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.

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.

Grille 350

Let's just pretend it hasn't been an eon since the last update...

The latest issue of River Cities Reader's Dining Guide recently hit the news stands, so we eagerly picked up a copy and made some notes of places we would like to visit.   We were again reminded that we had yet to stop by the restaurant approximately . 3 miles from our front door, Grille 350 (350 E LeClaire Rd Eldridge).  Earlier this year, Lancers Grille went through a renovation and morphed into Grille 350. The e on the end makes it fancy, k? Lancers was nothing to sing about, and I had heard mixed reviews of 350, but we decided to try it out anyway.

The menu is small, but intriguing.  You can order from the adjacent Happy Joe's as well, which in hindsight, would have been a good idea.  Nomelet pizza!
 I am a sucker for mac n cheese, and the "Eldridge Mac N Cheese" had sweet corn, steak, bacon, and green beans?!  I was hoping this could be a side dish because I really shouldn't eat macaroni, but no dice.  I was also tempted by Smokehouse BBQ Candied Bacon options.  Luckily Richie ordered it so I could steal a taste.

Entreese frome thee grille

Though our waitress was prompt and polite enough, the food was slow to come out.  We waited 20-25 minutes but it felt like 60 because we had our toddler crawling on the dirty floor and trying to eat ice cubes.  The bar was pretty packed with sad retired teachers and coaches, but only a few other booths were ordering food.

When our food arrived, I was disappointed by what I saw.  It looked more like cheese soup than homemade macaroni.  I had flashbacks of eating similar looking Hamburger Helper meals in the 90s.  Like buried treasure, I had to search for the steak.  I found about one big piece of what looked like a slice of Steakums guiltily hiding under the mess.

"Sorry, not sorry for pretending to be steak"

 I have to admit, this photo was taken right before we left, after I had eaten about 3 bites of macaroni and picked out most of the green beans and bacon.  I did not get a doggy bag.

 

?

Richie's burger came out branded like a cow.  

"moo?"

The burger was tucked under aged cheddar, BBQ bacon jam, and candied bacon. His expert opinion on the burger? The jam was too sweet. It did not have the smoky or savory flavor that he expected. The candied bacon was caramelized and well prepared. The patty was mediocre and he felt that it was probably frozen and pre-made, as it did not have much flavor or juiciness. His onion rings were crisp and delicious but also probably frozen and dumped in a fryer. For the price tag, he felt the food should have been fresh and on par with Red Robin. And here is Red's burger and sweet potato fries. I eventually coerced her into eating most of the burger.

 I ate most of the sweet potato fries. They were quite good, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  

                                     

 My overall impression of Grille 350 is that it is a bar that offers food to soak up the alcohol. I appreciate the thought put into the menu, but the food doesn't live up to its description. I mean, I'd eat it if someone else bought it, but I'm not opening my wallet to go there.  The interior is nice and features one billion TVs all tuned to ESPN.  Like Lancers, there just is no reason to make a return visit.

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. 

Kuma's Corner

So after a brief baby hiatus, we return with a new joint that was visited earlier this summer. The crew and I took a short trip to the windy city to take in the sites, get some eats, and... oh yeah, pick up one of our lady friends from the airport. Our journey there degraded into food porn conversation and we had decided on our first stop would be Smoque, which we have blogged about previously here. Unfortunately/fortunately for us, the establishment is closed on Mondays, resulting in plan B.

I had never been to Kuma's, but was greatly intrigued by their menu. Not only did they specialize in large, ridiculously adorned burgers, but each of them was named after a prominent metal band. In addition, the bar plays a wide variety of the aforementioned genre. So me being both a burger addict and lover of the metal of heavy, it was a sure thing. We arrived and were greeted by a friend of mine who was working, luckily this seemed to slightly expedite our seating as it was slightly busy. We chatted, were seated in her section outside in the lovely weather, and then got down to business.
After drooling over the list of burgers and eats, we decided that we were too hungry to not get an appetizer. Behold the glory of the BBQ Pork Fries. BBQ pulled pork piled atop a stack of french fries, covered in jack cheese and onions. we didn't even bother using forks as the 3 of us completely and utterly destroyed the massive pile of goodness. the fries were fairly standard bar quality, but the pulled pork, and cheese on top made this incredible


Feast your eyes on that awesomeness.













Next came the main course, which for dan and I, consisted of the Black Oak Arkansas. This behemoth burger consisted of:Red wine BBQ sauce, Bacon, Aged White Cheddar, and Alpha King Battered Fried Shallot Rings. The red wine BBQ sauce was a bit off, but otherwise the burger was great. The beef was cooked perfectly, and the shallots made for some interesting texture.





Ryan went with the Pantera, Roasted Poblano Pepper, Bacon, Chedder and Monterey Jack, House made Ranchero Sauce, Tortilla Strips. He was feeling a bit o' burn with this one.

Bring on the burgers

All in all, Kuma's lives up to the expectations of a sweet burger joint with some awesome tunes, good food, and lots of good people. A must for any burger/metal fiend.

Blue Cat Brew Pub

In the mood for a hearty meal, we decided to cross the bridge and roll into the District of Rock Island. Not being an obnoxious alcoholic who rents a party bus for every birthday, I had only been to the District once before, to see Everclear play. No one can fault me for that.

Although we weren't entirely sure of our final destination, I did have the Blue Cat in mind as a possible Greasy Joint. I parked in the first lot I found, and lo and behold, it was right across the street from Blue Cat. The air smelled of seafood, not appealing to me, but still 10x better than it would smell 4 hours later when vomit and smoke would float down the streets.

The restaurant and brewery opened in 1994, just 2 years after the District was conceived. They filled a vacant space in an older two story building on 18th street. There are two levels to the building, we were escorted upstairs to a small dining area with cozy booths. The atmosphere was dark, but not dingy. Candles adorned each table, providing a light glow around the room.



Our waiter served us right away and handed us menus that were surprisingly large and diverse. This isn't typical bar food. It's "fancified." The menu has salads, seafood, barbeque, dinners, sandwiches, burgers, and pasta. It also includes many of their handcrafted ales, some of which rotate throughout the year, or are seasonal only. I'm not going to pretend to know anything about beer, so here's a link to more info.

After much consideration and internal debate, I ordered a Hawaiian-style chicken breast sandwich with a side of beans and rice. Richie went for some 'que, and ordered the beef brisket with mashed potatoes. I couldn't resist adding an order of pub fries fused together with gooey cheese.

Our fries came out quickly, hot and smelling of decadent bacon, which was precariously chopped and sprinkled on top. So we overindulged on our appetizer, leaving little room for our entrees. No bother. Richie made room and I got a box to go.

Both our orders were slathered in barbecue, but mine was a teriyaki flavor, very light and sweet. It was a perfect complement to the grilled pineapple.

His brisket was engulfed in a viscous black sauce with a molasses flavor. The meat was slightly chewy, not quite as melt-in-your-mouth as one would receive from an actual barbeque joint.


The beans and rice had nice kick to them, both of us enjoyed the flavor. Richie's potatoes were a nice texture, but tasted overwhelmingly of butter. Though his plate was left without a crumb, Richie did proclaim that he should have ordered a burger. I was pleased with my picks, particularly the pub fries.

I think we will make a return trip in the future and try something new. Definitely an ideal option for alcohol afficianados looking for a classy place to dine and drink.

Van's Pizza

Van's Pizza, Pub, and Grill is a relatively new place in town. It's located in the old Pat McGuire's at 3333 Harrison Street. McGuire's was a well loved Irish bar and grill that had been operating since 1986. The business was sold in 2009, but the offer to keep the name was available to the new owners. Because they already owned an Irish pub across town, they didn't want to open a second in Davenport. So they chose to open a pizza place. Just what Davenport needs, more pizza. This begs the question, can you have too many pizzerias in one town? Well, yes, you can.

However, Van's isn't JUST a pizza place. They kept the bar and have quite a selection of beers for the party boys from Palmer. They also tacked on the 'grill' so they can still serve burgers, appetizers, and other typically blah bar staples.

Suffice it to say, I'd really like a new concept to come to the Quad-Cities.

Exterior was slightly remodeled. Inside, the Irish paraphernalia is gone and replaced with generic bar shit. The menu looks suspiciously similar to the Jersey Grille.

Though I was pessimistic about the quality of pizza coming from this run-of-the-mill pub, it was surprisingly delicious.

The garlic cheese bread was properly garlic-y, blanketed with stringy cheese and spices. They serve it with ranch, marinara, and that green thing. It'll set you back 4.99.

Not wanting a traditional pie, we split a personal sized Iowa Farmhand's pizza.


I was most pleased that the sauce was actually ketchup and mustard mixed together. Makes for a burger-like taste and satiates my sweet tooth. The toppings were loaded on, a bit precariously, I might add. Some pieces were loaded with onion, others with pickles. Also sprinkled on were big chunks of pork tenderloin- this is an Iowa pizza after all. The crust was a good consistency, thin and slightly chewy.
The price wasn't as nice, $8.99, but if you're eating out, I suppose that's on par. A plain cheese is only $4.99 and a one-topping is $5.99.

I would probably make a return visit to try another specialty pizza. However, until the rest of the menu gets some originality, I'll pass on that.

P.S. The cold leftovers were fantastic.

Crabby's

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Richard Squarepants?!

















Richie and Bateman hopped in their boatmobile and bubbled their way to Crabby’s in Coal Valley, located somewhere between Bikini Bottom and the Rock River.














Crabby’s is owned by a distant relative of Mr. Krabs, proprietor of Krusty Krab. Crabby’s is also apparently terrorized by Sheldon Plankton, who burned down the original Crabby’s in 2006. That little green bastard.














Always consistent, Richie ordered a flaming krabby patty layered with jalapenos, an obscene amount of onions, bbq sauce, and cheese. He was somewhat baffled at the lack of crab in the menu. Crab legs were the only option.



























Richie’s chum, Bateman, who is not pink and does not live under a rock, ordered a Chicken Philly. He had never before eaten a Philly Cheese Steak. Maybe he does live under a rock.













Both were quite Squidward about the food, finding nothing special about it. The atmosphere was nice and cozy, like a big log cabin, hopefully Plankton doesn’t burn this one down. Though not highly recommended, if you’re a drinker or pool connoisseur, it might be worth a trip down to sponge up some alcohol and fair bar food.