Road Tips

The Demise of the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill

When I travel along Interstate 43 between Milwaukee and Green Bay, I always try to stop at the small unincorporated town of Lake Church, just east of Belgium, WI.  Traveling through Lake Church, the county road takes you right up to the edge of Lake Michigan.  (See map)  There's a small parking lot there where I can park and walk out to the shore's edge to stand and watch the waves roll in.  It's like my little moment-of-zen where I can sort of just zone-out for 5 to 10 minutes looking at the lake.  I was able to do that when I was up in Wisconsin last week.

Driving through Lake Church, however, I sensed that something was amiss.  There was this old building that housed the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill that became one of my favorite little joints that I've come across in my travels.  I had been fascinated by the place ever since I found this little spot off Interstate 43 a number of years ago.  (Click here to see my original entry on the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.)  I was even more fascinated after meeting the owner and one of the regulars who gave me the history of the 170-year-old building which was a notorious speakeasy during Prohibition.  I loved the fact that they had Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap and Blatz beer in bottles.  And they also had a great burger.  It was simply one of the coolest places I've found. 

But it appeared that the building was gone.  I hadn't been there for about a year and the stately old building was nowhere to be found.  I was sort of discombobulated as I sat at the intersection trying to get my bearings where the building used to be.  Getting into the hotel in Milwaukee that evening, I did a Google search for the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  And I was horrified and immediately saddened to learn that it had been destroyed by fire in May of this year.  

Owner Dave Maiman - known to the locals and regulars as "Uncle Dave" - had just left the building around 5:30 p.m. on May 17th when he was suddenly called back as a fire had broken out in the kitchen.  The fire quickly spread throughout the 175-year-old building and there was no chance to stop it.  22 fire departments descended upon Lake Church to battle the fire as they also had to contend with high winds which helped fan the flames.  The building burned through the night and was finally out around midnight.  The building was a total loss.

Pictured left - Firefighters battle the blaze at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  Photo courtesy of Ozaukee Press. 

It was determined that electrical wires in the wall of the kitchen area shorted out and started the fire.  The old building had no safeguards in place to contain the fire and it went up in flames in no time flat.   The employees and about 8 patrons evacuated the building and no one was harmed, save for an employee who suffered from a bit of smoke inhalation trying to save some items from burning up in the flames.  

Dave Maiman remarked after the fire that he was hoping to pass the business along to the next owner who would keep the bar/restaurant going.  And he lamented the loss of the hand-carved back bar and the original tin ceiling tiles that dated back to when the building was built in 1848 - the year Wisconsin became a state.  But mostly he was going to miss the people who came into the place that he owned for over 20 years.  People had eaten or imbibed at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill for generations and suddenly it was no more.  

 

Pictured left - Dave Maiman makes his way past the rubble from the aftermath of the fire at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  Photo courtesy Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  

On a subsequent visit to the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill, Maiman had told me that he was getting old and was looking for the right person to buy the establishment. But now after the fire, that obviously won't happen.  Maiman said in an interview after the fire that he didn't know if he was going to rebuild the restaurant.  But, quite honestly, how could you? There's no way to replicate the vintage mid-19th century building, the hand-crafted bar, the tin-ceiling panels, and the homeyness that the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill had.  The debris was long gone, the land that the building sat upon had been leveled off, and a thick grassy patch was in place of where the building used to be. I'm just thankful that I got to experience the place on a couple three occasions and will sadly miss the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill. 

FoodAffair Bistro - Bettendorf, IA

There's been a trend of casual upscale breakfast/lunch bistro-style restaurants that have opened in the Quad Cities over the past couple of years.  One of those is a place that we'd been wanting to try for awhile - FoodAffair Bistro.  My wife had a good friend of hers come into town for a long weekend recently and on the day that she was to leave to head back to her home we decided to take her out for breakfast.  We decided to head over and give FoodAffair Bistro a try.  

Aman Razdan grew up in Mumbai, IN.  While he was a youngster, he worked in his parents restaurant before coming to the U.S. in 1998.  He settled in the Quad Cities and ended up getting into the culinary program at Scott Community College.  While going to school at Scott Community, Razdin got a job at Le Figaro, a now-closed French restaurant in Rock Island run by Rachid Bouchareb.  Learning under Bouchareb, Razdan did a little bit of everything in the kitchen to preparing salad dressings to preparing charcuterie boards and cheese plates.  

After graduating from Scott Community College, Razdan became the pastry and sous chef at the Red Crow Grill in August of 2002.  Razdan worked at Red Crow Grill until March of 2004 when he was hired to be the head regional chef for Holiday Retirement Corporation.  Working out of the Palmer Hills Independent Senior Living facility in Bettendorf, Razdan oversaw the kitchens for 16 Holiday Retirement properties in the Midwest.  

Pictured at right - Aman Razdan.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times. 

After nearly 3 years working with Holiday Retirement, Razdan was hired to be the head chef at the Best Western Steeplegate Inn in Davenport.  Three years later, Razdan went to work as an executive chef at a local hospital.  During his time at the hospital, Razdan - along with his wife, Martina - started to work on a business plan to someday own their own restaurant.

In 2015, the opportunity arose to buy the Red Crow Grill where Razdan got his first job out of culinary school.  Red Crow Grill had been open for 16 years and Razdan wanted to change things up and put his stamp on the restaurant.  Red Crow Grill closed on July 1, 2015 and over the next two months, Razdan spruced up the place and came up with a menu that he classified as "global fusion" focusing on Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Latin cuisines.  In early September of 2015, Razdan and his wife opened Hemispheres Bistro.  

A few years back, one of the Quad Cities iconic hotels - Jumer's Castle Lodge - had closed and the property was bought by developers who tore down the structure to make way for a Home2 Suites hotel, a gas station/convenience store, and an out-building that would house a coffee shop and a restaurant.  Dr. Rajiv Mallik - a cardiologist - and his wife, Dr. Namrata Mallik - an internal medicine specialist thought the restaurant spot would be a good location for a bistro.  

The Mallik's approached Aman Razdan and asked if he would supervise the kitchen for them.  Razdan envisioned a restaurant that would focus on eclectic breakfasts and lunches, along with gourmet coffee and tea, smoothies and shakes, and a full bar.  Friends of the Mallik's - Dr. Sanjay Pancholi and his wife Karishma - also became investors in the new restaurant.  FoodAffair Bistro opened for breakfast only on Dec. 21, 2020.  Within the next few weeks, they had added lunch items to their mix.  

To get to FoodAffair Bistro, it's a little tricky if you're not a resident of the area.  From Spruce Hills Drive just east of Interstate 74, you have to go north on Utica Ridge Road.  About 100 yards north of the intersection of Spruce Hills and Utica Ridge is an entry point that takes you to Home2 Suites and a Kwik Star.  Just before you get to Kwik Star, however, the entrance into the parking lot for FoodAffair Bistro is on your left.  FoodAffair Bistro is located on the south side of the building with Milltown Coffee occupying the north end of the building. (see map)

Now, my wife and I had driven through the parking lot a couple times on weekend mornings and found the parking lot to be packed.  We figured that FoodAffair Bistro was also packed so we never stopped in.  But upon entering the restaurant, we found it to be much larger than we imagined from the outside.  It featured a number of booths lined along a half wall that looked into the kitchen area.  More booths and tables were situated along the wall and into the middle of the space.  Orange accents were prominent throughout the restaurant.  

The bar area was off to the left side as you walk in.  FoodAffair Bistro featured a number of craft beers and wines in addition to a full cocktail selection.  Just past the bar area was a separate room that could be used for additional seating, meetings, or receptions.  There was also a small private dining area in the back corner of the main dining room.  

Throughout the restaurant, there are original works of art by local artists who are cancer patients or who have survived cancer.  The owners of FoodAffair Bistro teamed with Living Proof Exhibit, a local non-profit organization that provides therapeutic programs for cancer patients and survivors, for the artwork in the restaurant.  Dr. Namrata Mallik personally picked out a number of original abstract paintings by local cancer survivors to showcase (and sell, if one was inclined to do so) in FoodAffair Bistro.

Our server that day was a young woman by the name of Heather.  We had menus dropped off at our table when we were seated by a hostess and we were going through them when Heather stopped by.  She offered us a choice of still or sparkling water.  After we opted for still water and Heather went away, I said to my wife and her friend, "Well, you certainly don't get your choice of water at Perkins or Village Inn!"  

Since they had gourmet coffees and a full bar, I took full advantage of that.  I ordered one of their bloody mary's, a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, and a double espresso - just to get me started for the day.  All three were very good for 9:30 in the morning.  Our friend got a mocha and my wife went with just a regular coffee.  My wife remarked at how good their coffee was.  I thought their espresso was excellent.  

The menu is short, but interesting.  There were the usual omelets, pancakes, scramble skillets, eggs benedict plates, and pastries for the breakfast side.  They had basics like eggs, bacon and hash browns, and they had a special that day which I ended up getting and will describe in a bit.  

On the lunch side - which is served after 11 a.m. and up until 2 p.m. (weekdays only) - they had a number of items including appetizers such as vegetable spring rolls, Indian-style samosas, smoked ceviche, and smoked chicken nachos.  Sandwiches include a prime rib burger, a Cubano sandwich, a bacon/lettuce/tomato/avocado sandwich, and a chicken tikka sandwich served on Indian naan bread.  Soups and salads were also available. 

However, their lunch menu also featured steaks, chicken, seafood, pork and ribs.  They had tandoori chicken available for lunch, as well a flat iron steak with a ginger soy sauce, and lamb chops.  Sides such as sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, basmati rice, a fruit cup, and vegetables came with the main entrees.  

My wife and our friend went with the basic breakfast - two eggs (your choice), bacon, toast and hash browns.  My wife went with just two eggs over easy, along with whole wheat toast.  She got fresh squeezed orange juice along with her breakfast.  Our friend got scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese.  My wife thought her breakfast was fine for what it was.  But she did remark that the hash browns were very good.  

I went with the special they had that day - the corned beef hash eggs benedict.  The corned beef and potatoes were served on toasted rye bread with two poached eggs on the side.  The corned beef hash was topped with a scallion cream sauce.  A side of Boetje's mustard and a sweet chili drizzle completed the plate.  

It was - in a word - outstanding.  The corned beef was juicy and tender.  The scallion cream sauce just heightened the taste sensations with each bite.  Even the poached eggs had a quality taste.  I was more than happy with what I got.

Since this visit, my wife and I have tried to go back to FoodAffair Bistro a couple times for lunch.  We went on New Year's Eve day to get a sandwich or a burger, but we were informed that there would be a 45 minute wait.  There were numerous open tables, but we figured that it probably had more to do with a staffing issue than reservations.  A week later, we went in on a Sunday for a burger and a bloody mary, but we were told that they only do breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.  

Nonetheless, our only visit - so far - to FoodAffair Bistro was a good experience.  I can't say enough about the corned beef hash with the scallion cream sauce and the poached eggs.  My wife felt that her breakfast - as basic as it was - was also very good.  And the bloody mary/double espresso/craft beer starter I had was a spot-hitter.  One of these days we'll make it back to FoodAffair Bistro for lunch because we know that if their lunches are as good as their breakfasts, it will be another good experience. 

Update - February 2023 - We found out on February 21st that Food Affair Bistro closed.  Per their Facebook page, the restaurant announced that "a gut punch from within" made it so the restaurant couldn't continue.  

And I have to sadly say, it didn't surprise me.  They started doing dinner sometime last year and my wife and I went there a couple times - including this previous Friday night.  Their dinner menu was very short with a burger, some sandwiches, some tandoori specialties, and a couple salads.  I had the burger on my first dinner visit and it was pretty good.

This past Friday, the place was pretty packed.  But they continued to have just a short menu for dinner.  We could see into the kitchen that they seemed to have a number of people working back there and I sort of half-joked that they had one cook for the burgers, one to make the tandoori chicken, one to make the tandoori salmon, one to make the prime rib special they had that night, one to make the sandwiches, etc., etc.  

I wasn't that hungry and I got the wedge salad.  My wife ordered the tandoori chicken.  Our server came back and said that the chicken wouldn't be available for another 30 minutes because they ran out at lunch and it needed to marinate.  My wife and I both thought it was odd, so my wife ended up ordering the tandoori salmon.  

My wedge salad was pretty dry, they didn't have any pepper on the table to add to my salad, and they neglected to bring any lemon wedges for the salmon.  (One of my wife's pet peeves with restaurants that serve fish - each seafood entree should automatically come out with lemon wedges.)  Once that was rectified, my wife thought tandoori salmon was just "OK".  My wedge was pretty weak.  

While we were eating another couple came in and sat at a table next to us.  Our server waited on them, as well, and she immediately told them that there was no salmon left on the tandoori menu.  And it was just before 7 p.m.  On a Friday night.  

On top of that, our bill with tip was $80 bucks.  We sort of looked at one another as we were walking out and came to the realization that we would probably never go back for dinner.  "Breakfast, yes," I said as we made our way out into the parking lot.  "But that's it for dinner." 

Well, looks like we won't be going back for breakfast, either.  It's a sad deal when a restaurant like this closes, but I have to say that I'm not all that surprised.

Spices - Kihei, HI

As the Coronavirus pandemic lingers on, the lack of travel on my end has created a void in new places that I've been able to visit.  One of the things I've learned in the nearly 15 years of Road Tips is to have consistent content - the number one rule that I've told many other burgeoning bloggers who have asked me for advice on blogging over the years.  

I try to eat in pretty good restaurants.  But sometimes I hit a dud here and there.  And it's somewhat amazing in that a bad review generates more page views than a good review of a good restaurant.  There must be something in the fact that people want to read more about bad things than good things.  

With that said, I scoured the back log of Road Tips entries looking for a review on a restaurant that turned out to be disappointing - and that generated a lot of page views.  This is one on a seafood restaurant on Maui where I had a bad vibe about the place when we sat down and it didn't get much better.  Here's a review on Spices that was originally published 10 years ago.

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We had driven by Spices on South Kihei Road a number of times during our visit to Maui and I was sort of intrigued by the open air restaurant connected to the Maui Coast Hotel.  We did a little homework from our hotel room (even with a horrible internet connection) and thought Spices sounded pretty interesting.  We decided to go there for dinner one warm Hawaiian evening. 

Spices wasn't far from our hotel - about a 10 minute drive to the restaurant (see map).  There wasn't a lot of people in the place when we got in about 7:30.  We were seated next to the open ledge looking out onto S. Kihei Rd.  That was sort of a mistake because it was sometimes loud with traffic and exhaust fumes permeating the air. 

The dining room was open and airy with a number of tables throughout the place.  There was a small bar in the corner and a nice little outdoor fountain with a few tables near it.  No one was seated outside that evening.  The decor was sort of a contemporary Hawaiian theme.  It was very comfortable. 

Our waiter was a pretty nice guy and very good at his trade.  We were given menus and we ordered up a couple drinks - I had a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale and my wife had a mai tai.  I also looked over Spices very short wine list trying to find a nice white wine to go with dinner.  There wasn't much to be had.  I finally ordered a Kendall-Jackson chardonnay which was about the best they had to offer.  

We looked over the menu on line before coming to Spices and there were a lot of intriguing things to try.  One thing was the garlic clams - a pound of fresh clams sauteed in butter and garlic.  We decided to try that as an appetizer.  

The waiter brought out the clams and the wine and we dug in to the plate.  The clams were *OK*, really nothing special.  I would have thought the taste sensation would have been a little better given that they were sauteed in butter and garlic, but they didn't really have much pizazz.  It was rather disappointing.  

We ordered up dinner after the clams were gone.  One thing that jumped out at me when I first looked at their menu on-line earlier in the day was the mahi mahi piccata.  They take fresh mahi mahi and cook it like a veal or chicken piccata with a light breading, then cooking it with a butter wine sauce with mushrooms and capers.   They served it on a bed of rice with a side of fresh steamed veggies.  Now, THAT sounded interesting to me. 

My wife was torn between Spices' Hawaiian-style mahi mahi - they take a mahi mahi filet and encrust it in macadamia nuts and top it with a tropical fruit salsa - or the special that evening which was baked opakapaka, which is also known as "pink snapper".  Opakapaka is plentiful all over the tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean, but they seem to grow rather large around Hawaii.  She decided to try the opakapaka and it was served on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes. 

It really wasn't all that long before our entrees showed up at the table.  My wife's opakapaka was a large filet that had a light cream sauce on top.  Three grilled shrimp came with the fish which was served on some steamed vegetables.  She said the opakapaka was "good", but not great.  I tried a bite and I thought it was OK.

My mahi mahi piccata was highly disappointing.  It was nowhere close to being a true piccata-style meal.  The piccata sauce was more of a glaze and the fish was overcooked and dry.  It just wasn't very good.  The veggies were good, however.  They weren't overcooked or lifeless to the taste.  Sadly, it was a mediocre meal compared to other places we were at while we were in Hawaii.

Since we tried Spices, I've read reviews from travelers on some web sites that denigrated the food at the place.  I will say the waiter we had was very good and very attentive, but the level of service and the atmosphere at Spices is the draw.  I understand they have very good breakfasts at Spices, but my dinner was pedestrian, at best.  My wife's opakapaka was good - much better than what I had - and that's not saying much.  Overall, Spices was probably the worst meal we had while we were in Hawaii.  That's too bad as the place seemed to have a lot of potential.

(Update - It's been called to my attention that Spices has closed.  It's probably for the better.  It was highly disappointing.)

Rosalie's - Marblehead, MA

As the COVID-19 pandemic still rages across the nation, traveling has been all but curtailed in my company until further notice.  While I miss the road, it has been sort of nice being able to sleep at home with my wife over the past four months.  But the traveling jones is consuming me as I feel caged up in my home office and would really like to get out to see accounts - and to find new and interesting restaurants.  

One of my earliest blog entries on Road Tips had to do with a memorable meal that I had at Rosalie's in Marblehead, MA during a trip to Boston over 30 years ago.  The number of comments to this post - mainly from people who dined at Rosalie's years ago - far surpasses the number of comments from any other entry I've done during Road Tips nearly 15 years of existence.  

This meal was so good, it literally changed my culinary life.  Here is the Road Tips entry (that I cleaned up, edited and added to) on Rosalie's in Marblehead, MA that was originally published in March of 2006.

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Back in the 1980's, Visa had a campaign where they would feature a small business or restaurant and talk about how great the place was.  The tag line at the end would be something along the lines of "and don't forget to take your Visa card to XYZ's, because they don't accept American Express." One of those places was a small Italian restaurant in the Boston suburb of Marblehead called Rosalie's.  (Click here to see the commercial.)  On a visit to Boston - probably about 32 years ago - I had the extreme pleasure of going to Rosalie's for dinner one evening.  

Years ago, I used to travel to Boston a lot for work.  It was a great city and I really liked my time out there.  My boss at the time liked it, too.  So much so that he ended up closing his firm - temporarily throwing me out of a job that I really liked - and moved to the Boston area.  My old boss turned me on to a number of culinary delights and I point to him as probably being my largest influence in cultivating my likes and tastes in food.  He was the one who really turned me on to Northern Italian specialties such as fettuccine alfredo.  It's also probably why I gained 30 pounds working for him for five years.  

It was during a trip to Boston with my then boss, his wife at the time, and another co-worker when we had dinner at Rosalie's.  And it stands as one of my most memorable meals because I had Rosalie's fettuccine alfredo and it was outstanding.  In fact, for dessert, I asked if I could get a small plate of the fettuccine alfredo.  It was just that good.  In fact, I've never had fettuccine alfredo anywhere that was as good as the dish at Rosalie's.

Rosalie Harrington (pictured at right - photo courtesy Manchester-by-the-Sea Cricket) grew up in Boston and as a child was influenced by her maternal grandmother who would take Rosalie shopping with her to the markets of East Boston.  Her grandmother taught Rosalie the ins-and-outs of Italian cooking while a step-grandmother in Mississippi taught her the ways of Southern cooking, especially the concept of "farm-to-table" fresh ingredients that were grown on her farm.  As Rosalie's mother faced long commutes to and from work each day, the young Rosalie was called upon to the do the food prep work for her mother who would cook dinner when she got home.  

Rosalie and her first husband George Harrington started Rosalie's restaurant in 1973 in the quaint and beautiful seaside village of Marblehead - still one of my all-time favorite places I've visited in my life.  Her old school Italian specialities kept people coming for years and the place became even more famous after the Visa commercial aired in the mid-80's.  George and Rosalie split up before the commercial ran, but she and her second husband Todd continued with the restaurant before closing it in 1995.  

Here's a picture of Rosalie's old restaurant.

After closing her restaurant, Rosalie was approached about hosting her own show on a fledgling cable network that focused on food.  "Eating Light with Rosalie" was one of the first programs on what became the Food Network.  

Over the years since, Rosalie has been a food columnist, contributed recipes to cookbooks, was a frequent radio guest with her second husband Todd on cooking discussions, and today can most likely to be found wandering the markets of the north shore villages outside of Boston.  

But I was completely enamored by her fettuccine alfredo.  As I said, I have NEVER had fettuccine alfredo as good as the night I dined at Rosalie's.  It made that much of an impression on me.  In fact, I was obsessed with trying to find out the recipe for her fettuccine alfredo.     

In early 2006, I did a Google search for Rosalie Harrington and I came across a small web site that she had and it had a link to an e-mail address.  I thought, "What the hell?  I'll drop her a line."  I basically told her that I loved Rosalie's when I visited there years ago and that her fettuccine alfredo was the best I've ever had.  I even told her that I got it for dessert.  I wanted to know if Rosalie's was still open as I was doing research for my blog.  I sent it off and didn't hear anything for a number of weeks. 

About two weeks later, I got this reply:

"What a wonderful e mail.  How do I find your blog?  Thanks for the great compliments about my restaurant.  I love the image of you getting an order of fettuccine for dessert.  When I make the alfredo sauce it is so simple you wouldn't belive (sp) it. 

"I am on my way to Fla. for two months, working on a new cookbook, a little travel, visits from my grandchildren.  My husband Todd does a show called Taste of Boston Tonite on WRKO Am in Boston from 7 to 10 pm.  Go to Taste of Boston.com to learn how to stream it.  I am often on the show with recipes.  If you are in the Boston area give me a call and I will personally make you a Rosalie's dinner.  We live in Manchester by the Sea, a beautiful town up the coast a little from Marblehead. Make a special trip to visit, it is worth it.  There are great inns and we could get together.  Thanks again for you wonderful e mail.  Best to you.  Rosale (sp)"

Well, she really never told me if Rosalie's was still open or not.  But what she DID do - Rosalie GAVE me her alfredo sauce recipe.  Am I giving it up?  Huh uh...  But, I will tell you that it IS extremely easy to make and it involves Pecorino Romano cheese, an Italian cheese that comes from sheep's milk and is somewhat salty and very pungent. 

       

I made her alfredo sauce recipe the night she gave it to me, but with regular Romano cheese adding some salt to it since I didn't have access to Pecorino Romano.  It wasn't the same taste sensation that I remember from her restaurant, but it was still good. 

 

However, I was able to find some Pecorino Romano cheese about a week later in Chicago - it reminded me somewhat of blue cheese in smell and taste - and I made another batch of fettuccine alfredo a few nights later.  The taste of the alfredo was different from before when I used Romano cheese with some salt, but it was still not the same taste sensation that I remember from Rosalie's.  My wife actually liked the sauce with the straight Romano cheese in it better.

 

A few weeks later, I happened to ring up my old boss who was still living in the north shore of Boston.  I told him about e-mailing Rosalie Harrington and getting her alfredo recipe.  He was incredulous.  "I can't believe that Rosalie Harrington would give out a recipe like that."  I did tell him that I think she left a couple things out as while it did taste good, it wasn't magical good like it was the evening we dined at her restaurant.  

 

Since at that time I had no idea if Rosalie's was still open or not, I asked my old boss if Rosalie's was still around.  "Oh no," he exclaimed.  "Rosalie's is long gone."  I asked him if she had another restaurant or a close facsimile to her eponymous restaurant and he said he didn't think so.  

       

So with that, Rosalie's now goes into the "Rest in Peace" category.  But that one magical evening years ago literally changed me forever in regard to how I view Northern Italian cooking.

Dudley's Pizza & Tavern - Omaha

I was staying in the Aksarben Village area of Omaha on a recent trip out to that fair city, a city that has always been one of my favorite places to visit.  They had been getting a lot of snow in the area this past winter and I had just driven around the city for a good portion of the day after they had gotten five to seven inches of heavy, wet snow earlier in the day.  Walking distance from the hotel is a pizza place that I've noticed on previous visits to the area - Dudley's Pizza & Tavern.  I decided to head over there for dinner on a cold evening when I wished I was home instead of on the road.  

When I first moved to the Quad Cities over 25 years ago, there was a long-established pizza place next to where I used to work called Dudley's Pizza Works.  Knowing that the Dudley from that place had retired a number of years ago and moved to the mountains of south-central Colorado, I didn't think the same guy - or his family - would have a stake in this place.  Turns out that they don't.  The place is named after Dudley Smith, an Omaha resident in the late 19th century who coined the phrase "Aksarben" - Nebraska spelled backwards.   And it was two brothers - Tim and Rob Malm - who came up with the name. 

The Malm brothers took over the old Mojo Smokehouse & Ales location in the Aksarben Village in 2013.  They initially called their venture Railyard Pizza and Tavern.  But confusion over affiliations with other businesses in Omaha and Lincoln that had similar names caused the brothers to shift directions and name it after the man who originally came up with the "Aksarben" name.  They opened Dudley's in late 2013.  

The Malm brothers eventually sold their shares in Dudley's Pizza and Tavern in 2015 to Bill Barstow, the owner of a number of movie theaters in Omaha and Lincoln including the Aksarben Cinema next door to Dudley's Pizza.  Barstow installed Tony Digilio to run Dudley's for him.  (The Malm brothers have resurfaced in Omaha with a new Mexican taqueria concept - Hook & Lime - located on the north end of Omaha's downtown area.)  

I walked through the parking garage next to the hotel, over and around to Dudley's Pizza and Tavern.  (see map)  It's set back from the street a bit, but still pretty visible if you approach it from Center Road up S. 67th in Aksarben Village.  Mounds of snow from previous snowstorms - including the six-plus inch dumping from earlier in the day - were piled up on the patio that probably would have been filled with al fresco diners if the weather was much more warm.  

Inside Dudley's, I was sort of surprised to see how small it was.  In fact, it appeared that they were in the midst of downsizing the space they were in.  High-top and regular tables were in the center of the room with booths along a short wall on one side.  A local artist by the name of Chris Saub - who goes by the stage name of Christopher Raven - was playing guitar in the dining area during the latter part of happy hour.  The music was very good and very relaxing.

I ended up seated at one end of the three-sided bar toward the front of the restaurant.  A couple of flat screen televisions hung over a set of beer spigots with a glass-front refrigerator was off to the side.  I was greeted by one of the bartenders, a young lady by the name of Kat, who gave me both a food menu and a beer menu.  Nothing on their tap list tripped my trigger, but I did see that they had the Cardinal Pale Ale from the Nebraska Brewing Co. in a 16 ounce can.  I ordered that from Kat while I looked over the menu and listened to the music.   

Pizza is definitely the main item on the menu at Dudley's with a choice of either a thicker braided-crust pizza or a thinner "tavern-style" pizza.  (Gluten free crust is also available at Dudley's Pizza.)  But they also had burgers, sandwiches and wraps on the menu, along with a number of appetizers including chicken wings, fried dill pickle spears, truffle-salted pub fries topped with Romano cheese sprinkles, and sausage-stuffed fried ravioli that was also topped with grated Romano cheese and served with both a pesto and a marinara dipping sauce.  I thought about just getting the ravioli and calling that my meal for the evening.

But the tavern-style pizza was calling my name and I ordered up a small - 10" - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.  When it was brought out to me, I was sort of surprised on a couple three fronts.  First of all, tavern-style pizza - to me - is cut into the square pieces.  This was cut into triangles.  Secondly, the crust wasn't all that thin - at least not as thin as I was expecting a thin-crust pizza to be.  And lastly, I wish I would have had a ruler with me because it looked like the smallest 10" pizza I've ever seen.  I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and let the pizza cool down while I got another Cardinal Pale Ale.  

Quite actually, the pizza at Dudley's wasn't all that bad.  In fact, it was surprisingly good for what it was.  While the crust wasn't all that thin, it was crispy enough that it had the consistency of a thinner crust pizza.  The toppings were all fresh and very good.  I especially liked the sauce - it wasn't too sweet, nor was it too tangy.  It was a good mix of tomato sauce and paste - something I have trouble with in making sauce at home from time to time.  Yeah, I wish it were a little larger, but I was fine with what I had when I finished the pizza, which wasn't all that hard to do.  

The pizza I had at Dudley's Pizza and Tavern was good - not exactly what I was expecting in a "tavern-style" pizza - but good enough that I enjoyed the taste of it.  They had a good selection of craft and domestic beers to choose from, and other than a minor hiccup when I needed a couple more napkins and no one was behind the bar for five minutes, the service was pretty good, as well.  And Christopher Raven's music was a nice relaxing touch at the end of the day.   Over all the years I've been traveling to Omaha, I've only found maybe one or two pizza places that I thought were really good.  I wouldn't put Dudley's into that category of "really good", but it was serviceable pizza that didn't suck.  

(Update - April 2020 - I understand that Bill Barstow bought out his partners in the Dudley's venture and closed the place down.  He replaced it with the Backlot Taphouse, a craft beer/Detroit-style pizza place.)

Via Arenella - Arlington Heights, IL

During the annual AXPONA show in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg this past spring, I was tasked with finding places to eat for our ever growing team that worked the show.  We had gone out for Indian food the night before - something that my boss doesn't care for, but tolerates.  For the next night, I asked him what he would like to have for dinner that evening.  "Italian doesn't sound bad," he said with a slight smile.  OK, now I had to find an Italian restaurant in Schaumburg, an area that I wasn't overly familiar with.  I went on line and looked on a couple of sites - Yelp and TripAdvisor - to see what was in the area.  I found a place in nearby Arlington Heights that seemed to have a consensus of good reviews - and not the kind that seemed to be canned or contrived.  I made reservations through Open Table for a party of 12 at Via Arenella.  

Mario and Rosa (Rose) Longobardi were longtime restaurateurs in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.  They opened Ristorante Arenella in Arlington Heights in 1989 and it quickly became a favorite among the locals for a number of years.  In 2009, the Longobardi's were forced to close their restaurant because the landlord wanted the space for another business.  Not long after that, the Longobardi's reopened at a new location with a new name - Mario Trattoria.  But by 2016, Mario and Rosa wanted to slow down a bit and they closed Mario Trattoria in the summer of that year.  

The Longobardi's three sons - Alfonso (a.k.a. "Fonzo"), Franco, and Mario, Jr. - all grew up in Ristorante Arenella working after school and on the weekends in the kitchen or in the dining room.  After their parents closed their restaurant, the three brothers got together and decided to open their own restaurant using many of the recipes their parents made at Ristorante Arenella.  

Pictured at right - the Longobardi family.  From left - Mario, Jr., Rose, Alfonso, Mario, Sr. and Franco.  Photo courtesy The Daily Herald.  

The brothers found a spot in a strip mall at the corner of S. Wilkie Road and W. Campbell Street for their new restaurant.  (see map)  With the blessing of their parents, the Longobardi brothers opened Via Arenella in early 2017.  From years of learning from his father, Fonzo Longobardi took over in the kitchen as the head chef, Mario, Jr. took over the pizza oven duties serving the family's famous thin-crust pizza, and Franco - who studied hospitality management at DePaul University - oversaw the front of the house.  Of course, Mario, Sr. and Rose couldn't stay away, so they help out on the weekends and some nights when the place got busy.  

And the night we were there was one of those busy nights.  But I had made the reservation on Open Table for 7:30 and we showed up promptly at that time.  We had a couple minute wait while they put two tables together for our large party and we were seated not long after.  It was an seasonably cold and blustery evening with wet snowflakes mixed in with the cold rain drops and Italian food was going to be a wonderful thing that evening.  I only hoped for the best when we were all seated.  

Via Arenello features a long and narrow dining area with a large bar area off to the side in the middle.  Opposite the bar are a number of tables with banquette seating along the wall.  

The long bar was accented with blue lights underneath and on the back bar area.  They had a good selection of craft beers, they featured a full bar with a number of mixed drinks, and they also had a good wine list.  

The menu at Via Arenella features a number of traditional Italian favorites including fettuccine alfredo, lasagna, and penne pasta in a classic bolognese sauce.  They also had a number of house pasta specialties including prosciutto-stuffed tortellini in a cream sauce, linguine with fresh mussels, and the Bolognese Bianco -  paccheri pasta topped with a Neapolitan white bolognese meat sauce along with with melted mozzarella cheese.  They also had a number of chicken entrees, and a number of veal entrees to choose from to.

Our server for the evening turned out to be Rose Longobardi who was pleasant, efficient, and very informative of the items on the menu.  For someone who wanted to slow down after owning a restaurant with her husband for a number of years, Rose certainly appeared to be in her element waiting on our table.  She was thoroughly impressed that many of the people in our party were French Canadians, but we also had guys in from Washington State, Oregon and, of course, Iowa.  When she asked me how I found the place, I told her that it was a stab in the dark via Yelp and Open Table.  "You made a good choice," she told me as she patted me on the shoulder.  "We'll take good care of you."  

It turned out that all three of her sons and her husband were on duty that evening - Franco was bartending, Fonzo and Mario, Sr. were cooking the food, while Mario, Jr. was making pizzas.  Rose did a good job of convincing me to try their pizza at some point, but I was in the mood for pasta that evening.  

After some great appetizers - grilled octopus and fried calamari - and a house salad consisting of fresh greens with chopped tomatoes, sliced red onions and cucumbers, and Kalamata olives topped with a balsamic vinaigrette, our main entrees made it to the table.  I have to admit I've been on a meat-filled ravioli kick as of late and that's what I got at Via Arenella that evening.  It came in a wonderful sweat and tangy marinara sauce and I asked Rose if I could get a couple meatballs to go with it.  Well, the meatballs were huge!  One of my colleagues said,  "Those aren't meat balls, they're bowling balls!"  The meat-filled pasta, I could tell, was recently made in house with a nice ground beef and veal mixture.  The meatballs were also a mix and they were some of the best meatballs I've ever had.  I was more than happy with what I ordered.  

My boss was gracious enough to ask my wife to join us for dinner that evening.   She had come in to stay with me and to go shopping while I was working the show.  She ordered the veal piccata with a side of fettuccine alfredo.  When Rose sat the veal dish down in front of her, my wife's eyes bugged out.  The veal was swimming in a wonderful cream lemon sauce with boatloads of sautéed mushrooms on top.  My wife has just recently gotten to the point where she can eat fresh sautéed mushrooms after a lifetime of hating mushrooms, but even this was a little too much for her.  I had a bite of her veal along with the mushrooms and it was sensational in flavor.  

A number of the people got the special that evening - a pasta entree that featured fresh lobster in a light lemon sauce topped with capers.  From the reviews from everyone who had it, it was out of this world in taste.  But it was so rich that not one person who ordered the entree could finish it.  Portions were definitely huge at Via Arenella. 

A couple of my colleagues went with the spaghetti pescatore - spaghetti pasta mixed with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp in a crushed plum tomato sauce that was very chunky.  It, too, was a large portion and while they both did their best to finish up the delicious seafood pasta dish, there was a lot leftover when they finally threw in the towel.  

One of my colleagues at the other end of the table got the gnocchi in the creamy vodka tomato sauce.  He, too, thought it was just outstanding.  And one of my other colleagues seated near me got the chicken parmigiana with a side of the fettuccine alfredo.  He ate about half of the chicken parm and made a dent in the rich fettuccine.  By the looks of satiation on everyone's faces, I think I hit a home run in terms of picking out Via Arenella for our dinner spot that evening.  

(The next day, I told one of my dealers from St. Louis about Via Arenella and how good the food was.  That night, he and a couple of his co-workers went there for dinner and one of them had the lobster pasta special.   He had the same reaction as my colleagues had with their lobster pasta special the night before, "Oh my God!  It was so great, but, oh, so rich!"

My wife and a friend of hers went to Via Arenella when they were in Chicago for a long weekend not long ago and they happened to have the lobster pasta special that night.  My wife got it and she thought it was heavenly.  But there was no way that she could take the leftovers back to the hotel.  Even if she took it directly home and put it in the fridge, it wouldn't heat up properly to make it taste as good as it is served fresh at the restaurant.)  

As I said, Rose did a wonderful job in talking up her son's  pizza making prowess.  I had to come back at some point later on after my first visit to try one of their pizzas.  Seated at the bar this time, I ordered a small (10") thin-crust pizza.  (They also had New York-style with thick crust edges, a Chicago deep-dish pizza, and a stuffed pizza that is similar to a large calzone at Via Aranella.)  I got a Revolution Brewing Anti-Hero IPA to go along with my pizza.   It was cut in tavern-style squares and featured thick chunks of Italian sausage, slices of salty pepperoni, and sliced fresh mushrooms in a tangy pizza sauce topped with mozzarella cheese.  The crust was thin, but it was light and chewy.  Rose was certainly correct - this was an excellent pizza.  

Our initial visit to Via Arenella was outstanding.  The taste of the food, the size of the portions, the friendly and efficient service by Rose Longobardi left everyone in my party of 12 with a satisfied - and full - feeling as we were leaving.  My subsequent trip back to Via Arenella to try their pizza was equally as pleasurable.  Although it is run by the Longobardi's sons, there is still that "mom and pop" feeling to the place.  This was one of the more memorable places I've come across in my travels and I will definitely be back there for more of their great food at some point.  

(Update - Via Arenella closed their doors at the end of September of 2019.)

 

RoSal's - Chicago

About a year ago, my wife and I were in Chicago for our anniversary weekend and we went to Taylor Street in the heart of the present day Little Italy in Chicago to have dinner one evening.  We didn't have reservations, we thought we'd see if we could get into a place, even if we had to wait at the bar for awhile.  We started out toward the west end of Taylor Street in Little Italy and we went into a little place on the north side of the street around 6:45 that evening.  The place was small, cozy and quaint - and it was less than half full.  We thought we'd hit the jackpot on the first place we had stopped, but then a lady came out from the back of the restaurant to ask if we had any reservations.  When we told her we did not, she said, "I'm sorry, but we probably won't be able to seat you until after 9 p.m."  I was incredulous, pointing out the empty tables and she said, "We have a number of reservations starting at 7:00 p.m. and going through to 8 p.m.  We just couldn't get you in until after 9, but possibly earlier."  We decided to trudge on to look for another place, which we found down the street.  But this little place was also in the back of my mind, and on a recent trip into Chicago with my wife we ended up going back to RoSal's for dinner.  

Salvatore "Sol" Perry was born in Chicago to Italian immigrants who lived in the present day Little Italy.  When he was growing up, his father bought a bakery and the young Sol worked in the bakery until he graduated high school in 1957.  After graduation, he worked at the South Water Market, a large wholesale produce market.  Sol entered the Army in 1959 and did a two year stint.  Not long after he got out of the Army, he bought a small grocery store called West Side Foods in 1962.  

Rosanne Raimondi was also born in Chicago and grew up in the same neighborhood a few blocks away from the Perry family.  She was raised in her grandfather's four-flat building and she learned how to cook from her family who had old-time recipes from when they were growing up in Italy.  Rose and Sol were married in November of 1962 and they had two children, Cindy and Sal, Jr.  The Perry family all helped out in the family's grocery store, known in the neighborhood as having the freshest meats around.  

By 1990, Rose and Sol were looking for a change in life.  Rose was known as a wonderful cook and the couple thought they'd like to have a place where the could entertain people and serve some of Roseanne's old time Italian specialties.  They found a small building big enough for nine tables along W. Taylor Street and it was said that Rose literally moved her whole kitchen from her house to the restaurant to get things going.  Combining their names, they named their little restaurant RoSal's Italian Cucina.  

Of course, Roseanne's cooking became a hit and it wasn't any more than a year later when she said that she desperately needed help in the kitchen to keep up with the demand.  A young chef by the name of Anival Sanchez answered an ad and started to help Rose out in the kitchen.  Soon, Anival was taking charge of the kitchen making many of the Raimondi family dishes and adding a few of his own including the long time favorite Shrimp alla Anival that featured a pasta dish with grilled shrimp, prosciutto ham, and toasted pine nuts in a lemon cream sauce.   

In 1995, Linda Haile came to RoSal's to wait on tables.  She proved to be a proficient server with an outgoing and pleasant demeanor toward her customers.  Linda took on other duties at the restaurant over the years including becoming the front of house manager.  

In addition to Anival and Linda being a big part of RoSal's, the Perry's son, Salvatore, Jr. helped out when he could - that is, when he wasn't working as a tattoo artist.  And their daughter Cindy, and her husband, Joe Fulco would help out from time to time, as well.  

By 1999, Sol and Rose were looking to spend less time in the restaurant and they enlisted the full-time help of Cindy and Joe Fulco to take over the operations.  Joe's first job is as a locksmith.  He works as a independent contractor in the day, then trades in his locksmith hat for a chef's hat at night after 4 p.m.  Up until they fully retired in 2008, Roseanne and Sol continued to have a hand in picking out the meats and produce used at RoSal's, and Anival Sanchez and Linda Haile continue to work at the restaurant today.

We had made reservations via Open Table earlier in the day for 7:30 p.m.  We really didn't know if we needed reservations on a Sunday night in the winter time, but we thought we'd better at least have something in place just in case.  When we pulled up to RoSal's on W. Taylor, we were able to find parking right across the street.  (see map)  And when we went in, we were greeted by a young man who said we could sit anywhere.  There were only two tables occupied in RoSal's and we soon figured out why.  They closed at 8 p.m. on Sunday night.  

It turned out the young man - Phil - would be our server for the evening, as well.  I profusely apologized to him for coming in so late and he said it wouldn't be a problem.  After telling him that we'd try to hurry up the best we could, Phil sort of waved his hand and said, "That won't be necessary.  We're going to be here well after 8 p.m. cleaning and closing."   

RoSal's was exactly as we remembered it to be from our brief visit now a year ago.  It was a small, intimate place with seating for around 40 people.  It turned out that they also had a upstairs seating area with 15 more tables.  Linen table cloths covered the wooden tables.  Sconce light fixtures hung on the wall along with numerous pictures of Perry family members from over the years.  The kitchen was in the back of the restaurant with an open high counter where servers could talk with the cooks.  

We both figured that we'd be eating something with a red sauce for dinner that night so I had Phil bring us a bottle of the J. Lohr Vineyards Seven Oaks cabernet, a good and reasonably priced hearty red that we've had in the past.  By the time he brought the bottle to our table and opened it, the party of six sitting in the corner near us and the party of two seated up front were gone.  We had the place all to ourselves.  Yes, our own intimate little Italian restaurant.  My wife really dug that.  And so did I, actually.  

The menu at RoSal's featured a number of classic Italian dishes including eggplant parm, chicken marsala, a number of pasta dishes, veal entrees, steaks, seafood with pasta, and antipasti starters such as sausage and peppers, baked clams, and a stuffed artichoke.  There were a number of items that caught our eye as we were looking through the menu.  I must have changed my mind three or four times as I kept looking over what they had to offer.  

We started out by getting a basket of warm freshly baked bread that was outstanding in taste.  We each got a RoSal's special salad that consisted of mixed greens with chopped artichoke hearts, pepperoni slices, red onions, black olives, chopped tomatoes, with fontinella and provolone cheese topped with a house oil and vinegar Italian dressing and served to us in a family-style bowl.   The greens were crisp and cold, the pepperoni had a bit of a spicy bite, the artichoke hearts weren't mushy, and the red onions had a great forward taste.  Along with the wonderful bread they served with the salad, this was a great start to the meal.  

My wife had gone into the evening thinking that she was going to get something with a red sauce, but she ended up getting the veal piccata - two boneless veal chops sautéed in a white wine lemon sauce with capers, topped with melted provolone cheese and served on a bed of pasta tossed with garlic and oil.  She declared her meal to be wonderful, but very rich.  She couldn't remember having veal piccata with cheese on top of the veal before, but she really enjoyed the flavor.  

I went the red sauce route with the veal parmesan with pasta shells and a basil tomato marinara sauce.  My veal was also topped with melted provolone cheese.  Like my wife's veal, my cut was tender as I could easily cut it with my fork.  The marinara sauce was rich and flavorful with chopped fresh basil sprinkled over both the veal and marinara.  My meal was simply outstanding.  I was able to eat the veal parm along with much of the marinara sauce on the plate.  

Of course, we had to have dessert and we got a large chunk of RoSal's tiramisu.  The taste was heavenly and sinful at the same time.  The tiramisu was spongy, but wasn't mushy like it was two or three days old.  But it was so rich that we were having trouble finishing it up, especially after our wonderful and filling meals we had just had.  

While we were finishing up the tiramisu and the rest of the wine, Joe Fulco came out of the kitchen and introduced himself.  He asked how our meals were and we told them they were outstanding.  We apologized for being there so late - it was well after 8 p.m. when he came over to talk with us, but we never got the notion that he was trying to hurry us up at all.  

We continued to talk with him and he took a seat at our table for awhile.  He talked about the history of RoSal's, his other job as a locksmith and his love of working in the kitchen.  Joe also talked about how tough it is to run a restaurant these days with the demands of diners and how social media can portray a restaurant in a - sometimes unwarranted - bad way.  I didn't have the heart to tell him that my hobby was blogging about restaurants that I visited, but he shouldn't have to worry about me.  This was a great dining experience all the way around.  

My wife and I couldn't have been more happy with our meal and the service at RoSal's.  The restaurant had a great intimate and cozy feel to the place.  My veal parm dish was outstanding and my wife was more than impressed with her veal piccata.  The tiramisu was a wonderful end to the meal.  The hospitality shown to us by our server Phil and later on by owner Joe Fulco was a nice touch.  Not once did they try to hurry us along as we got in late and were there well past their closing time.  I can understand the owner's frustration with snippy or sour reviews on social media sites, but he doesn't have to worry about that with me.  We an outstanding meal and dining experience at RoSal's.  

Update - May 2018.  A couple days after publishing this post on RoSal's, I was informed that the Fulco's announced back in April that they would be closing RoSal's on May 13.  This isn't the first time that I've wrote an extensive review on a restaurant, only to have it close between the time we were there and the time it was published.  And my wife and I are really sad, too.  It was the last old world Italian restaurant on Taylor Street.  While we really liked RoSal's, we found another place in Chicago recently where we thought the food and ambience was on par - if not a little better - than RoSal's.  Look for that entry on Road Tips in the coming weeks.

Millz Pizza and Grill - Davenport, IA

One of our favorite pizza places in the Quad Cities - Hall of Fame Pizza - closed last year and we've been hard-pressed to find a replacement for it in the very small rotation of pizza places we like to visit in the area.  (Quad City-style pizza is just plain nasty tasting to me and my wife who didn't grow up in the area, but the people who grew up with it still love it.)  There was a pizza place that had opened some time ago on W. Kimberly in Davenport and we've been reluctant to give it a try.  Well, mainly because we hadn't heard much about the place.  One Friday evening this past fall, we decided to head over and give Millz Pizza and Grill a try.  (see map)

Joe Hines is the young guy who started Millz Pizza and Grill in August of 2016.  We were trying to figure out what the building used to be that Millz is in.  My wife thought it was an old Kentucky Fried Chicken, I thought it was an old Pizza Hut.  It may have been both at some point in time.  One of the first things Hines did after Millz opened was to offer an eating challenge - order a 28" single-topping pizza and you have 30 minutes to eat the whole thing.  If you beat the challenge, you get a $50 gift certificate from the restaurant, the pizza will be free, and your picture will go up on a wall.  If you can't do the challenge, you'll have to pay the full price of the pizza - $36.99.   I didn't notice any pictures on the wall when we were there.  

Millz used to open at 7 a.m. for breakfast, but I see that they now open at 10 a.m. seven days a week.  They're usually open until 10 p.m. through the week, but are open late on Friday and Saturday nights until 2 a.m. when they have live music available.  

It was around 6:30 when we walked into Millz and found a table in the dining area near a corner.  They had a bar in the place and a pool table in the back.  A number of flat screen televisions were hung on the wall, most showing sporting events.  I would say there were about 16 or 17 people in the place, so it wasn't packed at all.

They had their music system cranked incredibly loud when we first got in.  I love AC/DC like the next guy, but not when it's hitting about 110 decibels with two Bose commercial speakers pointed at us.  Our waitress for the evening came over to greet us and drop off menus.  Quite honestly, I couldn't hear a word she was saying because the music was so loud.  She had to come up close to me to ask me what I wanted to drink, I couldn't hear her above the music.  I told her to come back once the music was turned down.  We seriously considered leaving because it was so loud - as in dance club loud - before someone got smart and turned down their sound system.  

Our server came back and asked again what we would like to drink.  I asked what they had and she tried to go through the beer list from memory and by looking at the taps behind the bar.  She then apologized and said, "This is my second day on the job and I'm still trying to sort things out."  I turned to look at what they had on tap and I immediately could see the distinctive tap handle of Kona Brewing Co. Big Wave.  Since it's my favorite beer, I had to have one of those.  My wife saw that they had the Lagunitas IPA and she got that.  

The girl asked me if I wanted a small one or a pint.  I told her I would take the pint.  She brought me back a 23 ounce glass with the Big Wave - which is what I would have ordered in the first place had she known the difference between 16 ounces - a pint - and 23 ounces.  She was having troubles on her second day.  

We ordered up a 16" thin crust/New York-style pizza with our standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  The mushrooms were canned and my wife - who wouldn't even consider eating mushrooms up to 10 years ago until she started having fresh mushrooms on pizza and in foods - didn't care for them.  She picked off the mushrooms from the two or three triangles of pizza she had.

The pizza crust was light and crispy, but held up very well with the plentiful toppings.  The pepperoni was salty with a hint of spiciness, and the Italian sausage had a great fennel taste with a slight spicy bite.  

The cheese they used on their pizza, well, we weren't overly certain we cared for it.  It appeared to be a combination of cheddar and provolone that didn't really seem to work well together.  The cheese had the creamy nature of provolone, but the cheddar was sort of coagulating as it cooled down.  The caramelization on top of the cheese gave it a good flavor, but we just weren't that whippy on the taste combination.  Still, the pizza tasted good with a beer.

The pizza at Millz Pizza was - in my estimation - just above average.  I would have like to have tried a Millz pizza with straight mozzarella cheese and see how it stacked up versus the very good pizza that we're missing at Hall of Fame.  The atmosphere at Millz Pizza was more of a sports bar and once they figured out the music was extremely too loud and turned it down, it was a more enjoyable place to hang.  And we cut some slack with our server who had only been on the job at Millz for a couple days.  We were glad that she told us she was new or we would have been questioning her serving skills.  We're not quite ready to put Millz into our rotation of pizza places in the Quad Cities - as limited as they are.  But it would be a nice option for those who don't care for Quad City-style pizza.  

(Update - Not long after this entry was published, Millz Pizza announced that they would be shutting down on January 23.  We never did make it back there, and while it's sad a restaurant with a young owner closed down, we just didn't care for the mixed cheese on the pizza.)

Quincy Street Bistro - St. Louis

Looking for a new place to dine in St. Louis, I came across some Internet reviews on a place on the south side of the the city that sounded pretty interesting.  It featured many items that are locally and regionally-sourced with a down-home St. Louis-style flair to the food, as well as a good beer list.  I took off from my hotel in the Forest Park area to go check out Quincy Street Bistro.  

Mike Enright grew up in South St. Louis in the Princeton Heights neighborhood - actually right on Quincy Street.  A longtime neighborhood watering hole - Jimmy's Saloon - sat at the corner of Gravois Ave. and Quincy Street.  On the ground floor was the tavern while four apartments with a shared bathroom occupied the upper floor of the building that was originally built in the early 1900's.  

Jimmy's Saloon closed about 10 years ago and Mike Enright - who became a contractor - bought the building in October 2009 along with his childhood friend Kevin Winkler who had an extensive background in the restaurant industry.  Enright, along with his brother and his nephew, renovated the building taking out the rooms upstairs for a spacious over-flow dining or private dining area, rebuilt the bar area exposing the brick walls and putting in wood floors, and put in a full kitchen that any chef would be proud to work in.  Quincy Street Bistro opened its doors on March 1, 2011 and immediately became a hit with their blue-collar foods prepared by Winkler. 

A year after opening, Winkler relinquished the kitchen to Mike and Sue Enright's son-in-law, Rick Lewis who put his own stamp on the down-home regional foods that Quincy Street Bistro was serving.  Lewis was subsequently named a James Beard Award semi-finalist for "Rising Star Chef of the Year" in 2014.  (I'm not certain that Kevin Winkler is still involved in the restaurant.)   Lewis networked with a number of chefs and restaurant owners in the St. Louis area - most notably Mike Emerson of Pappy's Barbecue - over the years, and in 2015 he left the Quincy Street Bistro to partner with the Mothership organization (Pappy's, Bogart's BBQ, Adam's Smokehouse) to open his own restaurant Southern, a Nashville-hot chicken restaurant next to Pappy's in St. Louis' mid-town area.  The kitchen at QSB is now headed by Matt Birkenmeier who took over the kitchen last fall and goes by the moniker "Chef Birk". 

I drove down Hampton Ave. before cutting across on a side street through the Princeton Heights neighborhood to make it over to Gravois Ave.  Many of the houses in the neighborhood are small bungalows built before World War II that housed mainly brewery and factory workers and their families.  I found Quincy Street Bistro at 6931 Gravois, about a 10 minute drive from my hotel.  (see map)  

I walked into Quincy Street Bistro and I found myself entering the bar at the front of the restaurant.  It was a vibrant crowd in the bar area watching flat screen television showing hockey and baseball games.  I wanted to sit at the bar, but it was full.  There were a handful of hi-top tables in the bar, but those were full, as well.  I paused for a moment to take a look at what they had for beer offerings on tap.  It was a short, yet impressive list of beers that included a number of locally brewed beers from Schlafly, Urban Chestnut, Perennial and 4 Hands breweries, as well as regional beers from Bell's, Tallgrass and Piney Rivers.   QSB also offers a number of artisanal cocktails that their bartenders have perfected over the years.   

I was greeted by a server who took me to a small table along a wall lined with what appeared to be family heirloom portraits.  He dropped off a menu and it was a short while later when my server for the evening - a friendly guy by the name of Bax - came over to greet me.  He got my drink order - a Schlafly Kolsch that they had on tap.  

The downstairs dining area was rustic in its appearance with a number of antique farm tools, kitchen utensils, and window frames hung on the wall.  The flat screen televisions along the wall in the room looked a little out of place.  Quincy Street Bistro was far from what I would call a bistro and more of something that I would call a quaint little rustic restaurant.  

The menu at Quincy Street Bistro features a unique style of appetizers, soups and salads.  The appetizers featured hogs head-stuffed toasted ravioli, corn meal-battered cheese curds, and QSB's signature Buffalo chicken dip served with tortilla chips.  For dinner choices, they had a handful of gourmet burgers including their "ultimate" burger that featured a 10 ounce ground patty of locally-raised beef wrapped in bacon.  Sandwiches included a charcoal slow-pit roasted beef on a garlic hoagie, and a pastrami sandwich with the pastrami made in-house, topped with pickled cabbage, gruyere cheese and 1000 island dressing and served on New York-style Jewish rye bread.  They also had a banh mi-style sandwich with crispy pork belly with a sweet chili glaze and five-spices chicken.  

I was looking for something sort of hearty that evening and a couple things caught my eye.  The meat loaf featured locally-raised beef mixed with bacon, oats and seasonings, then topped with a house glaze and onion straws.  Mashed potatoes came on the side.  But when Bax came around to take my order, I ended up ordering the churrasco beef tri-tip they had on the menu that evening.  It came with roasted potatoes topped with a Brava sauce and a side of creamy cole slaw with bits of bacon mixed in.  

The tri-tip was seasoned with spices and smoked.  It was a little over-cooked, but still was tender enough.  There was a healthy amount of beef on the plate and each piece had a smoky and there was a bit of a spicy bite to the seasoning. While the tri-tip was good, it made me wish I would have maybe tried the meat loaf or their ultimate burger.  

The roasted potatoes with the Brava sauce were tasty enough, but the creamy cole slaw with the real bacon bits was simply outstanding.  The tangy vinegar with the creamy slaw went exceptionally well with the bacon. Sometimes the sides outshine the main entree and this so happened on my visit to the Quincy Street Bistro.

That's not to say the smoked tri-tip was bad - it was actually good.  It was a tad overcooked, but it was still edible.  The potatoes with the Brava sauce were fine enough, but the creamy cole slaw with bacon was the hit of the evening.  Bax's service was prompt and friendly, joking with me from time to time and making this single diner feel welcome at the restaurant.  The Quincy Street Bistro isn't what I would call a traditional bistro, but their take on locally-raised farm-to-fork foods is more rustic than chic or upscale.  And I like unpretentious places like that.   

(Update Nov. 2018 - This article in St. Louis Magazine announced that Quincy Street Bistro would close in late October of 2018.  Owners Mike and Sue Enright felt that their seven and a half year old "adventure" had "run its course.)

Adobo Grill - Indianapolis

I was out in Indianapolis late last year for a couple days and I found a hotel in downtown Indy where I got a pretty good rate.  Even though most of my dealers are to the north side of town and having not stayed in the downtown area for awhile, I decided to take the room and spend the night there.  Looking for a place to eat that evening, I found a Mexican place that wasn't too far away from the hotel - Adobo Grill.  Here's what I encountered during my visit to the Adobo Grill.  

Longtime Chicago restaurateur Paul LoDuca is the man behind Adobo Grill.  LoDuca and his DaVinci Group restaurant holdings have developed a number of restaurants over the years including Vinci in Chicago, Pikk's Tavern in Valparaiso, IN, and Adobo Grill locations in Chicago and Indianapolis.  LoDuca was the owner of Trattoria Parma in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood which he closed in 2001.  About a year later he opened Adobo Grill which was one of the first "nuevo Latino" restaurants in the Chicago area specializing in modern Mexican food and also being one of the first places in Chicago where guacamole was made tableside for patrons.  

LoDuca and the DaVinci Group opened a second Adobo Grill on E. 82nd Street near Allisonville Road on Indianapolis' north side.  When the Bazbeaux Pizza location on E. Washington Street in downtown Indianapolis moved in 2008, LoDuca moved Adobo Grill to that existing space in late 2008.  

The Adobo Grill location in Chicago suffered a devastating fire in August of 2015 that devastated the building and caused serious damage to the neighboring offices of the famed Second City Theater.  When the landlord elected not to rebuild right away, Adobo Grill's lease was terminated and they were forced to find another location.  Wanting to stay in the Old Town neighborhood, they were able to find an open location in a former restaurant just around the corner from the original spot.  The new Adobo Grill in Chicago opened in the summer of 2016.  

It was about a two block walk on a chilly and blustery evening from my hotel to Adobe Grill.  (see map)  The front of the restaurant looked like it was more of an upscale steakhouse with a stone facade and a wide curved awning with stainless steel trim.  I walked past the place because the restaurant's sign was on the corner of the building.  I looked back and saw a big Corona beer sign in a window above the awning and I realized that I had walked past the front door.

Inside, I encountered a huge crowd inside the place - most of them in the bar area.  A hostess greeted me and took me to a table on a step-up level in front of the bar area.  There was a short wall that delineated the bar from the step-up dining area.  She wanted to seat me at a two-seater table along that wall, but the bar area was so packed that people were leaning up against the wall and setting their drinks on top of the wall.  I opted to take a seat in an alcove along a banquette bench seat.  I hate sitting on banquette seats in restaurants, but this was a better alternative to being crowded at a small table with people lingering over a short wall next to me.  

The restaurant was actually pretty roomy once you got past the bar area.  The dining area on the main floor featured a high ceiling with soft lighting.  The upstairs, I'm guessing, had overflow and private dining areas.

The bar area was kind of nice, too.  It featured a long bar out front with a long back bar that was accented by lime green lighting on the shelves.  They had an impressive number of tequilas to choose from - I counted over 60 different types on their tequila list.  

Looking over the menu, a young man dropped off some chips and salsa.   The chips were warm, fresh and crisp and the salsa had a smoky chipotle pepper base.  I really liked the salsa at Adobe Grill.

My server for the evening, an effervescent young lady with short blonde hair who introduced herself as Keta (although on the bill it said her name was Alison) asked what I'd like to drink.  I ordered up a Dos Equis Ambar that they had on tap.  Moments later, Keta came back and told me that they had sold out of the Dos Equis Ambar.  "This large group just ran us out," she said above the loud crowd noise in the background.  I ordered up a bottle of Sol, but she said she wasn't certain they had any.  She turned to go look and I called for her to come back.  I decided that I needed a beer sooner than later and I told her that if she didn't have Sol, I'd take a Modelo Negra draft.  

Suddenly, the large group at the bar - about 40 to 50 people - started to leave the bar area.  I thought they may be going upstairs to eat, but they all went out the front door and left the restaurant.  

Keta came back with a Modelo Negra, but didn't indicate that they were out of Sol.  I was fine with that.  I said, "So, what happened with the group?"

She said, "Oh, I don't know.  I knew they were just in for drinks and then they were moving on.  They'd been in here for about an hour."  All I knew is that the bar area was empty and the noise level had decreased considerably.  

Keta tried to get me to order their signature guacamole as an appetizer.  I had seen someone make an order up at a table not far from where I was seated and it looked like a lot of guacamole.  I love guacamole, but it's so rich and I get filled up on it pretty quickly.  If it was me and another person or two, yeah, I would have ordered the guac.  But I stayed with the chips and salsa for the time being.  

Looking through the menu, it featured various traditional Mexican items such as enchiladas and tacos, but they also had some interesting foods such as an ancho chile-marinated/cedar plank-roasted salmon; a grilled pork tenderloin in an Oaxacan mole sauce; and a cilantro-marinated grilled flank steak with a mole-cheese sauce.  They also had Las Cazuelas on the menu - a Mexican casserole baked in an earthenware pot with a bunch of stuff mixed together and topped with cheese.  They had a pork shoulder casserole mixed with black beans, chiles de árbol salsa and pico de gallo topped with cheese; and they had a chicken casserole with mushrooms in a cream poblano chile sauce and topped with cheese.  The also had a vegetarian casserole, as well.

I thought about getting the pork shoulder casserole, but I ended up going with the shredded beef enchiladas.  They were three seasoned beef and ancho salsa-filled shells topped with drizzled sour cream and three small strips of red onions.  A side of Mexican rice came with the meal.

The enchiladas were very good - the beef was very tender and easy to cut with a fork.  The ancho chile sauce was a bit spicy on the back side of the taste and went extremely well with the shredded beef.  I was more than happy with what I got.  

The only problem I encountered all night - save for the large and loud group at the start of the visit - happened after I was finished and ready to get my check.  Keta just disappeared.  She was very attentive all evening long up until the very end.  I think I was finished for well over 15 minutes before she finally did show up with the bill.  The place wasn't that busy that evening, so I don't really know where she went to.  

Other than the fact that my server sort of disappeared at the end of my meal when I was ready to pay, I'll have to say that was visit to Adobo Grill was very positive.  The food was interesting and the shredded beef enchiladas were very good.  Once the large crowd that was in the bar area moved out of the restaurant, it became much more of a bearable atmosphere in the place.  There's a number of good places to eat in downtown Indianapolis, but for a nice experience with Mexican food, I'd give Adobo Grill a wholehearted recommendation. 

Update - This has happened to me more than once.  I try a place and a couple months later the post comes up in the queue.  It turns out that Adobo Grill closed just a few days before this entry was published.  No reason was given for the closing of the restaurant.  Had I known that it was going to close, I wouldn't have written about it.  Oh well...

Sam's Diner - Davenport, IA

My wife and I had a favorite little sushi place in Davenport located at the corner of Brady Street and Kimberly Road.  We were more than saddened that they closed the place up a couple of years ago.  Early last year, we noticed a lot of work going on in the building that used to house the sushi joint and we soon found out that another restaurant was going into its place.  In June of 2016, Sam's Diner - a family-style restaurant - opened up.  We had heard from a couple friends that the food was pretty good and we decided to give the place a try on an unseasonably warm recent Sunday morning.  

There's a lot of other family restaurants around the Quad Cities that are similar to Sam's Diner - they serve breakfast all day long and they're more than likely owned by a Greek family.  The gold standard at our house for family-style breakfast places is Jimmy's Pancake House in Bettendorf.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Jimmy's.)  We knew going into Sam's Diner for the first time that it would have to do a lot to live up to the level we've come to expect with Jimmy's.  But we'd heard good things about the place from friends who had been there previously, so we were hopeful we'd have another place to put into our rotation for breakfast places in the Quad Cities.  

Sam's Diner shares a large parking lot with Griggs Music at the corner of Brady and Kimberly Road.  (See map)  We were able to pull right up front when we got there around 8:45 that Sunday morning.  Inside the restaurant, it's a considerable change from the sushi place that featured a nice little sushi bar and a couple teppanyaki tables in the corners.  The seating featured a number of high backed booths and heavy tables with good sturdy chairs.  The hostess who met us as we came in the door put us in a booth along the window that looked out on to Brady Street.  

The menu isn't fancy at Sam's Diner - most of the typical breakfast items are available - omelets, pancakes, French toast, skillets and cereals are the most prominent items.  They also have your typical American-style diner comfort foods such as burgers, sandwiches and light entrees.  

Our server came over to greet us - a young lady with a neutral demeanor - and I will have to say that she was a little rough around the edges.  When my wife was asking how they prepared the eggs for the Denver croissant sandwich, the girl was confused.  "They're eggs," she said.  "They prepare them flat."  

"Yeah, but like scrambled, fried or an omelet," my wife asked.

"Yeah," the young lady sniffed.  "Something like an omelet."  We kind of chuckled after she left and figured that she hadn't been on the job all that long.  

And that's exactly what my wife got - the Denver omelet croissant sandwich with a side of hash browns.  The croissant was pretty big and there was a large Denver omelet in between the slices of the croissant.  Under the omelet with the veggies included were slices of grilled ham.  My wife thought it was just all right.  She thought the hash browns were a little underwhelming.  They were almost room temperature when she took a bite of them.  

I got a Swiss cheese and corned beef omelet with a side of hash browns as well.  I had a choice between pancakes or toast and I thought I would like to try the pancakes.   It was a huge omelet with chunks of corned beef mixed in.  But it turned out the corned beef was the processed variety and pretty lifeless in taste.  My hash browns were also served to me at nearly room temperature and they seemed to be pretty greasy.  I think I had one or two bites of the hash browns before I decided to forget about eating any more of them.  The pancake - as in one - they served was sprinkled with powdered sugar and a small tub of maple syrup came with them.  The taste of the pancake was also sort of bland and I wasn't impressed with it.  Neither was my wife who is somewhat of a pancake connoisseur and makes some pretty mean pancakes at home.  

Our initial reaction after our breakfast at Sam's Diner was one of "meh!"  It's a nice place inside, the server we had was a little rough around the edges, but the food wasn't what we would call all that great.   We weren't certain we really liked the food all that much and we never did go back to see if it was any better than on our initial visit.  Some people must like the place because we always remark that there seems to be a number of cars in the parking lot at Sam's Diner when we drive by.  But it definitely didn't make the rotation of Quad City area breakfast places that we like to go to.  

(Update - September 2017  We weren't very impressed with our meal when we visited there earlier this year and we didn't think the place would last.  Well, guess what?  It didn't.  We weren't too surprised when we recently drove past Sam's Diner and saw that there were no cars in the parking lot and the lights were turned off.  Sad that a place has to close down so soon, but I didn't think it was all that good to begin with.  Obviously, others thought the same.)  

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.)

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.)

A Final Visit to the Bohemian Cafe - Omaha, NE

One of my most favorite restaurants in my travels over the years has been the Bohemian Cafe in Omaha.  My brother-in-law turned me on to the place nearly 30 years ago as it was a favorite Sunday lunch place for his family to go to years ago.  Earlier this year, the owners announced that they would be closing the Bohemian Cafe due to a couple factors - the head chef and much of the staff were approaching retirement age, and there has been a declining number of diners over the past few years due to stiff competition in the Omaha restaurant marketplace.  It doesn't appear anyone is stepping up to buy the venerable restaurant, so it will be closing later this evening for good.  (Photo courtesy Omaha World-Herald) 

I've written about the Bohemian Cafe twice on my blog (click here and here, but they were both during the early stages of Road Tips where I was still developing a format and a voice for the blog).  As I said, my brother-in-law was the one who told me I needed to go to the Bohemian Cafe when I first started to travel to Omaha for work just over 30 years ago.  He grew up 30 miles east of Omaha and it was a Sunday ritual for he and his mom and dad to make the trek down U.S. Highway 6 to Council Bluffs, then crossing over the Missouri River to Omaha on the old Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge.  They would then drive to 13th St., take a left and head south about a mile to the Bohemian Cafe on the right hand side.  (see map)  When he was making the trip in the 50's, the Bohemian Cafe was already over 30 years old.  

There were a large number of Czechoslovakian immigrants that settled in Omaha in the late 1800's.  Many of the immigrants were from the Bohemia or Moravia regions and by the late 1880's it was the largest ethnic population in Omaha.  Many of the immigrants were found south of the downtown Omaha district in an area known as "Little Bohemia".  It was an area for commerce, entertainment and faith for the growing Czech population in the area.  

In 1924, Louie Macala started selling sandwiches and dinners in a Czech hotel along S. 13th Street.  Along with his wife, Rose, they moved to another location in the early 30's a little over a block north of the present day restaurant location and renamed their place Louie Macala Cafe.  In 1935, he changed the name to the Bohemian Cafe.  

In 1947, Macala sold the Bohemian Cafe to Josef Libor and Ann Kapoun Libor.  Macala stayed on for a number of years as the restaurant's chef.  In 1959, the Libor's moved the restaurant to its present day space in what was originally a bank, but was a grocery store up to 1959.  Ann Libor was responsible for the old world decor inside and the trademark exterior work including the brightly colored tile.

Josef and Ann continued to run the restaurant up to July of 1966 handing over the reins to Mert and Robert Kapoun, Ann's son.  The Kapoun family consisted of the parents and four children - Ron, Terry, Bob and Marsha.  While the parents worked in the kitchen, the children bussed tables and worked as servers.  In 1979, Ron Kapoun became the head chef in the kitchen.  Robert and Mert retired a number of years ago with Robert passing away in 2007.   The four Kapoun children became co-owners of the Bohemian Cafe and Mert is said to visit the restaurant every day, even into her late 80's.  

A number of longtime restaurants in the immediate area - Piccolo Pete's, Caniglia's Venice Inn, and Mr. C's - began to close in recent years, victims of many of the same problems that are causing the Bohemian Cafe to close.   Terry Kapoun was the one who broke the news to the staff on May 10 of this year that the restaurant would close toward the end of the September.  Some of the staff had been working in the restaurants since the 60's and 70's.  

Initially, it was business as usual for the restaurant.  But with staff leaving to find other jobs, the Kapoun's were forced to close on Monday's and Tuesday's earlier this summer and they no longer have lunch service through the week, opening at 3:30 Wednesday through Friday.   The family was hoping they would be able to sell the restaurant intact and as is to someone, but it appears that didn't happen.  The Bohemian Cafe - in business for 92 years - will close later today.  

I was in Omaha earlier this summer and I had heard back in May that it was going to be closing.  I knew I had to have one last meal in the place.  I figured that I'd be able to get right in after getting into Omaha around 6:30 one evening.  After all, I never had to wait for a table in all the years I'd been coming to the Bohemian Cafe.  

That wasn't the case this evening.  The parking lot on the side of the building and directly behind the building were full.  The larger overflow parking across S. 13th St. from the restaurant was also full.  I ended up finding street parking on William St. just around the corner from the Bohemian Cafe.  

When I went inside, there was a line that stretched nearly out the door of people waiting to get a table.  The lady who took my name told me that it's been like this since they announced they were closing in May.  She said it would be about a 25 to 30 minute wait.

I decided to wait in the bar - the Bohemian Girl - while I waited for my table.  I took a seat at the bar and got a mug of Pilsner Urquell.  As I sat there for a moment, I thought about the times I came here with my late friend Dave Arnold.  We would sit in one of the side dining rooms and eat great, stick-to-your-ribs food, and down many large mugs of Pilsner Urquell.  I hoisted one in Dave's honor and memory as I sat at the bar.

I checked with the hostess after about 30 minutes to make sure that I was still on the list.  The line was just as long as it was when I first came in.  When I checked with her, she said that I could have a small booth near the front of the main dining room.  The place was packed, I didn't know if it would be able to get a seat until later on.  I decided to take the small booth.  I'm not a small guy and it was all I could do to fit comfortably in the booth.  And it wasn't that comfortable. 

Actually, I would have rather been in the smaller of the two dining rooms.  (There's also a dining room for overflow and private events toward the back of the restaurants.)  This was the room I ate in many times over the years.  The booths were always comfortable and the room was cozy.  

The menu at the Bohemian Cafe hasn't changed much - if any - in all the years I've been going there.  They have roast turkey, roast duck, chicken fried steak, Polish sausage, breaded chicken cutlets, Czech goulash, roasted or breaded pork loin, and one of my favorites - Svickova, a Czech-style sauerbraten.  

That evening, I was torn between two of my other favorites - the burgundy roast beef (in a burgundy gravy sauce), and the always unique boiled beef in dill gravy.  It is much better in taste than what it sounds like on the menu.  Since I can usually find other places that serve beef in a burgundy sauce, I decided to go with the boiled beef in dill gravy.

Traditionally before the main entree is served at the Bohemian Cafe, you get a basket of bread - it always seems like the bread is a day or two too old - and a choice of salad or liver dumpling soup.  I don't like liver, but there's something about the Bohemian Cafe's liver dumpling soup.  The broth is light and slightly salty.  Dipping the somewhat hard rye bread into the broth is a taste treat beyond compare.  The liver dumpling in the broth also has this great beef taste to it.  The liver dumpling soup was always a great treat for me.  

Along with the boiled beef with the dill gravy I got dumplings and the sweet and sour cabbage.  They ladled a healthy amount of the dill gravy on the dumplings.  The beef was tender and pulled apart with the cut of a fork.  The dill gravy just helped add to overall the taste sensation.   The sweet and sour cabbage was excellent, as were the dumplings in the dill gravy.  This was a lot of food on the plate.  I couldn't finish it all.  I felt bad leaving the food that I had left on the plate.  

Interestingly, there was an equally long line of people who were in line to pay their bill at the register.  I was talking with a gentleman who was there with his family who said they had been dining at the Bohemian Cafe weekly since the Kapoun family announced they were closing.  I told him that I hoped that this wouldn't be a repeat of the Berghoff in Chicago when they closed a number of years ago causing large crowds - and long lines - to come to their restaurant one last time, only to reopen less than three months later.  That sort of pissed me off, considering we stood in line for over two hours one day to have one last meal at the Berghoff.

It's sort of funny - while my brother-in-law have loved the Bohemian Cafe over the years, our spouse's didn't care for it.  My brother-in-law and sister went there a few years ago after her husband had raved about the Bohemian Cafe for years.  She didn't see what was so special about the food or the place.  I took my wife to the Bohemian Cafe during a trip to Omaha a number of years ago and she, too, couldn't figure out why I loved the place so much.  I relayed that story to the gentleman I was standing in line with to pay and he said, "I guess this place is usually a love or hate kind of place with most people."  

Well, put me and my brother-in-law on the side of those who loved the Bohemian Cafe.  That would also put us in the vast majority of those who visited the restaurant over the years.  I know the closing is much more sentimental for my brother-in-law who experienced countless Sunday dinners with his parents as he was growing up.  But I'll certainly miss the great food, the large mugs of Pilsner Urquell, and the wonderful liver dumpling soup with the somewhat stale rye bread that I dipped into the broth.   It's a shame that no one in the Kapoun family was willing to step forward to continue the family tradition, nor anyone was willing to buy the restaurant as is.  The Bohemian Cafe will continue to be one of my all-time favorite restaurants long after it closes its door later today. 

Pork Shoppe - Chicago

Earlier this year, one of my dealers in the Chicago area was telling me about a Christmas party they had for their staff at a barbecue place that had opened last year.  I wasn't familiar with the place - Pork Shoppe - but I soon found that it was the second location of a highly acclaimed barbecue place in Chicagoland.  One afternoon when I was in the area, I stopped into Pork Shoppe in the Andersonville neighborhood for lunch.  

The thing about it - I should have been familiar with Pork Shoppe.  They've been heralded as one of the top barbecue places since they opened the first Pork Shoppe in 2010 in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood.  Co-owners Steven Ford and Mike Schimmel have been in the restaurant business for a number of years, teaming up when Ford hired Schimmel to work at the hip Moroccan restaurant Tizi Melloul on N. Wells St. in downtown Chicago.  

Ford started in the restaurant business when he was just 12 years old washing dishes and at 15 he was bussing tables.  He worked at a series of restaurant jobs over the years rising through the ranks, and by 1996 he was the maitre d' at the upscale Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial.  He left Le Colonial in 1999 to open Tizi Melloul.  Schimmel, who also got his start in the restaurant business at an early age, went to work at Tizi Melloul not long after it opened and eventually partnered with Ford in the restaurant.  They closed Tizi Melloul after a nearly 11 year run to open the first Pork Shoppe location in 2010.   Jason Heiman, a Culinary Institute of America graduate and the longtime chef at Tizi Melloul, was brought along to run the kitchen at the new restaurant.  

In Andersonville, the Kingfisher Restaurant closed its doors in 2011 and the building sat vacant for a couple three years.  A couple of possible restaurants looked hard at the space, but never pulled the trigger.  Sensing a need for barbecue in the neighborhood, Ford and Schimmel thought the building would be a good place for a second Pork Shoppe location.  But they needed help in the venture, so they approached Ford's mentor Joe King whom Ford worked for at Le Colonial.  King - who founded the upscale King Cafe, and who is the owner of Rockit Bar and Grill - partnered up with Ford and Schimmel to make the Andersonville Pork Shoppe happen.  They opened the doors in May of 2015.    

The Pork Shoppe in Andersonville is located on N. Clark near where Clark breaks off as a diagonal and Ashland heads straight south.  (see map)  There is a parking lot off to the side of the building that makes it easy to get into Pork Shoppe quickly without having to search for parking along the street.  

While the original Pork Shoppe is a small counter-serve place with an emphasis on take-out, the second location in Andersonville is a much larger space with a full service bar, and two larger dining rooms.  Barn-boards adorned part of the walls of the dining rooms, interesting wooden half-barrels were used as light fixtures, plaid-covered seating in corner booths, and some playful murals that depicted three wolves chasing a pig as a take from the old children's story/fable The Three Little Pigs.  

It was around 1:30 when I got into Pork Shoppe and it was nearly deserted after the lunch crowd departed.  I was told I could sit anywhere and I took a booth across from the bar.  A pleasant young woman by the name of Molly came over to greet me and drop off a menu.  I ordered up a Lagunitas IPA from a long list of locally brewed beers they offered and enjoyed music playing in the background by the likes of Glass Animals, Phantogram, BØRNS, and Peter, Bjorn and John while I looked through the menu.  

They had a number of lunch specials on the menu including brisket tacos, a pulled pork sandwich, and an interesting pork belly pastrami sandwich.  But I was more interested in getting the meats to try.  In addition to the meaty St. Louis-style and tender baby-back ribs on the menu, they also had chopped brisket, pulled pork, pulled chicken, a mustard and spice rubbed beef try-tip, and the aforementioned pork belly pastrami that brined and spiced in house.  

I ended up getting an a la carte platter of a quarter pound each of the beef brisket and the pulled pork with a side of the baked beans.  The baked beans were mustard-based and it was a healthy sized bowl that was served to me.  The meats came in basic paper boats and the meal was served on a small cooking tray - the new hip thing that I'm seeing at a number of restaurants.  (I have to admit - last year we went out and bought four of these smaller metal trays to have at home because they're easy to handle, especially when we're taking food out to the deck for meals outdoors.) 

The beef brisket was moist and tender, as was the pulled pork.  I liked the flavor of the brisket a tad more than the pulled pork, but both were very good in their flavor.  I wasn't sure that I liked the taste of the baked beans with the mustard-base, so I added some one of the three barbecue sauces they had on the table to get them more to my liking.  

The three sauces - a Kansas City-style thick sweet sauce, a Southwest-style spicy sauce, and a Carolina-style tangy vinegar-based sauce - were all very interesting.  The spicy sauce had a noticeable bite that was sneaky hot on the back end.  The tangy Carolina sauce was fine with smooth taste, but the sweet Kansas City sauce - I thought - was the best of all three.  Mixed with the spicy sauce, the taste of both had that sweet and spicy combination that I like in a good barbecue sauce.  

But the meat was truly the star of my meal at Pork Shoppe. The brisket was very good, as was the pulled pork.  I want to go back at some point and try the pork belly pastrami.  I liked the baked beans well enough, but I wasn't quite sold on the mustard-base they use.  Adding some of the very good sweet sauce and the sneaky hot spicy sauce to the beans made them more to my liking.  The atmosphere at the Andersonville Pork Shoppe was fresh and inviting, and the service I received from Molly was top-notch.  For my first visit to Pork Shoppe, I was sort of kicking myself that I hadn't tried the original location before this.  There will definitely be more visits to Pork Shoppe in my immediate future.  

(Update - I was driving by Pork Shoppe in the Spring of 2018 and saw that it was closed.  I found out that they had closed in February of 2018.  I had been there a couple times since my initial visit, so I'm sort of bummed they're gone.)

Rotier's - Nashville, TN

When we were in Nashville as part of our vacation last fall, I wanted to take my wife to the Parthenon - a replica of the ancient Greek temple that was originally built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.  I had been there once with a colleague when we were in Nashville for a trade show a few years back, but we had never gone into the place to see the 42-foot high statue of the Greek Goddess Athena.  But before we got there, we passed an interestingly looking restaurant on Elliston Place near Vanderbilt University that piqued my interest with a stone front and "Steak" and "Sea Food" neon signs in the front windows.  After wandering through the Parthenon, we headed back over to Rotier's Restaurant to get some lunch.  (see map)  

I knew absolutely nothing about Rotier's but found out that the place has been a favorite hang-out for locals since 1945.  A who's-who of Nashville celebrities and Vanderbilt students have passed through their doors for the burgers and home-style cooking Rotier's is famous before.  A third generation of the Rotier (pronounced  ro-TEAR, as tear drop) family now run the restaurant that was started by John and Evelyn Rotier just after World War II.  The Rotier's bought a little tavern on Elliston Place - the former Al's Tavern.  Al's Tavern was a gambling den and had a number of pinball machines.  But it was also only one of three places at the time on the west side of Nashville that served food.   To keep the business going after they first bought the place, Evelyn would work the day shift while John would work the evening shift.  

Once gambling machines were outlawed in Tennessee, the Rotier's expanded the restaurant and the food they served.  They became known as a "meat and three" place - "meat and three" is a Tennessee expression for meat and vegetables.  They continued to serve their burgers, but homemade comfort food items were added to the menu.

The spunky Evelyn Rotier was the task-master of the place, correcting the diction of an employee or of a viewpoint of a customer, hiring and firing grill cooks, and not putting up with any guff from mouthy customers.  But at the same time, she would be the first to give out a free meal to needy people or playfully dote on the babies that customers would bring in.  She spoke her mind and was loved and feared at the same time by her regular customers.  

The Rotier's three children - John, Jr., Margaret and Charles - all worked in the restaurant for their parents.  John Rotier, Sr. passed away in 1981 and Evelyn kept on working in the restaurant until she retired in 1996.  Evelyn passed the restaurant along to her three children to run, but John, Jr. passed away just after Christmas in 1999.  Margaret - now Margaret Crouse, and Charles Rotier continued to run the place and today are helped out by their children Jacob Crouse and Charlie Rotier, Jr.  And even though she wasn't working at the restaurant any longer, for a number of years Evelyn Rotier would still stop in from time to time to check on things and get caught up with gossip from regular customers.  She passed away in 2014 at the age of 94.  

A heavy rain storm had come up when we were in the Parthenon and we had to wait to get out to our car.  Once that passed around 1:30 in the afternoon, we drove over to Rotier's and found a parking spot out front.  We walked in and were greeted by Margaret Crouse seated at the cash register near the bar, just like her mother did for years and years.  She told us we could sit in a booth in the bar area up front.  The booth was, well, it was old.  And it was also sort of tight.  These were booths designed for very skinny people, not for a big guy like me.  Still, I was able to fit in with not a lot of discomfort.

This was an old school bar.  Not very big, but cozy and welcoming enough.  The bar seated, maybe 8 patrons.  Vintage beer signs, American flags, old pictures and bits of kitsch were on display throughout the bar area.  Up front by the front door, a vintage Galaga video game stood like a sentinel.  (I tell people I flunked a summer college course one year because I decided to play Galaga at the Airliner in Iowa City instead of going to class.)

The dining area in the back was equally small and cozy.  There were tables back there that would have been a little more comfortable to sit in rather than the booth, but we were fine where we were.  More vintage beer signs, mirrored signs and pictures hung on the wood paneled walls in the back dining area.  

We were given menus by one of the servers.  She was a young lady, I'm guessing late 20's, early 30's.  She had a slight Southern drawl and kind of a sassy, yet playful demeanor.  We ordered up a couple of the Yazoo Brewing Company's pale ale, brewed locally in Nashville.  

By the signs in their windows, you'd think there would be a lot of steaks or seafood on Rotier's menu.  There isn't.  There's a 10 ounce New York strip steak and a hamburger steak on the menu, as well as a fried fish platter and a fried shrimp dinner.  Sandwiches included an open faced hot beef sandwich, a classic BLT, and a corned beef or turkey reuben.  

Their signature burger is a burger on French bread.  I ordered one of those topped with a housemade pimento cheese.  Housemade potato chips came with my burger.  The French bread was a little too much bread to go with the burger.  The burger, itself, was thick and juicy with a good flavor.  The French bread - too much of it - didn't really do anything to enhance the taste for me.  

Cindy got the grilled cheeseburger on rye.  Instead of the housemade chips, she got the onion rings that came with a housemade remoulade sauce.  I wish I would have gotten that instead.  The burger was grilled, then placed on rye bread with cheddar cheese and they grilled the bread.  The burger came with a fresh leaf of lettuce, a sliced tomato and a sliced onion.  Cindy thought the burger was delicious.  

But the thing that really stood out for us was the housemade remoulade sauce.  She let me try a couple of the very good onion rings with the sauce.  It had a spicy bite that wasn't overpowering as much as it was sort of refreshing.  I could tell there was fresh horseradish in the sauce as it gave me sort of a head rush when I first took a bite of an onion ring with the sauce on it.  We were trying to figure out what was in it and Cindy flagged down our server.  "We don't want to take any secrets, but we're trying to figure out what is in this delicious sauce," she said.

The waitress told us, "Oh, I just made it today!"  

I said, "Oh, it's very good.  Some of the best remoulade I've ever had."  

She thanked me and said, "It's nothing really special.  I just start out with Miracle Whip because it's easier to mix stuff in.  Then I add fresh horseradish, then Worcestershire sauce, garlic, cayenne pepper, white pepper and some Creole mustard just to add some color to it."  I have to note, she never did give us specific measurements, so if we wanted to make it at home we'd have to do it by taste.  

While the French bread burger was unique, I wish I would have gotten what my wife got - the grilled cheeseburger on rye.  (They also have classic-style cheeseburgers at Rotier's.)  It was just too much bread for me and it masked the good taste of the burger.  The remoulade sauce was a big hit with us, it went tremendously well with the good onion rings they served.  The service was prompt and efficient, our waitress was fun to talk with.  As we paid, we spoke briefly with Margaret Crouse as she pointed out the significance of some of the artifacts and pictures on display around the bar area.  Rotier's Restaurant was a pleasant find, one that I wasn't really looking for, but very glad I did. 

(Update 2021 - Rotier's closed in early 2021 as the new owners of their 90-year-old building did not renew the lease and demolished the building for future development.)  

Reza's Pitch - Bismarck, ND

I had come across an article earlier this year on the top burgers in the state of North Dakota.  I kept a couple in the back of my mind including a place in Bismarck by the interesting name of Reza's Pitch.  I was traveling across the state on Interstate 94 earlier this year and I decided to stop into Reza's Pitch to check out the place.  

From the logo, you can probably figure out that the "pitch" that is part of the name refers to the field on which soccer is played, usually called a "pitch" outside of the United States.  The Reza behind Reza's Pitch is Reza Kamranian, an Iranian immigrant who opened his eponymous restaurant in 2010.  Prior to opening his own restaurant, Kamranian worked in a number of restaurants starting out as a dishwasher and working his way up in a number of various positions.  

He eventually ended up in Bismarck and became a partial owner in three restaurants before becoming the A&W/Long John Silver's franchisee in the area.  However, after the parent company overseeing the franchises was sold to a group of investors, Kamranian didn't feel that he was getting the support he needed to continue with his franchise.  That's when he decided to strike out on his own.  He closed his remaining A&W/Long John Silver's in 2009 and renovated the building into a sports bar with a soccer theme.  In March of 2010 he opened Reza's Pitch with an emphasis on both burgers and craft beers.  

Reza's Pitch is located at the corner of Front St. and S. 3rd St. in downtown Bismarck. (see map)  The interior of the place kind of had a contemporary industrial look to it with exposed metal beams in the ceiling, large windows letting in a lot of natural light, a series of tables and booths in the dining area and a good sized bar with the order window into the kitchen behind the bar.  Numerous flat screen televisions were hung through out the place all tuned to sports channels.  Ironically, none of the televisions was showing any soccer. 

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a young lady by the name of Jessica dressed in a Reza's Pitch soccer jersey, similar to the other servers in the place.  She asked what I wanted to drink and I wondered what they had in beers.  She gave me a beer menu and I picked out a local IPA - Feast Like a Sultan from the Laughing Sun brewery in Bismarck.  

Jessica asked me if I had dined at Reza's Pitch before and I told her that I hadn't.  She pulled out a sheet that was basically their menu where you check off what you want, then hand it in to your server once you've made your selection.  At the top of the sheet, Step 1 is "Choose Your Striker", basically choosing between a 1/3 lb. single or a 2/3 lb. double burger.   Step 2 is "Let's Kickoff" - premium toppings such as various types of cheese, bacon and/or a fried egg.  Step 3 is "Select Your Midfielders" which allows one to select various veggies to put onto the burger.  Step 4 - "Get Onside" - is where you pick various spreads, sauces and condiments including horseradish, barbecue sauce, a spicy blue cheese dressing, a spicy cajun ranch and something called "Sudden Death Ketchup".  From there, you get to select your "Sidekicks" - sides that include fries, onion rings, stuffed jalapeños and housemade potato chips. 

I got the double burger with Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms (raw mushrooms were also available), and bacon - I know, it's my standard burger.  The burger patties were flat grilled and juicy.  This was definitely a multi-napkin burger with the cheese oozing out from under the lightly toasted bun.  I could have easily gotten by with a single burger patty and I'm glad I didn't get any sides to go along with the burger.  The bun - always a key to a good burger - was light and spongy, and it held together very well.  It was a very good burger with a great taste.

Compared to other burgers I've had in North Dakota, the burger at Reza's Pitch was one of the best I've had.  The service was efficient and reasonably quick for a lunch-time crowd, the beer selection was numerous and interesting, and it was a nice little sports bar with good burgers and an adequate amount of sides and appetizers to choose from.  Reza's Pitch was a good find in my travels.

(Update October 2016 - On a recent trip to Bismarck, I passed by Reza's Pitch and found that it was closed.  It turns out that owner Reza Kamranian decided to retire after 40 years in the restaurant business.  He closed the restaurant at the end of June of this year.  That's too bad because they had a very good burger at Reza's Pitch.) 

Ubriaco's Trattoria - Davenport, IA

A new place opened in the Village of East Davenport last summer that we've been somewhat intrigued with the name - Ubriaco's Trattoria.  It had been some time past our "three month rule" that we have for new restaurants and decided to give the place a try on a cold Friday night.  

The East Village is full of bars and pubs, but there really hasn't been a fine dining establishment in the village for, well, as long as I can remember.  The building that houses Ubriaco's at the corner of Mound and 11th St. (see map) has been a number of things since I moved to the Quad Cities nearly 25 years ago.  It was a notorious strip bar right before I moved to town, then it was owned by TC's Point After (click here to read about TC's Point After in DeWitt, IA).   After that over the years it's been many things including The Village Idiot and most recently the Mound Street Landing.  When they were working on the building last summer before it opened, one shop owner in the Village of East Davenport told me that any place that wasn't going to be a bar was going to be a good thing for the neighborhood.  

However, I kind of got the idea that it was probably going to be a bar first when I looked up the meaning of Ubriaco - it means "drunk" in Italian.  The men behind the place have both bar and fine dining backgrounds.  Kyle Born was the general manager at The McClellan Stockade just up the street from Ubriaco's Trattoria for a number of years before opening The Smoking Dog Pub in the District of Rock Island.  

His partner in Ubriaco's Trattoria - Jerry Bergheger - is a native of Rock Island who has extensive training and work in the fine dining culinary field.  Bergheger first worked for Charles Moskowitz (Chef "CHAWLES" as I used to refer to him) at the former C'est Michelle, which was an utterly pretentious restaurant in Moline.  

Bergheger got the bug from working at C'est Michelle to take a one year culinary course in Chicago.  After working at various restaurants in Chicago he decided to get further training at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.  After graduating from the C.I.A., Bergheger has worked with noted chefs in New York (Rocco di Spirito and Daniel Boulud), L.A. (Joachim Splichal) and Chicago (Paul Bartolotta), as well as spending time cooking in Italy where he found his calling with Italian food.

Bergheger ended up back in the Quad Cities to run the kitchen at the former Abbey Hotel in Bettendorf and then opened Atlante Trattoria in the District of Rock Island.  In the spring of 2014, Bergheger sold his interest in Atlante to his two brothers, bought the former O'Melia's Supper Club in Rock Island and opened Jake O's Grille.  Bergheger and Born opened Ubriaco's Trattoria in late July of last year.  

It had been a while since I had been in the building that now houses Ubriaco's Trattoria.  While some things have changed, other things have not.  There's still a bar area along the north side, but it seems to have been spiffed up since the last time I was in.  Actually, it was quite nice with an ornate lattice-style wine bottle holder and dark walnut accents for the shelves and trim.

Seating for dining have replaced a game room that I remember being in place years ago.  Walls of bleached barn planks are on the wall in a room that has a number of booths for dining.  There's still remnants of the building's past with a small stage set up along the south wall that's still used for live music or karaoke on some weekend nights.  A soft earth-tone gold on the walls gave the dining area a rustic Italian feel.  

Met by a hostess at a stand near the bar, we were shown to a seat in a booth in the former game room and were given menus to look through.  Our server for the evening - and I'm gonna give her the nom de guerre of Trudy because I'm not going to be even close to giving her any faint praise during this post - came over to greet us.  She asked if we wanted anything to drink and I got a beer while Cindy got a glass of house cabernet.  

And we waited and waited for our drinks.  Trudy came over to see if we were ready to order our food and we had to point out to her that we hadn't even gotten our drinks that we'd ordered from her 10 minutes prior.  She apologized, "Gosh, you guys!  I'll get them right away!"  It was another five minutes before she showed back up with the drinks.  At that point, we seriously thought about getting up and just walking out.  

Another reason we thought about walking out was that the menu was far from what I would call Italian food.  Oh, there were four pasta entrees - spaghetti with a "Sunday Gravy" recipe that chef Jerry Bergheger has perfected from his time in Italy, a chicken fettucine pasta, lasagna bolognese, and shrimp and spaghetti in a red sauce.  That was it.  They had some entrees with an Italian bent - Chicken saltimbocca, a Gorgonzola-crusted ribeye with a chianti sauce, and something called Italiano Jambalaya that had sausage, chicken, shrimp, peppers and tomatoes.  But I was really in the mood for pasta that evening and there just wasn't much to appease me on the menu.

I ended up getting the lasagna - a small portion of a bolognese style lasagna with ground sausage and beef mixed in.  The other quibble I had with Ubriaco's Trattoria is that soup or salad was an extra charge and didn't come with the meal.  For an extra five bucks you could get soup or a spring mix dinner salad.  

And the portions weren't all that large.  (The place was pretty dark and none of the pictures that I took of our food came out.  I lifted this picture of the lasagna from Ubriaco's Trattoria's Facebook page.  Honestly, it wasn't much larger than this.)  And they had the gall to charge $13 bucks for the lasagna.  With no salad beforehand.  While I thought the lasagna was good - the taste combination of the tomato sauce made with white wine and cream along with ground pork and beef was very interesting - I didn't think of it being a good value at all.

Cindy got the Mediterranean Salmon - it came with chopped spinach, olives and tomatoes along with feta cheese with some rice on the side.  The salmon was, I'm guessing, six ounces in sizes, but they charged $18 bucks for it.  While Cindy thought it was good, she said it wasn't outstanding.  

I guess what really turned us off was the service, or lack of it from Trudy.  She brought our food out to us and asked if we needed anything else.  I told her that I could use another beer and she said, "Comin' right up!"  Only it didn't.  I left my beer bottle on the edge of the table to remind her that I was still waiting on my beer, but she never came back.  Long after we finished our dinners - which didn't take long given the portion sizes - she finally did show up to drop off our check.  She took our plates, grabbed the empty beer bottle without realizing that I never did get the second beer and I decided to cut our losses by giving her the money for the bill on the spot including a small tip.  Cindy noted that she didn't ask if we wanted any dessert.  (I said, "Maybe they don't have any!"  They do...) 

We gave Ubriaco's another chance recently when we went down there for lunch on weekend day.  This time we sat at the bar and had Joey wait on us.  Friendly, personable and efficient, Joey was the antithesis of the our first experience with the wait staff at Ubriaco's.  

The lunch menu at Ubriaco's features salads, sandwiches and their signature Ubriaco burger.  It's a 1/3 pound burger red wine-glazed beef patty topped with gorgonzola cheese that is hand-melted onto the patty by a butane torch, then topped with onion jam and bacon and served on a ciabatta bun.  That's what Cindy got for her lunch.  And she thought it was pretty good.  She gave me a bite and while I don't care for gorgonzola or blue cheese on a burger (it's too forward a taste combined with the beef), I thought it was also very good.  

I thought for a moment about getting the Carnivore burger that is topped with ham, pepperoni, capocollo, and gouda cheese on a pretzel bun, but I ended up getting the Bella burger that is topped with a roasted portobello mushroom, mozzarella cheese and a sun-dried tomato pesto with chopped greens.  The portobello mushroom was actually thicker than the burger patty and it was very delicious on its own.  The ciabatta bun was lightly grilled, but was spongy and flavorful.  It was a pretty good burger, I'd have to say.   

The food at Ubriaco's Trattoria was good, but I thought the dinner we had was a pretty poor value versus the portion sizes served.  The menu was lacking on what I thought would be more pasta offerings from an Italian restaurant.  And the service was just abysmal.  Plus it still had more of a bar atmosphere than a nicer Italian-style trattoria.  The burgers and fine service on our return visit gave us hope that our first visit was an aberration.  We had such high hopes for Ubriaco's Trattoria, considering it's less than a five minute drive from our house.  We may give them a chance for dinner again at some point.  

(Update - June 2016 - We never did make it back to Ubriaco's.  They couldn't really figure out if they wanted to be a nice Italian restaurant or a night spot in the heart of the East Village of Davenport.  They closed in April of this year for "remodeling", but we never really saw any work going on.  I happened to see a guy whose family owns the building and he said, "Naw, they're not coming back.  They're actively trying to sell the contract they have with us to some other restaurant or bar owners."  So, that's that for Ubriaco's.)

 

Francesca Vitale's - Muscatine, IA

Wheeling and dealing on a new car with a number of dealerships recently, I ended up buying a car from a place in Muscatine.  We've had to go to Muscatine a couple three times over the period of buying the car and we decided to try some of the restaurants in town while we were there.  One that we noticed and wanted to try was Francesca Vitale's on 2nd St. in downtown Muscatine.  (see map)

The Vitale family is sort of the royalty of Italian food in Muscatine.  Reno Vitale settled in Muscatine with his family in the early 80's and opened Salvatore Vitale's - now simply known as Salvatore's - in 1985.  (Click here to see an entry on Salvatore's.)  Reno's sons, Salvatore - known to the locals as Sam - and Claudio helped him out in the restaurant along with his daughter, Antonia.  Antonia eventually married Giovanni (John) Sgro and they now run Antonella's in downtown Davenport.  (Click here to see an entry on Antonella's.)  

Somewhere along the way, Sam and Claudio Vitale had differences and they went their separate ways in recent years.  Claudio continues to run the day-to-day operations at Salvatore's with patriarch Reno - fast approaching 80 years of age - checking in every day, while Sam and his wife, Francesca, (pictured right) opened their own Italian restaurant down the street from Salvatore's in th spring of 2012.  Sam and Francesca are also co-owners with Michelle Roos in Piazza Bella, a catering/reception facility in Muscatine, and also own The Sicilian, a small pizza and sub shop in Muscatine.  

We got into Francesca Vitale's around 7:30 one evening.  (Francesca Vitale's doesn't have a web site, but they do have a Facebook page.  Click on the link to go there.)  The place is reminiscent of Salvatore's up the street with large wooden booths and four-seater tables in the center of the dining area.  A small bar area was in the rear of the place with a roaring natural gas fireplace giving the dining area a homey feel.

We were greeted by our server for the evening, Jake, who dropped off a couple menus for us.  He told us of a couple specials for the evening and took our drink order.  I got a cold beer while Cindy went for a glass of the house chianti.  

The menu at Francesca Vitale's is a mixture of Italian entrees, steaks, seafood and pizza.  We were there for the pizza that evening, although some of the pasta dishes sounded pretty good.  (Cindy was especially intrigued when she saw the Pasta al Salmone - sauteed salmon with bow tie pasta covered with a vodka cream sauce.)  But we ended up ordering a medium (12") sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.

But before we had the pizza, Cindy determined that she needed to have a salad.  The Brenda White salad caught her eye.  It's a large salad that was first concocted by a former worker at Salvatore's consisting of iceberg lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped green peppers,  mushroom slices, chopped onions, sliced black olives, pepperoni slices, parmesan cheese, fresh shredded mozzarella, with a choice of salad dressing.  Cindy wanted to share the salad and Jake was nice enough to provide two separate bowls for us.  Both of us got the delicious garlic dressing that the Vitale family has been serving in their respective restaurants for years. 

The greens were very fresh, loads of shredded mozzarella topped the greens with the chopped and sliced veggies.  The mushrooms were especially fresh and the pepperoni slices had a good spicy and salty taste.  Of course, the garlic dressing was the key to the whole salad.  If you like garlic, you'd love the salad dressing at Francesca Vitale's (or at Salvatore's or at Antonella's).  I can guarantee that after you eat the garlic dressing, no vampires will be within a quarter mile of you.  

Jake brought the pizza out after we finished up the salads.  The hand-tossed crust was thin, but not cracker thin.  It had some consistency and held up well with the toppings.  The sausage was the chunk sausage that I like so well on a pizza, and there were generous amounts of the same pepperoni that was on the Brenda White salad, and the same thing with the chopped fresh mushrooms.  Cindy doesn't care much for mushrooms, but even she said that the mushrooms on the pizza were very good.  The sweet tomato pizza sauce and the mozzarella were both fresh and delicious.  The pizza easily passed my "Does it taste good with a beer?" test.  

We finished up the pizza and Jake began to entice us with dessert.  Cindy asked if their tiramisu was made in-house and he conceded that it was not.  "But our cannoli's are," he countered.  Against our better judgement we ordered up a cannoli to give it a try.  And it was excellent - and OH! so rich!  The sugar and vanilla infused ricotta cheese filling was excellent as was the flaky pastry shell surrounding the filling.  Drizzled chocolate syrup topped the cannoli.   But it was so damn rich.  Given a good sized salad, a 12" pizza with three toppings, and finishing off the meal with a cannoli, it was a lot of food.  But it was all so very good.

I don't know if you can go wrong with the pizza at either Salvatore's, Antonella's and Francesca Vitale's.  However, we felt the pizza at Francesca Vitale's may have been the best of the three.  It was an outstanding pizza and simply delicious.  I would be remiss in commenting on Jake's service which was also very good.  He and another server were the only ones on duty that evening and they were a tad overwhelmed at times.  But his friendly and playful demeanor camouflaged any stress he may have been under.  Our experience at Francesca Vitale's - the food, the ambiance and the service - was all wonderful.  I would have no problem driving the 35 minutes from our house for another pizza at some point.  

Update - My wife and I were in Muscatine toward the end of 2016 and we went by Francesca Vitale's and found that it was closed.  There is a new place in Muscatine called Sal Vitale's Pizza that - I believe - is the off-shoot of Francesca Vitale's.  

Between the Buns - South Bend, IN

I found myself in South Bend, IN a few weeks back staying near the campus of Notre Dame.  I was trying to figure out where to go for dinner and nothing was sounding good to me.  I went to the front desk to inquire with the young lady what options where in the area.  She gave me a sheet on some restaurants and I saw a place called Between the Buns that was a sports bar.  I wanted to watch some basketball that evening, so I decided to head over there for some basketball, beer and food.  

The Between the Buns in South Bend is located on S. Bend Ave. east of the Notre Dame campus.  (See map)  This was the second location of what were five total locations for Between the Buns at one point in Northern Indiana.  (There are three Between the Buns locations in the South Bend/Elkhart area.)  

The first Between the Buns was established in 1985 when the sports bar concept was still in its infancy.  Partners Tom Wilson, Sr. and Phil Schreiber opened the sports bar in Osceola, a suburb of South Bend and it was the first sports bar in the area.  It wasn't big compared to some sports bars today - it only seated 85 people.  Schreiber ran the day-to-day operations at Between the Buns.

In 2000, Tom Wilson's son, Tommy, joined the company and the group opened the South Bend location.  In 2006, Between the Buns merged with an Elkhart restaurant/ banquet facility The Matterhorn to open the Elkhart location of the sports bar.  The Matterhorn's ownership team of Bruce Tassell and Kurt Janowsky had been approached years earlier by Tom Wilson, Sr. (who was a business partner of Tassell's in the 70's) and Schreiber to put in a Between the Buns location in what was then The Matterhorn's under utilized dining area.  The group initially determined that the kitchen would be too small to have both Between the Buns and The Matterhorn sharing the facility.  But an expansion of the kitchen allowed for Between the Buns to take over the restaurant part of The Matterhorn while the other part of the building continued to hosts banquets and receptions.  (Between the Buns locations in Mishawaka and in Granger opened and closed over the past few years.)  

In 2012, Phil Schreiber gave up the management of day-to-day operations of Between the Buns and bought the Chicory Cafe in South Bend, a small New Orleans-style coffee shop.  Schreiber - who is a co-owner of the Chicory Cafe with his wife, Julie, and Jeff Morauski - is still a partner in Between the Buns with Tom and Tommy Wilson.  

The South Bend location of Between the Buns is located in a strip mall.  As I waked in, I noticed a sign where ESPN designated Between the Buns as one of the Top 8 sports bars in North America.  (I found out later on that it was designated by a voting process - I'm sure the bar got their patrons to "stuff" the ballot box.  But still, it had to be a pretty good marketing effort for the bar to pull it off.)

(Update - I got a very nice e-mail from Dave from Between the Buns thanking me for the honest review of the place and explaining the run-up to getting named as one of ESPN's Top 8 Sports Bars in North America.

"Just wanted to clue you in on the ESPN thing.  We were nominated with a description of our place, ESPN selected us as one of the Top 8, then after that, it became a voting thing amongst the top 8 finalists (of which we were one) for the #1 spot.  The contest started as "in the US", but then they changed it to "in North America" so that they could name a Canadian bar as #1.  They would not tell us, even after many requests, the ranking of the remaining 7.  The Canadian bar just happens to be in the same city as Canada's ESPN sister company.  But enough about rigging and conspiracies.")

So, there you go!

(And it was also at this point that I realized that all the pictures that I had taken during my visit to Between the Buns had mysteriously vanished from my computer.  I ended up lifting some pictures from Between the Buns' Facebook page.)  

There are two parts of Between the Buns - there's a dining room to the left as you come in, and a bar area with booths and tables to the right.  I was greeted by a young girl who asked me if I wanted to sit in the bar or in the dining room.  I opted for a booth in the bar area.

Between the Buns was similar to a number of sports bars I've been to in the past.  Both parts of the place had a number of flat screen televisions, sports memorabilia including jerseys and pictures, and a very lively atmosphere.  I was looking through the menu when my server for the evening, Holly, came over to greet me.  They had a pretty good beer menu at Between the Buns, but that evening they had a $2.00 special on Budweiser products.  I couldn't pass that up even though they had Kona, Bell's and 3 Floyd's products available.  

Most of the items on the menu are your typical sports bar fare - a number of appetizers, soups and salads, burgers, and sandwiches on the menu.  Many of the sandwiches and burgers were named for sports stars or sports teams.  

I wasn't really fired up for a burger, but I didn't really see anything on the sandwich menu that really tripped my trigger.  I looked through the burgers and while they had some interesting selections - The Angry Knight (named after former Indiana University head basketball coach Bob Knight) starts out with Cajun seasoning on the burger, topped with Ken's Boom-Boom Sauce, bacon, frizzled onions, jalapeno peppers and pepperjack cheese - I ended up just getting the Razorback burger that had bacon and Swiss cheese.  I asked Holly if I could get some sauteed mushrooms with the burger and she said it was no problem.  

She asked me what kind of bun that I wanted with the burger.  Holly said, "We have plain, whole wheat, onion..."  I stopped her there and told her onion was fine.  "....or pretzel."  I immediately changed my mind.  She sort of laughed and said, "See?  You jumped the gun!" 

For a side, I had a choice of steak fries, onion chips, baked beans, cole slaw and a couple three other sides.  For a $1.00 upcharge I could choose a 1/2 order of onion rings, steamed veggies, a bowl of chili or sweet potato fries.  I took the onion rings.  "Our onion rings are good," Holly said as she grabbed my menu from me.  

Now, I'm really upset that I lost the pictures of the burger and the onion rings that I had.  This burger is pulled from their Facebook page, but it is nowhere close to how good my burger looked - both in thickness and it presentation.  Between the Buns features a 6 ounce, fresh ground, hand-pattied chargrilled burger.  

And I had to take a step back when she brought the 1/2 basket of onion rings.  The rings were big, thick and heavily battered.  There were seven or eight of them in the basket and they were all huge.  I incredulously said to Holly, "This is a half order?"  She confirmed that it was.  I took one out of the basket, placed it on a plate and put a fork next to it to establish the size as I took a picture.  I'm upset that I lost the pictures.  Crap...

Holly was off getting me another $2.00 bottle of beer and I started to look around at the cheese and bacon on my burger.  I realized that they forgot to put sauteed mushrooms on my burger.  When she came back, I told her that I didn't have any mushrooms on my burger.  "Really," she asked with a hint of exasperation in her voice.  "I'll go get some for you."  A moment later, she reappeared with a small 4 ounce cup filled to the brim with sauteed mushrooms.  "I got you a few more just because they forgot," she told me.  Holly was doing a great job.  

The pretzel bun was sort of dry.  No, it was really dry.  And there was too much of it.  I was taking bites of the burger and having to pull pieces of the crown of the pretzel bun away from the burger.  It was not a good bun, probably one of the worst pretzel buns I've ever had.

The burger, on its own, was fine.  It was juicy and had a pretty good flavor to it for a chargrilled burger.  The Swiss cheese, bacon and mushroom were a splendid taste combination with the burger.  I ended up just taking the pretzel bun off the top and  finished up by eating it with a fork.  I thought through the meal that I wish I would have gone with the onion bun.  

The onion rings were very greasy.  They were fine - not the best I've had - but the onions inside the batter were sweet and tasty.  The batter was thick and greasy and had a somewhat oily taste.  They were good, but not great.  I could only eat three of the behemoth onion rings.  

While the burger patty was good, the overall taste of the burger at Between the Buns was dampened by the pretzel bun.  It was dry and not fresh at all.  The huge onion rings - a half order is enough for two people - were all right.  I couldn't beat the price on the beer special and Holly's service was impeccable.  They had a great selection of games to watch - if a game is on, Between the Buns has it.  My experience was fine, but nothing special.  It was a typical sports bar with typical sports bar food. 

(UPDATE - After over 30 years in business, Between the Buns closed their doors at the end of 2015.  It appears the same owners are going to be taking the restaurant in a different direction with a more upscale restaurant tentatively called Taphouse on the Edge. Reportedly the new restaurant will be featuring micro brews, craft cocktails, and a new menu featuring organic, locally grown ingredients, grass-fed beef and non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) food items on the menu.  Sounds like a place I may have to try at some point. Thanks to Dave formerly of Between the Buns for contacting me to let me know.)

Doc & Eddie's BBQ - Omaha

I was in Omaha on a recent fall evening and I had a hankering for some barbecue.  I was staying on the southwest side of the city and I was looking for places that were in the immediate area.  I found a place called Doc & Eddie's BBQ that wasn't far from the hotel.  I made it over there to find out a pretty interesting back story on how the place came to be.  

Dr. Jeff DeMare is a renowned critical pediatric care doctor at Children's Hosptial and Medical Center in Omaha.   When Dr. DeMare began to work at Children's Hospital in 2002 he befriended a security guard by the name of Eddie Vacek.  It turns out that DeMare and Vacek had a number of things in common - they liked to talk about sports and about girls.  But they also found out that they both had a deep appreciation for good barbecue.  This unlikely friendship turned into a partnership where DeMare ended up buying a portable professional smoker and Vacek and he would spend their summer weekends in 2006 along side a road in the Omaha suburb of Gretna drinking beers, smoking meats and selling it to the people who would stop by.   

The two decided that they needed to have a full time barbecue joint.  They found a spot in a strip mall on the southwest side of the city, but just before the place opened up Eddie Vacek suddenly passed away.  DeMare was determined to soldier on in remembrance of his friend and he opened Doc & Eddie's BBQ in July of 2007.  (There is a former chain of sports bars that was called Doc & Eddy's, but they're not affiliated with DeMare's barbecue joint.)  DeMare ended up hiring Lynette Hughes to be the manager and part-owner of Doc & Eddie's. 

Doc & Eddie's is located in a strip mall just northwest of the corner of 168th and Harrison.  (see map)  It's set back from the street a bit, so there was a bit of driving around the parking lot before I found the small storefront of the restaurant.  If I'd had my window down in my car I would have been able to find the place a lot quicker.  The smell of the smoke of there restaurant was wafting in the cool fall air.  

I got there at the right time - it was around 7:30 and they were only open until 8 p.m. that evening.  A couple other people were in there eating when I got there and, interestingly, a number of cops came in to pick up orders to go from the time I got in there up to the time I left.  

The place isn't all that big - it probably seats three dozen or so people.  There are a number of tables and booths between the brick walls.  The kitchen area is open behind the front counter.

The menu is located on the wall above the counter.  Doc & Eddy's specializes in meaty St. Louis style ribs as well as beef brisket, pulled pork, smoked sausage and turkey.  They also have grilled chicken sandwiches and burgers on the menu.  As I'm wont to do with most barbecue places that I visit, I want to try a couple three things.  I was looking at getting the ribs, brisket and pulled pork platter, but I was told by the young girl at the front counter that it was a lot of food.  The guy manning the kitchen in the back said, "Yeah, if you're really hungry, go for it."  

I decided to just go with the pulled pork and brisket combo.  I got two sides with it - I chose baked beans, but was having trouble figuring out if I wanted fries, cole slaw, potato salad, corn fritters, or a handful of other sides.  I asked the girl for a suggestion and she said, "We sell a lot of the mac and cheese."  OK, I'll do the mac and cheese as a second side.  And the one great thing about Doc & Eddy's - they had beer.  I like a cold beer with barbecue so I was happy they could accommodate me that evening.  

The barbecue platter was brought out to me about five minutes after I ordered at the front counter.   The first thing I noticed was that they had chopped brisket rather than sliced brisket.  I normally don't go for the chopped brisket, but that's what I got.  But the first bite pretty much allayed any trepidation I had toward chopped brisket.  The brisket had a great smoky taste, it was moist and tender, and it literally melted in my mouth.  It was some of the finest brisket I've ever tasted.  

The pulled pork was also moist and tasty, but it wasn't as good as the brisket.  The pulled pork and chopped brisket were served on pieces of white bread, a nod to Southern-style barbecue places.  

Doc & Eddie's BBQ had three different types of sauces - their original sauce had a sweet taste with a bit of spiciness on the backside; the chipotle sauce had a faint chipotle taste with more of a spicy kick, but nothing that was overbearing; and a sweet pineapple sauce that was sweet and fruity.  I didn't care for the sweet pineapple sauce, but found myself going more toward the chipotle sauce than the original Doc & Eddie's sauce.  

For the sides, the girl steered me wrong on the mac and cheese - it was pretty pedestrian and bland, but the baked beans were good.  And they were made even better when I added in a mixture of the chipotle and original barbecue sauces.  

I'll have to say that my meal at Doc & Eddie's surpassed my expectations.  The brisket was outstanding, the pulled pork wasn't that far behind the brisket, the sauces were above average - not outstanding - but still good, and the beans totally saved the sides over the limp tasting mac and cheese.  I'll say Jeff DeMare has done a wonderful job keeping the memory of Eddie Vacek alive with the fine barbecue at Doc & Eddie's BBQ.  

(Update - Doc & Eddie's closed in December of 2015 without any announcement as to why they shut their doors.)  

The Lazy Cow - Salisbury, U.K.

During our visit to Naim Audio in Salisbury, Wiltshire, U.K., our hosts put us up at a place that was part pub/part steakhouse/part boutique hotel, the Lazy Cow.  We were warned that the building that housed the Lazy Cow was well, somewhat dysfunctional.  The building dates back to the 16th century - its stairs slope to one side.  Rooms are found down narrow passage ways or up outside steps from a courtyard.   There's no air conditioning - which I'll get to later on - and the steam heating units have a hard time keeping up when the weather gets cool.  Bathrooms range from splendidly spacious to maddeningly small.  Steps between rooms within the rooms spell trouble for those not paying attention - especially in the middle of the night.  But other than that, the restaurant/pub is what owner Ross Sanders says is a cross between an American steakhouse and an English Pub.  We spent a lot of time in the pub/steakhouse on our visit.  

Ross Sanders grew up in pubs.  His father Tony owned a number of pubs and the younger Sanders began working for his father at the age of 16. When his father sold off the pubs to a corporate entity in the mid-90's, Ross Sanders went off to study hospitality and catering at Stratford-upon-Avon College.

Pictured right - Ross Sanders

After graduating from college, Sanders first started working as an assistant manager of a local pub in Stratford for a year before joining Luminar Leisure (now the Luminar Group) - a corporate hospitality group that ran the Chicago Rock Cafe chain.  Ross Sanders worked as an assistant manager for Chicago Rock Cafe in Maidstone for a year before he was assigned to the group to open more of the restaurant/pubs around the U.K.  Becoming the opening specialist for Luminar Leisure, Sanders learned the procedures and systems that would help him with future ventures.  

After managing a small number of pubs for a year, Ross Simmons, his father and another partner bought the Greene King Brewery lease on a gastropub by the name of Durham Ox in Shrewley Common, Warwickshire.  That part of the country is well known for the excellent gastropubs that are scattered around the region.  However, on his first visit, Ross Sanders noticed that there was a tractor in the parking lot - parked next to a Ferrari.  He knew he had to somehow keep the locals happy while serving the elite.  He kept the pub area of the place seperate from the restaurant, allowing the local regulars a place to feel comfortable while the affluent diners were enjoying dinner in another part of the place.  

The Durham Ox was a big hit and the Sanders and their partner sold the business in 2006.  Interestingly, Ross Sanders joined an investment firm that owned a number of restaurants and hotels helping manage a hotel for the group.  His talents were recognized by upper management and one day an executive approached Sanders with the prospect of buying 16 location chain of pubs called Bar Room Bar that was owned by the investment firm.  Sanders didn't have the money, but he put together an aggressive business plan that spelled out success for the chain of bars and shopped his plan around.  In 2007, he found a lending institution to put up the money and he bought the Bar Room Bars from the investment firm.

Initially, Sanders business projections were off.  They were too low.  Business at the 16 locations was much better than Sanders planned.  But he continued to need cash for improvements and refurbishments.  But the credit crunch hit in 2008 and his bank - and other lenders - zipped up their pocket books.  Sanders was forced to put the Bar Room Bars into receivership losing £20 million pounds (a little over $34 million dollars) in the process.  

But Ross Sanders licked his wounds and got back up on the saddle.  He was approached by an investment firm who had purchased 44 Massive Pub Company locations out of bank receivership which included Tup's Sports Bar, Auburge English Pub, and Thomas and Clark upscale pubs.  They made the offer to Sanders to allow him to buy 36 of the locations for a meager price.  Forming his new company - Urban and Country Leisure - he was able to work with the investment firm to get control of the pubs.   

Within a couple years, Sanders had closed all but nine of the locations - calling those that remained open the "jewels" of the bunch.  And it wasn't long before he began to work on his new concept that eventually turned into the Lazy Cow.  The first Lazy Cow opened in Warwick in 2010 in what was formerly the Globe Hotel with an attached restaurant that was formerly a Thai Restaurant.  The hotel was an immediate hit with travelers seeking boutique accommodations and the restaurant with beef loving Brits. 

Looking to expand the Lazy Cow concept, he found that the Kings Arms boutique hotel in Salisbury that was also paired with a leased Greene King Pub was up for sale.  He soon bought the place for his second location.  Locals didn't want him to change the name of the hotel, but he did so.  And he put the Lazy Cow steakhouse in with the Greene King pub.  The concept is going over so well that Sanders is looking to change some of his other pubs into Lazy Cow steakhouse locations at some point in the future.   

The hotel part of the Lazy Cow features 18 or so unique boutique theme rooms that are, well, interesting.  Keeping with the cow theme, many of the rooms had cowhide - with real cow hair - covered bed frames, cowhide covered throw pillows, milk bottle chandeliers and big pictures of cattle on the walls.  

My room was no exception.  Every morning I woke up to see this big bastard staring at me on the wall.  And my room was hot - it was just above the kitchen and coupled with the abnormally hot afternoon sun coming into my west-view windows it was easily well over 80 degrees the first night I slept in the room.  With no air conditioning and no fan.  I was miserable.  However, one of my colleagues was in a large room that looked like King Arthur held court in there at one time and he had an extra fan that he let me have for the rest of the stay.  My room was actually two rooms with a small living area as you walk in with the bedroom connected via a hallway with the bathroom in between.  You had to step down to get from the living area to the hallway, then take another step down when you get into the bedroom area.  I jammed my toe on the step up to the hallway to the bathroom a couple times at night.  Click on the picture above to check out the milk bottle chandelier.  

The Lazy Cow's pub and dining area was also unique and cozy.  Cowhide-topped stools sat in the front of the bar.  Rows of lights surrounded by milk bottles hung from the ceiling.  A small fireplace with a flat panel television - something you don't see in a lot of U.K. pubs - was in the main dining area near the bar.  

A small backroom for spillover was where we had breakfast every morning.  It featured banquette seating along the wall with cowhide backs.  Cowhide squares were on the wall above the banquette seats.  There were also a couple of private dining areas in the restaurant. 

The Lazy Cow's idea of breakfast was also rather interesting.  In addition to a continental breakfast, the breakfast menu consisted of things like a New York City-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and spring onions.  They had a breakfast sandwich consisting of bacon jam, avocado, fried eggs and what they call "streaky bacon" in the U.K., which is basically, well, bacon.  Streaky bacon has streaks of fat and pork belly in the thin slices of bacon.  My colleague, Chris, had a helluva time one morning with a somewhat ditzy waitress who kept bringing him scrambled eggs instead of the breakfast sandwich.  He was such a good sport about it that he had to laugh after the second time of her bringing him the wrong order.  

They also had the Lazy Cow Eggs Benedict which were, well, once again, Eggs Benedict.  Only the hollandaise sauce was so salty that it was almost inedible.  At least to me.  I hardly salt anything and the salty taste of the hollandaise was over the top for my taste buds.  But the one thing that I had hoped would be a great breakfast didn't turn out to be so good.  On the Saturday we left Salisbury, I ordered the short stack of "fluffy" pancakes topped with blueberries.   I got them because of a dessert I had the evening we were there for steaks.  The dessert was much better than the pancakes.  The blueberries were basically a syrupy compote and the pancakes were like trying to eat an English muffin, only an English muffin would have been better.  

But our experience for dinner was much better.  Even with the trepidation I went into the experience thinking that there would be no way the steaks in the U.K. could even be on par with any Midwestern steak house that I've been to.  To spoil this for you all, I was greatly surprised.  

I work for manufacturers based out of the U.K. and France.  Each time somebody from Europe comes to the U.S. - especially the Midwest - they want steak.  They all say, "We can't get steak in Europe as good as what we get in the U.S."  And that's sort of stuck in the back of my head for a long time.  I was sort of worried the steaks at the Lazy Cow would be a step above horse meat.  

It turns out that the Lazy Cow gets their steaks from all over the world.  They have steaks from Argentina, Scotland (Belted Galloway cattle are known for their wonderful marbled beef), Australia, along with good ol' USDA prime beef from the U.S.  They also had Wagyu beef raised in the U.K., along with British-raised Longhorn beef (grassy and earthy flavor) and Black Angus beef.  The British beef comes from North Yorkshire, one of the most important agricultural areas of England.  The Lazy Cow then ages the British beef for 30 days in their walk-in refrigerated aging room.  

The Lazy Cow cooks their steaks in what is known as a Josper grill.  It's a combination oven/grill where hardwood is usually used to cook the meat.  The chef at the Lazy Cow uses a combination of wood and coals to get the heat inside the oven to over 400 degrees C (750 degrees F) to seal in the juices and flavor in the steaks.  Originally from Spain, Josper grills are supposedly the new "toy" that American chefs now covet.  It cooks the steaks quickly, consumes less charcoal and it reduces flames that keeps the meat from drying out during the cooking process.  

They have about 6 steak dinners on the menu at the Lazy Cow.  The USDA Prime New York strip was the most expensive thing on the menu at £26.50 (about $44.50 in U.S. dollars).  They also had a dry-rubbed Black Angus rump steak, which we call top sirloin in the States, an aged Black Angus strip loin, a 10 oz. wet-aged Argentinian ribeye, an Australian strip loin that they had on special that evening, as well as a garlic and herb encrusted beef tenderloin filet, and a roasted Black Angus strip loin.  For the non-beef eaters out there, the Lazy Cow also featured a roasted sea bass, pork sausage, honey and orange glazed 1/2 chicken, and a grilled swordfish steak.  

We had to order up some appetizers to munch on before we had our dinner.  It had been a long day and a long time since lunch.  Each night we were there, we retired to the pub and got some of the very good appetizers that the Lazy Cow featured including the great onion rings with a thick beer batter on the outside and their very good chicken wings that we'd order hot.  They were very tough to beat compared to similar appetizers I get in the U.S.  

It was time to order up dinner and I pretty much made up my mind that if I was going to get a steak in the U.K. and USDA prime beef was on the menu, that's what I'd get.  Call me provincial, but I remember what the guys from Europe tell me - you can't get beef in the U.K. or France as good as what you get in the U.S.  I got my steak rare.  Everyone ordered up steaks and sides to go along with them.

For starters, a couple of the guys got what was called the West Coast salad - chopped lettuce greens topped with sauteed tiger prawns, chopped avocado, feta cheese, a mix of spinach and coriander (cilantro), grated carrots, chopped candied pecans and finished with a honey/lime dressing.  A fresh strawberry dotted the top of the salad.  Those who had it said it was very good.  

The steaks came out not long after the salads were finished and my New York strip came with a roasted half tomato, a small piece of corn on the cob and roasted garlic.  I found out that they had a green peppercorn sauce and asked our server for a side of that, as well.  The steak looked like it was over-cooked in the Josper oven.  But when I cut into it, it was exactly as I like a good New York strip - red and cool in the middle.  It was extremely juicy and flavorful.  I immediately fell in love with the concept of cooking in a Josper oven.  

Our host, Doug, got the Black Angus rump steak that was rubbed beforehand in a concoction of salt and spices.  It was a little football shaped piece of meat with the Union Jack proudly flying on top of the piece of meat.  All steaks came with the same roasted half tomato, roasted garlic and a small piece of sweet corn.  

The Australian strip loin didn't really look like a strip steak.  My colleague who got it told me, "Australian steak is very underrated.   This is very good."  

One other colleague got the roasted beef loin for dinner.  The North Yorkshire Black Angus beef loin was cut into pieces and came out a perfect medium rare.  One other thing I forgot to mention were the French fries - or "chip", as they call them in the U.K.  The fries at the Lazy Cow were the big, billowy steak fries that I like so much.  I don't know what they did to the fries at the Lazy Cow, but they were excellent.  So good that I had to order a side for myself after a colleague gave me a couple to try with my dinner.  Dipped into the wonderful green peppercorn sauce, these fries were to die for.  And I usually don't eat fries all that much.

For dessert, this is where I got the inspiration to have the pancakes on Saturday morning.  The little tall square container next to the cup of espresso was filled with small squares of pancakes drizzled with a caramel syrup and topped with smoked pecans.  It was absolutely delicious.  I only wish the pancakes I had a couple days later stood out the way this dessert did.  And getting an espresso - actually a DOUBLE espresso - was the wrong thing for me.  I don't drink much caffeine and it really winds me up when I do.  I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night, even after a couple Scotch's at the bar for a nightcap. 

The notion that there is no good beef in the U.K. was pretty much squashed that night. You just have to know where to find it.  If you ever find yourself in Salisbury and looking for a good cut of beef, it's going to be tough to beat the Lazy Cow.  Coming from a good ol' Midwestern beef-fed guy, the steak I had at the Lazy Cow was as good as I could find at many good steakhouses in the U.S.  The plus was that it was served in a true English pub with a lot of character.

(Update - I was informed by one of the guys at Naim Audio that The Lazy Cow closed in November of 2014 and was replaced by The Chapter House.)  

The Marigny - Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Being close to Louisiana on our trip to the Emerald Coast of Northwest Florida, I made it a point to search out Creole/Cajun-style seafood places.  One place that I read about while we were there is a restaurant named after the famed Faubourg Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans - The Marigny.  For lunch one day, we found The Marigny in Santa Rosa Beach.

The Faubourg Marigny neighborhood in New Orleans - simply called The Marigny (mari-in-knee) by locals - is one of the more historical sections of New Orleans.  Brightly colored homes and businesses feature architectural influences from 18th century French and Spanish colonists, as well as elements of Caribbean architecture. The neighborhood is named for an eccentric Creole by the name of Bernard De Marigny, a 19th century renaissance man who was a land developer, a politician and also well-known as a ladies man in early New Orleans.  De Marigny was also a degenerate gambler - actually bringing to New Orleans the forerunner of the dice game Craps (from the local New Orleans dialect crapaud) from his travels to England as a young man.  Due to gambling debts, De Marigny was forced to parcel out the family's plantation and he developed Faubourg Marigny.   The man and the neighborhood named after him influenced owners Chef Chris Mongogna and managing partner Jason Jaume with the Marigny name when they opened their restaurant in 2013.   

Mongogna and Jaume are both natives of New Orleans.  Mongogna began to cook with the help of his mother when he was 13 making the Creole staple of red beans and rice.  With the influences of his mother and two grandmothers, Mongogna began to dabble in Italian, classic New Orleans and Southern-country styles of food.  

Mongogna and Jaume became best friends in high school and both began careers in the restaurant industry after graduation.  Mongogna - who was never formally trained as a chef - began to work in the kitchen of restaurants around New Orleans, while Jaume gained experience as a manager in restaurants, bars and the hospitality industry.  In 2005, Mongogna ended up working in the kitchen at Fire in New Orleans, a restaurant located in an old firehouse.  Of course, the devastating Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans head on later that year.  Fire was not as crippled as other businesses, but owner Brenda Farr found the going very slow for a couple years after.  

In 2007, Farr - along with Mongogna, executive chef Carl Schaubhut and a handful of other employees - made the move to South Walton County in Florida's panhandle to open a new Fire in Grayton.  Four years later, Schaubhut had an opportunity to go back to New Orleans to be the sous-chef at the famed Commander's Palace.  (Schaubhut is currently executive chef at Cafe Adelaide, a sister restaurant to the Commander's Palace.)   Mongogna, who had been the restaurant's pastry chef, was named executive chef of Fire upon Schaubhut's departure.

Fire eventually moved to the Gulf Place condo/entertainment/restaurant complex in Santa Rosa Beach in 2011.  Farr - wishing to be closer to family in Atlanta - made a decision to close Fire a couple years later.  (Fire was eventually bought by New Orleans native Drew Messina and is now Messina's on 30A.)   It was then that Mongogna began to look for an available restaurant space in the area to showcase authentic Creole food.  And to help him out on his venture, he brought in his old high school buddy from New Orleans, Jason Jaume.  

They were thinking at first of just having a small shop that served authentic Po-Boy sandwiches since none existed in the area.  But a larger restaurant near Mongogna's house in Santa Rosa Beach was available.  They soon moved into what was the old Love Shack Oyster House in 2013 and opened The Marigny.  (I was told by a friend of mine in Santa Rosa Beach that the Love Shack was a real dive.)  

It certainly didn't look like a dive when we made it inside The Marigny, located down Hewitt Road near the Hogtown Bayou in Choctawhatchee Boy.  (see map)  Elegant woodwork, tables with linen table cloths and subdued lighting gave the room a nice comfortable feeling.  The only problem is that the place looked like it was close, save for a couple televisions on behind the bar.  Cindy finally wandered over to some doors that led to an outdoor seating area.  "Ah ha," Cindy exclaimed.  "There's life out here."  

We went out to the outside patio area and we were met by our server, Micki.  She told us to sit wherever we wanted and brought us over a couple menus when we found a seat.  She told us right off the bat, "We're out of oysters today, just to let you know up front."  That wasn't going to be a problem for us.  

Micki asked what we wanted to drink and Cindy asked if they had mai-tai's.  Micki said, "No, we don't have them."  Cindy ordered something else instead - probably a pina colada.  I saw that they had a number of beers on tap including the Grayton Beer Company 30A Blonde beer.  I hadn't tried one yet, so I ordered one of those.  (I didn't care for it - I ended up getting an Abita Amber for my second beer with lunch.)  

While we were waiting for our drinks we took a quick look around The Marigny's outdoor patio area.  It's part of a condo complex that includes a pool.  The bar area is covered and features a number of flat screen televisions, banners for Louisiana sports teams, and an intricate wood beamed ceiling.  

 
The bar area opens out into the pool area.  We were told by Micki that swimming is free to customers of The Marigny.  But no one was in the pool and there were only a couple other people in the patio bar having lunch.  I could see myself lounging in the bar area at The Marigny eating Cajun food, drinking hurricanes and taking a dip every once in a while.  

When Micki brought out our drinks, she had a mai-tai for Cindy.  "I had the stuff to make a mai-tai.  I just went ahead and made one for you," she said.  Cindy was more than appreciative.  

Authentic Creole/Cajun rules the menu at The Marigny.  Po'Boy sandwiches, a muffaletta sandwich, jambalaya, grillades and grits, crawfish etoufee and crab-stuffed catfish were all on the menu.  They had a number of appetizers including poutine (potatoes with beef debris gravy and covered in cheese), beef or crawfish meat pies, shrimp remoulade and gumbo.  The Marigny had a number of salads both as an opener and as a main entree including the crabmeat ravigote and the blackened chicken Caesar salad.  

Years ago - over 15 years ago - I ate at the famous Mother's Restaurant in New Orleans.  Actually, it was right next to our hotel and I ate there three or four times, mainly because I fell in love with their roast beef Po'Boy sandwich.  I've never found one yet that has come close - mainly because not a lot of Creole/Cajun places I've been to since have roast beef Po'Boys on the menu.  But they did at The Marigny.  Heck, they had ten different Po'Boy sandwiches on the menu including a meatball Po'Boy that came from a recipe from Chris Mongogna's grandmother, a traditional fried shrimp Po'boy, a pulled pork Po'Boy called Cochon de Lait, a poutine Po'Boy with potatoes, beef debris gravy and cheese, and even a hamburger Po'Boy!  Their Po'Boys came in three different sizes - small, medium and large.  The large, we were told, was big enough for sharing between two or three people.  

But they also had a muffaletta sandwich.  I had the one at the Central Grocery in New Orleans, the original maker of the muffaletta sandwich.  Although it is more of an Italian sandwich than a Creole/Cajun sandwich, finding a good muffaletta outside of New Orleans is hard to do.  Just a quick look at the number of Po'Boys they had on the menu at The Marigny, I figured the muffaletta they had was close to the original.  

When it came down to ordering, I was still up in the air.  Cindy ordered the crabmeat ravigote salad - a wedge salad topped with lump crabmeat, fried capers and a ravigote dressing that is more of a French/Creole citrus vinaigrette.  It came down to the muffaletta or roast beef Po'Boy.  Since I've had a muffaletta sandwich many times since I've had a good roast beef Po'Boy, I went with the Po'Boy.  Fries came with the sandwich.  

I thought about getting a cup of gumbo just to give it a shot, but when I ordered it Micki said, "We have a crawfish bisque that's not on the menu.  Our gumbo is great, but I like the crawfish bisque better."  I couldn't say no to her after that.

The crawfish bisque was as good - if not better - than Micki described.  The slightly spicy, creamy and buttery bisque had chopped chunks of crawfish throughout.  It was a generous sized cup - more of a bowl, if you like.  The crawfish bisque was simply outstanding.

 
The lunches came out and Cindy's crabmeat ravigote salad featured a nice sized lettuce wedge with ample amounts of crabmeat and fried capers drizzled with a liberal amount of the ravigote dressing.  Sliced tomatoes - very fresh sliced tomatoes - came on the side.  I took one of Cindy's tomato slices since she doesn't like tomatoes all that much on their own and I have to say that they were the closest in taste to the tomatoes that I had in Hawaii - ones that I still feel are the best tomatoes I've ever eaten.  She offered me a bite of her salad and the ravigote dressing had a slightly citric taste with a slight spicy bite.  I liked it and so did my wife.  

But my roast beef Po'Boy was the highlight of the meal.  I got the medium size Po'Boy (I would have hated to see how big the large would hae been.)  The bread was soft and fresh, but had a slight crunchiness to the outside layer.  The thin sliced roast beef was swimming in its own debris (au jus) and was topped with shredded provolone cheese, chopped lettuce and mayo dressing.  Now, I don't remember much about the roast beef Po'Boys at Mother's, but I've got to bet that the one I had at The Marigny was damn close.  It was so tasty that I'm sure that if I would have gotten a large I would have made a straight forward attempt to try to eat the whole thing in one sitting.  

But the medium was enough.  I had a basket of fries that was about the same size as the basket in which the roast beef Po'Boy was served.  I may have had a couple fries, Cindy too.  But that was it.  I was concentrating on the sandwich.  I was in heaven eating the sandwich.  I was really sad to see it gone from my basket when I had the last bite.  

A couple three nights later, we were going to go back to The Marigny for dinner with my cousin and his wife, our friends Bob and Lisa Steeno, and a friend of theirs who we met that night.  However, we had a dead battery in our car and no one had jumper cables in the immediate area.  The Sandestin Hilton offered to take Cindy and I to The Marigny in their courtesy van, but as I jumped up into the van I popped a calf muscle.  It was so severe that it immediately began to swell up and I couldn't put any weight on it.  The night was then spent in our room with an ice bag on my leg and room service from the hotel.  It was a shame because I was looking forward to going back to The Marigny and trying their jambalaya or some other Creole/Cajun dish.  (My cousin told me the next morning that their food was - also - very good.)  For lunch - especially Po'Boy sandwiches - I can't help but wholeheartedly recommend The Marigny.  If we ever make it back to the Emerald Coast, it will be one of our first two or three places we go for food.  

(Update - Unfortunately, if we do make it back to the Emerald Coast we won't be able to try The Marigny.  As of September of 2015, they've closed the place.  I understand that Chris and Jason are doing some catering work, but the Marigny is no more.)

 

 

It's (on the River) - Port Byron, IL

It was a beautiful Friday night recently and Cindy wanted to go somewhere for dinner where we could sit outside and enjoy the evening.  She suggested a place that we hadn't been to over on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River called It's on the River, or simply known as "It's" for the locals.  We had met some friends over there about six years ago and we thought the food and the views were good, so we decided to head back over that particular evening to give it another try.

It's on the River is owned by a group that calls themselves Quatro Banditos, LLC.  The managing partner is Cindy Bawden, a member of a somewhat famous family in the Quad Cities.  Her family owned Bawden Printing for a number of years located in Eldridge, a small town north of the Quad Cities, before merging with Von Hoffman Press in St. Louis back in 1999.  (Von Hoffman sold the business to RR Donnelley, the huge Chicago-based printing company, in 2007.  RR Donnelley subsequently shut down the Bawden Printing facility in 2009.)  Bawden and her then-husband, Pat Delashmutt, opened It's on the River in 2007.  But after the couple divorced in 2011, Cindy took over as the Managing Partner.  

It's on the River is one of those places where boaters, motorcyclists, or bikers converge in the summer months.  A bike path goes right by the place, and there's a dock with picnic tables for boaters to pull up to.  The Great River Road on the Illinois side of the river is well traveled by motorcyclists and people just out for day rides up and down the river.  It's on the River is less than 50 yards from the Mississippi River offering some stunning views from their deck patio.

  We got into the place around 7 p.m. that particular evening.  It was sort of windy and we thought about sitting inside the restaurant because, well, even if it's 75 degrees (like it was that day), my wife gets cold.  The patio runs the length of the restaurant and features an overhead heating system that will take the chill out of the air for people seated outside.  

The inside area is nice, as well.  While it's not large, it features large windows that look out onto the river.  High tables with high chairs are featured in the dining room.  A small bar area is off to the side.  It's on the River is the kind of place where it would be nice to go to even on a cold winter's day.  

 
We decided to sit outside after Cindy went back out to the car to get a light coat she had brought with her.  We were given a couple of menus by one girl who said the other lady working the deck with her would be our server.  But she did take our drink order while we took a look through the menu.  

The menu was, well, it was very different from what we remembered from our initial visit about six years before.  I remembered a pretty full menu that featured sandwiches and a handful of entrees.  But this menu was, well, pretty lean.  First of all, they only feature four appetizers on the menu at It's on the River - and they're not cheap.  6 boneless chicken wings and dipping sauce for $7.00 is a little steep to me.  And fried green beans don't appeal to me all that much.

I remember getting a pretty good reuben the first time we had dinner there, but they had no sandwiches on the menu.  They had burgers, chicken sandwiches and wraps along with fish and chips, pizza and salads on the menu.  And that was it.  Quite actually, nothing looked too appealing to either Cindy or me.  We contemplated just having a drink and heading to some other place.  

Our server for the evening came over to greet us.  She was a blonde woman who looked slightly familiar to us.  We later found out that she was the server who waited on us previously at the Black Ram Restaurant in Rock Island with the unique name - Donai.   We asked her if she was still at the Black Ram (we haven't been back since the infamous pizza episode I wrote about in this entry) and she said, "Oh, gosh, no.  I just live up the hill here and the commute is much better!"  

We continued to hem and haw about getting food there before Cindy said that she could get the fish and chips - deep fried cod with fries.  I wasn't certain I wanted a burger, but there wasn't anything else that was jumping out at me.  I almost went with the "Henhouse Salad" where they add your choice of a grilled or breaded chicken breast to a salad.  But I ended up getting the basic burger, but added Swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms and bacon.  I got my choice of a side and since Cindy was getting fries, I thought I'd get cottage cheese to go with my burger.  

The food came out about 15 minutes or so after we ordered.  The fish and chips were, well...  We sort of laughed that they had the audacity to charge $8.00 bucks for basically two small deep-fried filets and a basket of fries.  Cindy said, "You've GOT to be kidding me..."  A small tub of tartar sauce came with the fish.  She said the fish was just "all right".  She called it more of an appetizer than a meal.  

  My burger looked promising with a square ciabatta bun. The only initial problem appeared to be that they gave me fries instead of cottage cheese.  Aw, that was all right with me.  I was going to concentrate on the burger.  

But after taking the bun top off the burger to add some pickles, onions and condiments, I was somewhat horrified to find a thin, processed grilled beef patty that appeared to be overcooked.  There were only a few sauteed mushroom slices on the burger, and a couple small strips of bacon.  This was an $11.00 burger from It's on the River.

 
The first bite of the burger confirmed my fears - the burger WAS overcooked.   The ciabatta bun was a nice touch, but the burger patty was hard and most of the life was cooked out of it.  Even the bacon, Swiss cheese and the small amount of mushrooms - along with the good ciabatta bun - couldn't help the overall taste of the burger.  It was highly disappointing.  

Our total bill came to $30.75 with a couple beers and a drink for Cindy.  (Taxes are included in the menu prices.)  We decided that was way too expensive for what is nothing but boring bar food.  But It's on the River has that dazzling view of the Mississippi, so we figured that has to be included in the menu prices.  We decided that if we did come back to visit It's on the River at some point, we'd come out for drinks and the view and get food somewhere else.

(Update - Almost as soon as this entry was posted, I was informed by a buddy that It's on the River will close on August 17 and the fixtures will be sold at auction.) 

Hall of Fame Pizza and Wings - Bettendorf, IA

When I first moved to the Quad Cities over 20 years ago, one of the more popular places to get a pizza was a place called Beaver's East in Bettendorf.  Beaver's East had a style of pizza that was more Chicago-style than the horrid Quad City-style of pizza that is found in the vast majority of pizza places in the area.  Beaver's East decided to move to a new building near the corner of 53rd Ave. and 18th St. in Bettendorf over a dozen years ago.  Since then, there have been no less than three restaurants/bars that have opened - and failed - at the old Beaver's East location.  Many of the locals viewed the location as a culinary "black hole" that was bad luck for the people who put an eatery in the building.  (Ironically, the "new" Beaver's East didn't last long and that building, too, has seen its share of restaurant comings and goings ever since.)  However, last summer a new place opened in the old Beaver's East - Hall of Fame Pizza and Wings.  We gave it a couple tries over a two week period not long ago.  

Jason Harper comes from a restaurant background and opened the first Hall of Fame Pizza about six years ago in DeWitt, IA - about a half hour drive north of the Quad Cities.  Along with his wife, LaShell, the two started out slow in the business.  Jason kept his day job of owning a landscaping business, and LaShell continued to work at the Rock Island Arsenal.  But the two built up quite a following in the DeWitt area before opening a small take-out place in Park View, about a 15 minute drive north of Davenport.  A couple years ago Jason sold his landscaping business and focused on running the restaurants full time.  He closed up the Park View location and moved into the Bettendorf location along State Street in 2013.  (see map)

We had new neighbors move in across the street from us in early 2013.  It turned out that the wife, Shontel, is the sister of LaShell Harper and worked for her sister and brother-in-law on a part-time basis at the Hall of Fame Pizza in DeWitt.  When they opened the Bettendorf location, she moved down there.  Our neighbors told us that the pizza at Hall of Fame was not the Quad City-style that we detest, but more of a traditional style with varying thicknesses of crust.  

On a Friday evening, we went down to Hall of Fame in Bettendorf to give their pizza a try.  We got a medium (14") thin crust sausage, pepperoni and mushroom on our first visit.  It was very good - much better than the Quad City-style pizza.  We couldn't wait to tell our friends about the place.  (I didn't take my phone in on that visit, but we knew we'd be back at some point.)  

One couple we told about Hall of Fame went there for their lunch buffet earlier this year and my friend called me from the place and said, "This pizza is awesome!  This buffet is awesome!  Pizza, salad bar and pop all for $8.95!  I can't stop eating the pizza!"   

It was a Saturday night and we were out with our friends, Scott and Marcia, having a few drinks at a local watering hole.  Around 7:30, the women decided that we needed to go get something to eat.  Cindy said, "Hey, maybe we should go out to Hall of Fame in Bettendorf!"  Our friends were very enthusiastic with the prospect of giving the place a try.  

After being open a few months, it turns out that Hall of Fame is a very popular place.  We got in around 8 p.m. and the place was packed.  There were a few people hanging around the small bar waiting for a place to be seated.  But seated at one of the long tables in the dining room was my neighbor, Dave, his father-in-law (Shontel and LaShell's father) and his two young kids.  There were four seats open next to them and Dave said, "Hey, neighbor!  You guys can have the seats next to us here!"  Sometimes it pays to know the right people.  

Hall of Fame Pizza and Wings in Bettendorf is not all that large, but it has a lot going on.  Flat screen televisions hang from the walls and booths in the back have their own small flat screen televisions.  A number of games are found in the backroom, popular with people of all ages.  

They feature a number of beers on tap and in bottles.  Even though they do have a bar, they don't have mixed drinks - much to the consternation of my wife who rarely drinks beer.  (That's all right - I more than make up for her!)  We also noted that they have a nice patio off to the side that is open in the summer months.  

In addition to pizza and, of course, wings (with over 20 different types of sauces), Hall of Fame also has calzones and pasta dishes, burgers and sandwiches, and a number of appetizers and salads.  The menu also features ribs and shrimp tacos.  

My wife and I like our pizza crust to be as thin as possible without it being cracker-thin, while Scott and Marcia like their crust to be a little more thick and chewy.  Hall of Fame Pizza gives you a choice of thin, hand-tossed or their original (thicker) crust pizza - sort of the thickness of a Quad City-style pizza.  We both ordered pizzas - ours was a thin crust sausage and pepperoni, while Scott and Marcia went with the 14" original crust sausage and mushroom.  

My wife and I decided to get a salad to tide us over before our pizza showed up.  The salad bar at Hall of Fame isn't large, but sufficient enough for a small salad before dinner.  The lettuce - even at that time of night -was very fresh and they had an adequate amount of toppings to liven up the salad.  

 
Our pizzas came out and they smelled wonderful.  Our pizza looked similar to the one we had before, the sausage was not the big chucks as we normally like, but it wasn't finely ground like you find with with most Quad City-style pizza.  The sauce is tangy, not too sweet, and it heightens the taste sensation of the pizza.  Hall of Fame covers their pizza with a lot of mozzarella and the oven gives the cheese a nice caramelization on top.  The crust is thin enough to not make the pizza overly doughy, but holds up well when you're biting into it.

Scott and Marcia were also very impressed with the pizza they got at Hall of Fame.  They liked the thickness of the crust and the fresh flavor of the toppings.  "This is really good pizza," Marcia said.  

After our first visit, my neighbor, Dave, had heard we were down there to give the pizza a try.  (Shontel was working there the first night we came in.)  He asked me what I thought and I told him that it was very good.  When we were finishing up on our second visit, Dave - still seated at the table with his father-in-law and Jason Harper - asked me if the pizza was still good.  Even if Jason wasn't seated there, I would have said the same thing I'm telling you now, "The pizza is awesome, Dave.  It may be our new 'go-to' place for pizza in the Quad Cities."   The pizza is very good to excellent, in my opinion.  And the service, even though it was sort of chaotic in there that evening, was very good, as well.  Our biggest fear is that Hall of Fame Pizza and Wings will get so popular that it will be tough to get in there on a whim.  But that's a problem that Jason and LaShell would gladly love to have.

(Update - September 2017  One of our friends came over to see us recently and during the course of conversation he mentioned that Hall of Fame had closed down.  My wife and I were both floored.  We had no idea that they had closed since we hadn't been there for over a month.  My friend told us that the Harper's had evidently leased the building and the person who owned the building sold it.  Hall of Fame in Bettendorf closed at the end of August, but their DeWitt location is still open.  That's a shame because that had sort of become our "go-to" for pizza in the Quad Cities with our friends and family.  We understand that a new pizza place - Quad City Pizza Company - will open in the former Hall of Fame location later this fall.  It may be worth checking out, that is, if it doesn't have Quad City Style pizza.)

The Closing of the Belgian Village - Moline, IL

I got a text message from my wife while I was on the road earlier this week telling me that the venerable Belgian Village Inn in Moline would be closing on February 1.  I was aghast at the notion of another favorite food place in the Quad Cities closing down, but after a quick reflection on the last two or three visits to the place I found that I wasn't overly surprised.  (Click here to see my entry on the Belgian Village.)  (Belgian Village sign courtesy Trip Advisor.)

Citing health reasons, Karen Manning and her husband, Shawn, decided earlier in the week to close down the 37-year-old restaurant today.  The couple bought the business in 1997 from Karen's mother and father, Loretta and Denis Ceurvorst who had started the business in 1977.  The Mannings broke the news to employees after a frigid outbreak earlier in the week shut the place down for a couple days.

The draw to the B.V.I. (as the locals called it - short for Belgian Village Inn) was their Vande Reuben sandwich.  I'm not gonna tell you it was the greatest sandwich ever - it was good, but not great.  It wasn't even much of a sandwich with a couple thin slices of ham, a similar amount of shaved corned beef and a small spread of sauerkraut.  The winning taste for the Vande Rueban was the bread that was baked fresh each day.  The over-sized sandwich was made even better by slathering Boetje's Mustard and placing copious quantities of dill pickles on it.  

We'd order one - lightly grilled. (A former cook used to overcook the Vande Reubens years ago - we just got used to ordering it that way, even though that cook was long gone and they never overcooked them after that.)  We'd cut the Vande Reuben into thirds, then the thirds into halves.  My wife and I would both eat two "squares" at the sitting, taking the other two pieces of the sandwich home with us for a light lunch a day or two later.  

Now, I'll tell you that when I was younger I could eat a whole Vande Reuben sandwich on my own at one sitting.  I did it three or four times before I realized that all I did was make myself miserable and overstuffed.  But a third of a sandwich after a cup of clam chowder and half a bowl of the marinated cole slaw was enough for me.   

But, to me, the Belgian Village was just more than just an over-sized sandwich with skimpy toppings.  They had great clam chowder and it was a treat to get their prime rib when they served it on Friday and Saturday nights. Getting a big frosty mug of beer (Budweiser, but it used to be Old Style when I first started going there nearly 23 years ago) was also a pleasure.  And my wife and I particularly loved their sweet marinated cole slaw.  The ambiance of the place was cozy, warm and sort of blue collar.  We always jumped at the chance to go to the Belgian Village.

I was turned on to the B.V.I. by one of my co-workers when I was the General Manager of an audio store in Davenport in the early 90's.  It quickly became one of my favorite places to take friends from out of town who came to visit.  My wife immediately liked the place the first time I took her there almost 20 years ago.  Each time we took someone new to the Belgian Village, they left with a favorable impression.  "What's the name of that place you took us to that had the huge sandwiches," was a question I heard many times from friends who we turned on to the Belgian Village.  

But on recent visits, we noticed that things weren't quite the same at the B.V.I.  The last time we were there, the tap lines for the beer were broke down so I couldn't get a frosty mug of tap beer.  I did get a bottle of beer and they poured it into the frosty mug for me, but, mentally, it wasn't the same.  The wait for a table or booth on a Friday or Saturday night had become non-existent.  Over the past couple of years, we could always count on getting into the Belgian Village with no problems on the weekend.  In years past, we may have had a 30 minute - or more - wait to get a place to sit on a weekend night.  I don't think the food had gone downhill - my wife may disagree - but the place had sort of gotten tired and we could see that parts of the building needed some upgrades.  

Now, hindsight is always 20-20, but announcing four days before you're going to close forever is probably not the way I would have handled the closing of the Belgian Village.  I was told last night that they ran out of food at both the main location and at their drive-thru location in Moline on Thursday.  And I heard that the Moline police were called out last night to handle a disturbance at the drive-thru after they ran out of food - again.  Given how popular the B.V.I. once was, it was no wonder that crowds have gathered early and waited a long time for one last sandwich.  I understand there was as much as a four-hour wait yesterday at the drive-thru location around the corner from the original Belgian Village.  I would have given locals a month - heck, even two weeks - to have a chance for one last visit to enjoy a Vande Reuben sandwich.   

My wife is in the Iowa City area visiting her daughter this weekend and I thought about going over there either last night or sometime today to get one last Vande Reuben.  But after the reports I've heard about big crowds and long waits, I've decided that I'm going to pass on that and rely upon my memories of the many visits to the Belgian Village.  It's sad that another landmark local restaurant is closing and I'm hoping beyond hope that someone will come in, buy the place, spruce it up and resurrect the Belgian Village to its glory days.  For what it was, it wasn't much.  But the B.V.I. will always hold a special place in my heart - and my stomach.

(Update - According to this article in the Quad City Times, the Manning's have had about two dozen inquiries to buy the Belgian Village.  A local commercial real estate agent says he's fielded a number of phone calls from people since last Wednesdy looking to buy both the Belgian Village Inn and their drive-thru location.  Meetings with what were termed as "serious" buyers could begin next week.)

PattyPats - West Des Moines, IA

In northwest Iowa, there is a loose-meat sandwich called "taverns" that is different from other loose-meat sandwiches that I was brought up on.  The ground beef has some sort of an additive to help keep it from crumbling out of the bun (I've heard the additive can be anything from oatmeal, corn meal, tomato sauce or mustard).  I've tried the "taverns" at Bob's Drive-Inn in Le Mars, IA (click here to see my entry on Bob's), and the "Charley Boy" at the Miles Inn in Sioux City (click here to see my entry on Miles Inn).  Earlier this year, my neighbor, Murray, alerted me to a new place in West Des Moines that has brought "taverns" to Central Iowa - PattyPats.  On a trip through Des Moines recently, I stopped off at PattyPats to give the place a try. 

Everybody, it seems, has a homemade recipe for their taverns in Northwest Iowa and growing up in Le Mars, Pat Langel's family was no different.  His mom made her own taverns and he, no doubt, had many a tavern at Bob's Drive-Inn when he was younger.  

After graduating from the University of Iowa, Pat Langel went to work for Norman Hilton, the renown New York tailor who gave Ralph Lauren his start in business.  Langel's task was to find ways to cut the time it took the company to make a custom suit from 11 weeks to 4 weeks, a project that he was able to accomplish.  After 4 years with Norman Hilton, Langel made it to Des Moines in 1991 and opened his own tailor shop.  He later became a partner in Langel and Woods Clothiers - an upscale fine custom tailor in the Valley Junction area of West Des Moines.  

(Pictured right - Pat Langel.  Photo courtesy Des Moines Register.) 

Langel dabbled with cooking as a hobby, making taverns for his co-workers who universally liked them.  After 36 years of being a successful tailor, making suits for entertainers, captains of industry and world leaders (he counts rock star Huey Lewis and former President George H.W. Bush among his customers), Langel decided that he wanted to bring taverns to the good people of Central Iowa.  After perfecting the recipe and working on a menu, Langel opened PattyPats - named after his wife, Patty, and himself - in June of this year.   Langel is still involved with Langel and Woods and has hired a staff to help run the day-to-day operations of PattyPats.  But you'll also find him in there a good portion of the time.  

I found PattyPats in a strip mall along the north side of E.P. True Parkway near the intersection of where Valley West Drive/35th St. and Mills Civic Parkway meet up with E.P. True (see map).  Ample parking is available in front of the restaurant.  A small outside dining area is along the side of the building.  It was a little too chilly to be seated outside that particular day.  

As you go into PattyPats, there's a window in the entry way for pick-up orders or outside dining, but there's the main ordering window just around the corner in the dining room.  The menu is located on a board on the wall next to the counter.  

 
The dining area is not large, but it's well lit with natural light from the large front windows and fluorescent lighting.  About five or six tables with a like number of booths were in the dining area.  It wasn't long after the lunch rush and I was the only person in the place.  I didn't know if that was a good sign or not.   

Langel's "tavern" burger is called, surprise! - a PattyPat.  True to his Le Mars heritage, they also have the Patty Dog, a hot dog covered with the tavern meat.  They have a chili dog and something called the spicy coney dog.  In addition to the PattyPat and the hot dogs, PattyPats features Chicago-style Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago-style hot dogs and sausages.  But I am just so spoiled by the Italian beef sandwiches and the Chicago dogs at Portillo's in the Chicago area that I know I'd be disappointed in the ones at PattyPats even if they were dynamite.  They also have a chicken sandwich and a pork tenderloin on the menu.  And as a nod to Bob's Drive-Inn in Le Mars, PattyPats also features ice cream.  

I ordered a PattyPat and a Patty Dog, rather than getting the chili dog.  The guy at the counter cheerfully took my order and said he'd bring it out to me in a bit.  Less than a couple minutes later, he brought out a cafeteria tray with the PattyPat and the Patty Dog wrapped in wax paper.  

When I unwrapped the PattyPat and the Patty Dog, I was momentarily stunned.  The meat was so finely ground that it looked more like a pâté than a ground beef sandwich.  It also had somewhat of a yellow tint to the meat.  I looked up at the pictures of both the PattyPat and Patty Dog that they had on the wall and the ground meat in those pictures were much more coarse and looked like beef.  I wasn't certain what the meat sitting in front of me looked like. 

 
When I looked closer at the Patty Dog, I had to stop for a moment and try and figure out if it really was ground beef or a heavy-style stone ground mustard on the hot dog.  The beef was so finely ground that it looked like a spread.  

I took a bite of the PattyPat, garnished with chopped onions and some sort of mustard (at least there looked like some yellow substance on the bottom of the bun).  The taste was definitely unique.  Taverns in Northwest Iowa are an acquired taste.  Had I not had a tavern before, I would have probably hated the taste and texture.  It wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, either.  The tavern wasn't large and I made quick work of it.  Because of the additives to the ground beef, it was moist and held together without any of the meat crumbling onto the wax paper.  

The hot dog was next.  It, too, looked like it had some chopped onions and mustard on the bun.  The hot dog, itself, had a nice snap to the bite - the quality of a good hot dog.  However, coupled with the tavern meat, I couldn't get much of a taste of the hot dog.  

Later in the day, actually not long after I left PattyPats, I developed a case of stomach gas.  I burped up the PattyPat and the Patty Dog for a good four hours plus after I had them, re-tasting the ground beef with each belch.  I don't like it when the food lingers with you for that long.

All right, I tried PattyPats.  I guess I don't really know what to think.  As much as I like to support restaurants where someone is following a dream, I just hope they're able to make a go of PattyPats.   As I said, the meat is an acquired taste and it wasn't something that made me think, "Boy, I can't wait to have another one of these sometime!"  I also felt it was a little expensive ($3.25 each for the PattyPat and Patty Dog) for the portion of the serving.  The place was clean, the person I interacted with was very friendly, but the food was... Well, I really wanted to like it, but I'm not sure I cared for it.  But everyone is different and it could be that you may like PattyPats tavern-style burger and hot dog better than I did.  Give 'em a shot and see what you think.    

(Update - You're going to have to wait a few weeks if you want to try PattyPat's.  They're closed for the season until February 2014.  Thanks to Roger for the "heads-up"!)

(Update 2 - Citing that he was spreading himself too thin, Pat Langel announced that Patty Pat's was closed as of January of 2015.)

T/aco - Denver

On our late summer trip to Colorado, we took in a Colorado Rockies game one evening.  Given the number of restaurants in the LoDo District of downtown Denver, we decided we'd go somewhere after the game to get something to eat.  The only problem is that through the week a lot of the non-chain restaurants in the area close around 9 or 9:30 p.m.  It was 9:15 when the game was finished and our first choice for food that evening - the very good Venice Ristorante Italian restaurant - was finished with their seatings for the evening.  (Click here to see my entry on Venice.)  Walking along Blake Street wandering back toward our hotel, we encountered a little taqueria called T/aco.  (see map)  We decided to go in and give the place a try.

There are two T/aco locations, the first one in Boulder opened in May of 2012, while the one in Denver opened in the fall of 2012.  Initially, the concept was a joint venture between TAG restaurant and TAG Burger Bar owner/chef Troy Guard and his friend, H/Burger owner Geoff Smith.  However, just before the Boulder location was to open, Guard stepped out of the partnership citing a difference of vision between H/Burger management and himself.  It may have also had something to do with a highly visible and messy divorce that Guard had just gone through.  

Before Guard left, he had recruited Matt Collier, the sous chef at The Kitchen, a trendy bistro in Denver.  Collier had a long resume of restaurants that he worked at in the Chicago area including the highly regarded Avec, Blackbird and the Publican.  (Click here to see my entry on the Publican.)  Previous to moving to Denver, Guard had worked at Big Star, the urban taqueria in Chicago.  (Avec, Blackbird, the Publican and Big Star are all under the same restaurant umbrella owned by chef Paul Kahan.)  After Guard left, Smith and his C.O.O. Whitney Olmstead decided to go ahead with Collier as their head chef at T/aco.  

 
Many of the copper top tables and booths were open when we got into T/aco around 9:40.  Our server for the evening, Jacqueline, greeted us and I asked if it was too late to get some food.  She said, "Naw, come on in.  We'll get you some food."  She led us to a booth along the wall and laid down a couple menus for us.  I ordered a Pacifico draft beer and Cindy got a margarita.  Cindy was hungry and asked for some chips and salsa.  Chips and salsa are not gratis at T/aco.  But Jacqueline brought us a big basket and some of their housemade tomato salsa.  She said, "This is a little more than they normally give you.  Since it's so late, they were probably going to throw some of these away.  So, you got a deal!"   

When I opened up the menu, I saw that they also had fresh made guacamole, and shrimp and red snapper ceviche on the appetizer menu, as well.  I hadn't had ceviche for quite some time and if it wouldn't have been so late I would have ordered some.  But I felt bad for the chefs and decided to go for the simple tacos.

Tacos and tacos is about all you can order at T/aco.  They have skirt steak tacos served with a sliced poblano pepper in a cream sauce, guacamole, with Cotija cheese.  The pork carnitas tacos had red onions, pineapple and cilantro on it.  The chicken mole taco had a chayote squash and red onion salsa on it along with a poblano creme sauce and lettuce.  And the braised pork belly taco had guajillo chili seasoned salsa, with pickled onions, Cotija cheese and cilantro.  They also had a vegetarian taco, a straight cheese taco and two fish tacos - a red snapper and an ahi tuna taco.  And if you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know I'm a sucker for grilled fish tacos.  

The only problem was that they didn't have the fish tacos that night.  Jacqueline told us, "I'm sorry guys, but we're out of the fresh ahi and the snapper tonight."  Hmm... Damn.  Oh, well, they had a few other things to choose from.  Not to waste any more time, Cindy ordered up two skirt steak tacos with soft corn shells and I got a skirt steak taco, a pork carnitas taco and a shrimp taco.  They marinate the shrimp in Mezcal before grilling, then they top the shrimp with a lime/garlic pico de gallo, guacamole, Cotija cheese, cilantro, and finished with a fresh salsa verde.  That had a lot going on with it and it sounded pretty interesting.    

Our tacos came out, served on a long plate.  From left to right on my plate were the pork carnitas taco, the shrimp taco and the skirt steak taco.  All were on soft corn taco shells.  

The skirt steak tacos were the first I tried and they were a little overcooked for my taste, but the seasonings they used were pretty good.  There was a chunk of fresh avocado - it wasn't guacamole like it said on the menu - but that was all right.  And the poblano cream sauce had a nice little kick to it.

I tried the pork carnitas next.  The pork was also a little overcooked and had sort of a hard bark to the outer side of it.  The red onions and cilantro were fresh and flavorful on the taco and the warmed pineapple chunk was a nice little touch.  But I was disappointed in the carnitas.  

The winner of the evening was the shrimp taco.  It had a lot of taste sensations going on.  The shrimp had a great grilled taste to it and even if they hadn't marinated it in Mezcal, I probably wouldn't have known the difference.  The cilantro, guacamole, pico de gallo and salsa verde each had a distinct taste to it.  It was simply wonderful.  

Cindy said her skirt steak tacos were good.  She said, "This is perfect.  I didn't want a lot of food this late in the evening.  This probably is a lot better idea than getting Italian at 10 o'clock at night."  

Before we left, Jacqueline asked if we were in Denver visiting.  When we told her we were, she asked where w were from.  After we said, "Iowa,"  she said, "Oh!  My sister is marrying someone from Pella!"  I told her that I grew up not far from Pella and I asked if her sister's fiancee was Dutch.  "Very Dutch," she immediately replied.  It's pretty good bet that if you're from Pella, you come from Dutch ancestry.  

So, our visit to T/aco was all right.  I'm sure that food suffered a bit from the lateness in the day.  The skirt steak and carnitas had probably sat around for some time before it was reheated and served to us.  But the shrimp taco was delicious.  Cindy was satisfied with her skirt steak tacos.  For a nice place to get some drinks and nosh on some tacos while you're doing it, T/aco would be a good place to try.  Just don't expect it to be a regular Mexican restaurant.   

(Update - This location for T/aco is closed.  However, their Boulder location is still open.)

Riefe's - Davenport, IA

When it comes to comfort food for us on the Iowa side of the Quad Cities, we have a triumvirate of places that we go to - Harlan's (click here to see the entry on Harlan's); Ross' (click here to see the entry on Ross'); and an old stand-by that has been in west Davenport for well over 60 years - Riefe's (pronounced REE-fee's). Our neighbors, Murray and Mary, were raving about the meatloaf to us one afternoon. "Meatloaf Monday", Murray said.  "It's tough to beat."  On a recent Monday night date night, Cindy and I decided to go to Riefe's for some comfort food and to try the meatloaf. 

Del Riefe was going to college in the mid-1940's. In the summertime, he and a fraternity buddy ran a small drive-in stand on the Iowa side of what is now the I-74 bridge over the Mississippi.  After Del graduated from college and married his high school sweetheart, Mary Jane, the young couple took off for the promised land of California.  However, Del found jobs tough to come by after World War II ended and Mary Jane became pregnant.  Del's father, local grocer Orville Riefe, proposed a deal for the young couple to come back to Iowa and help out in a small drive-in restaurant he was looking to buy in west Davenport with the promise to turn the business over to Del sometime down the road.  

Riefe's Drive-In opened in 1946 and featured burgers, tenderloins and chicken - all of which were served by car hops.  The business moved to its present day location along West Locust in Davenport (see map) in 1948.  True to his word, Orville Riefe soon turned the reins over to his son, but he continued to work in the restaurant business for nearly 40 more years.  

Sensing changing times in the restaurant business, Del Riefe tore down the drive-in building in 1960 and constructed a 45-seat diner on the same plot of land.  11 years later, Rick Riefe joined his father in the family business and in 1980, Dan Riefe joined his father and brother in the business.  Del Riefe continued to work in the family business nearly up to his death in April of 2008.  

Riefe's is segmented into three different dining areas denoting three separate additions to the original building.  The area up front looks more like a coffee shop from the 60's, there is a center room that is a little more ornate with booths and tables with high back chairs, and the third part is a room with a number of booths.  It was in the third room where we were seated by the hostess on our recent visit to Riefe's.  

We were greeted by our server that evening, Amber, who dropped off a basket of two rolls and two pieces of Riefe's cinnamon-sugar soda bread, a long time tradition at the restaurant.  It's sort of like coffee cake and a nice little touch to start the meal.  (Riefe's serves warm cinnamon-sugar donut holes in the morning for breakfast.)  She wanted to know if we wanted anything other than water to drink to start out.  Riefe's is alcohol free, but I wasn't looking for a beer that evening.  She told us she'd give us a minute to look through the menu and would be back shortly.  

The dinner menu at Riefe's has your typical family restaurant fare - burgers, sandwiches, salads, and dinner plates.  They also have Mexican items on the menu, as well as vegetarian choices and a kids menu.  Riefe's has a series of nightly dinner specials in addition to the menu items.  And Riefe's is also well known for their breakfasts which include their famous made-in-house monster-sized cinnamon rolls - you can't be a legitimate breakfast place in the Quad Cities without huge cinnamon rolls - that are made with cream cheese frosting.  Personally, I think the cinnamon rolls at Riefe's are the best.  There have been times we've had people over to our house for breakfast and I've run to Riefe's to get cinnamon rolls for the group. 

Since it was "Meatloaf Monday", I was set on the meatloaf dinner.  Cindy loves the hot beef sandwich at Riefe's - as do I.  When Amber came back to take our order that's exactly what we ordered.  I got a choice of potato with my meatloaf dinner and I got the mashed potatoes and gravy.  And a dinner salad came with the meal, as well.  I asked for their wonderful sweet French dressing to go with my salad.  Oh - and I got a large glass of milk.  Nothing better than a glass of milk with comfort food.  

After finishing the salad - like I say, the sweet French dressing is delicious - Amber brought out Cindy's hot beef sandwich.  They don't skimp on portions at Riefe's and Cindy usually eats about half of her hot beef and takes the rest home to have for lunch in the next day or two.  The hot beef sandwich and two scoops of real mashed potatoes were slathered in Riefe's homemade gravy.  About the only complaint I have with Riefe's is that their gravy is too salty.  We're drinking water continuously starting an hour after we've eaten the hot beef sandwiches.  The gravy is very good - don't get me wrong.  It's just that it's very salty.  

 
Amber then brought out my meatloaf dinner and along with the mashed potatoes and gravy, I got a half ear of sweet corn.  All this and a salad for $6.95!  Meatloaf Monday's are a helluva deal at Riefe's. The big slab of meatloaf covered half the plate.  I got a scoop and a half of the mashed potatoes with a little gravy on top.  If I would have been thinking, I would have asked Amber to put gravy on the meatloaf, too.  

But it didn't matter - Murray was right, the meatloaf at Riefe's is very good.  It held together well, but wasn't dried out like some meatloaf can get.  It had a wonderful flavor and it was very filling.  I had a few bites of the mashed potatoes even though I was full and I had to finally push my plate away because I was afraid I'd eat all of the potatoes after I'd gone through the meat loaf.  

Cindy ate a good portion of her hot beef sandwich - "I was really hungry," she protested when I looked over to see that she had left only parts of the bread and about half the potatoes, eating up all the tender roast beef.  Between Harlan's and Riefe's, it's difficult to say who has the better hot beef sandwich.

With a tip for Amber, who did a fine job taking care of us, the total bill was a titch over $20 bucks, which is a great deal for a lot of very good comfort food.  A comfortable setting with good food - including breakfast - at a good value with good service, Riefe's is one of those places that is tough to beat for comfort food in the Quad Cities.

Update - After 69 years in business, 66 of which were in the same place, Dan and Rick Riefe decided to close their restaurant in December of 2015.  

Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant - Rock Island, IL

Earlier this year, my wife and her daughter ended up at a place in Rock Island by the name of Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant.  They talked highly of the little place that served American-ized Persian food including gyros and chicken kabobs.  On a Monday night date night earlier this summer, my wife and I decided to head over toward Sultan's so I could give it a try.  The only problem was that we had been experiencing some heavy rain over the previous days and we found they were closed due to flood problems. (It turned out it was a backed up drain that flooded their establishment.)  Two weeks later, we were over on the Illinois side doing some errands and decided to see if Sultan was open.  It wasn't - they were still dealing with damage and clean up from the flooding.  Finally, not long ago, Cindy suggested going to Sultan again.  I said, "Call over there first.  I'm not going to drive over just to see if they're open."  She did and they were open.  So, the third time was a charm for us going to Sultan for dinner.  

The owner of Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant is Ashkon Ajidh.  He comes from a background in the restaurant industry where his parents - originally from Azerbaijan - ran a number of restaurants in the Middle East, primarily in Pakistan and Turkey.  Moving the to the U.S. a few years ago, the younger Ajidh continued his family's legacy by opening Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant in September of 2011.  

His biggest hurdle was trying to figure out how to "American-ize" the Persian foods that he was so fond of.  A lot of it had to do with logistics - some Persian foods weren't available to him.  One of his favorite foods consisted of duck, walnuts and pomegranate paste.  Not many Americans are big on duck, and farm-raised ducks are expensive.  Plus, he couldn't easily find pomegranate paste on a regular basis.  Ajidh had to adapt to what he had available in terms of spices and herbs to come up with a menu at Sultan.  

Sultan is also a haven for vegetarians in the Quad Cities area.  In an article in the Rock Island Dispatch-Argus, Ajidh estimated that 40 percent of his clientele were vegetarians.  Sultan features Bell Pepper Dolmah - a baked green bell pepper filled with a mixture of split peas, cracked wheat, and basmati rice with a special blend herbs and seasonings; and a vegetarian sampler plate that features two falafel patties, kookoo sabzi (a Persian souffle) topped with cucumber sauce, cooked bell peppers, and hummus, all served with basmati rice topped with sumac.  

Cindy had brought home some gyro meat and a healthy helping of basmati rice after her first visit.  She said, "The portions were huge and I couldn't eat all of my gyro plate."  I heated the gyro meat and the basmati rice up in the microwave and I thought they were both pretty good.  Cindy said that they wouldn't be as good as served at Sultan, so I was eager to get over there to give it a try.  

Around 6:30 on a beautiful Monday evening a few weeks ago, we pulled into Sultan's parking lot located next to the K Mart on Blackhawk Road on the south side of Rock Island.  (see map)   We were greeted by a young man with tousled red hair behind the counter.  He asked if we'd been there before - of course, Cindy had and I hadn't - and he told her, "OK, well, you know the drill."

She turned to me and said, "We find our seats, look through the menu, then go up to the counter to order.  Then they bring the food out to us."  OK, simple enough.  

The small and cozy restaurant that seats about 40 people had a small crowd in there the night we were there.  There was a group of people toward the front, another group of people toward the back and we sat at a booth along the windows.  There's a bar in Sultan that Ajidh and friends built earlier this year that makes the place even more cozy - as in cramped.  But they have a full bar including a number of beers, mixed drinks and wine to choose from.  I noticed that they had three varieties of beers from the Lagunitas Brewery in California.  I was pretty impressed that they had Lagunitas beers.  

I pretty much knew what I was going to get - the same gyro plate that Cindy tried to eat on her own a few months prior.  For $9.99, it comes with gyro meat, sliced tomatoes, chopped onions, basmati rice, and tzatiki sauce with a single pita bread.  

Cindy was sort of torn between a couple things - one was the Shevid Baghali Polo, a skewer of marinated grilled chicken breast served with basmati rice mixed with dill, lima beans, and homemade special seasonings with a skewer of grilled chopped onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes.  But she ended up picking out the Adas Polo - a grilled marinated chicken breast with basmati rice mixed with lentils and special seasonings.  A skewer of the chopped onions, bell peppers and tomatoes came with it.  

We also ordered an appetizer of garlic hummus and pita bread for $3.99.  I ordered a Lagunitas India Pale Ale and Cindy ordered a house cabernet.  The only problem was that they had sold out of the cabernet over the weekend and we were told by Ashkon Ajidh that he doesn't get his liquor shipments until Tuesday.  She asked if he had a merlot and he said, "Oh, yes. I surely do."  

The pita bread and hummus came out first.  It turned out that we probably shouldn't have gotten the appetizer because of all the food that we were going to receive a little later on.  The appetizer featured two flat pita breads - piping hot - cut into quarter triangles.  A large bowl of garlic hummus with a pitted black olive on top sat next to the pita triangles.  I don't really care for hummus all that much, but I will say that the garlic hummus at Sultan was pretty damn good.  It had a great garlic taste, but not overpowering.  The hummus spread easily on the warm pita triangles.  It was a good start to the meal.

I had finished my Lagunitas IPA and went up to the counter to get another one before we got our food.  The young kid said, "Uh, you got the last cold Lagunitas IPA.  We forgot to restock the beer from the weekend."  He said that he had the Lagunitas Censored beer - the original name for the beer, Kronik, was censored by the bureaucrats at the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms because it was too close to an urban slang term for marijuana.  (Kronic is actually a marijuana-type plant that emanated from New Zealand which is legal to smoke in many places around the world.)  It's a very smooth copper ale that I like to drink from time to time.  

The young red-haired guy brought out my piping hot pita bread on a plate, then out came Cindy's chicken kabob with the seasoned basmati rice with lentils covering nearly all the plate and a small skewer of veggies (below left).  Then a moment later he came out with my gyros plate (below right).  

 
They certainly didn't skimp on either the gyro meat or the basmati rice.  Cindy immediately commandeered one of my small tubs of tzatiki, so I asked our server if I could get a couple more.  

I was going to make my own gyro, but before I began to put it together on the pita bread, I tried the gyro meat.  It had a very good flavor to the meat, slightly salty, but very tasty.  The onions and sliced tomatoes were very fresh and flavorful, as well.  

I made up my own gyro using only about half the gyro meat that was on my plate, while using all of the tomato slices and much of the chopped onions. After I was brought more tzatiki sauce, I scooped a couple containers full out on top of the gyro.  

The pita bread was soft, warm and chewy.  It was very good with a slightly toasty taste.  The combination of the gyro meat, veggies and tzatiki sauce was a wonderful taste.  The meat was salty - not as salty as the gyro meat at Uncle Pete's, but a bit more salty than the one I had at Dr. Gyros a couple three weeks before.  Overall, the gyro was very good.  It think it had something to do with the pita bread.  Like a bun can make or break a good burger, I think the same thing comes into play with how good the pita bread is with the gyro meat.  

After eating all of the gyro and the remaining gyro meat on my plate, there was no way that I would be able to finish my basmati rice.  In fact, I don't think there was any way I could even take three bites of the basmati rice, I was so stuffed.  From what I had, it was very good.  I ended up getting a small box to put most of the rice into to take home for leftovers.  

Cindy described her grilled marinated chicken breast as "delicious".  She had already stolen a couple long strips of gyro meat from my plate before she offered me a taste of her chicken.  The outside of the chicken was a little tough from the grill, but the inside was moist and very flavorful.  I had a bit of her seasoned basmati rice with the lentils and, quite actually, I couldn't really tell what the seasoning was or if it even heightened the taste sensation of the rice.  

The third time going to Sultan was definitely the charm for me.  I thoroughly enjoyed the food, I was impressed with their beer selections, the people were friendly, and even though it was a little cramped, I did like the cozy atmosphere.  Overall, it was an excellent value - we got a LOT of food for under $25 bucks.  Actually, probably too much food as I was really stuffed afterward and had food to take home.  Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant may not be authentic Persian or Mediterranean food, but it's close.  Damn close.  (Photo at left courtesy Trip Advisor.)

(Update July 2016 - My wife and I went over to Sultan one evening on a recent Monday night, but forgot that they were closed that day.   A little over two weeks later, we went over on a Friday evening and we were bummed to find a "For Lease" sign in the window and that Sultan was closed down.  Really sad to see this place close up.)

Via Classico - Glenview, IL

A few weeks ago, I was having an evening meeting with the buyer at Abt Electronics in suburban Chicago.  As the meeting was winding down, I asked him if he wanted to go out for a bite to eat.  He surprisingly said, "Yeah, I'd like that and I want to treat YOU to dinner!"  I don't have many buyers who are looking to take me out of dinner, so I couldn't protest too much.  We ended up walking across the Abt parking lot to their design center stores and a restaurant called Via Classico. (see map)

For the past few years, the space that Via Classico is in was the old Viking Cooking School, run by the Viking appliance company.  They decided to shut the doors in the Spring of 2012 due to lack of enrollment.  One of their students, Renato Presta, was disheartened to see the place shut down.  Presta's family had been involved in the food industry in various positions over the years.  Along with his brother, Dominic, and his cousin, Micheal Mazzone, the trio leased the space from the Abt family to open their new restaurant/cooking school.  They hired five instructors from the old Viking Cooking School, including Kathy O'Sullivan who they named head chef/instructor of the new Classico Cooking School.  

The small restaurant, that isn't much larger than 1000 square feet, is sort of a casual/fast food type of Italian restaurant.  Renato Presta has been encouraging families on the go to come in and get some of their Italian entrees to take home.  But they have sit down space in the restaurant for people looking for a quick meal during the day or evening.  

We walked into Via Classico just after 7 p.m.  You order your food at the counter and they bring it out to you after it's made.  The menu is not extensive at Via Classico, but it consists of a handful of appetizers, salads, soups, panini sandwiches, pasta entrees and dishes such as chicken parmesan and blackened tilapia.  It's an alcohol free restaurant and I'm not certain if you can bring your own in, if you like.  But it's more of a fast casual place than a sit-down, fine dining experience.  

Standing at the counter, I was looking at one of their pasta entrees. Via Classico had an oven-baked rigatoni made with three Italian cheeses and a homemade marinara sauce that sounded interesting. The meat lasagna was made with five different types of Italian cheeses and then topped with a ground Italian sausage sauce. There was also a tri-color cheese-filled tortellini dish that I thought about for a moment, but decided against it since they were cheese-filled (I like meat filled tortellini).  

I looked for a quick moment at the panini sandwiches and thought about getting "The Italian" - Genoa salami, mortadella with hot capicola and topped with mild provole cheese and served on a tomato ciabatta with roma tomatoes, red onions and a homemade aioli.  That actually sounded pretty good.

The buyer told me, "I've gotten the shrimp linguine before and it was good.  But tonight I think I'm going to try the lasagna."  For an extra $1.99 he added a salad with a balsamic vinegar dressing.  

Under the gun, I took his suggestion and went with the shrimp linguine - linguine noodles tossed with grilled shrimp in a white wine sauce with olive oil and crushed red peppers.  I, too, got a side salad with the red wine vinaigrette dressing.  

We made our way to a room in the back part of Via Classico.  As we passed a large window that looked into the cooking school, we saw a group of women going through a class.  One of the young people standing near the window when we were looking in said it was "Soup night".  "They're learning how to make different soups," a young guy told us.  "Hopefully, we'll get to sample some of what they're making."    

 
The larger room in the back was an area that they used for cooking demonstrations.  There was a large kitchen area full of Viking appliances. (When the Viking Cooking School closed up, they left all the Viking appliances.)  Over a stove/grill area were two or three cameras that were pointed down to show the cooking process to people who were there for the demonstrations.  Flat screen televisions were placed throughout the room to show the demonstrations.  That night, however, they had sports on the televisions.

Our salads came out and it was a nice presentation of multi-colors of green, red, purple and orange.  The greens were cold, fresh and crispy.  The housemade red wine vinaigrette dressing had a nice tangy taste to it.  It was a very good start to the meal.    

 
We weren't finished with our salads and our entrees were brought to the table.  The lasagna was piled high with the meat sauce that smelled great.  It was all I could do from taking my fork and sneaking a bite when he wasn't looking.  And even without the meat sauce, the lasagna underneath was a massive conglomeration of noodles and cheese.  My buddy said that the lasagna was "very good", but he knew he wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing.  

The shrimp linguine featured nearly a dozen plump sauteed shrimp tossed with linguine pasta, white wine, olive oil and fresh parsley.  The pasta was cooked perfectly and very tasty.  The lightness of the wine/olive oil went very well with the shrimp.  I've had similar shrimp linguine dishes for double the price and served with less shrimp.  Plus, it probably didn't taste as good as this did.  For $8.95, it was a superb value.  

My buddy, predictably, couldn't finish his meal and he asked for a to-go box.  "This will be a good snack later tonight," he said.  He had finished - maybe - a bit more than half the lasagna.  I made a mental note to come back for the lasagna at some point.  

After we finished up at Via Classico, we walked back across the parking lot to Abt.  I ran into another buddy at Abt who is a somewhat pretentious food snob at times.  He turns up his nose at a lot of restaurants that I think are pretty damned good in the Chicago area.  He saw that I had a Via Classico menu in my hands and he took it from me and playfully threw it into the garbage can.  I told him, "I just had the shrimp linguine and it was very good."  

He snobbishly said back, "Everything they serve is frozen, then thawed out."  

I said, "I don't think they froze the linguine and the shrimp may have been frozen at one time, but they were very fresh in taste."  He sort of waved me away when I said that.  I then told him, "All I know is that it tasted pretty good and it was a helluva lot of food for $8.95."  

I will have to say that I was pretty darned impressed with Via Classico.  Although it's not fine dining, the portions vs. the price were very big.  Two people could easily nosh on the lasagna, and what I had was a great value.  Via Classico is one of those places that could get very popular with families who are on the go and need a good meal quick - either served in-house or to-go.  

(Update - Via Classico sadly went out of business when the cooking school closed toward the end of 2013.  I've not found if they've relocated to a new spot.)

61 Chophouse - Mediapolis, IA

The Iowa Beef Industry Council had their 4th annual "Best Burger in Iowa" contest this year and the winner was a steak house/supper club about an hour drive from Davenport, 61 Chophouse in the small town of Mediapolis.  I'd been wanting to get down there to try one of their burgers and I asked my wife if she wanted to take a day trip and head down there with me.  She was up for it and we took off down Highway 61 toward Mediapolis.   

Terry Reis and his wife, Lori Denney, are the owners of 61 Chophouse.  They purchased the old Turn 2 sports bar location in Mediapolis in the summer of 2009 and took about three months to transform it into a steak house/supper club.  Reis, a native of Minnesota, is a certified executive chef through the American Culinary Federation.  Previously, he was a culinary arts instructor at a school in the Twin Cities, as well as a chef in various restaurants over the years.  Before getting into the 61 Chophouse, he was the manager of the Drake Restaurant along the riverfront in downtown Burlington, IA.  

Terry Reis and Lori Denney pictured at right.

Lori Denney has years of experience in the hospitality industry working as a sales and catering manager for a number of upscale hotel chains.  A native of Southeast Iowa, wanted to move back to her home area after working as the director of sales and catering at a Radisson Hotel in the Twin Cities area.  After a stint as a hotel and restaurant manager in Burlington, she joined her husband in their 61 Chophouse endeavor and is in charge of catering events at the restaurants banquet room.  The two also own the Yarmouth Cafe in nearby Yarmouth, IA

Terry Reis is also a renown master ice carver.  He is certified as a Professional Master Ice Carver and a competition ice carver.  His ice carvings have been used in movies and featured in national magazines.  To see a variety of ice sculptures Reis has made over the years, click here.    

It was around 12:30 when we pulled into the parking lot of 61 Chophouse located along Highway 61 in Medapolis. (see map)  Actually, I didn't really know what to expect.  It had been about three months since 61 Chophouse had been given the "Best Burger" award and I had wanted to wait to let the hoopla subside before I tried one.  I didn't know if the place would be packed or not.  Turns out that it wasn't.  There was a small little crowd in there for the lunchtime, but it was only about a quarter full.  

 
We were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand who asked us if we wanted a table or a booth.  I sort of looked up at the step up lounge area at 61 Chophouse - called the Liquid Lounge - and it looked pretty nice.  She noticed that I was looking up at the lounge area and she asked if we wanted to eat in the lounge.  I said, "No, no, no.  That's OK.  I was just checking out the bar area."  It was a very nice bar, to say the least.

She directed us to a booth along the north wall of the restaurant and dropped off a couple menus for us to look over.  A few moments later, our server, another young girl by the name of Taylor, came over to greet us and get our drink orders.  I ordered a Bud Light and Cindy ordered an iced tea.  Taylor brought the bottle of beer back and it was ice cold.  

In 2011, the local Cattlemen's Association let Reis know that there was a "Best Burger" contest for the state of Iowa.  He entered his "Barn Burger" - an 8 oz. black angus beef patty topped with Swiss and American cheeses, then topped with 61 Chophouse's "secret" Barn sauce, then topped with a pile of home-made onion straws, all served on an egg bun.  It got Reis a top 10 finisher for the 2011 Best Burger contest.  

The next year, Reis entered his "Triple B" burger that featured blue cheese, bacon and a "bella" portabella mushroom.  When the burger didn't finish in the top 10 in 2012, Reis worked with some of the members of the local Cattlemen's Association to come up with a burger for the 2013 contest.  Applewood smoked bacon was one of the suggestions from the cattlemen, and Reis came up with a beer cheese sauce made from the new Budweiser Black Crown beer that came out earlier this year.  To add a little pop to the taste, Reis added some pepperjack cheese.  He put it on an egg bun and called it the Angus Black Crown Burger.  It made the finals once again and was named the best burger in Iowa in May of this year.  

(Pictured left - the Angus Black Crown Burger as shown on 61 Chophouse's website.  Be sure to check back with this picture later on.)

Actually, the Barn Burger sounded pretty good.  I proposed that we get one of each - the Angus Black Crown Burger and the Barn Burger - then we could try both of them.  When Taylor came back, we did just that.  We got fries with one and cole slaw with the other.  She said, "We cook them medium, is that all right?"  We told her that it would be perfect.

Good burgers take time, so it was close to 20 minutes from the time we ordered the burgers before Taylor brought them back to us.  Below is the Black Angus Burger that was served to me.  I could just tell from the look of the outside of the patty that the burger was overcooked.  Medium, to me, is cooked with a hint of pink in the middle.  After cutting the burger in half to share with my wife, I saw there was no pink in the middle and the outside shell of the patty was hard.  It was definitely cooked medium-well to well.

The other thing that sort of popped out at me was the lack - if any - of the beer cheese sauce on the Angus Black Crown burger.  It appeared that there was some sort of cheese on the burger - I couldn't tell if it was just the beer cheese sauce or the pepperjack cheese (I'm guessing the latter) on the burger.  But it wasn't swimming in cheese as the picture above from 61 Chophouse's website.  

The first taste of the Angus Black Crown Burger confirmed our fears - it was overcooked.  There was no juicyness to the taste, the outer shell of the burger patty tasted slightly burned and there was a definite lack of cheese in the overall taste.  The bun, however, was very good.  Spongy and flavorful, it was the only thing that saved the burger from being a complete disappointment.  

The Barn Burger didn't fare much better.  First of all, they claim they put a "haystack" of onion straws on the burger.  It looked like the haystack had been blown away somewhere between the kitchen and our table.  The burger patty, too, was overcooked and somewhat lifeless.  I could get a cheesy taste with the bites of burgers that I had - much more so than the Angus Black Crown Burger.  The bun was once again the star of the burger, the only saving grace from calling the burger as completely overrated was the bun.  

Now, I think of myself as somewhat of a burger expert.  God knows that I've eaten enough of them over the years that I've been doing Road Tips.  But if the Angus Black Crown Burger was deemed the best burger in Iowa, I have to severely question the credentials of the judges.  Cindy even thought they weren't that good.  "Not worth the trip," was her comment to me.  To me, if wasn't any better than an average sports bar burger.  

Cindy and I figured out that it probably wasn't Terry Reis back in the kitchen cooking for the noon time crowd.  But my point here is - if they have the best burger in Iowa, shouldn't it CONSISTENTLY be the best burger in Iowa?  I know places that are wholly dependent upon the head cook or chef or the food suffers.  I have to put 61 Chophouse in that category, as well.  

Since our visit, we met a person from Mediapolis and we told her that we'd recently been to Chophouse 61 for the burger.  She hesitated and asked, "Sooo... What did you think?"  When we told her we thought it was overrated, she concurred.  "Terry's a nice guy and all," she said.  "But there were a lot of people around town who were surprised he won the best burger contest.  Don't get me wrong, it's great for the community.  But we're trying to figure out how he was able to pull off having the best burger."   

When the judges for the best burger contest came to 61 Chophouse for the Angus Black Crown Burger, it's my guess that the person who made our burger was not the same person who made it for the judges.  As I said, if you're going to have the best burger in Iowa and people are going to come from all over - even further away than an hour's drive for the burger - it had better be the same as the winning burger each and every time it comes out of the kitchen.  I don't see myself just making a drive back down to Mediapolis some evening just to have Terry Reis cook me a burger.  But if you want to give it a try, do it after 5 p.m. when there's a better chance for Reis to make one for you.  

(Update - Terry Reis accepted a position as a corporate chef for Palace Entertainment in Los Angeles.  He and his wife, Lori Denney, closed 61 Chophouse on March 29, 2014.)

Tommy Colina's Kitchen - Omaha, NE

About three years ago the Nebraska Beef Council started their own "Best Burger in Nebraska" contest that is very similar to the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" contest.  After a long day, I checked into my hotel in West Omaha after 9 p.m. and looked around for a place to grab a quick bite to eat.  I stumbled into a place called Tommy Colina's Kitchen.  It turned out that they are a two time finalist for the Best Burger crown in Nebraska.  Always up for a good burger, I was happy I found the place.

There is no Tommy Colina - it's actually a hybrid name from the children of the owners, Jon Dye and Grant Lundin.  Jon Dye is a Le Cordon Bleu (London) trained chef.  His specialty was opening restaurants in the Omaha area.  He was the opening chef at such diverse places such as Dave & Buster's, Ted's Montana Grill, Wheatfields, and the Farmhouse Cafe.  Dye struck out on his own with the OmNe Seafood Grill about 10 years ago, but it was a short-lived venture.  

Dye and Lundin got to know each when they were both working for Greg Lindberg's Absolutely Fresh Seafood restaurants - Shucks Fish House and Oyster Bar, and Bailey's, a breakfast and lunch-centric restaurant.   Dye was the executive chef and Lundin was the manager for Shucks.  Today, there are three Shucks locations around the Omaha area.

Dye and Lundin looked to do their own thing and they bought a building that housed the former Don Carmelo's pizza restaurant near downtown Omaha.  It took them less than two months to transform the former pizza place into Tommy Colina's.  They brought a little bit of culinary philosophy with them from Shucks and Bailey's, but with an emphasis on burgers, eclectic sandwiches and interesting appetizers.  In the fall of 2012, they opened the second Tommy Colina's location in West Omaha in the Spring Ridge Plaza just off Pacific and 180th St. (see map) 

As it was after 9 p.m., Tommy Colina's Kitchen was understandably quiet.  Only a couple tables were taken and no one was seated at the bar.  I walked over to the bartender and asked if it was too late for food.   He said, "Nope!  We're serving until 10 o'clock!"  I took a seat at the bar, grabbed a menu from him and ordered up a Boulevard Pale Ale.   

Tommy Colina's "Triple B" burger was the one that garnered a third place finish in the most recent Best Burger in Nebraska contest.  They take their ground steak burgers and top it with thick slices of maple bacon, imported brie cheese, and finish it off with crumbled blue cheese.  That sounded good, but I figured it would probably overpower the taste of the burger.  They had the "Smoke-n-Spice" burger on the menu that came with smoked jalapenos, aged cheddar cheese and maple bacon slices.  The maple bacon intrigued me.  I've had it before and it's all right - much more sweet than regular hickory or applewood smoked bacon.  If I had the choice, I'd take the hickory or applewood smoked bacon over maple bacon.

In fact, a lot of the burgers had the maple bacon on it.  One other burger that caught my eye was "Da Mojo" - it came with the maple bacon, roasted sweet peppers and Havarti cheese.  I almost got that.

As my eyes wandered down through the list of burgers, just below the burgers was a box on the menu that featured "Street Tacos".  It was four different types of taco-style that blended flavors from around the world and was served on pita bread.  The "Calcutta" was interesting featuring thin sliced beef tenderloin, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, a mild curry sauce, pickled red onions with Havarti cheese.  If I wasn't so set on getting a burger, I would have possibly tried that.

The bartender had come back a couple of times to check to see if I was ready to order.  I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous!  Pick a burger and go with it!"  When he came back the third time I ordered up the "Tijuana Taxi", mainly because I was interested in the smoked jalapeno bacon relish ("Oh, man," the bartender exclaimed.  "It's good!")  It was topped with pepperjack cheese.  And for a buck more, I added a fried egg to the burger.   I also had my choice of sides - fries, seasoned homemade chips or pasta salad.  I heard myself order the fries fully knowing that I wouldn't probably have more than a couple.  

Good burgers take a little time to make and it was over 15 minutes before my burger showed up in front of me.  It was served open faced with the smoked jalapeno bacon relish on top of the hard fried egg which sat on the burger covered in the pepperjack cheese.  Pickled raw onion rings came with it as well as what appeared to be homemade dill pickles.   After dressing up the burger and putting on the spongy bun crown, I was ready to chomp.  

 
The taste of the burger was good.  Not fantastic, not great, but - well, good.  The beef was cooked the way I like it  - medium with a little pink in the middle.  I couldn't really get a taste of the bacon in the relish, but the jalapeno slices had a smokey little zip to them.  The bun was chewy and held together well with everything that was going on with the burger and toppings.  If I had to give the burger at Tommy Colina's a grade I'd have to say it was a B.  No, probably more a B+.  It was good, but it just didn't trip my trigger like other burger joints have.  

I had a couple of the fries, as I thought I would, and they were "blah".  They were basically a throwaway for me.  And that's all right.  I was much more interested in the burger.  

A place clear out in Valentine, NE won this year's "Best Burger in Nebraska" contest and I'm sure I won't be going out that way anytime soon - if ever.  But this year's runner up was a place that I think has a pretty damned good burger - Dinker's Bar in Omaha.  (Click here to see my entry on Dinker's Bar.)  I didn't think the burger at Tommy Colina's Kitchen was as good as the one at Dinker's, but it was definitely in the ball park.  But there are other things on the menu at Tommy Colina's other than burgers that intrigued me enough to keep the place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list.  I would have no problem coming back to the West Omaha location or trying the one closer to downtown.

(Update - I write my reviews of these places sometimes weeks in advance.  From the time that I went to Tommy Colina's Kitchen, wrote the review, and having it published - the place closed.  A shout out to Bill MacKenzie who pointed out to me the day the review was published that both Tommy Colina's Kitchen locations closed earlier this month.  The Omaha World Herald had a short article that stated the businesses shut their doors on July 20th - about a month after I was in there. I don't know if there's ever been a place that I've reviewed and then was closed that quickly.)  

Bagger Dave's - Cape Girardeau, MO

While on a trip to Cape Girardeau, MO to see a dealer earlier this spring, I was looking for a quick place to get a burger and a beer after the meeting.  I found someplace that looked interesting called Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern on William St. (see map).  I was sort of intrigued by the name of the place, especially with the word "legendary" in it.  I pulled into the Cape Girardeau Town Plaza shopping center and parked in front of Bagger Dave's.

I knew nothing - zero, zip, nada - about Bagger Dave's before I walked into the place.  I was sort of hoping that it was a locally owned restaurant since I'd never seen or even heard of Bagger Dave's before.  Well, I found out later on that it is part of a chain of restaurants that began in Berkley, MI in 2006, but the Cape Girardeau location was the first non-company owned franchise in the Bagger Dave's universe.  

Bagger Dave's is owned and run by Diversified Restaurant Holdings, a corporation that also owns a number of Buffalo Wild Wings franchises throughout Michigan and Florida.  Michael Ansley had graduated from the University of Dayton and took a job with an adhesive and sealant company in Dayton.  After work, Ansley and friends from work would get together for beer and wings at a new place called BW-3 which stood for Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck.  Ansley got to know the three owners and it turned out they were all about the same age as he.  The three owners had gotten together to borrow money from family members to open the BW-3 franchise.  Suddenly, Ansley got the bug to open his own BW-3.

Ansley pestered a college roommate to join him as a partner and procured a loan from family members to open a BW-3 franchise in Ypsilanti, MI in 1995.  Three years later, Ansley was bought out by his partner and he used the money to open a Buffalo Wild Wings in Sterling, MI outside of Detroit.  That was the first of many Buffalo Wild Wings that Ansley opened in Southeast Michigan.  In 2002 when he convinced Buffalo Wild Wings corporate officers in Minneapolis to let him open the first full-service BW-3 complete with waitstaff and bartenders.  No longer did people have to wait in long lines to order chicken wings, burgers and beer. The concept was such a hit that the first full-service Buffalo Wild Wings in Novi, MI was the top grossing BW-3 from 2003 to 2006.  Today, I believe all the BW-3 locations are full service locations.  

In 2006, Ansley developed the concept for Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern as an "ultra-casual" burger joint that also featured a number of micro-brewed beers from around the Midwest.  The concept quickly grew with a number of locations throughout southeastern Michigan.  

In 2011, Diversified Restaurants Holdings gained approval to franchise Bagger Dave's restaurants in six more states in the Midwest.  Brothers-in-law Bill Zellmer and Lonnie Griggs operated six Buffalo Wild Wings franchises in southeast Missouri and southern Illinois and knew Ansley quite well.  They opened the first franchise of Bagger Dave's in the summer of 2012 in Cape Girardeau.  

 
I walked into the Bagger Dave's location in Cape Girardeau a little before 2 p.m. and the restaurant was nearly deserted after the lunch rush.  I took a seat in a booth along a short wall that divided the main dining area from the bar area of the restaurant.  There was an open kitchen area off to the front side of the restaurant.  A number of old reprints of pictures of Cape Girardeau from back in the early 20th century were on the walls throughout the place, many showing some of the Mississippi River floods that used to inundate the town before the flood wall was built.  On a shelf that ringed both the bar and dining areas was what looked to be a Lionel Standard "O" Gauge train set that ran along the wall.

A young lady by the name of Holly came over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  She asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I asked what kind of beer they had.  She pointed out the beer menu and I immediately found a Bell's Two Hearted pale ale.  I immediately ordered that.   

Bagger Dave's burgers are made from fresh and never frozen quality locally grown beef.  They feature six "legendary" burgers on the menu including the Train Wreck which had two ground beef patties topped with hand-cut fries, a fried egg, sharp cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, lettuce, and their version of Thousand Island dressing called Railhouse Burger Sauce, then served on a toasted sesame bun.  Ooo, that did sound like a train wreck.  

They also had the Kickin' Cheddar Burger that was topped with sharp cheddar, a horseradish sauce and all the garden variety veggies you normally put on a burger.  There was the the Blues Burger that was topped with blue cheese and Cajun spices; and something called the Ono Burger that was topped with sliced pineapple, Swiss cheese, BBQ sauce, jalapenos, applewood-smoked bacon, and sauteed onions.  Uh, no.  I was definitely going to pass on that one.

None of the legendary burgers sounded all that good to me.  I wanted to make my own burger up, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.  Suddenly in the lower right hand corner of the menu, I saw a little box that said, "Create Your Own Legend".  It gave instructions - select a burger, select a bun, select cheese, etc., etc.  I'm like, "OK, where in the hell are the choices for toppings, cheese and the other stuff?"  Then I saw at the bottom of the box in very small font, "See that sheet on the table?  Pick it up and start assembling."   I looked over and found a sheet that had 30 different types of toppings including bacon, fried egg, sauces, veggies and condiments, six different types of cheese to choose from, and three different buns.  I was going through the list when Holly came back with my beer and said, "Oh, good!  You found the little order sheets."  She gave me a few minutes while I checked off what I wanted on my burger with a small pencil they provided on the tables.

Man, all those decisions to put on a burger.  They had smoked gouda on the cheese list and it was either getting that or with the pepper jack cheese.  I had already figured out that I wanted the regular ketchup, yellow mustard, pickles, fresh chopped onions, sauteed mushrooms and applewood smoked bacon on the burger with a sesame seed bun, but I was torn on the cheese.  When Holly came back and I told her my predicament on the cheese, she said, "Order both!"  I almost did, but I opted for the smoked gouda instead.  She asked me if I wanted any of Bagger Dave's fresh-cut fries with Cajun seasoning or the sweet potato chips they're supposedly famous for.  Nope - just the burger was fine with me.

When the burger came out It was wrapped in wax paper with the Bagger Dave's logo all over and placed on a small round metal plate with high sides.  The standard burger I ordered featured two flat grilled, smashed (still trying to get used to having burgers like that) beef patties and then topped with the cheese, mushrooms and bacon, while sitting on the ketchup, mustard, pickles and chopped onions on a lightly toasted sesame seed bun.  

 
The taste of the burger was good - although I couldn't detect any of the smoked gouda with all the other taste sensations going on.  The burgers are normally cooked medium-well at Bagger Dave's.  When I saw that on the little order sheet I filled out, I had asked Holly if it was OK to get the burger cooked medium.  She cheerfully replied that would be no problem.  There was some juiciness to the burger and from what I could tell it wasn't overcooked.  The chopped onions were fresh, pungent and flavorful, reminding me of an old time grill cooked burger that I used to get growing up in small-town Iowa.  It was a good and filling burger.

I was impressed with Bagger Dave's - even after I found out it was a franchise chain restaurant.  The burger tasted good, the service was good from Holly, and the restaurant had a nice ambiance to the place.  I see that they've opened a couple locations in Indianapolis and that more locations are planned for Wisconsin and Illinois.  There's starting to be a lot of similarly-themed burger places like Bagger Dave's.  But with their concept of fresh burgers and eclectics beers, I think they'll be able to hold their own against the competition.   

(Update - I happened to be in Cape Girardeau the latter part of 2014 and found that Bagger Dave's had closed.  No word as to why, but some online reviews seemed to point that it had gone downhill pretty fast in terms of food quality and service.)

Burger Star - Omaha

I'm always a little leery when I pick up a local restaurant guide and see a restaurant that is named "Best of" in a poll of local diners.  To me, it usually means the restaurant has some sort of support organization that has the human resources to "stuff the ballot box".  (Like Pizza Hut for "best pizza", or "best seafood" to Red Lobster.)  So, I was a little intrigued by the "Best burger in Omaha" award that went to a one outlet burger joint - Burger Star - considering there area some excellent burger places in the Omaha area.  On a trip to Omaha recently, I stopped in for lunch.

In doing research on the background of Burger Star, I found that even though it's a one location restaurant, it is under the vast restaurant management umbrella headed by Omahan Greg Cutchall - Cutchall Management Company.  The company owns Sonic, Domino's Pizza, Rock Bottom Brewery and Famous Dave franchises in three states, as well as overseeing the franchise operations of Paradise Bakery Cafe locations in Texas, Utah and Nebraska, as well as Tin Star taco bar locations in the greater Dallas area.  The company also has entered the "breast-taurant" business with Twin Peaks locations in Omaha and Des Moines complete with girls in "Daisy Duke" shorts and tight tops tied under the breasts.  Like similar places such as Show Me's, Hooters, or Tilted Kilt, I'm guessing that you don't go to Twin Peaks because the food is outstanding.  (As an aside, my entry on the Tilted Kilt location in Peoria, IL is one of the most read entries on this blog.  Go figure...)

Cutchall Management Company took over an old Joey's Seafood location just off 72nd St., and just south of Pacific (see map) and opened Burger Star in 2008.  The initial year was a little rough for Burger Star as they initially used a machine to stamp out 1/4 pound burgers that were then grilled.  The public didn't go for the taste of the burgers initially, so Greg Cutchall replaced that burger making process with a 6 ounce, hand-pattied Angus beef 80-20 mix to make the burgers more juicy.  Also, they were getting their buns daily from their sister restaurant, Paradise Cafe.  But it was taxing the staff and infrastructure at Paradise Cafe, so they began to get their buns from Rotella Italian Bakery in Omaha.  Things turned around for the restaurant after those little tweaks.  

I walked into Burger Star around 1:30 on a weekday, just after the lunch hour rush.  The place was about a quarter full of customers finishing up their lunches.  A young lady greeted me as I was looking around at the rock and roll-themed decor and she said, "Is this your first visit to Burger Star?"  I told her that it was and she gave me the skinny on ordering.  She pointed to the menu board on the wall above and behind the counter and you had your choice of either a 6 oz "Burger Star" burger or a 12 oz "Rock Star" burger.  (They also have grilled chicken at Burger Star, and, interestingly enough, they have tacos including grilled fish tacos.)  After you choose the type of burger that you want, you get your choice of nearly 20 free toppings including all the regular stuff you'd get on a burger (ketchup, mustard, onions - grilled, fried or raw - pickles, lettuce, tomato, etc.)  They also have mushrooms and jalapenos available for free.  Some burger places will charge for mushrooms or jalapenos.  For .75 cents each, you can add smoked bacon, a fried egg and cheese to the burger. 

I was just going to get a basic 6 ounce burger and I added Swiss cheese, bacon, mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, raw onions and pickles.  After the young lady took my order, she put the order on a clip suspended on a line above her and slid the ticket over to the kitchen.  She asked me if I wanted any of their hand-cut French fries and I declined.  Burger Star doesn't serve beer, so I just got a bottle of water to go along with my burger.  She gave me a number and said, "Find yourself a seat, anywhere you like and we'll bring it out to you when it's done!"  

She took the order she had written, put it on a clip that was attached to a metal zip line above her head, then literally threw it over to the kitchen.  A cook grabbed the order and began the process of making my burger. 

I took a seat in a booth near the fireplace that had a framed guitar above it which was autographed by the Rolling Stones.  They had a number of rock and roll memorabilia on the walls throughout the place including a number of old concert posters (probably reproductions) and pictures of classic rock bands and musicians.  Playing on a television in the corner and piped through the sound system of the place was a Michael Jackson concert from probably back in the 90's.  To me, Burger Star reminded me of a stripped down Hard Rock Cafe.

After about 15 minutes or so, someone from the kitchen brought my burger out to me.  It was served in a basket on a checkered sheet of wax paper.  The burger was piled high with the toppings and condiments that I ordered with it and a toothpick held the top bun in place.  

The burger patty was sort of a misshapen chunk of meat that was flat grilled and stuck out from the sides of the bun.  I have to say that the burger certainly looked promising.  

But the first bite told me something else.  The burger was severely overcooked.  It was dry and almost tough to chew and subsequently swallow.  I'm guessing whoever was running the grill that day literally pressed all the juice out of the burger during the cooking process.  This was not the taste or juiciness that you'd find in an 80-20 mix of ground beef to fat.

The bun was very good, however, and had the burger not had the life cooked out of it, it would have been a very good compliment to the beef.  But even the soft and chewy Rotella bun couldn't save this burger.  And that's too bad.  

I suspect that the management group that owns Burger Star had a little bit to do with the place getting "Best Burger in Omaha" awards.  I've had some excellent burgers in Omaha over the years - Stella's, Louie M's Burger Lust, Dinker's Bar (click on the links to see my entries on those places) - and the burger I had at Burger Star wasn't close to any of those places.   I know I should give restaurants a second chance, and maybe I will with Burger Star.  But their burgers should be consistently good that whether it's your first visit or your 100th, they're the same.  I just have to say that I was disappointed in my burger at Burger Star.   

(Update - about six weeks after this post was published, the company that runs Burger Star closed this location down.  There must have had enough people like me who were disappointed in the burgers there.)

The Elms - Muscatine, IA

Someone who Cindy works with had told her about a supper club/steakhouse in Muscatine that has been open for over 55 years by the name of the Elms.  I had never heard of the place, nor had I ever known there was any other place of fine dining other than the recently shuttered Button Factory in Muscatine.  Cindy had a doctor's appointment in Muscatine late one afternoon and she talked me into taking her down there and then going out to eat at the Elms directly afterward. 

Since we don't get down to Muscatine all that much, I was sort of intrigued by the fact that a place like The Elms had been in business since 1958.  Muscatine County Sheriff Charles Anson and his wife, Anna, were the original owners of the Elms.  Anson stepped down as sheriff in 1960 to concentrate on running the business.  (He did run for sheriff again in 1964, but lost the election.)  

Charles Anson suffered a fatal heart attack at the Elms in early 1965 and a year later one of the 10 Anson children, Gary, came in to take over the business for his family.  Gary Anson ran the Elms for 30 years before retiring and selling the business to Jeanne Staats, a family friend of the Anson's. Staats eventually sold the business to two workers at the Elms - chef Justin Arp and manager Amanda Hart - in June of 2010.  Arp and Hart continue to run the business today.  

The Elms is located on Grandview Ave. in southwest Muscatine (see map).  Before the Highway 61 by-pass around Muscatine was opened in 1984, Grandview Ave. was the main route in and out of Muscatine on the south side of the city.  It was pretty early - after 5 p.m. - when we pulled into the spacious parking lot at the Elms.  We joked that we were like an old married couple having dinner that early.  I jokingly wondered if they had tapioca pudding at the Elms. 

There is a main dining room off to the right as you come in, along with a small room for overflow or private functions.  But the dining room lights were off and I turned to my left to go into the lounge area of the Elms.  A lady - I presume it was Amanda Hart - greeted us.  I said, "Are you guys open for dinner?"

She replied, "Oh, sure.  We just don't open the dining room until the weekends."  She grabbed a couple menus for us and asked if we wanted to sit in the lounge or in a room behind the lounge.  We spied a booth in the other room and planted ourselves in there.  She took our drink order and said that another girl would be waiting on us.

The room we were in was sort of an interesting mix of kitsch and cheesy decor.  There were some interesting pictures, posters and art work on the wall, including the venerable "Dogs Playing Poker".  The picture on the wall at our booth was the famous portrait of "Kramer" from the Jerry Seinfeld Show.  It was barely the holiday season and a number of Christmas lights were strung throughout the room.  I wondered if they possibly had the lights up year round. On the far end of the room was an old leather couch with a coffee table in front.  There appeared to be a number of games on top of and underneath the coffee table.  In the corner near the couch, there were some musical instruments that looked like they were sort of haphazardly put away after a jam session.  The room made me smile.   

A few moments after we ordered drinks, a young lady - Brittany - showed up with our drinks and wondered if we had any questions on the menu.  Cindy wanted to know if they had any specials that evening.  "No, generally not through the week," Brittany said.  "We usually have prime rib on the weekends, but not through the week."  She gave us a few minutes to look over the menu.  

I was looking at getting a steak and they had a filet, a ribeye and a strip steak on the menu.  I decided on getting the strip steak - medium rare (I figured this was the type of place that probably couldn't do a rare steak correctly).  With it, I got steak fries and the vegetable of the day came with the steak which were green beans.  Cindy ordered a ribeye - medium - with rice and the green beans.

Cindy also ordered a salad and I wanted to try a cup of their beef barley soup.  She wanted garlic, but they didn't have garlic.  She ended up with, if I remember right, a creamy blue cheese dressing. Brittany brought out the salad and the cup of soup not long after we ordered our food.  The beef barley soup had a nice deep brown base to it with chunks of steak embedded within.  But the first bite - whoa!  I use little to no salt in my diet and the beef barley soup was VERY salty.  Almost too salty to eat.  What ever type of bouillon they were using, it was too salty.  I offered Cindy a bite and she, too, said, "Boy, that's salty!"  If she says it's too salty, it's too salty.

We were the only ones in the restaurant getting food and it still took a little time for the food to come out.  Good food requires good preparation I've always said, so we weren't unhappy that it took a little bit of time to come out.

When Brittany did bring the steaks out, we were ready to eat.  From first glance, I could tell the meat was not the finest cuts we've had, but they were still serviceable.  Cindy's ribeye looked like one of the most lean cuts of a ribeye steak I'd ever seen.  It was almost void of any marbling.  In fact, I had to take a closer look at it to make sure it really was a ribeye.  I did dig the large steak-cut fries they had at the Elms.  

My medium-rare strip steak was more medium than medium-rare.  I guess I should have ordered it rare to make sure it wasn't overcooked.  The thickness of the steak was more thin than what I'm accustomed to at other steakhouse/supper clubs.  And while the meat had some good flavor to it, it was just a little too much overcooked for my taste.

As I said, Cindy's ribeye had little to no marbling.  Her steak was actually more medium-rare than my steak was.  I wondered if possibly they may have gotten ours mixed up in the kitchen as to the final temperature.  She said her steak was just "OK".  I had to agree.  My steak was just "OK" and really nothing that got me excited in the least.   

Because the steaks weren't all that thick, we could easily finish both of them.  I hardly touched my green beans and had about half of the steak fries, which were very good.  Cindy did like what she had of both her rice and green beans.  Overall, it was a pretty average meal.  

That's not to say that our meal at the Elms was bad.  It was all right, but not outstanding.  The staff was very friendly toward us and Brittany did a good job in taking care of us.  The steaks were all right, but it was not the best - and certainly not the worst - we've ever had. For an old-style Midwestern supper club, the Elms is pretty average.  If I'm in the area again and hungry, I may go back.  But I probably won't make a round trip from Davenport just to go all the way there for a steak. (Picture courtesy the Elms Facebook page.)

(Update - December 2014 - We were down in Muscatine and happened to go by The Elms, or what remained of it.  It was definitely closed and looked to have been closed for quite sometime.)

Scotty's Lakehouse - Fishers, IN

With business picking up in Indianapolis, I've found myself heading east along I-74 more often over the past few months.  After a day that included a couple stops to visit dealers along the way, I pulled into my hotel in Fishers around 8:30 p.m., tired and hungry. I was looking for something new to try in the area and with the help of both Yelp and Urbanspoon, I found a place called Scotty's Lakehouse about a 10 minute drive away from the hotel.

Scotty's Lakehouse is sort of a misnomer because it's located in a strip mall at the corner of Fall Creek Road and Brooks School Road in Fishers. (see map)  It is, however near the Geist Reservoir, a large lake that supplies the city of Indianapolis and surrounding communities their drinking water.  Scotty's Lakehouse is part of the Scotty's Brewhouse empire, a small local chain of brewpubs and burger joints scattered throughout Indiana.

The guy behind Scotty's is Scott Wise (pictured right), a Muncie native who didn't really want to follow in his father's footsteps of running the family's construction and development business.  Wise left Muncie to go to DePauw University for a year, then returned to Muncie to finish his schooling at Ball State.  During his time in college, Wise worked at restaurants as a waiter and found that he really liked the food service industry.  After graduating from Ball State in 1995, Wise struck out for Houston working as a copywriter for a large sporting goods chain.  But he soon found himself back home in Muncie working for his father's business. 

In 1996, Wise saw that a run-down campus-area bar was for sale and he went to his father with a business plan to help him finance the purchase.  He was able to buy the bar for $65,000 and with hard work on his end he transformed the old place into the first Scotty's Brewhouse.  He wanted to have a brewing operation on the premises, but didn't have th finances to do so at the time.  Instead, he focused on serving eclectic beers brewed elsewhere.   

Focusing on locations in college towns, Wise opened the second Scotty's Brewhouse in Bloomington, home of Indiana University, in 2001.  Three years later, he opened his third Scotty's in West Lafayette near Purdue University.  In 2006, he ventured into the Indianapolis market and opened his fourth Scotty's Brewhouse on East 96th Street in the north part of town.  He opened a downtown Indy location in 2009, and just last year opened his sixth Scotty's location on the south side of the city on Southport Road.  Wise also owns Scotty's Burger Joint in Columbus, IN, a restaurant that focuses on locally sourced and organic foods; and finally was able to open his own brewpub, Thr3e Wise Men, in Indianapolis' Broad Ripple neighborhood in 2011.  Sometimes, you'll even see Wise getting back to his roots at one of his restaurants helping out behind the bar or delivering food to your table.  

One of my problems traveling to Indianapolis from the west is that I lose an hour going into the Eastern Time Zone.  So, my body clock is telling me that it's 7:30, but the clocks everywhere else are telling me that it's 8:30.  It's difficult to find a restaurant that will serve past 9 p.m. through the week and I always worry about pissing off the staff if I walk into a place 10 minutes before closing because they're wanting to get out of there sooner than later.  Scotty's Lakehouse stays open until 11 p.m. through the week (1 p.m. on the weekends and 10 p.m. on Sunday) so I wasn't worried about having to hurry up and eat. 

Scotty's Lakehouse is more like a sports bar with a couple dining areas and a number of televisions hung throughout the place.  I took a seat at the bar of Scotty's Lakehouse and a young bartender handed me a menu and took my drink order.  The beer menu wasn't as large as I thought it would be and they only had a handful of craft brews available.  I ended up ordering one of the Thr3e Wise Men Centennial Martyr Double IPA.  I like forward and hoppy tasting beers, but even for me it was a little too much.  It was definitely a sipping beer.  

Like it's cousin restaurant, Scotty's Burger Joint, Scotty's Lakehouse sources the items found on their menu from local growers with a focus on organic ingredients.  The ground beef, ground turkey, sausage and bacon items on the menu come from Moody's Meats at Lone Pine Farms, a Ladoga, IN-based butcher who specializes in free-range and organically raised poultry, beef, lamb and pork.   

Scotty's Lakehouse features a number of gourmet burgers on the menu.  In addition to burgers, they also have a number of "Not Burgers" sandwiches, salads, appetizers and three different types of gourmet "mac and cheese" items including one with rotini pasta, chicken, peas, applewood smoked bacon, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, fresh garlic and basil.  Quite actually, that was pretty tempting to me to try as a main entree that evening.

But I decided that a burger would be fine with me.  Of the nearly dozen and a half burgers, I only found a couple three that were appealing to me.  They had a bison burger with chunky blue cheese dressing, as well as a burger with Vermont white cheddar cheese and garlic mayo.  I stayed away from the burger with peanut butter, jalapenos, mild cheddar and applewood smoked bacon (although I did contemplate ordering it without the peanut butter) and ended up ordering the #3 burger - a burger topped with a fried egg, smoked gouda cheese, applewood bacon and finished with a dollop of homemade chipotle ketchup.  

I had my choice of sides and at Scotty's Lakehouse they feature three different variations of French fries.  The house fries are seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley.  They also have the Thr3e Wise Men fries with a secret seasoning and vanilla sweet potato fries that are served with ketchup, a marshmellow creme sauce and a caramel sauce.  Caramel sauce?  On sweet potato fries?  Uh, no.  I'll pass on that.  I just ended up ordering the house fries.  

The bartender gave me my silverware wrapped up in what appeared to be a ratty old hand towel.  That was my napkin for the evening.  It was sort of tattered on the edges and looked to be much older than the two plus years Scotty's Lakehouse has been open.  I didn't know if it was intentionally tacky or if they just needed to get a slew of new towels.  It was about the only thing out of character for Scotty's Lakehouse that I found.

Good gourmet burgers take a bit to cook, so about 20 minutes after I ordered another person brought my burger out to me.  I had finished the Double IPA and the bartender asked me if I wanted another one.  I took a look through the beer menu again and was having trouble finding one to my liking.  I ended up just ordering an IPA from Flat 12 Bierwerks, a local microbrew in the Indy area.  It was not quite as hoppy as the Thr3e Wise Men Double IPA and more smooth to drink.  Still, I wasn't overly enamored with the taste.  

The burger was thick and juicy, covered with the smoked gouda and topped with a hard fried egg (I ordered it that way to keep the messiness at bay) and criss-crossed with the applewood smoked bacon.  The taste of the burger was good, well above average for your typical burger, but down the scale on what I would call a good to great gourmet burge.  I couldn't discern much chipotle spiciness in the ketchup, but it wasn't overpowering in the least.  The bun had a hard, but thin crunchy outer shell and was chewy and flavorful, as well.  It was a good complement to the burger.

The fries were served in a small container with wax paper that was designed to look like newsprint.  The thick cut fries were a little too salty to my taste and the parmesan cheese made them even more rich. Three different dipping sauces came with the fries - the chipotle ketchup that, once again, wasn't all that spicy, a garlic mayo sauce, and a spicy brown mustard sauce made with Wee Mac Scottish Ale from the Sun King microbrewery in Indianapolis.  None of the dipping sauces were spectacular, but the garlic mayo had a hint of the spicy brown mustard in it along with an essence of lime and lemon juices.  

While I can't say the burger I had at Scotty's Lakehouse was spectacular, it was still a pretty good burger. I couldn't put it on par with some other gourmet burgers that I've had in the past and I would possibly give it an honorable mention if I stacked it up against other burgers that I've had in the past.  Still, the burger at Scotty's was good enough, but probably nothing that I'd seek out again if I was in the area.  I'm definitely going to try out a Scotty's Brewhouse at some point as I was disappointed in the beer selection at Scotty's Lakehouse.  But all in all, it was a good burger and one that I'd recommend trying at least once.  (Picture courtesy Yelp.com)

(Update - It wasn't long after I visited Scotty's Lakehouse that they announced that they would be closing at the end of 2012 due to a leasing dispute with the landlord.  The other Scotty's Brewhouse locations remain open.)

Barbiere's Mama Mia's Ristorante - Milwaukee

I've found a number of pretty good pizza places in Milwaukee over the years.  One of the first that I tried nearly 10 years ago came upon the recommendation of a dealer I used to call on years ago at a place just across the street from his store with the decidedly Italian name of Mama Mia's.  It had been some time since I'd treated myself to a pizza on the road and I decided to give Mama Mia's a long-awaited revisit one evening on a recent trip to Milwaukee.  

Actually, the full name of the restaurant is Barbiere's Mama Mia's Ristorante.  And to confuse you, there are actually two factions of Mama Mia's that share the same DNA, but not the same ownership.  The Mama Mia's story starts in 1954 when Alvin Fernandez and Tony Barbiere opened the first Mama Mia's restaurant at the corner of 49th and North Ave. in Milwaukee's Uptown neighborhood, right near the present day location of McBob's Irish Pub.  Business flourished and Fernandez and Barbiere opened a location in the Kops Park/Cooper Park neighborhood in West Milwaukee.  The third location - the one on Silver Spring Dr. that houses the Mama Mia's I went to - opened in 1963.  Somewhere along the way, Tony Barbiere and Alvin Fernadez split up with Fernandez taking two of the Mama Mia's and Barbiere taking the Silver Springs location.  There is still a Mama Mia's restaurant owned by Alvin Fernandez's daughter in suburban Wales, WI, thus the "Barbiere's Mama Mia's" for the one on Silver Spring.    

Pictured right - Tony Barbiere on the right in the original Mama Mia's restaurant in 1954. 

There are also some Barbiere family-owned restaurants in the immediate Milwaukee area.  Up in the picturesque lakeside community of Port Washington, Tony's son, Jude Barbiere, owns the Mama Mia's Italian Restaurant, while Tony's brother, Sal, started the Barbiere's Italian Inn on West Bluemound Road in 1963.  Sal's son, Steve, took over the ownership of that restaurant when Sal retired in 1973.  And in 1997, Steve retired and sold the restaurant to longtime employee Mark Dempsey.  A second Barbiere's Italian Inn opened in South Milwaukee about three years ago.  

There was also a Barbiere's Mama Mia's in suburban Shorewood, north of Milwaukee, but that has since closed up.  Tony Barbiere is still listed as the owner of the Mama Mia's in North Milwaukee.   

It had been a long day of travel that started out in Madison with stops in Appleton, Green Bay, Manitowoc and north suburban Milwaukee.  It was around 8:30 when I pulled into Mama Mia's located at the border between Milwaukee and suburban Glendale.  (see map)  As you walk into the restaurant, there's a large dining room off to the right and a bar off to the left.  I decided to eat at the bar and watch some sports on TV.  Directly beside the bar is another dining room that looks like its used for a lunch buffet or overflow dining.  I was the only person in the bar and I got a menu from the bartender/server.  Even though they have a number of Italian entrees on the menu, I knew exactly what I wanted.  I ordered a 12" Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza with the Mama Mia's original thin crust pizza.  My server asked me, "You want some butter garlic bread with that?"

I had heard that Mama Mia's butter garlic bread is to die for, but I knew I probably wouldn't be able to eat the whole pizza, let alone a pizza and butter garlic bread.  I declined her offer.

Another couple had come in to pick up a pizza to go.  It wasn't ready yet, so they sat at the bar near me and had a drink.  I heard them talking to the bartender about a trip to Hawaii they just came back from.  I politely interrupted their conversation and asked where they went to in Hawaii.  The lady said, "Maui!"  

I told her that we had spent a week on Maui about two and a half years ago.  "I'd swim back to Maui, if I could," I told the couple.  They agreed with me that Maui was the bomb.     

Works of art take time, so it was 20 minutes and into my third beer when the pizza showed up in front of me. The misshapen corn meal crust showed that it was made from scratch.  There were ample amounts of fresh mushrooms, pepperoni slices and chunks of Italian sausage on top of the pizza.  I waited awhile to let the pizza cool down for fear of burning the top of my mouth.  The first bite was a crunchy, flavor-filled explosion in my mouth.  I'm not big on corn meal crust pizza, but this wasn't bad.  I did think the crust was a little too stiff and crisp for me, but it wasn't a deal breaker. Another minor quibble is that I thought the pizza sauce was a little too sweet for my taste.  Some parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes helped take some of the sweetness out of the taste.  But the toppings, including the mozzarella cheese, were fresh.  It was as good of a pizza as I remembered from my first visit years ago.

I was able to finish just over half the pizza and had the young lady box up the final three pieces for me.  I had a refrigerator and a microwave in my room and I had the remaining pieces for breakfast the next morning.  The crust had soaked up the grease and sauce, and was not as crunchy and stiff as the night before.  I remember liking it better with a softer crust.

I may want to try the other Mama Mia's restaurants to see if their pizza is similar to Barbiere's Mama Mia's in North Milwaukee.  I don't think it's the best pizza I've had in Milwaukee, but it is still very good.  It's different from many others in the area, a sort of pizza signature, if you will.  Some people probably prefer the corn meal crust and the sweet tomato sauce over the others, but not me.  Still, past that, I certainly can't say anything bad about the pizza at Barbiere's Mama Mia's.   

(Update - After 60 years in business, Mama Mia's closed their doors in the fall of 2014. Their location in Mequon is still open.)

The Boat House - Davenport, IA

One of our favorite places to dine is a place called The Boat House just a five minute drive from our home along the Mississippi River in Davenport.  This past summer, it was difficult to get to The Boat House as the City of Davenport had River Drive - a main four-lane artery to and from the downtown Davenport area - torn up and closed down for nearly four months.  But the construction that inhibited access to their entrance at Bridge St. and River Drive (see map) opened up to two-lane traffic in both directions in the late summer.  Earlier this week the city opened all four lanes again when construction was completed.  Not long after they opened River Drive to two-lane traffic, we made our way over to The Boat House for dinner.  We hadn't been there since we had dinner with friends of ours on New Years Eve last year.

The building in which The Boat House sits started out in the 1960's as the club house for the Lake Davenport Sailing Club at what is known as Onieda Landing.  Actually, I don't know if there is such a thing as Lake Davenport as the river in front of the building is officially known as "Pool 15", just upstream from Locks and Dam 15.  Under the water is a series of rapids that made navigation through the area almost impossible until the Locks and Dam system was installed in the mid-1930's for the Upper Mississippi River.  (The river makes almost a 1000 foot drop from its source at Lake Itasca in Minnesota down to St. Louis.) 

Looking out at "Pool 15" from a riverside booth at The Boat House. 

"Pool 15" is the shortest of all pools along the Mississippi River and the stretch from just upstream of the Quad Cities down to Muscatine, IA is the longest stretch of the river running east-west.  (When my wife moved to Davenport nearly 20 years ago, she had the hardest time figuring directions because she was taught in school in Cedar Rapids that the Mississippi River runs north-south.  Not through the Quad Cities.  You go south into Illinois when you cross from Iowa.)

In the 80's, the Lake Davenport Sailing Club built a new club house further up the river and the original building became a restaurant.  When I first moved to the area in 1991, the place was a Cajun restaurant - actually, a very good Cajun restaurant.  The Cajun restaurant moved to downtown Rock Island in 1993 (and subsequently went out of business), and a couple years later local restaurateur Jim Sweet came in and opened the Boat House.   Sweet was the former owner at the highly acclaimed Captain's Table restaurant in Moline, at that time one of the finest places to eat in the Quad Cities.  After selling The Captain's Table, trying to capture some of the same magic at The Boat House proved to be tough for Sweet.  Along with his son, Dave, they ended up putting on an addition to the restaurant more than doubling its seating and adding a bar.  The new addition featured booths with splendid views of the river not more than 10 feet from the flood wall.  Today, Dave Sweet and his sister Lori Bentley along with Mark Klundt run The Boat House.   

Above left - the original dining room at The Boat House.  Above right - the addition with the bar area.  (Picture on right is from The Boat House's Facebook page.)  With their big windows, the dining/bar area is a great place to watch eagles fly around on sunny days during the winter.    

In the warmer months, The Boat House also has a wonderful patio that looks out onto the river and across to Arsenal Island and the Rock Island Arsenal.   (Picture at left from The Boat House's Facebook page.)  On beautiful nights, the patio is usually packed.   And since its located right along the riverfront bike path, it's a popular destination for people riding bikes in the summer time. This particular recent evening we ventured to The Boat House, it was nice out, but we knew as soon as the sun went down it would get cool on the patio.  We decided to sit inside the dining room/bar area in one of the spatious booths they have.  

As we looked through the menu at The Boat House, our server for the evening, a nice young lady, came over to greet us.  I ordered a beer and Cindy decided that she just wanted iced tea.  The lunch menu at The Boat House is more geared toward soups, salads and sandwiches, while the dinner menu features steaks, seafood, barbecued ribs, and The Boat House's wonderful slow roasted prime rib.  Actually, I was looking for for the soup and sandwich thing that evening and they do offer a handful of their sandwiches during the dinner hours, as well.  Their reuben sandwich is one of the better reubens I've ever had. 

They also have a wonderful Bavarian steak soup at The Boat House.  It's a thick tomato/beef stock soup with chunks of ribeye steak and vegetables.  I usually get a cup of the steak soup on my visits to The Boat House.  Their New England-style clam chowder is also very good.  It's the same recipe that Jim Sweet used when he ran The Captain's Table.  For some reason, a number of restaurants in the Quad Cities have very good clam chowder, some of the best outside out New England.  

Cindy was also sort of thinking along the lines of light eating.  She particularly likes the creamy garlic dressing at The Boat House.  Tonight, she was thinking of getting a salad and some fish.  She thought about getting a half order of the stuffed sole filet - a sole filet that is rolled with spinach and three different types of cheese, broiled and finished off with a homemade creamy chardonnay sauce.  She also thought about getting the mahi mahi - you can get it with your choice of Cajun seasonings, lemon peppered or plain.  But at about $20 bucks, she thought that was too expensive.  

She saw that they had a crab cake sandwich on the menu, but didn't know if she wanted the sandwich.  Then she saw literally the same thing as one of the many appetizers The Boat House has on their menu, only without the bread.  She ended up ordering a dinner salad with the garlic dressing and the in-house-made crab cakes that featured capers and Cajun seasonings and served with a remoulade-style sauce. (The Boat House calls it a "European-style" cocktail sauce.)  I went with a bowl of the Bavarian steak soup and I had to have one of their very good reuben sandwiches.  With the sandwich, you get your choice of four different types of potatoes, rice or the vegetable of the day.  I ended up getting fries.  

Our first part of the meal came out with the steak soup and the salad.  My steak soup was in a large bowl brimming with a hearty broth.  I like lots of pepper in my steak soup and I may have put in two table spoons of black pepper before I stirred it in.  The steak is slow cooked with the veggies and tomato/beef stock.  The Bavarian steak soup at The Boat House is simply phenomenal.

Cindy's salad featured fresh greens with a small roma cherry tomato, a slice of cucumber and a sprinkling of The Boat House's homemade croutons.  The garlic dressing is thick and creamy, and it contains a lethal amount of garlic - lethal for vampires.  I have to take a bite of the salad dressing just so I can even be near Cindy later in the evening as you can literally reek of garlic for hours afterward.  The dressing definitely gets your attention without being too overbearing.

Cindy's crab cakes and my sandwich came out after we finished the soup and salad.  Her crab cake appetizer featured three decent sized crab cakes with a tomato slice.  She said they were very good, but very rich.  She offered me a small taste of the crab cakes with the remoulade sauce.  The crab meat was fresh in taste and the sauce had a nice little spicy spike to it.  Cindy declared her crab cakes and salad as "the perfect meal for this evening."  She said she certainly didn't need any more than that.   

My reuben had a pile of tender corned beef topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and 1000 Island dressing between two pieces of toasted dark rye bread.  One of the things I like about The Boat House is that they put the dressing on the sandwich and then bring out a small container of dressing with the sandwich.  I started asking for my reubens served that way when I eat them at other places.  I sort of like dipping them in the dressing although there's usually already enough dressing on the sandwich.

Isn't this just one of the best looking reuben sandwiches you've ever seen?  They certainly didn't skimp on the succulent corned beef, and the sauerkraut was fresh and tasty.  Just like other times I've had the reuben at The Boat House, I certainly wasn't disappointed. 

 

 

While the prices at The Boat House can skew a little more to the higher end of the scale, especially with their entrees, I have to think back to remember if I've ever had a bad meal at the place.  Quite honestly, I can't remember any problems on any of our visits to The Boat House over the past 17 years.  They've always been accommodating to us and the service has always been fine.  We don't go as often as we used to, but with River Drive fully open again, we may find ourselves turning into Onieda Landing for a meal at The Boat House a little more often.  

(Update - The Boat House closed in early 2014 and was replaced by a restaurant called The Waterbar (my wife hates the name).  We've been there three times and we've had two bad experiences and one good one.  One of these days - if they're still open and we feel like torturing ourselves with slow service and mediocre food - we'll go back and I'll do a blog entry on The Waterbar.)

Sarello's - Moorhead, MN

The long trip I took after the CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis with Jean-Philippe from Focal Loudspeakers found ourselves ending up in Fargo, ND to see our dealer, Arctic Audio.  The owner, Rod, is a long time and very supportive dealer for the line and we thought it would be fun to take he and his wife, Ellen, out for dinner.  Now, the Fargo/Moorhead area has some pretty interesting places to eat (click here to see a list of area restaurants I've eaten at in the Fargo area.), so it's always a treat to find a new place each time I come to visit.  One place that Ellen suggested we go eat was just across the Red River of the North in Moorhead - Sarello's.  For nice restaurants in the Fargo area, they've never steered me wrong.  

Sarello's is owned and run by Tony Nasello and his wife, Sarah.  (The name "Sarello's" is the combination of Sarah's first name and the Nasello surname.)  Tony was a native of Toronto, ON and the son of Sicilian immigrants. He got his degree in Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts and began to work for corporations such as Disney World and Hilton.  He got a job working on a luxury cruise liner for the Holland America company.  It was there in the early 1990's that he met Fargo native Sarah Anstett.  The two sailed around the world working together on multiple cruises before getting married and deciding to settle down in Sarah's hometown.  

(Pictured at right, Tony Nasello - picture courtesy Virtual Tourist.com)

The two had dreamed of opening their own restaurant similar to the type of food and service they provided on the large luxury cruise ships on which they worked.  They found a location just behind the Moorhead Center Mall in a building that used to be a little coffee shop and opened their doors in December of 2000.  The couple expanded their business in 2003 to include a lounge and wine bar.  

Tony refers to himself as "The Lost Italian" and the Nasello's hosted a local radio program for four years that talked about Sicilian and Northern Italian cuisine.  Nasello is the head chef at Sarello's and he's helped by station chef's Ben Walker and Chris Marteny.  

After a meeting at Rod's store, he, J.P. and I drove across the border to Moorhead.  Rod had me take a left on 4th St., then a right into and through a parking ramp, across Center Mall drive and a left into a strip mall behind the mall (see map).  Had he not been with me, I surely would have been lost.  Ellen was waiting there in the lounge for us and we were seated immediately in the dining room.  

The dining room has a number of brightly colored paintings on the wall, each highlighted by direct orb lighting.  Recessed can lighting in the middle of the dining room cast a relaxing hue on the tables down below.  Each of us were given menus and even though Rod had brought a bottle of wine, I took a look through the wine list because it was evident right off the bat that we would be making short work of the wine he brought.  

Sarello's had a special that evening - a halibut filet, grilled and topped with a medley of vegetables and finished with a light cream sauce.  Mashed potatoes also came on the side.  That sounded good, but Ellen began to tell me about the lobster ravioli - homemade ravioli stuffed with Fontana, parmesan and ricotta cheeses, tossed with lobster meat and scallions in a lobster cream sauce.  She didn't have to convince me that the lobster ravioli was probably the best thing on the menu.  

They also had a classic beef tenderloin filet mignon on the menu, as well as a pork rib-eye chop.  They also had a parmesan and pepper walleye entree, as well as a seared Mediterranean salmon with a roasted red pepper and artichoke sauce, and their signature sea bass dinner that was cooked with a citrus white butter sauce.  But Ellen had me sold on the lobster ravioli.  She and I both ordered that, while J.P. took the halibut special and Rod got the parmesan and pepper walleye.  

We each had ordered appetizers - I ordered a cup of the wild mushroom soup (below left).  The soup had a light cream/butter taste to the broth with bits of pureed mushrooms throughout.  It was actually pretty damn good.  J.P. ordered the red curry scallops, only the waiter came back and said that they were out of scallops and could substitute shrimp instead.  He took that instead.  I would have been able to show you the shrimp a spicy red cream curry sauce with sliced carrots, mushrooms and snap peas, but the picture I took didn't turn out.  He said his was also very good.  

Rod had an order of the Sicilian Arencini balls (above right) - deep fried balls of risotto, ground beef, peas and parmesan cheese, with a red pepper and artichoke puree, caramelized onions on top of the Arencini balls and finished with a couple small pools of saffron, lemon and garlic aioli.  

Ellen got one of the salad specials that evening - the beet carpaccio salad that featured thinly sliced sweet red beets topped with sliced avocados, chopped walnuts, fresh greens, crumbled blue cheese, and then finished with a red wine and honey gorgonzola vinaigrette.  She said it tasted as wonderful as it looked.  

As I suspected, we made quick work of the bottle of wine that Rod brought along, so I took a look at the wine list again and found a nice bottle of the Ramey 2008 Cabernet.  Even though we were all having seafood for dinner, we all agreed that we needed to stay with the red wine.  

Our meals came out not long afterward and we were ready to eat.  J.P.'s halibut (below left) was a lightly grilled filet sitting in a pool of a light cream sauce and topped with a myriad of cooked veggies.  A tower of mashed potatoes sat next to the fish and veggies.

Rod's walleye was encrusted in a mixture of parmesan cheese, Japanese panko bread crumbs and black pepper and pan-fried. It was topped with a lemon garlic aioli sauce.  I'm not big on breaded fish, but this looked pretty good.  Rod confirmed that it was "excellent". 

But Ellen and I thought we got the best deal of the evening - the lobster ravioli was just a slice of heaven.  There were about eight large pillows of homemade ravioli stuffed with cheese laying in a shallow bowl and topped with chunks of lobster meat, scallions and fresh parsley.  The cream sauce was light and delectable.  It was a wonderful and scrumptious meal.  

J.P. ate a good portion of his halibut, but left a lot of the veggies.  I asked him if his meal was all right and he said, "Oh, yes.  It's wonderful.  I'm just still full from the lunch we had in Chicago (we'd flown in that afternoon) and the shrimp were so filling.  I'm trying to concentrate on finishing the fish."  

Tony Nasello came out to greet us and ask how our dinners were.  I couldn't lie - the lobster ravioli was outstanding.  Everything about Sarello's was outstanding, from the service, to the food, to the wine selection, even the atmosphere in the restaurant.  Rod and Ellen did it again, they turned me on to another great restaurant in the Fargo area.  

We didn't finish up until after 10:30 and we felt pretty bad for the people in the place since they closed at 9:00 p.m. (Sarello's closes at 10:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and is closed Sunday and Monday.)  We apologized to the waiter for keeping him so late and he said, "Aw, it was fun.  I don't mind when I'm dealing with fun people."  He got a nice tip and I offered to buy him a drink after we paid.  He heartily accepted.  

Sarello's was a very pleasant surprise and it's another restaurant in the Fargo area that is just outstanding. It's sort of tough to find, but the end result is worth it.  I'm still amazed at how many good to great restaurants there are around Fargo.  It's no wonder I really enjoy going to Fargo. 

Seriously...  

(Update - I found out from my dealer and his wife that the Nasello's felt the restaurant was taking too much time away from raising their family and they have closed Sarello's.  Tony Nasello still has his radio show and they also continue to do catering work.  Sad - this was a great place to eat.)

Fisherman's Wharf - Okoboji, IA

We had passed a place called Fisherman's Wharf on the north end of the Highway 71 bridge that goes over the waterway between East and West Lake Okoboji a number of times during our vacation in that area earlier this summer.  It looked intriguing with its deck dining and nautical theme.  We decided to have lunch there one day during our vacation.

Known as simply "The Wharf" to the locals and regulars, the restaurant has been a staple for residents and vacationers in the Lake Okoboji area for years.  It was originally on the west side of the road until the Iowa Department of Transportation had it condemned in the mid-90's for the construction of the new bridge.  The owner at that time, Jeff Kurth, moved the restaurant across the highway into what was an old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.  He added on to the restaurant putting in a bar, a three-season dining area and an outdoor deck that overlooked the marina next door.  

Before Kurth bought the place in 1994, it was known as Harold's Fisherman Wharf.  I was talking to a lady in Arnolds Park about Fisherman's Wharf and she told me that there was a man - Harold - and his wife - Margie - that originally owned the business.  When I asked what their last name was, she said, "Hmmm...  You know, I don't remember.  I just remember when I was a little kid and my parents would just say we were going to Harold and Margie's for dinner."

And long before it was known as Fisherman's Wharf, the site on which the building stands was home to the Okoboji General Store.  In the early 1900's, the Okoboji General Store was the one-stop shop for residents and vacationers looking for supplies, fishing licenses and also served as the local Post Office.   

In 2010, a series of winter storms caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to docks and storage buildings at Mau Marine, located next to Fisherman's Wharf.  When Jerry Kurth decided to retire that same year, the owners of Mau Marine, Julie Andres and her sister, Susan Mau, decided to buy Fisherman's Wharf so they could control all the land on that corner of East Lake Okoboji.  

Now, I went to school with a Julie Mau at the University of Iowa.  And I seem to remember that she was from Ida Grove, IA.  It turns out that this Julie Mau Andres' father and mother, Dick and Donna, were from Ida Grove and the family used to vacation at Lake Okoboji in the summertime.  So, I'm guessing that the Julie Mau I went to school with at Iowa and the Julie Mau Andres who co-owns both Mau Marine and Fisherman's Wharf is one and the same person.  

Boating was a passion for the Mau family and Dick and Donna decided to buy the old Wilson Boat Works in 1988.  Wilson Boat Works was also an iconic business in the Lake Okoboji region tracing their history back to the late 1800's when it was originally known as Wilson Boat Works which included a marina, boat yard, manufacturer and a livery stable.  Wilson Boat Works made row boats at first, but then their boat manufacturing evolved into steam-power cruisers and wooden skip boats.  After World War II, the popularity of pleasure boats exploded and Wilson Boat Works became a dealer for both Chris Craft and, then later, Sea Ray.  

An aerial photo of Mau Marine and Fisherman's Wharf.  Photo courtesy of Boating Industry.com 

Dick and Donna Mau continued that tradition of selling both Chris Craft and Sea Ray up until the time in 2003 that they decided to retire and sell the business to their two daughters.  Julie Andres and Susan Mau are an extremely rare commodity in the boating business - they are one of the very few boat dealerships and marinas owned by women.  In fact, the Mau sisters have been instrumental in incorporating boating classes for women and including women in the process of buying a boat.  

After the Mau sisters acquired Fisherman's Wharf when Jerry Kurth retired, they kept on two longtime workers - Shawn Jeffrey and Tootie Stellmach - to run the business.  It was Tootie Stellmach who greeted us when we got into the restaurant around 1:30 on a weekday afternoon.  It was a very windy day and Tootie told us that the deck (below left) was closed, but the three-season porch (below right) was open - but it was still a little breezy in there.  We ended up sitting at a table in the bar area next to a window that looked out to the marina.  She dropped off a couple menus and told us that Melissa would be taking care of us.   

The bar area (below left) wasn't all that large, but it was certainly a nice area to sit.  The large windows let in a lot of natural light.  The bar, itself, had about 10 seats around it and had a long shelf that ran directly above.  The nautical theme to Fisherman's Wharf was consistent throughout the restaurant and bar area.  

The main dining room (above right) was also well-lit and had a cozy feeling, as well.  It had a number of tables - high and regular sized - and some of the tables featured bench seats.  When we got into the restaurant, the dining room was nearly full.  When we left - when we took this picture - is was nearly deserted.  

The menu at Fisherman's Wharf is a mix of steaks, seafood, chops, chicken, sandwiches, burgers, salads and appetizers.  We weren't going to be eating a lot since we'd had a large breakfast about five hours earlier, but we wanted something to tide us over as we were scheduled to have a late dinner that evening.  Cindy was intrigued with the po' boy sandwiches they had to offer at Fisherman's Wharf - most especially the walleye po' boy.  She ended up ordered that from Melissa when she came around to take our order.

I thought about getting a burger, but the breaded tenderloin sounded interesting.  When I asked Melissa about it, she said, "It's one of our most popular sandwiches."  I ended up getting that and instead of fries for a side, I got a cup of their French onion soup.

Our food made it out to us in about 15 minutes.  The French onion soup had a load of shredded Swiss cheese on the top - it wasn't baked in like you normally see with French onion soup.  And I have to say that it was very good.  It had a good onion flavor to the soup, the broth was also tasty and the cheese had melted in with the broth after a minute or two.   

My breaded pork tenderloin had some thickness to it and it hung over the sides of the bun just by a little bit.  The first bite yielded a wonderful pork taste that the breading didn't overpower.  The pork was tender and juicy - it was a very good breaded pork tenderloin.  The kaiser bun was also light and fluffy and stayed together with each bite.  I was extremely happy with what I had ordered.  

I suppose Cindy's sandwich could be categorized as a po' boy.  Actually, it was a fish sandwich on a toasted hoagie bun.  The walleye filet was breaded and deep fried.  I've usually seen po' boy sandwiches where the fish or meat is shredded or chopped.  Cindy took a couple bites of the sandwich and said the fish was good.  But after that, she opened up the top of the bun and began to just eat the walleye filet without the bun.  She offered me a bite of her walleye, but I don't care for deep fried fish all that much.  I'll eat it from time to time if someone is having a fish fry, but normally I won't eat any restaurants deep fried fish or seafood.    

For lunch, yeah, Fisherman's Wharf was pretty good.  It would have been nice to sit outside (we saw the deck was packed with diners on many occasions through the week when it wasn't windy), we were happy with sitting in the bar area.  Melissa did a find job taking care of us and the food was above average.  And it seemed to be a pretty good value. We were talking about coming back to Okoboji for a vacation again next year, especially after we'd been there for a couple days and getting acclimated to the area.  Fisherman's Wharf would be one place where I'd like to go back and have dinner if we have the chance.   

(Update - Fisherman's Wharf closed in the fall of 2014 as the landlord decided not to renew the year-to-year lease on the place.)

Mezzodi's - Des Moines

I like to stay at the Hampton Inn near the Des Moines International Airport on my trips to Central Iowa.  One of the reasons I like the place is that they feature an appetizer buffet each evening for Hilton Honors members - complete with free draft beer - usually catered by one of the local restaurants in the immediate area.  One evening earlier this summer after I checked in, I went over to the buffet and found that they had meatballs in a marinara sauce, and a spinach and artichoke dip served with oven-baked baguette bread.  The guy overseeing the buffet told me, "This is from Mezzodi's, just up the road on Fleur." (see map)  I had definitely heard of Mezzodi's and I've been wanting to try the place for quite sometime.  I got settled into my room and then decided to run up the road for dinner that evening.  

Mezzodi's was opened in 2000 by brothers Ron and B.J. Giudecessi.  The Guidecessi family are the people behind the highly popular Christopher's restaurant on Des Moines' northwest side.  Ron and B.J.'s parents, Joe and "Red" Guidecessi bought Christopher's in 1963 offering a wide variety of supper club-style and Italian entrees in the Beaverdale neighborhood.  Before opening Christopher's, Joe and "Red" had Rose's Cafe on the east side of Des Moines, opening in the mid-50's.  The Guidecessi family wanted to expand their Italian offerings beyond Christopher's and the two Giudecessi sons decided to open Mezzodi's.  

A couple years ago, the Giudecessi's sold their interest in Mezzodi's to a silent owner.  The new owner reached out to Orchestrate Hospitality, a Des Moines-based management firm that handles the operations for restaurants such as Centro, Django, Zombie Burger and South Union Bakery.  (Click here to see my entry on Zombie Burger, which is one of the most read entries of all-time on this blog.)  All those restaurants are headed by chef George Formaro (who happens to be a follower of Road Tips on Twitter).  Formaro was called upon to do some brainstorming with new Mezzodi general manager Sam Campero (formerly the owner of the now closed Nana's Italian Restaurant in Urbandale) and new Mezzodi executive chef Tom McKern (formerly the executive chef at Gateway Market).  The three came up with a new menu, spruced up the place inside and out, and expanded their hours to offer lunch and dinner seven days a week, including a brunch menu for the weekends.  

I arrived at Mezzodi's not long after 7:00 p.m. on a weeknight.  From the outside it appears the building may have been an old Village Inn or International House of Pancakes restaurant at some point in time.  The smallish dining room as you walk in was nearly full.  The hostess explained to me that it had rained rather heavily a couple hours before and it was too wet on the patio to eat out there.  I had my choice of a small table in the dining room or a high-top table in the bar.  I decided on the bar seating area, a well lit, light-wood decored room.  She dropped off a menu and soon thereafter my server for the evening, Courtney, came to great me.  I got a bottle of beer as I looked over the menu.  

Most of the items on the menu are Italian based from their numerous pasta dishes, steaks with an Italian twist such as their boursin cheese-crusted filet and their Tuscan-style ribeye that is marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, herbs and garlic, and their chicken dishes such as chicken parmesan, chicken Florentine, chicken piccata and chicken marsala.  They also had pizza at Mezzodi's along with a number of sandwiches and appetizers.  Interestingly enough, I did not see the meatballs on the appetizer menu.  (But they were available on the "Build Your Own Pasta" section of the menu.)

One thing I have to say about Mezzodi's was the bread that was brought to my table. It featured two slices of South Union Bakery's Italian bread and a couple hunks of their focaccia bread.  Both types of bread were warm and very fresh.  I didn't want to over eat the bread as I didn't want to get too filled up so I couldn't eat my dinner.  But with the fresh whipped butter, it was hard not to stop.  

Courtney came back to take my order and I was torn between the steak de burgo - medallions of sauteed tender beef topped with a garlic butter cream sauce, the lasagna Bolognese - Mezzodi's homemade lasagna with a Bolognese sauce with sausage, ground beef with mozzarella, parmesan and ricotta cheese, or the Cajun seafood pasta - shrimp and scallops mixed in with bell peppers and onions on a bed of penne pasta, then topped with a spicy Cajun cream sauce.  I even contemplated getting a pizza, but the three entrees that I was looking at were tough to choose from.  I ended up with the lasagna Bolognese.  I had my choice between the soup or a house salad and I went with the salad with their homemade creamy balsamic dressing.  I switched from beer to a glass of Norton malbec, a wonderful red wine from Argentina.  I've been getting into malbec wines a little more as of late.  

Courtney brought out my salad and it was pretty good.  The lettuce greens were fresh and flavorful.  Large chunks of crusty homemade croutons were on top.  The creamy balsamic vinegar was a wonderful taste sensation.  It was light, but had a great forward taste on my tongue.   

Not long after I finished my salad, the lasagna Bolognese came out to my table.  I was also ready for another glass of the very delicious Norton malbec.  Courtney brought me over another glass and asked if I needed anything else.  Nope!  I was ready to dig in. 

The lasagna wasn't all that large, but it was plenty enough.  It had layers of lasagna noodles with the ricotta cheese, sausage and beef lying between the pasta.  Mozzarella cheese was melted over the top and a sprinkle of parmesan topped the dish.  The Bolognese sauce had a wonderful sweet tomato taste and the sausage and beef were ample in that I had I bite of the meat with nearly every fork full I cut.  It's difficult to make bad lasagna, but it's even more difficult to make it taste great.  Mezzodi's lasagna Bolognese fit into the latter category.  

During the course of and directly after the meal, Courtney completely forgot about me.  I needed another napkin as I dropped mine on the floor.  She wasn't around, so I had to go over to the bar to get another napkin.  Then after I was finished, I was ready for my bill.  Once again, she was nowhere to be found.  I finally had to ask the bartender if he could find my server so I could get my bill.  About 10 minutes later, Courtney appeared with the bill.  I opened it up and immediately gave her my credit card.  She came back moments later and handed me the bill folder with my credit card.  She thanked me and walked away.  When I opened up the folder, I found that she forgot to include a pen.  I had to get a pen from the bartender just to sign off on my tab.  She got a couple dollars less than what I had planned on giving her.  That's one of my pet peeves about service at restaurants.  I don't want a server to be hovering over you during the course of your meal, but she needed to be a little more attentive.  And I didn't think it was all that busy in there that evening.

Nevertheless, despite her disappearing act, Courtney did a fine job up until the meal was served.   However, it didn't detract from the overall experience I had at Mezzodi's.  The bread was outstanding, the salad was very good and I will say the lasagna Bolognese was one of the best lasagna dishes I've had in quite sometime.  I sort of wish I would have had the experience of going to Mezzodi's when the Guidecessi's owned the place, but the team in place today acquitted themselves very well.  I would definitely recommend going to Mezzodi's for a good Italian meal when you're in Des Moines.  

(Update July 2016 - I just drove past where Mezzodi's was located and there is now nothing - no building, nothing.  The restaurant closed in May of 2015 with the owners hoping to redo the space and rebrand into a new restaurant.  That obviously didn't happen as the building has been demolished.  Rumors are that a new building that will house a Panera Bread Company will be built on the former Mezzodi's site.)   

Restaurant Toulouse - Saugatuck, MI

During our trip to Western Michigan, we spent some time in the small arts and shopping community of Saugatuck.  We'd been in Saugatuck once before and found it to be a nice little community with a big harbor filled with a number of large boats that were seaworthy enough to be on Lake Michigan.  We were looking for some place nice to have a fine dining experience in Saugatuck and came across a little French style restaurant - Restaurant Toulouse - or "Toulouse" as it's known to the locals.  

Toulouse has been open for a little over 20 years, housed in a historic building in Saugatuck, just up the way from the city's marina (see map).  The building stands on what was the site of an old boarding house/hotel in Saugatuck - the Union House Hotel (it was also known as the Sherwood Hotel).  The original building was first used as a boarding house for workers in a sawmill owned by the man who built the place.  Later on as a hotel, it played host to a number of sailors, woodsmen and traders who drank and danced with the young prostitutes who worked the hotel.  A number of townspeople weren't sorry when the hotel was destroyed by fire in 1897.  

In 1905, a local man, Roger Reed, built a new building to house his feed, livery and stagecoach station business.  This is the present day Restaurant Toulouse.  Progress in the form of the new-fangled automobile meant the end of Reed's livery and stagecoach station and it later became a fire station before the city of Saugatuck built a new fire station a number of years ago.

In 1990, Ellen Heyer bought the building and worked with a local architect to restore the building and turn it into a fine dining establishment.   They completely renovated the inside, but restored the outside of the building to the same standards as it was when it was built in the early 20th century.  Heyer also owns Chequers, an English gastropub just down the street from Toulouse.  (There is also a Chequers in the Chicago suburb of La Grange.)  

We had made reservations for 8 p.m. at the restaurant.  We were a little early when we went in and went to the hostess counter inside the front door.  The bar area had a fireplace and some tables with white tablecloths on top.  I understand there's a larger dining area for spillover and/or private dining.  We were asked if we wanted to sit inside or outside.  It was a lovely evening and we immediately asked for outdoor seating.  The young hostess left for a moment to check to see if a table was set up.  She came back and escorted us to the outdoor dining patio.  

We were seated at a table just near the awning of the very nice patio area.  There were a number of diners on the patio, but not enough that it was packed with people.  We were given our menus and told that Jimi would be our waiter for the evening.  

Most of the food at Toulouse has a French/International theme to it with a bit of American thrown in.  They try to use the freshest ingredients by buying locally raised foods and prepare them fresh each day they're open.  (Toulouse is open Thursday thru Sunday from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. in the summer.  Off season hours vary, we were told.)   The menu features a number of interesting appetizers, bistro favorites and French auberge-style entrees.  (An auberge - pronounced aw-BERJ - is basically a rural French restaurant that serves food that is raised in the immediate area - the original concept of "farm to fork".  For years, auberges were restricted to serving only food that is raised or grown in that specific French province or in the province next to the home province.  But from what I understand on my trips to France they've lightened the restrictions to allow some inner-provinces to serve seafood.  But most auberges continue to serve locally grown and raised food.) 

We had quite a while to look over the menu and the wine list as Jimi was talking with a table of four seated near us.  It turned out they were friends of his who had come over for drinks and an appetizer.  He was paying much more attention to them than he was his other tables until a lady - whom I presumed to be Ellen Heyer - came over to remind him that he needed to check on his tables.  

We knew we were going to get wine with the meal, but Cindy wanted a drink to start out.  She had a hankering for a mai-tai while we were in Michigan for some reason and she found that Toulouse featured a mai-tai martini.  She ordered one of those for a pre-dinner drink.  I asked Jimi if they had Barcardi Limon.  He asked one of the other waiters if they had it in the bar and the waiter confirmed that they did.  So I ordered a Bacardi Limon and Lemonade.  Jimi said, "Ah, but we don't have lemonade.  We have sweet tea."  It reminded me of being in Savannah where NO ONE had lemonade to be able to go with the Bacardi Limon.  I took a quick look through the beer menu they had and found a Bell's Amber Ale on tap.  I got that to go along with Cindy's mai-tai martini (pictured right).  

Toulouse's executive chef Curt Baas offered some pretty interesting appetizers on the menu including pan-seared Foie Gras served on a crostini spread with goat cheese.  They also had an onion-stuffed brie available that evening as well as a chicken pate for appetizers.  I almost pulled the trigger on the onion-stuffed brie, but Cindy had her eye on the pickled beet and goat cheese salad, served along with fresh spinach and marinated onions then sprinkled with crushed walnuts.  I decided to get the caprese salad with fresh roma tomatoes on top of a bed of cucumber strips, topped with sliced fresh mozzarella and fresh chopped basil and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  

For our main entree, I really wanted to get Toulouse's signature dish, Cassoulet (pronounced cass-o-LAY).  This French auberge-style entree featured a duck leg with great northern beans, bacon, pork sausage and duck confit.  That sounded good and interesting.  But I also saw something that caught my eye - Coquille St. Jacques (pronounced co-KEEL saint zjock).   I had Coquille St. Jacques on my first visit to Montreal 10 years ago tomorrow when I was there interviewing for my current job.   The Coquille St. Jacques I had in Montreal featured shrimp with mushrooms in a cream sherry sauce, then topped with mashed potatoes and baked in the oven broiler.  The Coquille St. Jacques at Toulouse was similar, but used scallops instead of shrimp.  The Coquille St. Jacques I had in Montreal was the first and last time I had gotten that and it was a memorable meal as I was offered - and subsequently accepted - the position I hold today.  It continues to be the best job I've ever had.  

Cindy was looking hard at the marinated and grilled lamb chops, as well as the chicken piccata - a thin-breaded chicken breast drizzled with a lemon caper beurre blanc (white butter) sauce.  If they had that in a veal dish, I would have hopped on that.  But she ended up settling on the walleye entree that had sort of a Mexican flare to it.  They take a walleye filet and roll it in a combination of corn meal and chili powder before it's baked.  The walleye filet is then rested on a bed of bell pepper quinoa (pronounced KIN-wah), then it's topped with a chopped salsita consisting of jalapeno, apple, avacado and orange.  

When Jimi finally came back after kibitzing with his friends for awhile, we were ready to order the salads and the main entrees.  Since we were both getting fish/seafood, I also ordered up a bottle of a 2008 Franciscan Sauvignon Blanc.  They also had the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc on the wine list, but Cindy wanted something a little more fruity than dry that evening.  

Jimi brought out our salads and soon delivered the chilled wine to the table.  Cindy was still nursing her mai-tai martini so we told him to hold off on opening the wine.  He put it in the ice bucket and we dug into the salads.  

My caprese salad was very good.  The tomatoes - even for early in the season - were fresh enough, as was the very flavorful basil.   Instead of decked like a regular caprese salad, the tomato slices, the fresh mozzarella slices and the basil were all sort of interspersed on the plate.  The oil and balsamic vinegar was light, yet had a great taste to it.  

Cindy's beet and goat cheese salad (above right) was a rather large bowl that had chunks of cheese, walnuts, onions and pickled beets tossed on a bed of fresh spinach.  She said the salad was delicious and offered me some, but I declined.  I did give her some of my caprese salad which she liked immensely as well.  She said, "You know, we could have split one of these salads."  But, aaah!  It was a nice meal at a nice restaurant.  We needed to splurge and try things.  

Jimi's friends had left and a large table he was helping was also finished for the evening so he had a little more time to pay attention to his other tables, including us.  He came over to open the bottle of wine and asked how our salads were.  "Great," Cindy exclaimed.  "I would have never thought that a combination of pickled beets, goat cheese and spinach would be so good.  Heck, I could make this at home!"  

Jimi said, "Isn't it amazing how something so simple can be so good?"  

Not long after we finished our salads, Jimi brought out the main entrees.  My Coquille St. Jacques was piping hot out of the oven.  And Cindy's walleye had a nice presentation with three or four golden brown filets resting on the bed of bell pepper quinoa.  Fried zucchini - the vegetable du jour - rested on top of my bed of potatoes with the scallops, mushrooms and cream sherry sauce underneath.  Cindy also got a side of zucchini with her fish.  

The Coquille St. Jacques was very good and very rich.  The potatoes had a nice carmelization and crustiness on top.  The scallops and mushrooms lying below the bed of potatoes were both very good.  I especially liked the cream sherry sauce they had with the Coquille St. Jacques. 

Cindy showed me that the walleye was light and flaky and we traded bites of the scallops and potatoes and the walleye.  The one thing that got Cindy, though, was the green bell pepper quinoa.  We'd never had quinoa before - hell, we'd never heard of quinoa before.  She had to ask Jimi what it was again halfway through dinner and he told us that it was the seeds from a South American or Spanish grain that was high in protein.  "A lot of vegetarians eat quinoa," another waiter interjected.  I had a couple bites and it was sort of crunchy, yet cooked.  It had an agreeable taste.   

Cindy immediately said that she wanted to find some quinoa to make at home.  We were told a lot of vegetarian and/or natural health food stores had quinoa.  She said, "Geez, as many times that I've gone into health food stores in the past I've probably seen it, but didn't know what it was!"       

We ate at a leisurely pace and thoroughly enjoyed not only our dinner, but the pleasant evening.  Once Jimi's friends left, he was much more attentive to us and we found him to be a nice guy.  Once we were finished, he asked us if we'd be interesting in any dessert.  The Coquille St. Jacques was very rich and filling, and I wasn't certain I wanted anything other than, maybe, a scotch.   He dropped off a dessert menu and Cindy found creme brulee.  She wanted the creme brulee - two spoons - and I got a glass of The Macallan 12-year scotch. 

The creme brulee was good, but not the best we've had.  We didn't even take a picture of it because it was dark out (it was close to 10 p.m. and small LED lights helped keep a nice ambiance within the outdoor patio) and it looked like any other creme brulee we've had.  As I said, it was good and rich, and we had trouble finishing it.  Cindy finished her last glass of wine, I leisurely sipped on my scotch.  It was a great night outside and we were savoring our very good meal. 

And it was a very good meal at Restaurant Toulouse.  Once Jimi's friends went away and he became more attentive, he did a great job.  It had been a long time since I'd had Coquille St. Jacques and it was as good as I remember it to be 10 years ago.  Cindy loved her walleye and was happy to learn about quinoa.  Toulouse was relaxing and an overall fine meal.  We decided that it was a perfect meal for a perfect night. 

(Update - After 24 years, Ellen and Dave Heyer closed Restaurant Toulouse in May of 2015.  They also closed Chequers at the same time.  It had been open since 1988.  The reasons for the closures were reported to be "unknown".)

Jake's Pizza - Mount Prospect, IL

I was staying in the northwest suburbs of the Chicagoland regiion on a recent visit there.  I wasn't familiar with many of the places to eat in the area, so I found myself driving around trying to figure out what to get for dinner in Mount Prospect.  I went past an interesting looking place that had a number of beer signs in the window and decided to head back around the block to check it out.  I pulled up next to the place - Jake's Pizza - and did a quick Urbanspoon search on my smart phone.  It appeared to have good reviews all around, so I grabbed my Chicago Tribune and went inside.

Jake's Pizza is a small chain of pizza restaurants that were once part of a chain of over 50 locations.  The original Jake's Pizza opened in October of 1961 when 24-year-old John "Jake" Flowers opened his first restaurant in Mount Prospect (see map).  He sold his first local franchise in Jake's Pizza in the mid-60's and at one point there were 15 Jake's Pizza locations in the greater Chicago area.  

In the seventies, Flowers brought on a partner, Samuel V.P. Banks.  Banks was a Chicago lawyer of note and at one time a prosecutor who brought obscenity charges against 60's comedian Lenny Bruce.  Banks then became a high-powered defense attorney for mob-linked and corruption defendants.  His brother, William Banks, was a long-time and somewhat powerful alderman representing the 36th ward in Northwest Chicago.  

Flowers and Banks set up a corporation - Jake's Pizza International - and began to expand franchises.  At one point, there were Jake's Pizza restaurants in North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Arkansas, Arizona and Nevada.  In the early 90's, the company signed on television personality Vanna White to be a spokesperson for the company and to appear at some restaurant openings.  It wasn't long afterward that the company offered an initial public stock offering.  And it was also about that time that John "Jake" Flowers retired from the company, but maintained a seat on the company's board of directors.  

That's when things began to unravel.

The company raised over $3 million on its IPO, but under-financed franchisees and a hefty price-tag they had to pay to Vanna White caused the value of the stock to dive.  The stock price sunk to a low of around 30 cents a share and the company eventually had to declare bankruptcy protection.  Flowers came back out of retirement and dissolved the partnership.  From what I understand, it was a pretty acrimonious breakup between Flowers and Banks.  Flowers eventually bought the company back from the bankruptcy court in 1997 for just a tad over $250,000.  

Today, there are 10 Jake's Pizza restaurants around the Chicago area, primarily in the northern and western suburbs.  I'm not certain if they're still franchise-owned or if John "Jake" Flowers owns the restaurants.

So, the one in Mount Prospect is, indeed, the original Jake's Pizza.  I wasn't sure of that until I found some bankruptcy information on line regarding Jake's Pizza International.   I'm sort of surprised that I'd never heard of Jake's Pizza before my first visit there.  

It was around 8 p.m. when I walked into a nearly deserted Jake's Pizza.  Not necessarily a good sign, I thought, but I'd pretty much committed to eating there.  I was greeted by a middle-aged lady who was also going to be my server that evening.  She asked me where I'd like to sit and I took a look at the bar area to the left as you come into the place.  They had a ball game on one of the televisions, but I wasn't interested in that. I ended up sitting in a booth with a hanging light above it so I could relax and read my paper. 

The inside of Jake's Pizza was well lit with a series of high-backed wooden booths and a number of tables with ice-cream parlor style chairs throughout the room.  It was nice, clean and modern.  I'm guessing the dining room had been added on as the bar area looked a little dated.  A satellite radio station playing an eclectic mix of classic rock, blues and modern rock played in the background.

My waitress gave me a menu to look over and in addition to pizza at Jake's they have appetizers, salads and sandwiches.  But pizza is the prime menu item at Jake's.  They have both thin crust and deep dish pan pizzas along with a handful of specialty pizzas that include toppings such as shrimp, chicken (made with their homemade alfredo sauce), and pizzas made with barbecue sauce.  I'm pretty predictable when it comes to my pizza, especially when it comes to trying new places.  I have to try a sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza and that's exactly what I ordered from the lady when she came back to take my order.

Since it wasn't busy in Jake's Pizza (although there were a handful of "to-go" orders that were picked up while I was there), I got my pizza pretty quickly.  It looked and smelled very good.  It was cut into party slices like a good Chicago tavern-style pizza.  There was a plethora of fresh mushroom slices on top and the sausage and pepperoni were swimming beneath the slightly caramelized mozzarella cheese.   

           
The crust was thin enough - sort of crispy to the bite, but not overcooked.  The taste of the pizza overall was delicious.  Surprisingly delicious!  The sausage had a nice little bite to it, the pepperoni slices were plentiful and very flavorful, and I really enjoyed the somewhat forward pizza sauce.  It wasn't too sweet, but had a nice spicy flavor to it.  It was a superb pizza all around.  

I hadn't eaten all day long and was very hungry.  Since it was a thin crust pizza I was able to finish the whole thing.  And one of my keys of a good pizza is whether or not it tastes good with a cold beer.  Jake's Pizza was an excellent combination with a beer.   

Sometimes finding a pretty good restaurant out of the blue helps add to the experience.  I was absolutely impressed with the pizza at Jake's Pizza in Mount Prospect.  I'm wondering if the other Jake's locations are as good as the original one.  Sometimes that's not the case, but I'm guessing they've got to be pretty close.  Now that Jake's Pizza is on my radar, I'll be more open to trying another one of their locations at some point.    

(Update - I drove by the Jake's Pizza location in Mount Prospect on a recent visit to my dealer just down the street and saw a large "Building for Sale" sign.  Looks like Jake's Pizza is no longer open.)

Dickey's Barbecue - Davenport, IA

When a Dickey's Barbecue restaurant opened in Davenport toward the end of 2008, my long-distance, yet local friend Burt Gearhart predicted it would close within a year.  Burt lived for a long time in Texas and frequented the original Dickey's Barbecue places in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  He told me after visiting the one in Davenport, "It's nowhere near the quality of the original Dickey's.  And I even told them that when I was in there."  

Burt's premonition about Dickey's not lasting long grew some teeth when locations in Cedar Rapids and a location in Coralville (Iowa City) all closed within a couple years of opening.  The Coralville location was only open months before it was forced to close.  I  held off going to Dickey's on Utica Ridge in Davenport (see map) for well over three years, figuring that it was probably going to close at any moment.  However, business keeps going on at that location and the local franchisee opened a second Dickey's location in Moline in 2011.  So it appears that the Quad City Dickey's locations aren't going away any time soon.  One day earlier this spring, I had to go out to a tree farm on Utica Ridge and decided to stop in to Dickey's for lunch. 

The original Dickey's Barbecue started in Dallas in 1941.  Founder Travis Dickey, Sr. had a single goal when he opened his doors: "Serve the best tastin' barbecue imaginable, just the way people like it. And don't make 'em wait too long to get it."  The original Dickey's started out as a one room operation and served beef brisket, ribs, and pulled pork.  In later years during Thanksgiving and Christmas, Dickey began to smoke hams and turkeys, as well.  Dickey's also made their own barbecue beans, cole slaw and potato salad.  

Dickey's two sons, T.D. and Roland, took over the operation in 1967.   Two years later they opened two more small locations around the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.  By 1972, Dickey's was the largest barbecue chain in Texas.  In 1994, the brothers decided to start franchising the Dickey Barbecue concept and began to sell franchise rights.  Today, there are over 170 Dickey's locations in 39 states.  The company bills itself as the largest "fast-casual" restaurant in the nation.  "Fast-casual" means that you order at the counter, they give you a number, you go sit down and they bring the food to you.  

Local owners Bruce and Judy Norden opened the Utica Ridge location in November of 2008, then with partners (and General Manager) Bill Jensen and Chris Banks, they opened the Moline location in May of 2011.  A kitchen fire at the Moline location toward the end of December closed that location until March of this year.  But it's back up and running with full bore barbecue.  

It was around 1:30 when I got into the Dickey's on Utica Ridge.  There are a number of tables and booths throughout the place.  The colors on the walls were subtle earth tones and the large windows on the east and south side of the building gave it a bright and appealing atmosphere.  A couple was seated at one table and a group of construction workers were seated at another table - all of whom were drinking from one of Dickey's "Big Yellow Cups", a large 32 oz. fully recyclable and reusable fountain drink cup that has become somewhat of a signature item for Dickey's over the past few years.  

I went up to the counter, not fully knowing what was going on and took a look at the menu that was sitting on the counter in front of me.  One of the guys in the back said he'd be with me in a minute.  That gave me time to go through the menu to figure out what I wanted.  

I usually get a sampler plate when I try a barbecue place that I'm not familiar with and Dickey's only had a two meat plate on their menu - and you couldn't order ribs as one of the two meats.  You had your choice of chopped or sliced beef brisket, pulled pork, ham, sliced turkey breast, marinated smoked chicken, Polish sausage or something called spicy cheddar sausage, which is sort of a Dickey's signature item.  You could order ribs, but they were only available on their own platter.  

When the guy came out to take my order, I ordered a two meat plate of sliced brisket and the pulled pork.  He said, "You get a couple of sides along with that."  The sides included barbecue beans, waffle fries, okra, jalapeno beans, mac and cheese, and green beans with bacon just to name only a few of what they offered.  I went with the barbecue beans and the mac and cheese.  

He asked what I wanted to drink and I sort of looked around for a beer cooler.  When I didn't see one, I just said, "Oh, I'll just have water."  

The guy must have read my mind and he said, "We have beer, too."

Well, I LOVE beer with my barbecue.  I got a couple beers to go along with the meal.  After I paid, he gave me a number and said, "We'll bring it out to you when it's finished!"

I found a seat in a booth in the center of the restaurant.  It wasn't more than five minutes when one of the other guys brought out my plate of food.  There were ample portions of pulled pork and sliced beef brisket on the plate, covered with a generous amounts of Dickey's Original barbecue sauce.  The mac and cheese and the barbecue beans were in small containers.  And, quite curiously, along with sliced pickles, there was a raw onion ring on the platter.  A biscuit-style roll came with the meal.    

Once again, not knowing the drill at Dickey's, I found that I didn't have any silverware.  I went over by the front counter and found the silverware - along with small vats of Dickey's regular, spicy and sweet barbecue sauces.  I grabbed one little tub each of the barbecue sauce, grabbed a fork and a knife and headed back to the table.

From my first bite of the beef brisket, it was fully apparent that I didn't need the knife.  The thick sliced brisket fell apart when I put a fork to it.  It was very tender and I immediately liked the original Dickey's sauce, although it was a little too runny for my liking.  I tried some of the sweet sauce next with the brisket, but I couldn't really tell a big difference between the original and the sweet sauces.  But when I tried the spicy Dickey's sauce, that got my attention.  It had a nice kick to the taste, lingering on the tongue for a moment with a subtle hot spice flavor.  Once again, other than it being a little too runny for me, it was good.  I liked it a lot.  

The pulled pork was equally as moist and tender as the beef brisket.  I ended up going back to get more of the spicy and sweet sauces and I poured the spicy tub container over the pulled pork.  It was pretty damn good.  

The barbecue beans were just OK, even after I popped more of both the sweet and hot barbecue sauces in with the beans.  They were very runny - something that I don't care for in barbecue or baked beans.  But they were OK, nonetheless.  The surprise of the meal, though, was the mac and cheese.  I don't know why I get mac and cheese at places like this because it's usually not very good.  But I have to say the mac and cheese was well above average.  It was thick and cheesy, and had a very good taste quality to it.  I couldn't eat it all, but I was pleasantly surprised with the mac and cheese at Dickey's.

The roll was actually pretty good, too.  I found myself dipping it into the barbecue beans and sopping up some of the extra sauce on my platter.  The roll was sort of light, but chewy.  Quite honestly, I couldn't find anything to bitch about with my meal.  I was pleasantly surprised with my barbecue platter at Dickey's.

Another tradition at Dickey's is free soft-serve ice cream.  I don't know how I could have enjoyed any ice cream after the lunch I had.  I did finish the meats on my platter and made a serious dent into both the barbecue beans and the mac and cheese.  The roll was very good dipped in the barbecue sauce.  After all that food and a couple beers, I was stuffed.  

I have to say that I was very impressed with my first visit to a Dickey's Barbecue.  Look, I'm sure the family run locations around Texas are probably better, and I'm sure that's what my friend Burt is basing his opinion of the Davenport Dickey's upon.  But I've eaten at a lot of barbecue places (as you can see by the number of barbecue places I've visited around the Midwest) and I think I know what is good and what isn't.  Even for a chain, I was impressed with Dickey's Barbecue.  As you know, I'm pretty much down on chain restaurants, but I understand that even though there is a standard menu for all Dickey's franchises, each local franchise owner gets to put their own little stamp on the food.  The meat was tender and flavorful, and I did dig the mac and cheese at Dickey's.  I think I'd go back to Dickey's before I'd go back to a place like Famous Dave's, which, too, isn't bad barbecue for a chain. 

(Update - Due to "underperforming" sales, this Dickey's Barbecue closed in the summer of 2014.  There is still a Dickey's on Avenue of the Cities in Moline, but I've never been to it.)

The Standard - Elmhurst, IL

I hadn't been to the Elmhurst area just west of Chicago for dinner for quite sometime.  There have always been a number of wonderful dining options in Elmhurst, but this particular evening I wanted to try something new.  Sitting in my hotel room, I found a place that I wasn't overly familiar with on Urbanspoon - The Standard - and it appeared that it was just down York Road in the Elmhurst City Centre, Elmhurst's downtown restaurant, shopping and entertainment district.

The Standard is owned by Steve Syregelas and opened in May of 2007.  Their concept is to take classic American food and offer a fresh and modern approach.  The food is all made with the freshest ingredients and made from scratch each day.  I likened it to higher end comfort food.  They also have a full service bar where they make a large assortment of specialty drinks and martini's using fresh fruits and seasonal ingredients.   

The Standard is actually just off York Road on Schiller on the ground floor of a public parking garage (see map).  I was able to find a parking spot on the street just across from the front of the restaurant.  I went in and was greeted by the bartender, Christopher, who was also wearing the hat of host for that evening.  The bar area looked rather interesting with a backlit wall showcasing their various bottles of liquor.  No one was seated at the bar and I asked Christopher if I could sit there.  He said, "Absolutely!  I could use some company!"  

The dining room was also rather interesting. It's sort of a stylish and modern take on a classic American diner.  The dining room was designed by SYRE Design, which, I'm guessing, is probably connected to owner Steve Syregelas.  The key component of the dining room are the large modern light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  While the restaurant was not bright, it certainly wasn't so dark that you could read a menu.  

Christopher sat a dinner menu down in front of me and I began to go through what they had to offer.  He came back a moment later and asked me if I wanted anything to drink.  They had three beers on tap - the Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat beer (which is one of the very few wheat beers that I like); another beer that while I can't remember what it was, I wasn't interested in getting it; and a beer whose spigot I didn't recognize.  I asked Christopher what the other beer was and he said, "Oh, that's the Magic Hat 9.  It's out of the Magic Hat Brewery in Vermont." 

I wasn't familiar with it and I asked what kind of beer it was.  He told me that it was a pale ale.  I immediately signed up for that.  And I'm glad I did.  It wasn't as forward or as heavy as some pale ales can be.  It was a very smooth drinking beer.  It turns out that it's been available in Illinois for quite some time, but I wasn't familiar with it.  I'm certainly familiar with it now.  

Looking through the menu, I found The Standard to have a wide variety of interesting salads, sandwiches, appetizers and specialty entrees.  They also had a handful of steaks and seafood dishes to choose from.  A waiter came over to talk to Christopher and Christopher said, "Hey, what's the special tonight?  Maybe this gentleman would like to hear about it."

The waiter proceeded to tell me about a chicken entree where they take a grilled chicken breast and add ham and Swiss cheese and some other ingredients.  It sounded like their version of a chicken cordon bleu.  It was tempting and I kept that in the back of my mind.  

On their web site, the picture of their burger looks fantastic and they had a handful of different variations to choose from.   All the burgers are 1/2 pound patties and cooked over a wood-fired grill.  Their Classic cheeseburger had American cheese with all the garden fixing's.  The Backyard burger had cheddar cheese with bacon and barbecue sauce.  And they had a Maytag burger featuring Maytag blue cheese and caramelized onions with lettuce, tomato and pickles.  I almost pulled the trigger on that.

But I had been on the road for a while and every now and then I get to a point that I need a good comfort food dinner.  The Standard's specialty entrees featured a roasted turkey dinner with cranberry/orange sauce along with apple stuffing, smashed potatoes and homemade gravy.  They also had a meat loaf dinner that caught my eye.  For fish, they had a sesame encrusted sushi grade ahi tuna with Thai peanut sauce, baby bok choy and rice.  And they also had a wonderful sounding Steak Diane - beef filet medallions in a mushroom madiera sauce and their smashed potatoes.  I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted.

I had narrowed my choices down to the Maytag burger and the meat loaf served with a mushroom bordelaise sauce and topped with onion straws and served over a bed of smashed potatoes.  Christopher came over and asked if I was ready to order.  I told him that I was torn between the Maytag burger ("Just had one of those earlier," he said), and the meat loaf.  He said, "Oooo...  That is a tough choice.  Our meat loaf is very good."  

I did a mental coin flip in my head and it came up meat loaf.  He said, "Either way, I don't think you'll go wrong."

Less than 10 minutes after I ordered, a waitress brought out my meat loaf and sat it down in front of me at the bar.  It featured three medium sized slabs of meat loaf that appeared to be slightly grilled, then placed on the smashed potatoes, then topped with a liberal amount of the mushroom bordelaise sauce.  I was expecting onion straws on top of the meat loaf, but I was instead served with what appeared to be two small homemade onion rings.  Fresh parsley was then sprinkled over the top.  The presentation for a meat loaf dish was very nice.  

The meat loaf was firm, yet easy to cut with a fork.  Along with the mushroom sauce, it tasted very good.  The herbs and seasonings that were in the meat loaf added to the taste sensation of the sauce and the meat together.  

The smashed potatoes were, well, smashed potatoes.  They were fine, but nothing outstanding.  Actually, I wish I would have gotten more than just two of the onion rings as they were delicious.  The batter was fresh and flavorful, and the onions cooked inside had a great sweet taste to them.  Surprisingly, I didn't find the onion rings anywhere on the menu, not even for an appetizer or a side.  I thought they were excellent. 

For a first time dining experience at The Standard, I was very impressed.   The menu was very interesting, the meat loaf entree was very good, and Christopher's service was excellent.  They weren't overly busy that evening so I was able to get his full attention when I needed it, but nonetheless it was exemplary.  As I said, Elmhurst has a number of good to very good dining establishments and I'm glad that I was able to try The Standard on this particular evening.  Next time - the Maytag burger! 

(Update - I didn't get the chance to make it back to get a Maytag burger.  The Standard closed in May of 2013.)

Boneyard Barbecue - Champaign, IL

I had finished my morning meetings in Champaign on a recent visit there and I had contemplated stopping at The Burger Barge outside of Peoria for a burger on the way home.  The only problem is that by the time I would have gotten there it would have been close to 3 p.m., too late to enjoy a great burger if I was planning on eating with my wife later that evening.  I decided to go find a barbecue restaurant that I'd driven past on my way into Champaign the previous evening - Boneyard Barbecue.  I pulled in there around 1:30 and had missed the lunch rush. 

Boneyard Barbecue is located at 25 E. Springfield St. in what was the old Fireside restaurant.  (See map)  After a place called Rocks closed up in the summer of 2009, Anthony Donato teamed up with Eddie Geovanti's - owner of Geovanti's in Champaign - to open the Fireside, a contemporary bar and grill known for their wings, burgers and - for Springfield, IL natives - their own variation of the horseshoe sandwich.  

Donato eventually bought Eddie Geovanti out of both the Fireside and Geovanti's, but found that running both businesses was troublesome, considering he also ran a property and business management company on the side.  Enter George Dries.

Dries was the owner of BoBo's BBQ, which was basically a mobile food service that parked in lots around Champaign selling his Southern-style barbecue out of his food truck since 2008.  Bobo's was a popular destination for people in and around Champaign and he soon found that he needed a permanent place to sell his barbecue.  Donato was looking for a partner for the Fireside location and the two got together to change the bar and grill into Boneyard Barbecue in the fall of 2011.  

Dries and Donato updated the inside of the restaurant to make it more of a sports bar atmosphere that also sold burgers and sandwiches along with BoBo's barbecue specialties.  There is an outdoor patio (albeit along busy Springfield Ave.) and a large party room for private events.  The owners are also huge University of Illinois sports fans and the outside of the building is painted in the school colors of navy blue and orange.  Large "I's" for Illinois adorn the outside of the building.  For an Iowa Hawkeyes fan like me, it was a little galling to walk into the place.  

I took a seat along the north side of the rectangular bar with the windows looking out onto the patio behind me.  I was greeted by a bartender, Hannah, who was outgoing and chatty.  Rather chatty.  Actually, I noticed that with all the help at Boneyard Barbecue were chatty with their customers.  Not that there were a lot of customers in the place at that time of the day, but Hannah sure liked to talk.  

She gave me a menu to look through and, as always, when I go to a barbecue place that I'm not familiar with I like to go for a combination platter just to try a little bit of everything.  They had a handful of combinations - brisket and pulled pork, ribs and brisket, ribs and chicken, ribs and pulled pork.  Actually, what I really wanted was ribs, pulled pork and brisket.  I just decided to go with the brisket and pulled pork.  What was sort of interesting and rather peculiar was that you had to order your choice of barbecue sauce to go on the meat.  They didn't have sauce bottles or containers anywhere in the restaurant.  You had your choice of mild or hot, or a combination of the two.  I got mine with the combination.

Two sides came with the barbecue platter - I got baked beans and mac & cheese.  I had to pick between those two and fries, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, cole slaw, sweet potato fries, cottage cheese or green beans.  

After about 10 minutes, Hannah came out with my barbecue combination.  The mac & cheese, I could tell, was going to be pedestrian, at best.  And it was.  And the baked beans weren't much better.  I should have asked her for some sauce on the side to help zip up the beans because they were pretty weak on taste.  And that was another minor quibble on my part - there was no extra sauce available in bottles or containers. 

The brisket was more of a pulled beef variety rather than sliced.  However, it was moist, tender and tasted good with the smoky and very sweet barbecue sauce that Boneyard Barbecue had to offer. I forked some of the excess sauce on the plate in with a bite of the baked beans and it helped the taste tremendously.  

The ribs featured four bones slathered in the barbecue sauce.  I really wish I would have gotten the sauce on the side when I got to the ribs because I could tell that they had a unique rub on the outside.  The ribs were very meaty, also moist and tender.  The sauce was a little overpowering for the taste of the rib meat.  It was also so sweet it was sticky.  One thing that Boneyard Barbecue needs to offer is wet naps or at least a warm wet towel to use while eating the ribs.  I had to go into the restroom and "squeegee" my face and hands off after I finished the meal.  

Hannah came over to me and asked, "How was it?"  I told her the truth - it was good.  I can't say it was outstanding barbecue, but it was good.  I've gotten spoiled on good barbecue in Kansas City and in Des Moines, two places that, I feel, has the best barbecue in the Midwest.  But Boneyard Barbecue acquitted themselves very well and would have stacked up against many barbecue places I've eaten at in the past.  If I do get a chance to go back I'll try the ribs dry or with sauce on the side.  I want to taste the meat on the ribs without the interference of the sauce.  Not that there is anything wrong with the sauce, but it did overpower the taste of the meat.  And I've found that if barbecue joints do that with their meat, they're trying to hide something.  

(Update - In a growing eclectic barbecue market in Champaign/Urbana, it appeared that Boneyard Barbecue couldn't keep up.  They are now closed.) 

Pazzesco Pasta and Chophouse - Ames, IA

I found myself in Ames, Iowa one evening staying overnight for an early morning meeting with a prospective dealer. Not knowing much about the culinary fare of Ames, I asked the girl at the front desk if there was a steakhouse or an Italian restaurant that she recommended. Her face lit up and said, "Yeah! Actually, you can have both at a place not far from here!" She recommended I try Pazzesco Pasta and Chophouse out on the western edge of Ames on Lincoln Way (see map).

Pazzesco (pronounced Pad-ZEE-sko), which roughly means "wild, crazy and fantastic" in Italian is the brain child of Chris Patterson, a native of nearby Nevada, IA (we Iowans pronounce Nevada as "nuh-VAY-da" with the long "A" in the middle). Patterson was a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Industrial Administration and co-founded GNC Restaurants, a multi-concept restaurant group based out of Ames. He ran GNC for about five years before moving on to work for the Cracker Barrel restaurants.

After becoming a District Manager for Cracker Barrel, Patterson went on to work as a Regional Manager for Canyon Cafe, a Southwestern-cuisine restaurant chain based in Dallas. Patterson worked for Canyon Cafe for four years before the restaurants were purchased by AVADO Brands, a restaurant holding company that owned a number of Don Pablo's Mexican restaurants as well as a number of Hops Grillhouse and Brewery locations. (AVADO filed for bankruptcy in 2007.)

Soon thereafter, Patterson (pictured right) then went on to work with the Leeann Chin, a Twin Cities-based contemporary Chinese fast food chain. Patterson opened the first 3 Leeann Chin locations in Kansas City, eventually opening 7 total in the area. From Leeann Chin, Patterson went on to become the President and C.O.O. of Austin Grill, a multi-location Tex-Mex restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.

After Austin Grill was sold in 2008, Patterson decided that he wanted to do something else. He wasn't overly happy with the new owners and he was finding solace in music. He had formed an alternative country music group - Leaving, TX - in 2004 and the group had gained somewhat of a following in the Washington D.C. area and even toured parts of Europe. But the restaurant business was in his blood and he decided to move back to his roots in Iowa soon after Austin Grill was sold.

The Broiler steakhouse on the far west side of Ames was a popular place to eat for over 45 years. (Years ago I had a t-shirt with "The Broiler" on the front of it. Don't quite remember how I got it as I'd never been to The Broiler, but I used to wear it all the time when I played basketball.) The original Broiler closed for awhile around 2007, but reopened in the fall of 2008. It didn't last long, closing for good sometime in 2009. The building sat idle until Patterson came back to Ames and decided to open an Italian steakhouse in the place. Patterson literally gutted the place and formed the restaurant to his vision. Pazzesco opened in July of 2010.

(Pazzesco in Ames. Photo by Scott Dresmel, courtesy Ames.Patch.com)

Patterson is also a partner in a new gourmet burger place in Ames called Oddfellows Burger Kitchen - a restaurant on Ames' north side that opened earlier this year. I might have to try that place at some point. (Update - I did try Oddfellows very recently. Look for that entry on Road Tips in the coming weeks.)

Kellie Doyle is the chef at Pazzesco. Doyle's grandmother immigrated from Italy and many of the recipes used at the restaurant were handed down by her grandmother's ancestors. Patterson has also added some of his own recipes from working in Italian-style restaurants years ago. Doyle has been Patterson's chef since he opened Pazzesco.

Since it had been years since I'd been on the west side of Lincoln Way in Ames, I wasn't too certain where Pazzesco was. As I started to get out on the fringe of town, I saw a brightly lit side along the south side of the road just past the Boone County/Story County line. A handful of cars were in the lot when I pulled in.

A hostess met me at the front counter. She asked if I wanted to have a seat in the bar or have a table in the dining room. I went with the dining room option and she took me to a table along the wall near the front of the restaurant. The only problem was that a large family with two very loud and shrieking kids were at a large table just behind me. After a bit, I almost got up to go to the bar. But the adults were able to corral the kids and their loud screaming after awhile.

The main dining room was long and narrow with a number of old pictures on the wall. A fire place was at one end of the room with a number of tables throughout the subtle-lit room. It was cozy and inviting, even with the little kids still whining behind me.

The hostess had left me a menu and my waitress for the evening, Lindsey, came out to greet me and to take my drink order. I saw an Italian beer on their menu that I hadn't had in quite sometime - Menabrae. Menabrae is one of the oldest continuous breweries in Italy starting out in 1846. They had the lager and the amber Menabrae at Pazzesco and I got a bottle of the lager.

While I was waiting on my beer and looking through the menu, another person brought out a basket of bread and a plate with herbs and garlic swimming in garlic oil. The bread was halfway dried out and sort of bland, but the herbs and garlic oil made it taste a lot better.

Most of the items on the menu were your basic Italian entrees. They had veal and chicken parmesan, as well as chicken and veal piccata. They had pork piccata, too, and that sounded very interesting. I was going into the place thinking of getting a steak - they cook it either over a charbroiled grill, or they broil it in a concoction of better and garlic then serve it with a brown butter sauce. Oooo... I was so damn tempted to get a steak. But the veal piccata kept talking to me.

Lindsey came back and asked me if I had any questions. I asked her if the veal slices they had were large or more like medallions. She tired to use her hands to size the veal for me and she wasn't doing a good job of describing it. I said, "Wait, forget it. I'll make it easy for you and get the veal piccata." It was served on a bed of angel hair pasta with capers. I also ordered a house salad with their homemade garlic parmesan dressing.

The salad was a bunch of assorted greens with some croutons tossed about and the dressing on the side (below left). The dressing was a creamy garlic parmesan that was neither all that pungent in garlic nor parmesan cheesy. It was a pretty pedestrian salad. But the half-stale bread dipped in the olive oil and herbs was still getting my attention.

When Lindsey brought out the veal piccata (above right), I could tell from the looks of it that I was going to have trouble liking it. The veal had a heavy breading over it, then it looked like it had been stuck in a microwave to melt a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese. At first I thought it was a cracker and corn meal crust on the veal, but then I couldn't figure out what it was. The veal was stiff and tough - so tough that I had to ask Lindsey for a steak knife. Even with the steak knife, it still didn't cut very well. It was chewy and not very flavorful. The pasta under the veal was woefully overcooked and somewhat mushy. It didn't roll up very easily on the fork and the only spoon available at the table was a small one that made it difficult to roll the pasta on the fork. The capers were strong and forward in taste, but they were the only things on the plate that were. Still, the bread and the olive oil and herbs were saving the meal.

Looking back, I should have gone with my first instincts and gotten the steak. The veal was not very good, the pasta was overcooked and the salad was "eh!". But even with the nearly stale bread, the garlic herb olive oil dip was the highlight of the evening. That, and Lindsey's stellar service. Even though it was a good value, I can't really say that I was overly impressed with the food at Pazzesco. From reviews I've read on a handful of sites, it appears they do have a following and people do like the place. It could have been an off night, but the veal seemed like it was deep fried rather than pan-cooked. I probably won't be back to Pazzesco anytime soon. But if I do, I'd get the steak rather than the veal.

(Update - Interestingly, I may have had one of the last meals in Pazzesco.  I usually write my entries of places weeks in advance and it was mid-March when I was in there.  They closed on March 24 with a note on their web site saying they were looking for a new location.  So far, there is no indication that they've reopened.)

India Rasoi (Formerly Taj Oriental) - Moline

(March 2012 Update - This entry is going to be a little confusing as I've been informed that Taj Oriental in Moline is now known as India Rasoi.  Rasoi is Hindu for Kitchen.  This entry was written after we went to Taj Oriental twice before the name was changed last month. It's my understanding the original owner skipped town and left the place to new management who changed the name to India Rasol.  However, the chef stayed and the food is still the same.) 

A local friend who we don't see enough of, Shawn Eldridge, sent me a tip on a new Indian restaurant that opened last year in Moline, Taj Oriental. After my visit to Taj of India in Indianapolis (click here to see that entry), I couldn't quit raving to Cindy about how good the curry chicken was at that place. She said, "Didn't Shawn say there's some new Indian restaurant in Moline that's pretty good?" I didn't feel like cooking one Sunday evening, so we made the trek across the river to downtown Moline to Taj Oriental. (See map)

Taj Oriental is housed in the same space that was once the upscale and rather snooty Charles Michel fine-dining restaurant, as well as an Italian restaurant, Portabella's, that we ate at once and we had a sub-par meal. It wasn't open much more than a year, if that.

There is evidently a Hawaiian connection to Taj Oriental, one that was cryptically told to us by a young guy who appeared to be an owner or manager of the restaurant. He said relatives own an Indian restaurant on the island of Kaua'i and that's where he learned the art of Indian cooking. He said he was in Las Vegas about 10 years ago at an Indian restaurant and the food was so good he asked to meet the chef. The chef was a young Indian and the two became good friends. Somehow - and I'm still fuzzy on this - they ended up in Moline opening Taj Oriental last summer.

While the front of Taj Oriental sports sort of a "bunker-type" concrete facade, the interior of the restaurant hasn't changed much from the time we'd been in years ago when it was still an Italian restaurant. The booths were still set back in little alcoves along the north and east walls of the restaurant, with sturdy wooden tables and chairs throughout the main dining area. A hard wood floor with a high ceiling echoes conversations throughout the place and I do remember it being somewhat loud in there on the previous visit.

Taj Oriental is also known for their lunchtime buffets - served 7 days a week - and a large buffet area is off to the side of the main dining room.

Since it was a Sunday night when we were there, only a couple three other tables were filled with diners. We were met by a hostess/waitress who told us later that it was her first day on the job at the restaurant. (We could tell - her knowledge of Indian food was even worse than ours.) She sat us in one of the booths along the east wall and gave us menus. The room temperature of the restaurant was cool for me and downright cold for Cindy. "It's like they don't have the heat on in here," she said.

Like most Indian restaurants I've encountered over the past couple three years, the selection at Taj Oriental was no different from many of the others I've been to. They featured Tandoor oven baked foods, as well as a wide selection of vegetarian dishes on the menu. They also feature a number of seafood entrees, but they are known for their biryani dishes - a seasoned basmati rice that originated in the Middle East that, depending upon who is doing the cooking, may include scrambled eggs, ginger, nutmeg, coriander, garlic and onions, then mixed with your choice of chicken, goat, shrimp or vegetables. Goat - I had that once in Atlanta. I think I'll pass on goat biryani.

While we were looking through the menu, the waitress brought us a free appetizer consisting of a sort of Indian thin bread - that's the best I can describe it - with a red curry sauce and a green herb sauce on the side. Sort of like tortilla chips, the "chips" were deep fried and still a little oily hot when she brought them to the table. Actually, both sauces on the appetizer were pretty darn good.

I was thinking of getting something along the lines of the Murgh (Chicken) vindaloo or the Murgh curry. Since I'd had the curry chicken in Indianapolis about four nights before - and it was just killer - I thought I'd go with the vindaloo that evening. Cindy ended up ordering some of the jingha biryani - shrimp with rice. The waitress let the owner/manager come over to take our order as he had to ask some questions as to how spicy we wanted our foods. I told him that I'd like my vindaloo a little spicier than medium. "Medium-hot, if you can do that," I told him. Cindy said she wanted her shrimp biryani "medium." He asked if we wanted any naan to go with the meal and I perked up and said, "Naan! Oh, sure! We'll take the garlic naan!"

Our meals came out about 15 minutes after we ordered and we were ready to dig in. Cindy's eyes got big when the shrimp biryani was placed in front of her. It was this huge mound of basmati rice with herbs and spices with medium-sized grilled shrimp throughout. "Geez," she exclaimed. "This is a lot of food!" She already was thinking of getting a to-go box before she even dug in. There was a ton of biryani on her platter.

My chicken vindaloo came with a deep red colored gravy broth - something that I don't remember from visits to other Indian restaurants where I got chicken vindaloo. Usually, vindaloo is more of a brown sauce than a deep red sauce like I had at Taj Oriental. The taste was a little different than I remember from other vindaloo dishes I've had, as well. What my mind was telling my taste buds vindaloo should taste like didn't quite jive with the messages my taste buds were sending back to my brain. It wasn't bad - just different. It took me about five minutes of eating before I figured out that I sort of liked it.

The garlic naan was good - not the best I've had - but still good. It was actually more fluffy than other naan breads we've had in the past, but there was a large amount of cilantro and garlic chunks on the bread helping to make it very tastey when it was topped with some of the murgh vindaloo.

Cindy just raved about the shrimp biryani. "This is outstanding," she excitedly said between bites. I had a bite of some rice with a shrimp and she was right. It was very good. It was a little spicy, but the seasonings they add to the rice helped cut down the zippy taste sensation. I liked it better than my chicken vindaloo, and I ended up liking the vindaloo.

But spicy? Whew! This was supposedly medium-hot and it was getting my attention. It wasn't anything that I couldn't eat, but I was certainly going through the water. The waitress was back about once every three minutes to fill our water glasses as Cindy's biryani was a little spicy, as well. Cindy tried a bite of the vindaloo and she said, "Oh, my God. That's too spicy for me."

When the owner and/or manager came over to see how things were, I told him that the spiciness was really getting my attention. He said, "When you said 'medium-hot', I backed that down to medium. Our dishes are naturally hot here at Taj Oriental, so our medium is a little more spicy than what you'd find at most other Indian restaurants." I told him that may be a good thing to tell people before they order.

Cindy picked out all the shrimp out of her biryani and ate them when she knew she wasn't going to be able to finish the whole thing. There was still well over half the platter covered in basmati rice. She asked the waitress for a box and the box she brought over was almost too small for all the rice Cindy wanted to put inside. I had a bunch of the steamed rice that came with my murgh vindaloo that was leftover and I asked her if she wanted to mix it together with her rice. Cindy said, "No, I don't think so. I love the taste of this rice. It would go great with chicken." And it did - we had baked chicken the next evening at home and finished off a good portion of the remaining amount of the seasoned basmati rice. Actually, I think the taste of the seasoned rice was better after it sat in the fridge for nearly 24 hours and was reheated.

The owner and/or manager came over to check on us and he offered a free dessert on the house that evening. He offered the Gulab Jamun which are round milk dumplings, deep-fried and topped with cinnamon and a sweet cardamon syrup. We immediately said, "No!!!" We were so stuffed from all the food we got at Taj Oriental. He asked us if we were sure and Cindy said, "Well, we can take it home, can't we?"

He explained that it was the type of dessert that usually had to be eaten fresh. "It doesn't travel well," he said. OK, well, that was a nice gesture on his part, but we still declined.

We both agreed that Taj Oriental was good - good enough to make plans to go back again at some point. While my vindaloo was "different" from other vindaloo's I've had, it was still good. And Cindy thoroughly enjoyed her shrimp biryani. We just have to remember next time that their medium spiciness is more like medium-hot at other Indian restaurants.

(Update - Since this post was originally written a couple months ago, we've been back to Taj Oriental one other time. Once again, it was cold in there - the temperature in the dining room had to be in the low 60's. Cindy wore her heavy winter jacket around her the whole time. One of the waiters came over and asked if she was cold. "Freezing," was her reply. He explained that their furnace was out and that someone was supposed to come the day before to fix it. We're guessing that since it was cold the first time we came, the furnace may have been out for quite some time.

I went into the restroom to use the facilities and when I went to wash my hands I waited and waited and waited for hot water to come out of the faucet. It didn't. No hot water in the restroom. That's not good.

Service that evening was horrible. There was a waiter and a waitress. The waitress sat us at a booth and gave us both water and menus. Then she forgot about us. We sat there and waited. It was over 10 minutes since we had walked in and no one had come over. It finally got to a point that I had my timer on my cell phone going, saying that if no one came to take our order in five minutes, we'd get up and leave. The girl finally came back to us a couple minutes later and said, "Has no one taken your order?" Nope. She was running around waiting on two other tables (it wasn't that busy) and the waiter was doing God knows what - moving tables, chairs, plates, whatever he could do other than take our order.

Cindy ordered some tea to go with her meal and it took over 25 minutes for her to get the tea. And that was because the girl served it with our meals. Yep, service was excruciatingly slow that evening.

I will say the chicken curry I had that evening was pretty good (below left). I ordered the curry sauce medium knowing that from the last time we were in that their food tends to run a little spicy at Taj Oriental. It had a bite to the sauce and the chicken was tender and tasty. Still, it didn't come close to my new gold standard of chicken curry that I had at Taj of India in Indianapolis.

Cindy had the paneer tikka (above right) - marinated chicken with onion and green pepper and cooked in a tandoor oven. It was brought out on a sizzling plate, similar to fajitas. Cindy loved it. I had a bite and it was pretty good.

Still, we couldn't get over the slowness of the service. From the time we walked in to the time we left, it was nearly an hour and a half. I said, "Well, we'll have to rethink coming here if the service is going to be that slow."

If you're not in a hurry, Taj Oriental is very good. If you are in a hurry, come for the lunch buffet.

(UPDATE - Taj Oriental/India Rasoi closed and was replaced by another Indian restaurant/night club, Funky Desi.  Click here to see the entry on Funky Desi.)

Taj of India - Indianapolis

It had been a long week on the road by the time I pulled into my hotel in northeast Indianapolis one evening around Christmastime. Not wanting to travel much in the month of December, I found myself staying in yet another hotel room over 4 hours from home. Sort of down in the dumps and burnt out from the travel, I wanted to get something different for dinner that particular evening but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I went to the front desk and I asked the girl if there were any brewpubs in the immediate area. She didn't know of any, but a guy standing there piped up that there was a sports bar that had a lot of beers to choose from not far from the hotel.

I ended up going there, but when I walked in the place was packed. It was loud and I'd had enough of dealing with people at that point. I turned around and walked out and took off back down 82nd St. near the Castleton Square Mall. Looking over to my right, I spied a place in strip mall - Taj of India. I quickly made the turn into the parking lot. (See map)

Actually, the parking lot was sort of full and I was worried that there would be a lot of people in the restaurant. But it turned out that a beauticians school was right next door to Taj of India and most of the cars in the parking lot were for people in there. When I went into Taj of India, there was only one other couple having dinner. I didn't know if that was a good sign or not. It was after 8 p.m., but I still thought more people would have been in the place. But it was quiet and would require only minimum interaction with other people.

Taj of India has been around since 1995. The original owner, Deep Mand, turned the reins over to Churdip Mand (don't know if that's a son or daughter or even if it's a relative), and Gurdap Singh. Taj of India is sort of locally famous for their lunch buffet they serve from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Their dinner hours are 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week.

The dining room isn't all that large, but it still probably sat 50 to 60 people comfortably. A number of larger table that sat six people were in the center of the restaurant, while smaller tables ringed the walls. The lights were somewhat subdued in the place, but not dark enough that it was difficult to read the menu or the Indianapolis Star newspaper that I brought in.

I was seated at a table along the front wall of the restaurant. A young guy was the host and waiter. He asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I asked for a Kingfisher. He looked over in the glass-doored refrigerator and he said, "I'm so sorry, sir. We are currently out of Kingfisher." He gave me some other possibilities of Indian beers - Godfather, Haywards, Taj Mahal. I wasn't familiar with the first two, but I was with the Taj Mahal. I got a large bottle of that.

He brought me back my beer and a menu. The menu was rather extensive at Taj of India with a number of Tandoori and vegetarian dishes, along with a large number of chicken, lamb and seafood entrees. They also had a number of rice-based entrees, as well. I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I wanted.

The shrimp vindaloo sounded good to me - shrimp and potatoes in a spicy vindaloo sauce. I do like vindaloo sauce, but I wanted to try it with shrimp instead of chicken. I then saw the chicken tikka masala - chicken chunks in a homemade masala sauce with onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. Ummm... that was a possibility. Then I saw the chicken mushroom - chicken chunks with fresh mushrooms in a creamy tomato sauce. Boy, I was really having trouble.

But at the top of the chicken part of the menu was the chicken curry - lightly seasoned boneless chicken chunks in a curry sauce complemented with other spices. The waiter came back over and asked if I was ready to order and I ordered the chicken curry. He asked how I wanted it prepared, "Medium or hot?" I said I wanted it somewhere in the middle - medium-hot, if he could do it. He asked if I wanted any naan bread to go along with the chicken curry. Absolutely! They had a bunch of different types of naan breads on the menu and I was torn between the ginger naan or the garlic naan - both topped with cilantro. I hemmed for a second and finally went with the garlic naan. I'm glad I did.

About 10 minutes after I ordered, the young man brought my food out to me and did it look good. One thing that I have a little problem with at Indian restaurants is the amount of rice that they bring to the table. With the garlic naan and the chicken curry, there was no way I would be able to make a healthy dent in the large bowl of rice he brought out. I did spoon out a little rice onto my plate and dumped the chicken curry on top.

Now, I'm far from an expert on Indian food but I do know if I like something or not. And I REALLY liked the chicken curry at Taj of India. It had a little spicy kick to it - the medium-hot was tolerable and I concluded that I probably would have been able to have it a little more hot in spiciness. But the overall taste of the spices mixed together with the curry was just outstanding. Dropping some of the curry chicken onto the very good - and very pungent - garlic naan was another taste treat. The smell of the spices permeated the area around my table and the overall taste of the meal as a whole was simply wonderful. I made short work of the chicken curry and used the garlic naan to sop up the remaining curry sauce from the bowl. I was like a man devouring his first meal in weeks. The garlic naan was so good that I ate the whole piece - something that I regretted doing. But it was so damn good.

Compared to other Indian restaurants I've been to, the service at Taj of India was pretty good. Granted, there was only one other couple at the place that night. But the young guy came back and checked on me to see how my meal was going on a couple occasions. And the price of the meal was pretty good, too. The chicken curry was $10.99 and the garlic naan was $2.95. The Taj Mahal beer was the kicker - it was $7.99 for a 22 ounce bottle. Ouch!

Back at the hotel, the aroma of the curry sauce and the garlic from the naan bread was still on my hands. I had a helluva time getting the smell off even after multiple hand-washings and a subsequent shower the next day. I don't know if those aromas were burned into my olfactory system, but I swear to God that I was still smelling the curry sauce and the garlic well into the next day. It was too bad that I wasn't in Indianapolis for another night because I would have gone back to Taj of India the next night and gotten the shrimp curry. I'm serious. It was that good. Like I say, I don't know if it compares well to other Indian restaurants, but Taj of India tripped my trigger. To me, it was absolutely fabulous. As I broaden my knowledge of Indian cuisine, Taj of India may be the standard I use from here on out. I'm certainly glad I went there rather than gotten a sandwich or burger at a loud sports bar. It was the perfect food at the perfect time.

(Update - I've been told that Taj of India was purchased in the fall of 2012 and has been transformed into Amber Indian Restaurant, a Carmel, IN-based Indian food restaurant opening their second location on 82nd St.  I'll have to go back at some point and give Amber Indian a try.)