Barrel House 211

Bear with me as we review yet another drinking establishment without embibing...

Barrel House 211 is a shiny hole in the wall found in the Bucktown district of Davenport.  In researching the location, I found that the original building was constructed in 1880 and housed a furniture manufacturer, and later, a chemical supply company.  It's historic integrity has been well maintained as you can see in photos found on the Davenport Library's website.  The bricks in the Barrel House date to the 1920s.  I was hoping to find evidence of a gangster shoot out or grisly accident, but no dice.

Not everyone loves history, but everyone loves food, right?

The Barrel House menu contains bar food with an extra punch to the gut.  Several items will rain fire on your taste buds with boom boom sauce, sriracha, and wasabi.  Barrel House actually serves a fairly large menu for being primarily a bar.  So you don't have to pester your DD into a Taco Bell stop, they even have a whole page of tacos and quesadillas.  We started our date night with onions of all shapes and sizes.  Romantic.

and greasy

I deem that God himself created a sandwich on this menu, and it's called the Miami.  My favorite foods combined onto one heavenly sandwich...  pulled pork tucked under sliced ham and swiss cheese, drizzled with homemade mustard, and topped with a halo of fried pickle slices. Glory be.

take me home tonight

Richard found a burger to his liking, the Cowboy burger, yee-haw~! or whatever.  

While the food cooked, I divided my attention between football bloopers on ESPN and eavesdropping on a couple's first date at the next table over.  They were both cringe worthy.

My sandwich wasn't the savior I was hoping for, but it was still quite good.  The pork was a tad on the dry side.  I would have liked some bbq sauce or more mustard added to it.  The sweet potato fries were perfect.  Not too sweet, not too salty.  I guiltily ate the rest that night while standing at the fridge. (Sorry thighs!)  I think they were even better cold.

Richie's Cowboy burger was a double patty monstrosity saddled with Sweet Baby Ray's, cheddar cheese, and onion straws.  He described it as "fun."  A man of few words.  And a lot of onions.

so, so many onions

 Based on how fast he scarfed it down, I'm going to resolve that the burger was quite delicious.  Let's be honest, you can't go wrong with a coating of Sweet Baby Ray's.

Awkward couple didn't order food, but, despite the awkward hug, the date seemed to go okay...ish.

We both keep talking about returning to Barrel House, so given our current schedules, we hope to make it back within the next decade.  Don't you wait that long!  Good food, old bricks, and ESPN are waiting.

Rockingham Road Dairy Freez

Tastee Freez is no more.  But it has arisen from the depths of ice cream hell to become DAIRY Freez.

At first glance, Dairy Freez isn't much different from it's predecessor.  The menu board is exactly the same.

DAIRY FREEZ

TASTEE FREEZ: 100% MORE TASTEE

We arrived around 5:30 on a Tuesday night and had to wait about 5 minutes for someone to take our order.  After we ordered, the crowd cleared out a bit, but our food still took about, oh, AN ETERNITY...or 15 minutes.  We grabbed a table and unwrapped our Freez feast.

All day long, Richie was belly aching for a burger.  He ordered a double cheeseburger basket with fries and coleslaw.  He said the food was OK.  The burger was OK, the fries were OK, the shake was OK.  Very descriptive.

He was disappointed that the bun was not toasted and said it kind of ruined the burger for him.

                                 
I decided to try the Philly chicken.  The chicken was basically grilled, chopped, capped with white cheese, and stuffed into a hot dog bun.  I'm not picky, it was delicious, and I skipped the bun anyway.  A cute little sparrow benefited.

My "loaded" fries were a big letdown.  Scant amount of cheese was melted into a rubbery glue on top of their crinkle cut fries.  The bacon was chopped into a few large pieces and sprinkled on top.  I barely touched them.

I capped off my meal with a gummy bear shake.  The gummy bears infused a light fruity flavor into the vanilla ice cream.  They then rested peacefully on the bottom in a mass grave of mutilated gummy bears.  I drank for awhile, then grabbed a spoon to properly lay the bears to rest in my mouth.

Richie got the Nerds shake, also fruit infused, but try to suck a nerd through a straw.  It cannot be done.

I think Dairy Freez is a cool place, a throwback to "simpler times," or so I'm told.  The food was fast food quality but it certainly wasn't fast.  To be fair, it can't be easy to cook food in that tiny little cracker box.  There aren't many better options for drive-in food in the QCA, but you could try Big Dave and Holly's in LeClaire.  As for the ice cream, I will give you the green light.

Front Street Brewery

I apologize in advance for the lack of beer in this post about a brewery.  We are just in it for the food.  

Front House Brewery is housed in a building that has worn many hats.  It used to be a vegetable warehouse, a car repair shop, and a printing company.  It became Front Street Brewery in 1992.  Front Street references River Drive which runs just outside it's doors and separates the building from the mighty Mississippi River and that lovely smell.

Both of us have been to Front Street Brewery before, but never at the same time.  We decided to visit on a relatively quiet Tuesday evening.  The restaurant is long and narrow with booths along one wall and a bar on the other.  They also have a nice beer garden area in the back.  The booths were full, so we grabbed a table right in the front of the restaurant.

I remembered enjoying fried pickles on my last visit, so I was a bit dismayed to not see them on the menu.  Dismayed is a nice way of saying this hangry prego lady was pissed. It was a long day and I was about ready to eat my hand, so the Slow Roasted BBQ Pork Nachos sounded particularly pleasing.  Richie ordered the Cajun Burger.  I think he was sold as soon as he read "candied bacon."  Having just watched the movie "Bears," Red wanted to eat fish like a bear.

Yea...like that.

 Luckily they have fish and chips on the kids menu.

 Our food arrived in a timely manner and I was immediately overwhelmed by my plate of nachos.

 This was a 1/2 serving.  Maybe the cook can't math?

How do I...hands?...fork?...dump into mouth? The chips are layered with pork, BBQ, roasted sweet corn with onions and beans, and melted cheeeeeeze. They normally come with jalapenos, but my stomach would have NOPED on out of there.

I attempted to eat politely with a fork, but what's the point?  I eventually threw that aside and dug in with my hands.  The pork was moist and tender.  The BBQ is a Chipotle Mustard blend that was sweet and tangy.  There was more than enough cheese to make a vegan cry. When the waitress took away my plate it looked like I hadn't touched it, but touched it I had.  Mhmm.  I also snagged some of Richie's sweet potato fries.  He said they were too sweet, so I guessed they'd be perfect for my palate.   They were.

Between roaring like a bear and trying to lick the window, Red ate one of the fish fillets.  I call that a victory.

Richie's burger was a hot mess.  I mean that in the best way possible.

The burger was crowned with pepperjack cheese, jalapenos, spicy mayo, and candied bacon.  He said the flavors blended well together and created a spicy masterpiece of a burger.  The burger itself was juicy and cooked well.  The fries were a nice contrast to the spiciness, but they got too sweet for his tooth.  How anything can be too sweet to a guy who drinks 6 cans of Mt Dew in a day is beyond me.  

Front Street has earned itself a return visit by this dining duo and their bear child. The food was delicious, filling, and priced fair.  I presume that Front Street would appeal to people who are both food and drink connoisseurs.

Pizza Throwdown

Just stopping by for a quick post about PIZZA. 

 What makes pizza so delicious ? Yoga mats? No that was Subway. Apparently it's MSG. And no one cared and we all continued to eat pizza. In fact, 13% of Americans consume pizza on any given day! That's a statistic from the USDA 

Over the past few months, Richie has partaken in many a pizza. First, I treated him and Red to a heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's for Valentine's Day. If you can operate an oven, Papa Murphy's is pretty much pizza perfection. It's seasoned perfectly and the toppings are well distributed (until you drive it home in your car and take a hard turn).

Just tilt your head to the left, k? Heart!

Then we headed downtown to Falbo Brothers Pizza (2nd and Main Davenport). It's a Midwest chain that started in Madison WI. Here is their cute story. They have pizza slices most of the day and a full menu, including gluten free crust.
 Richie and his friend shared a Cajun Firebomb. My stomach wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole. Last time I ate spicy food, I ended up in the ER. NEVER FORGET

They ordered a deep dish but got served thin crust. So I guess the service wasn't the best.  It was jazz night when we visited. Despite all those darn seniors making noise, we both give Falbo's food thumbs up.

 Then we have Monical's Pizza. A point of contention in our relationship. He loves it, I hate it. He grew up with it, so I imagine that is some of the appeal. This is also true of our opinions on Quad-Cities style pizza. I grew up with it and I love it. He does not.
 Monical's is a chain located mostly in Illinois and Indiana. They serve scant pizza toppings on crackers. But that's just my opinion. SOME people put this bright pink french dressing on top and call it delicious while inhaling an entire medium. Some people. *shakes head*

Chef Boyardee makes a better pizza.

Finally, we have The Slice.  The Slice Pizza opened in downtown Moline (1401 5th Ave) back in January.  They offer a lunch buffet, a full pizza and sandwich menu, and pizza slices are available from 9 pm to 3am on the weekends.  The name is a tad misleading as a couple people stopped in while we were there and wanted to know if they could just get a slice.  No dice.  I could hear the cook's frustration as he once again explained, "it's just a name."

                                 

                                                           Le Menu

  I knew Richie would, yet again, want the spiciest pie on the menu, the Cajun Gumbo.  I ordered an unbreaded tenderloin with fries.  He also got an order of 5th Avenue Bread, which is a fanciful way of saying "pizza crust with garlic and lots o cheese."  

Red was quite amused when the cook began tossing the pizza crust in the air.  It truly is an art.  The cook then brought us out fancy white plates and nice silverware, a stark contrast to what I would expect of a pizza joint on the corner.  

Our food came out about 15 minutes later.  Here is our bounty:

                               

My tenderloin is hiding under that mass of pickles.  I am still half heartedly on a quest to find the best tenderloin in the QC.  This was not it, but I have no complaints.   It was thin and grilled with a touch of spice. 

The 5th Ave bread ended up being the big hit.  Richie called it addictive and finished over half of the pan.  He also took in two slices of gumbo pizza while telling me, "you definitely wouldn't like it."   He thinks pizza sauce is mixed with cajun spices to create the "cajun gumbo sauce."  The crust had a nice chewy consistency, not too thin, not too thick.  Hmm, that's how I like my men.  

So there we have four pizza joints.  As if you needed help finding pizza, right?  

11th Street Precinct

Several persuasive friends finally convinced us to visit 11th Street Precinct in the Village of East Davenport.  I'd sort of been avoiding it because I assumed it was just an average bar. I hate bars, they are loud, have the same foods, and terrible lighting.  I hate people in bars, they are loud, smell like beer, and have terrible manners.  We have eaten at bars and never bothered to review them because food always tastes a bit sour when 50 year old drunks are leering at your tattoos.     

 We stopped in pretty early on a weeknight, so it wasn't too crowded or loud.   We found a table in the window and were promptly greeted.  The menu was a bit more expansive than a typical bar with appetizers, salads, pizzas, and pastas.  With a menu that big, I worried that they might not have a specialty, but they claimed to have award-winning tenderloins.  When was this awards ceremony for tenderloins?  I would have gone, dressed to the nines.  I went ahead and ordered one because it would be unIowan to not.   

Richie heard good things about their black angus burgers, so he ordered the bacon cheddar burger.  I Googled black angus to figure out why they superior to normal beef, and it has to do with fat distribution throughout the cut of meat.  So there you go.  

As for an appetizer, we went with Chicago style fries topped with cheese and giardiniera.  Apparently you can make anything Chicago style by throwing peppers and crap on it.

The food took a while to come out but maybe it just feels that way when you have a one year old mashing fruit loops all over the place.

The fries came out topped with lots of rubbery melted cheese, but no giardiniera.  Our waitress brought some out for a side.  

Maybe it was my extreme hunger that day, but that was the BEST pork sandwich I have ever had.  It had great grilled flavor and was very tender.  Not wanting to look like a porker myself, I saved half of it to eat later.  The pasta salad looked suspiciously like the boxed brand, but actually tasted different and better.

Richie's burger was another story.  He was quite disappointed.  Thought it was a little overdone and the toppings were sparse and added no flavor.  For the first time EVER he only ate half the burger.  He did happily demolish the rest of it the next day though.

On the other hand, he really like the light and crispy onion rings.  They have stripes, which completely baffles me as to why.

So if you happen to find yourself in the Village, you might want to stop by 11th Street and try the tenderloin.  There are other cheaper, faster options such as the Deli or  Lagomarcino's, but this is the best evening/sit down option in that area.  Then again, it will be crowded on the weekends and it will cost you a pretty penny, so drive down a ways and check out Front Street or Boozie's for cheaper options and better burgers. 

Bones Barbeque

We first discovered Bones BBQ at the Freight House Farmer's Market a few years ago. Like a ghost, they  disappeared and left no trace of their smoky, delicious whereabouts. Fast foward to 2012, like a mirage in the distance, a tiny barbeque shack on the side of Brady Street appears. A real smoker sits behind, spouting smoke and sending the scent of cooked meat into passing cars. Lo and behold, Bones was back and better than ever.

Ok, so a shack on the side of the road sounds a little sketchy, but sometimes those places have the best food. Sometimes they have the best food poisoning as well, so buyer beware. Bones is more of a cute lil cabin and did not give anyone food poisoning.

We haven't been able to determine open and closing hours yet, it's a bit of a crap shoot with a consolation of McDonald's. Drive up and the simple menu is on a board.

Looking for a sandwich? You've got 3 basic options, pork, chicken, and beef. For an additional $2, make it a meal deal with 2 of their 4 sides, coleslaw, baked beans, potato salad, or potato chips.  Steak sandwiches are available on Fridays.

If you want your babybackbabybackbabyback... ribs are available full or half slab or in a dinner with 5 bones and 2 sides. A la carte sides are available in single servings, pints, and quarts.

The sauce is served on the side of the sandwiches. It's a sweet and spicy tomato based sauce. Best served haphazardly drizzled over the sandwich. The meat has always been the star, as it should be with barbeque.

The chicken is juicy, tender and has a light smoky flavor.  I've yet to had subpar dry chicken from Bones, a common occurance at most other establishments.

The beans are a bit spicy and seem to be made with their signature barbeque sauce and lots of pepper. The buns were pretty standard, nothing to get in the way of the starring ingredients.

The Quad-Cities has a serious lack of decent barbeque places, but with Bones and Bare Bones in Illinois, things seem to be heating up. However, both places have limited hours and my taste for bbq has no limits.

They may have a had a bite or two.

The Family Restaurant

We shared an unexpectedly good meal on a Sunday morning at the Family Restaurant in Davenport. With a name as generic as 'Family Restaurant,' and the facade of a 1980s dentist office, it was easy to ignore its existence for all these years.

Rolling up on a Sunday morning, the parking lot was filled with Buicks and Lincolns. Walking in, the whole place was stuffed to the brim with geriatric gents. We were the youngest people there by at least 30 years. This, along with the horrible decor and fake fall flowers on the walls, worried my hungry stomach. I hoped they put more thought and care into their food.

The menu is homestyle with a small section of Greek and Italian foods. Family Restaurant was actually voted Best Greek Restaurant in the Quad-Cities because, apparently it is owned and operated by Greeks. I certainly wouldn't consider it a Greece-y joint, though they did have a few delicious offerings like Spinach Pie and Gyros.

is that a tumor on my shoulder?

 We grabbed two seats at the 4 seat counter and were immediately greeted by a server. She was hurrying about but still found time to check on us often and refill Richie's coffee.

Breakfast is available anytime of day so I was immediately smitten. I asked for a ham and cheese omelet with toast and hash browns. Richie ordered 2 eggs with corned beef hash, pancakes, and hash browns. Despite the massive grey crowd of ravenous elders, our food came out promptly.

 My omelet was a giant cloud of delight, unbelievably fluffy and filled with ham and gooey golden goodness. The toast was cut thick and the potatoes were freshly shredded and fried. They tasted like a baked potato rather than the a pile of crushed chips other places serve.

Richie's 2 egg order was magically upgraded to 4. I later found out that this their regular practice, buy 2 get 2 free.

 With their reasonable prices, I'm not sure how this place stays in business. He slammed down his 'best ever' hash browns along with everything else on the plate.

 I eyed the spinning pie rack til I was dizzy, but felt too satiated for dessert. We found a diamond in the rough in the Family Restaurant. Maybe these seniors aren't so senile after all.