with gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and a rosemary mayo spread.  All the burgers at Central Standard come with double patties and are served on a soft and buttery artisan bun.  I got a small basket of fries to go along with the burger.

As you can see from the picture above left, the "bacon" that I got for a $2 buck upcharge consisted of two small pieces that put together probably wouldn't have added up to one piece of bacon.  I felt cheated on that, but wasn't going to complain.  They supposedly smoke their bacon in-house at Central Standard and the bacon was flavorful and crispy. 

There were two problems with my Standard burger - there were too many caramelized onions on the burger.  I like the taste of caramelized onions, but there were just too many on the burger overpowering the overall taste of the burger.  Plus, while I like caramelized onions, my stomach usually does not.  I was burping onions for hours after I finished the burger. 

The second problem was that there was too much of the rosemary mayo on the bun.  That, too, was an overpowering taste and I think it was a detriment to the overall taste.  While it was still a good burger, I would have cut back on the onions and the rosemary mayo had I known it was going to be too much. 

Cindy went with the Blue burger - it was topped with Hook's blue cheese out of Barneveld, WI, bacon, caramelized onions and a malbec mustard.  She wanted to try the onion rings and she was overwhelmed when the onion rings were brought to the table.  It was a huge metal basket full of thick cut, beer-battered and Cajun-seasoned onion rings. 

There was also a large amount of caramelized onions on her burger - too much for her taste.  And the malbec mustard was also too overpowering as there was a large pool sitting on the top bun. 

The onion rings were completely over-seasoned with the Cajun seasoning.  Now, I like spicy Cajun seasonings, but if they would have backed down on the Cajun seasoning - or eliminated it all together - these would have been outstanding onion rings.  The Cajun seasoning tasted like it was nothing more than Tone's Cajun seasoning.  That was sort of a downer because the onion rings had a lot of potential.  They were so thick you had to eat them with a knife and fork. 

The fries were handcut and they were all right - nothing special.  I liked the fries fine, but they weren't a highlight.

For our first visit, we really didn't know what to expect.  We walked in at 11:40 a.m. and we were hoping to go watch our neighbor's daughter play basketball at 1 p.m.  We figured we'd be in and out in 30 to 35 minutes, tops.  The service was so slow for whatever reason on that visit that we didn't get out of Central Standard until 12:50 p.m. - an hour and ten minutes after we arrived and were seated.  It would take well over 5 minutes to get drinks from the bar and it was a good 25 minutes from the time we ordered our food until it was served.  And the bill was what I would call astronomical for a burger joint, even an upscale burger joint. 

Undeterred, we've been back to Central Standard a handful of times since then.  Sometimes, we've been told it would be 20 to 30 minutes to get a seat, but within five minutes we've been seated.  Service times have gotten much better and they seem to be settling in to a routine.  I've noticed Dominic Rivera in there each time we've been there, checking on customers and making sure things are running smoothly.  

We've also had different burgers - I've had the B.B.L.T. burger with bacon, roasted tomatoes, lettuce and a spicy sauce, and the Sunnyside Up burger with smoked gouda cheese, proscuitto, a fried egg served sunnyside up, and a truffle aioli.  But for all the eclectic burgers they have on the menu, the one I like the most is the basic C.S. burger topped with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion.  Without all the taste-overpowering toppings found on the other burgers, the minimalist toppings allows the wonderful flavor of the flat-grilled burger to shine through, especially when it's served on those great buns.  

We're certain that Central Standard is going to succeed.  And I'm sure they'll evolve as time goes on.  They'll add some burgers, change up some others.  Crowds have  been good in there, but that also makes it for a loud environment in the open space.  It's expensive - we haven't gotten out of there for anything less than $45 bucks on our visits over the past few weeks.  It's a little tough on the wallet so we can't go there on a regular basis.  The service has gotten a lot better and we think our first visit - within 45 days of their opening, well under our 90 day opening rule - was an anomaly in regard to service times.  Even for all the bitching I've done in this blog post, Central Standard has been a nice addition to our rotation of restaurants we like to go to in the Quad Cities. 

M Burger - Skokie, IL

I've driven by a new place on Touhy Ave. in the North Chicago suburb of Skokie a couple three times over the past year by the name of M Burger.  The metal framed building was sort of intriguing to me, but the clincher was the place's name.  One time on a recent trip into Chicago, I had passed it and decided to go back and see what it was all about.  

It turns out that M Burger is part of the uber-conglomerate of Chicago area restaurants, the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises (LEYE) group.  Started in 1971 by Rich Melman, Lettuce Entertain You has a firm hold on the restaurant landscape in the Chicago area.  Scott Barton and Randy Brand were LEYE managing partners in charge of restaurants such as Osteria Via Strato and Nacional 27.  When award winning chef and managing partner Rick Tramonto left the highly acclaimed Tru in 2010, Barton and Brand took over management of that location for Lettuce Entertain You.  The highly sought after chef's table in Tru was no longer being used, so Barton and Brand turned the space - along with an old pastry kitchen - into the first M Burger later that year. 

From the start, M Burger was designed to be spartan in decor offering customers a quick place to grab a burger without a lot of atmosphere or frills.  M Burger sources their beef from Buedel Fine Meats, a popular meat purveyor located in south suburban Bridgeview.  Their milk and cream for their delicious milk shakes and ice cream comes from Fox Valley Farms, a specialty dairy in far-west suburban Aurora.  Today, there are six M Burger locations around the Chicago area - four downtown, one in the Chicago Premium Outlets mall in Aurora, and the one I went to in Skokie. 

The M Burger in Skokie was opened in 2014, the fourth one of the six that are now open. It's is located on W. Touhy Ave. about 3/4's of a mile off the Edens Expressway.  (see map)  It's a little confusing to get into the place - you have to turn into the entrance of the Wal Mart parking lot at the light in front of M Burger, then turn left to get into their parking lot.  The M Burger features a drive-thru lane and the building, itself, isn't all that big. 

The drill at M Burger is that you order at the counter and they'll either bring your food out to you, or call your name if it's busy.  The menu is very basic - they have a hamburger, cheeseburger, an M burger with bacon, cheese, and a mayo-based sauce, or a Hurt burger topped with pepper jack cheese and a spicy barbecue sauce.  All burgers come as singles, but for a dollar more you can get double patties.  They also feature health-conscious items such as a ground turkey burger, something called a Chicken Betty that is a grilled chicken breast with avocado, tomato and pepper jack cheese, or a vegetarian sandwich that is called the Nurse Betty without the chicken breast. 

Dining in at M Burger is not a spectacular option.  The "L"-shaped dining room is narrow with double and single booths.  Garage doors open in warmer months to a narrow outdoor eating area.  No, it's pretty utilitarian as far as the decor goes with M Burger.

The guy who took my order at the counter brought out my burger.   The burger was wrapped in light wax paper and came on a plastic tray with no plate or silverware.  Once again, it was relatively no frills.  

I ordered the M burger with everything - that included the bacon, American cheese, and mayo sauce, as well as a tomato slice with a thick lettuce leaf.  The burger patties are flat-grilled and the bun is toasted.  The burger patties aren't all that large, but they were thick making this a good sized burger.

The burger was actually very tasty.  The beef patties were cooked to a medium temperature with a bit of pink in the middle.  They were juicy and tasted great.  The bun held together very well given all that was going on with the juicy burger and the sauce.  The tomato was fresh, as was the lettuce.  The cheese and the bacon were a great accompaniment to the overall taste of the burger.  But it was messy - it was, at least, a five napkin burger. 

M burger gets a "thumbs up" from me in regard to the taste and quality of the burger.  If you're looking to get a beer with the burger, well, you can't.  Want specialty toppings like roasted peppers, jalapenos, or garlic aioli?  Nope, not gonna get it.  Want to relax on comfortable seating catching up with friends?  You're going to be disappointed.  M Burger's concept is to get you in, have a very good burger, and send you on your way.  And if you understand that going in - as I learned on my visit - it will make the whole M Burger experience more enjoyable for you. 

Burger Stand at the Casbah - Lawrence, KS

A little over 3 years ago, Zagat released their list of the top burgers in 25 cities around the United States.  One place that was listed was the Burger Stand at the Casbah in Lawrence, KS, just west of Kansas City.  I had the place on my list of places to try and on a recent trip between Manhattan, KS and Kansas City, I stopped in Lawrence to give the Burger Stand at the Casbah a try.  

Simon Bates had the jones for the restaurant business at a very early age.  He was cooking in restaurants in his teens and eventually went off to study at the Culinary Institute of America.  After graduating from the CIA, Bates ended up in Chicago in 2007 working at restaurants hoping all the time - along with his wife Codi - to be able to get back to their hometown of Topeka, KS. 

That chance came in late 2008 when a catering company in Topeka hired Simon Bates as their executive chef.  Codi and he quit their jobs and started the process of moving back to Kansas.  However, just before they left Chicago, Simon got a phone call that would forever change his life - the catering company was going out of business.  Bates was stuck with no job and a moving truck coming in the morning. 

Simon and Codi Bates decided that this was a sign to forge ahead and get back to Topeka and find other opportunities.  Simon Bates enlisted the help of one of his mentors, restaurateur Robert Krause who along with his wife, Molly, ran a number of restaurants in the Lawrence area over the years.  Krause got Bates involved with Dempsey's Pub in Lawrence by renting out the kitchen area for the first Burger Stand. 

The Bates' and the Krause's eventually moved the Burger Stand to the old Casbah grocery store on Massachusetts Ave. in the heart of downtown Lawrence, next to a restaurant they all were partners in, the now-closed Esquina.  With a number of gourmet burgers to choose from and over 40 beers on tap, the Burger Stand at the Casbah became a local hit.  

Simon Bates eventually did make it back to nearby Topeka when the group opened a second Burger Stand in Kansas' capital city in 2011.  Today, after starting out as just a two person operation with Simon and Codi Bates, the two Burger Stand locations employ around 90 people in the two locations. 

I got into Lawrence around 1:30 p.m. on a sunny unseasonably warm day.  I was able to find some parking just down the street from the Burger Stand at the Casbah on Massachusetts at 8th St.  (see map)  The long, narrow space features a bar off to the left side and some tables along the stone wall on the right.  I really didn't know the drill at the Burger Stand, but you order as the front counter/bar and they call your name out to get the burgers out of the kitchen. 

There is an upstairs area to the Burger Stand.  It's where the restrooms were located and I had to visit there before I left the building.  In the middle of the upstairs area was a nifty skylight with a couple of flat screen televisions inside the skylight.  

I ended up sitting in the lower level of the place down by the kitchen.   It was an even more narrow space with a few high-top tables under a low ceiling.  Along the wall with the kitchen was a corrugated metal wall.   When your food is ready, they call out your name to pick up at the window.  

The menu at the Burger Stand in Lawrence is pretty basic.  They have just five burgers on the menu including a Kobe beef burger.  They also feature hot dogs - or "hawt doggz" - on the menu including a Chicago-style hot dog serving as a nod to the period of time Simon Bates spent in the Windy City.  Sides included a number of eclectic fries including poutine fries, duck fat fries, bacon cheddar cheese fries, and truffle fries.  They also featured beer-battered onion rings on the menu.

I got the "Smoke" burger - a blended burger patty topped with applewood-smoked bacon, gouda cheese, and a chipotle-cocoa ketchup on top.  I had ordered an India Pale Ale from the Odell Brewing Company out of Fort Collins, CO.  They have a condiment bar down near the kitchen window and I loaded up on some dill pickle spears to go along with my burger. 

The burger, I have to say, was very good.  The beef blend was juicy and tasty.  The chipotle/cocoa ketchup had a bit of a smoky taste, but it wasn't overpowering to the taste of the burger patty.  The thick-sliced gouda cheese on top of the burger patty was also a great compliment to the burger.  And how can you go wrong with crispy bacon on top.  The burger was so juicy that I had to use at least five napkins while I ate it.  It was simply an excellent burger.  

Not only do they have good burgers at the Burger Stand at the Casbah, they have a great selection of beers and the atmosphere is fun and funky.  This was a great find in my travels.  I love places like this - great burgers, great beer selection, and no presence of pretension on their part at the Burger Stand at the Casbah.   This was a great burger and beer place in an equally great Midwestern college town.

Barrel House - Davenport, IA

A place that has suddenly turned into a favorite of mine for a good burger in the Quad Cities is the Barrel House.  For a long time I was sort of ambivalent toward the restaurant with locations in downtown Davenport, downtown Moline, and on Utica Ridge on the far Northeast side of Davenport.   But I've sort of grown fond of their flat grilled burgers, their great beer selections and their good service.   This is an entry on our recent visit to the Utica Ridge location.  (see map)

Michael DeWitte grew up in Cedar Rapids, the son of Ron DeWitte - a well-known guitarist in the Eastern Iowa area and who is also a member of the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame.  The young DeWitte had a lifelong dream of owning his own restaurant and after working in various places over the years, he became the general manager of Granite City in Davenport. 

A space in the old Knostman Building in downtown Davenport - the building was built in 1908 - opened up in late 2010 and Michael DeWitte saw his lifelong plan come to fruition.  He teamed with the owner of a local landscaping company, Jimmy Holt, to come up with the Barrel House concept.  They decided to call it Barrel House as a homage to the old breweries - or "barrel houses" - that dotted the downtown Davenport area before Prohibition.  They opened the first Barrel House location in late July 2011 calling it Barrel House 211 because its address is 211 E. 2nd St. in downtown Davenport.  (see map)  They seem to just go by plain ol' Barrel House these days. 

Pictured right - Michael DeWitte and Jimmy Holt.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times. 

DeWitte (who is also involved with Brix, a pizza place in downtown Moline) and Holt opened their second Barrel House location in downtown Moline in 2013.  In early 2015, they took over the spot of the former 100 Montaditos, a Spanish-based restaurant that serves tapas-sized sandwiches that didn't last much more than a year in Davenport.  Prior to 100 Montaditos, the space had been a wine and cheese store for a few years. 

Along with the opening of a third Barrel House on the northeast side of Davenport, DeWitte and Holt looked at opening a fourth location in LeClaire, IA along the Mississippi river just north of the Quad Cities.  I understand, however, that they weren't able to get the building they wanted to house the restaurant built to their specifications, so that location appears to be dead.  However, they announced late last year that they would be opening a fourth location in Silvis, IL on the far southeast side of the Quad Cities.  That location should be open by May of this year.

Like the other two Barrel House locations we've been to over the past couple three years, the one on Utica Ridge is sports-centric.  There are a number of flat panel televisions interspersed throughout the restaurant.  The "L"-shaped restaurant features a bar up front with a number of high-top tables near the bar and shorter tables toward the back.  And as we've experienced a couple of timse, this Barrel House location can get very loud when there's a lot of people in the place. 

Michela was our server on this particular visit.  She dropped off a couple menus and asked what we would like to drink.  I ordered a bloody Mary and she said, "Uh, well, we're out of bloody Mary mix at the moment."  I was sort of incredulous that a place like this could be out of bloody Mary mix.  She said that their manager was out getting some from the HyVee store that is just down the street.  Crestfallen - just a bit - I ended up ordering an Exile Ruthie, a gold lager from the Exile Brewing Company in Des Moines, that's part of the extensive beer selections they have at the Barrel House. 

They have much more than burgers at the Barrel House.  I also like their tacos - especially their Surf City Tacos that feature grilled haddock that is seasoned with Cajun blackening spices, and topped with a cabbage and onion slaw along with a mixture of black beans, sweet corn kernels and cilantro.  They have a number of good sandwiches, too, including the Beef, Bacon and Mushroom melt topped with Swiss cheese and served on a ciabatta bun.  They also have a number of salads, wraps and flat bread pizzas.  

They have specialty burgers on the menu at the Barrel House.  I like their Burgundy Mushroom and Swiss cheese burger - two 1/4 lb. beef patties topped with Swiss cheese and mushrooms that are sauteed in a burgundy wine sauce.  I like to have them thrown some bacon on top for extra flavor.  And that's what I got that particular day.  I always get their burgers with the onion bun option.  And I also like to get a side of their excellent onion straws - they aren't on the menu, but they've always been able to accommodate me on my requests. 

Cindy went with the "burger bar" option on this visit.  You choose either 1 (Firkin), 2 (Hogshead), or 3 (Big Butt) 1/4 pound patties, then you pick out the type of bun which includes a brioche bun, the aforementioned onion bun, a pretzel bun, or a ciabatta bun.  They also have a gluten free bun on the menu.  From there, you get a choice of six different types of cheese, then you finish out you build-your-own burger with a number of choices of toppings for 50 cents each - toppings such as fried jalapenos, an onion ring, Sriracha slaw, avocado, stout beer and mustard sauteed onions, and pico de gallo.  She got the Firken cheddar cheese burger on a brioche bun.  She got the cole slaw to go along with it. 

Now, I just can't quite put a finger on what makes me so enamored with the Mushroom, Swiss, Bacon burger that I like to get at the Barrel House. I don't know if it's the burgundy wine sauteed mushrooms, the soft and tasty onion bun, the flavorful Swiss cheese that is slathered over the top of the double burgers, or the crispy bacon that seems to tie everything together.  There's a lot of taste sensations that are going on with this particular burger.  I can't call it the best burger I've ever had, but I still find myself getting a hankering for a good Barrel House burger more often than not.  

My wife enjoys the burgers at Barrel House, as well.  She doesn't get them as often as I do, but she said that the cheddar Firkin burger was a spot-hitter for her that particular day.  She's usually picky about her sides and she seems to like the cole slaw that they serve at the Barrel House. 

I don't think you can really go wrong with any of the Barrel House locations in the Quad Cities.  I've warmed up to their food over the past two or three years and I'm enamored with their burgers.  Their beer selection is top notch and we've always had good service on our visits to any of the three (and soon to be four) locations.  It's a great place to catch a game and they have a diverse menu that is definitely a notch above most sports bar-type places I've been to.  Geez, I'm hungry for one of their burgers right now! 

Milwaukee Burger Company - Appleton, WI

In doing some background research for the Boulder Tap House in St. Cloud, MN a couple years ago (click here to see the entry on the Boulder Tap House), I found out that the family who owned that establishment also had three places in Wisconsin that went by the name of Milwaukee Burger Company.  The only thing was that all three locations weren't anywhere near Milwaukee.  I'd always had those places in the back of my mind since then and on a trip up to the Fox Valley area I sought out the Appleton location of Milwaukee Burger Company. 

North Dakota natives Steve and Curt Letnes started the Letnes Restaurant Group in the mid-90's when they opened their first Grizzly's restaurant in St. Cloud, MN.  There are now 14 Grizzly's in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.  The brothers started to branch out with the Boulder Tap House concept, opening the first one in St. Cloud in 2010.  

In 2008, Curt Letnes' sons Kent and Matt ventured out on their own - well, with help from their father - to come up with the Milwaukee Burger Company concept.  They opened their first restaurant in Eau Claire, WI in November of 2008.  The idea behind the restaurant was a burger joint for "real men" who enjoyed big burgers and an eclectic selection of cold beers.  They use fresh blended Black Angus hand-pattied ground beef at Milwaukee Burger Company, they bake their own buns daily and hand-cut their French fries.  

In 2014, the Letnes brothers opened the Appleton location and then later in the year they opened a place in Wausau.  And around a year ago, they finally opened a Milwaukee Burger Company in the Milwaukee area.  In a city where there are a number of great burger options, skeptics wondered if a Milwaukee Burger Company could actually survive.  But the brothers must have done some extensive market research and found that there was a void of good burger places in suburban Franklin and that's where they put their fourth location. 

The Appleton location of Milwaukee Burger Company is located along N. Casaloma Dr. on the end of a strip mall across the street from the Fox River Mall.  (see map)  Going into the place, there's a large bar area up front.  When I walked in the bar was nearly full, but it had cleared out while I was there.  Interestingly, there was a faint smell of garlic in the air. 

I ended up taking a seat in a booth toward the back of the place.  Milwaukee Burger Company is sports-centric with a number of flat screen televisions and some projection televisions in the back of the long narrow space.  My server, Brittany, came over with a menu and I ordered up a Lagunitas IPA, one of the 40 beers they had on tap at the Appleton Milwaukee Burger Company. 

They feature a dozen specialty burgers on the menu at Milwaukee Burger Company.  Some of them sounded yummy - the Hangover burger with cheesy hash browns and a fried egg, and the Steakhouse burger topped with Swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms sounded pretty good.  A couple - the Peanut Butter and Jalapeno burger, and the Defibrillator with two patties, chicken-fried bacon and cheese curds - uh, not so much.  They also have a big burger challenge at Milwaukee Burger Company - eight 1/3 lb. burger patties, then add two buns, then they top it off with the kitchen sink - cheese, veggies, a fried egg and I believe each patty is topped with a slice of cheese.  Then they finish it off with cheese curds.  If you can eat it within 30 minutes, you get a t-shirt and your name on a plaque in the restaurant.  Better get a double extra-large t-shirt...

They also allow you to make your own burger at Milwaukee Burger Company.  You choose whether you would like a burger, a grilled chicken breast, or a grilled marinated portobello mushroom.  From there, you have a choice of 10 different type of cheese toppings, then a choice of veggies including raw or sauteed onions, onion straws, jalapenos, sliced tomatoes and sauteed banana peppers.  You can add a fried egg, three different types of bacon, and even another burger patty. 

The make-your-own burger was the route I went.  I ordered up a burger with smoked cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, and sauteed mushrooms.  Brittany asked if I wanted to add a side to go along with the burger.  I looked over my choices and decided that some poutine - fries and cheese curds topped with gravy - was about as unhealthy a choice that I could get.  I ordered those, of course.  Brittany said, "Great choice!"  It was the exact same response that the waitress at Burger Bar Crescent in Montreal gave me the last time I ordered poutine.  (Click here to see the entry on Burger Bar Crescent.) 

The burger with the side of poutine came out in about 15 minutes.  It was a nice presentation with a couple of dill pickles stick to the top bun.  The burger was flat-grilled, thick and juicy.  From the first bite, I went, "Ummmmm...."  It was a delicious burger.  While I couldn't really taste the smoked cheddar cheese, the sauteed mushrooms and the applewood smoked bacon were great compliments to the taste of the burger.  It was very juicy and I used a plethora of napkins during the course of the meal.  The bun was light, yet held together very well with all that was going on with the burger.  This was an excellent burger.

The poutine, well, I only took a couple three bites of that.  And it, too, was very good.  But the burger was so filling and the poutine so rich that I knew I couldn't finish everything.  When Brittany came back to check on me after I finished my burger, I begged her to take away my plate to keep me from eating anything else. 

For my first experience at a Milwaukee Burger Company location, I have to say that I was extremely pleased with what I had to eat.  The burger was superb, the poutine was sinfully wonderful and Brittany's service was outstanding.  I understand that they're planning on opening more Milwaukee Burger Company's in 2016.  if the one in Appleton is any indication of how good the other ones are, then I'll say that the one in suburban Milwaukee can more than hold their own against some pretty stiff burger competition in that city.  Or anywhere else, as a matter of fact.  

Kroll's East - Green Bay, WI

I've eaten at Kroll's West a three or four times on visits to Green Bay over the past 10 years or so.  (Click here to see my visit to Kroll's West.)  The burgers are pretty good and I've often wondered about the Kroll's East location.  During a trip to Green Bay recently, I made a point to go to Kroll's East to check things out. 

In the early 30's, Harry and Caroline Kroll started to serve meals at their downtown Green Bay hotel to help make ends meet during the Great Depression.  The burgers that they made - a quarter-pound beef patty topped with butter, onions, pickles and copious amounts of ketchup - became so popular that they opened a small burger stand in 1936.   Just before World War II, the Kroll's shut down their stand (since it was a seasonal business) and moved into the basement of the former Labor Temple Auditorium in downtown Green Bay so they could serve their burgers year round.  Harry and Caroline were then joined in their business by their daughter, Pat.

When World War II came along, the Kroll's were having trouble getting good beef to make their burgers.  Rationing across the nation during wartime was taking a toll on the nation's restaurants.  The Kroll's were able to keep going, but decided just after the war ended to sell the business to Harry Kroll's sister, Isabel Kroll Schauer and her husband, Dick.  In the meantime, Pat Kroll Van Der Perren took over the basement space for her own Kroll's restaurant. 

The Schauer's moved into a building on Main Street, just south and east of the downtown area and they opened their doors in November of 1945.  Isabel expanded the menu that included many of the same chili and soup recipes that are made in Kroll's East kitchen today.  Everything at Kroll's East - as it was when the Schauer's opened the doors in 1945 - is made in house with their own recipes. 

Behind the restaurant were a block of small cabins that people stayed in during the summer months.  Just beyond the cabins were open fields.  If heat was needed in the cabins, the tenants would use small kerosene heaters provided by their owner, Leonard Goeben.  Kroll's was a favorite place to eat for the people staying in the cabins. 

By 1969, the cabins were gone, and Dick and Isabel's son, Jim, came to work in the family business.  Less than three years later in January of 1972, Dick Schauer passed away.  Jim took over the day-to-day operations of Kroll's and began a remodeling project two years later that enlarged the bar area.  At the time of the renovations at Schauer's Kroll's location, Jim Schauer's cousin, Pat Van Der Perran was forced to move her downtown location due to urban renewal.  The Van Der Perren's moved to S. Ridge Road in the shadow of Lambeau Field to open Kroll's West. 

In the 1980's, Bette Schauer joined her husband in the business.  They were soon followed by their daughter, Jenny Schauer Smith, and two of their sons, Ben and Nathan.  The Schauer family continues to run Kroll's East today which is located at 1658 Main St. in Green Bay.  (see map)

I got into Kroll's East around 7:30 on a cool evening.  The original "Lunch Time" neon sign with a clock in the middle still stands on the front of the building facing Main Street.  I didn't really know the drill at Kroll's and I entered the place by the dining area by the kitchen.  There's a candy-caned shaped counter in the front of the area by the kitchen.  This definitely did not look like a bar area where you could belly up to and get a beer. 

Off to the side was a dining area that featured booths and tables.  It was a nice looking dining area - the only problem was that no one was in there.

That was the same situation with the long narrow dining room that connects the main dining area with the bar area. There were a number of small booths that looked like they belonged back in the 70's along the walls of this area at Kroll's East. 

Upon closer inspection of the long dining room, I saw that each booth had their own service button that you would push to summon a server.  In fact, the booths in the main dining room by the kitchen/front counter area had them, as well.  I almost kind of like that - you need something, hit the buzzer.  No need for a server to come around to ask you if you need something when you don't, but then when you do need something there's no one around to be found. 

I made my way into the bar are at Kroll's East.  It was a larger room with subdued lighting, flat screen televisions and a number of tables and booths.  Now, THIS is where it was all happening for the patrons that evening.  I took a seat at the bar looking at an ornate mirror with green and white tile around it.  It turns out that this was the original Italian-made mirror with the original tile from the original building before the place was renovated back in the 70's.  The bartender, an older gentleman who was having trouble getting around probably due to bad hips (I've had 'em), came over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  I ordered a Leinenkugel that they had on tap that evening. 

Of course, they're famous for their burgers at Kroll's East.  They still use a Black Angus blend of beef that is never frozen - the same way they did it back in the days of Harry and Caroline Kroll's ownership of the place.  The burgers are grilled over charcoal giving them a distinctive taste.  In addition to burgers, Kroll's East also features sandwiches and wraps, housemade soups and salads, and chicken wings, nuggets and tenders. 

I had to try the burger - this was a double cheeseburger topped with pepper jack cheese.  Similar to the burger at Kroll's West it was slathered in ketchup.  The cheese was also a gooey mess on top of the burger patties.  And as it is the Kroll's custom - East or West - the burger was cut in half before it was served.  The usual Kroll's burger comes with a toasted hard semmel (or Kaiser) bun, but you can also order it with a toasted soft bun.  That's what I did on this particular visit.  I also got a side of onion rings to go with the burger.  

From the first bite, I thought this burger was better than the one over at Kroll's West.  The ketchup wasn't as thick and slathered on like the last couple I've got at Kroll's West.  I like ketchup on a burger - many people don't - but sometimes it's too much.  I'd say that it was a lot of ketchup on this burger, but not overpowering in taste.  The pepper jack cheese, melted butter, onions, and pickles were a great taste combination along with the softer bun that stayed together very well with all the stuff on the char-grilled burger.  I usually prefer a flat-grilled burger over a char-grilled one, but this was a very good burger.

The onion rings, on the other hand, were just all right - nothing special.  They had a nice krispy outer shell, but they were sort of bland and greasy.  I don't know why I got onion rings other than the fact that they sort of sounded pretty good.  If it was a housemade batter, it was pretty pedestrian.  The greasiness of the onion rings didn't help the taste. 

I'm sure people in Green Bay have their favorites - Kroll's East vs. Kroll's West.  I seemed to like the burger at Kroll's East better than the last couple I've had at Kroll's West.  Both are good burgers - some people think they're the best in the state of Wisconsin.  I don't know if I'd go that far, but like anything that's a local institution, people are going to be more parochial in their choices.  You gotta like Kroll's East just for the history behind the place.  The burgers are a great draw, as well.  The only thing I can say is try both the Kroll's locations and find out which one you like better.  I don't think you can go wrong with either spot. 

Blackerby's Hanger 5 - Columbus, IN

I've been somewhat enamored with John Purner's book - The $100 Dollar Hamburger - that chronicles restaurants and cafes that are at or near small municipal and private airfields across the nation.  (The $100 Dollar Hamburger denotes the fact that in order to fly somewhere to get a burger at one of these places, pilots usually use up to - and above - $100 in aviation fuel getting there and back.)  I've made notes of some of the ones that are listed in the Midwest and there was a place in Columbus, IN, south of Indianapolis that caught my interest.  On a recent trip between Indianapolis and Louisville, I took the time to get off Interstate 65 and go to Blackerby's Hanger 5 at the Columbus Municipal Airport.  

Sharon and Wayne Blackerby were high school sweethearts who just happened to get into the restaurant business.  They opened their first restaurant, Broad Acres, in North Vernon, IN south and east of Columbus.  In 1988, the Blackerby's opened the Hanger 5 at the Columbus airport.  It became known as a place where the pilots and the locals would come to eat breakfast and lunch.  Sadly, cancer took Sharon's life in 2009.  Wayne Blackerby and his son, Caleb, continue to run Blackerby's Hanger 5 restaurant.  

The Columbus Municipal Airport is located on the far north side of Columbus on Ray Boll Drive.  (see map)  The street is named after Charles Raymond "Ray" Boll, a Columbus native who worked closely with General Douglas MacArthur as a radio and radar intelligence specialist in the Pacific Theater of World War II.  After the war, he returned to Columbus and eventually became an executive for Cummins Engines.  Boll was also a long time commissioner on the local aviation board.  

The terminal at the airport in Columbus is a modern, but nondescript building.  You go through the front door of the terminal, take a hard right and you'll find yourself standing in front of the main entrance to Blackerby's Hanger 5.  The dining room is spacious, open and well-lit - thanks primarily to the large windows that look out onto the tarmac and beyond.  

I took a seat at a table and immediately opened a menu that was given to me by my server, Brittany.  Blackerby's Hanger 5 is only open for breakfast and lunch, closing at 2 p.m. daily.  They have an extensive breakfast menu including omelets, pancakes, French toast, Eggs Benedict, and a number of specialty breakfasts that are skillet-style offerings.

Their lunch menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, wraps and entrees such as a housemade meatloaf platter, country fried steak, traditional pot roast, and a battered whitefish dinner.  On Sunday's at Blackerby's Hanger 5, they serve their famous pressure cooked chicken.  

Believe it or not, I hadn't had a burger for quite awhile and I went with the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger.  I asked Brittany if they could throw some bacon on it and she said it would be no problem.  Fries came with the burger.  And, of course, since it was a restaurant at an airport, they don't serve alcohol at Blackerby's Hanger 5.  And that was fine - I went with water.  

I had some time to return e-mails thanks to the free wi-fi they had at Blackerby's.  About the time I was finished and packing up my computer, Brittany brought out my burger plate. 

The burger was flat-grilled and slathered with a thick slice of Swiss cheese covering the sautéed mushrooms and bacon slices on top of the burger patty.  The burger also came with sliced red onions and dill pickles.  The first bite yielded a great taste of a medium grilled burger complete with the pungent Swiss cheese, crispy bacon, and the wonderful earthy tasting sautéed mushrooms.  The sliced red onion was very fresh and really forward in taste.  Everything tasted so great, it was a really good burger.  

The fries were also very good.  They were sort of the battered style of French fries - crispy on the outside, yet moist and flaky on the inside.  This was a very good lunch.  

And it was a very good value.  While it tasted like a $100 burger, it was only a shade over $8 bucks for the price.  With tax and tip, I got out of Blackerby's Hanger 5 spending about $12 bucks.  The burger was excellent, the restaurant was clean and comfortable, Brittany's service was prompt and efficient, and it was kind of a nice treat to eat at a small municipal airport watching the small planes take off and land.  Blackerby's Hanger 5 is a good destination for breakfast or lunch - even if you aren't a pilot.  It's sort of tough to find, but I'm certain you'll be happy you did find the place.