Chandler Hill, A Great Missouri Winery

We went to Chandler Hill Vineyards in Defiance, MO yesterday with fellow travel writer Mark Bradley for a perfect day with great weather, friendship and good wine.

Chandler Hill is named after a freed slave who came up the Mississippi river after the Civil War. He lived in a small cabin next to the Daniel Boone home in the Osage valley and died here at the age of 92.

The owners found many artifacts while building the winery including a shotgun, rifle,tools china and more.These items are now on display in the winery.

The winery and deck are a great place to relax and enjoy the view, good food and live music along with award winning wines.

Big Bus Tour of Washington DC

Here is a link to our recent Big Bus Tour of Washington DC. It is a great way to see any city!

https://youtu.be/oNJZ3fynTbo

Rookies in St. Charles, MO

Rookies, A Family Restaurant & Sports Bar

As my birthday approaches each year, I receive a packet of discount coupons. Most of the coupons are for local area restaurants.

We decided to try Rookies near 3-70 and New Town in St. Charles, MO. Rookies is in a strip mall on the north west side of 3-70 on New Town Blvd. The interior is typical sports bar furnishings, High top tables with stools, and a bar along one wall, ten flat screen TVs and plenty of regular tables and chairs. The TV's were showing hockey, soccer, baseball and more, but the volume was turned down and closed captioning made it very comfortable for us old folks!

In fact, most of the clientele were over forty along with a few younger couples with children. Rookies really is a very family friendly place. It is a no smoking restaurant with an outdoor patio complete with more TV's where clients may smoke if they chose. It is enclosed with heaters in the winter.

The menu is typical pub grub with lots of sandwiches, burgers, appetizers, wraps, wings etc. The menu also includes lunch and dinner items such as steaks, chicken, pasta and more. You will definitely find something to your liking and tastes. And there are kids items as well.

We started with an order of Skinny Dippers, golden fried potato shells stuffed with bacon, cheese & chives. Served with sour cream. One order was enough for two as an appetizer, or they could be a main dish for one person. I also ordered a cup of homemade Chili topped with cheddar cheese and onions. It was a good bowl of “Red” with just enough kick to get your attention, it was very good!
Sue ordered the daily special of hand battered cod fillets and asked for cold slaw rather than french fries. It came with four big pieces of fish and it looked really good. She let me have a taste and it was very good.
As a kid, I always liked a pork tenderloin sandwich, so that is what I ordered. This thing was huge! It was served on a hoagie bun and it hung out over the sides by at least three inches all the way around. It was so big the french fries were actually falling off the plate! The pork tenderloin had a panko coating and was delicious. I was unable to finish all of my fries, it wast just too much food!
The menu offers a large selection of items, so there is something for every ones taste. The service was very good and the prices are very reasonable.
I'm sure most of you know I am not a sports bar person, but just like O B Clark's, Rookies is a great place to visit. We will definitely be going back to Rookies.
Rookies Bar & Grill
3721 New Town Blvd, Saint Charles, MO 63301
(636) 724-3737

Her is a video from our recent visit to the Netherlands. The Keukenhof Gardens Tulip Festival and the Blumen Corso Flower Parade are a great way to welcome Spring! Just click on the link!
http://youtu.be/AeiRUVzmgDQ

The World Burger Tour

You don't need a passport to travel through the world of burgers if you go to your local Hard Rock Cafe.

During May and June of this year Hard Rock Cafe's are featuring their versions of their Legendary Burgers with an international flavor. May's burgers include a Colombian Plantain Burger topped with caramelized onions, bacon, and Monterrey Jack cheese, molasses and fried plantains.

Another choice is the English Breakfast Burger topped with ham, a sausage patty, a fried egg, a portobella mushroom, arugula and garlic aiola served with a side of baked beans. The only thing missing was a grilled tomato!

The Louisiana Jambalaya Burger features spiced Angus Beef, Cajun mayo, pickles, andouille sausage, pepper jack cheese and a jambalaya rice cake.

Also available in May is the South Korean Kimchi Burger topped with Sriracha seasoned kimchi, bulgogi sauce, tomato, lettuce and Sriracha mayo.

June's burgers include the Spanish Ole' Burger with red peppered Romesco sauce, roasted veggies, goat cheese crumbles and arugula.

Next in line is the Argentinian Tango Salsa Burger with andouille sausage, salsa criolla, garlic aioli, Monterrey Jack cheese, arugula and a fried egg.

The Vietnamese Banh Mi Burger is coated with a tangy Vietnamese glaze and topped with sliced cucumbers and pickled vegetables, cilantro and green onions.

The Tennessee BBQ Burger features a BBQ dry rub, pickles, slaw, pulled pork, pig sauce, crispy onions and cheddar cheese.

You have a choice of various flavored fries including the new garlic fries with garlic aioli and spiced curry fries with tandoori mayonnaise.

The crafting of these burgers is a great example of the Hard Rock Cafe's world wide presence. It is also a great way to taste the flavors of the world on a great Angus Beef burger.

As a part of the World Burger Tour Hard Rock Cafes are also offering world famous cocktails such as the Southern Rock; Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Chambord and Smirnoff Vodka a sweet/sour mix and topped with Sierra Mist. This is good stuff!

The Electric Blues is Smirnoff Vodka, Bacardi Rum, Beefeater Gin, DeKuyper Blue Caracao, sweet/sour mix and topped with Sierra Mist.

Other drinks include a Mojito, a Hurricane and a “Lovely Rita” margarita.

I did order a Mojito and unlike its description of muddled mint, it came to the table filled with mint leaves. I took a few minutes to try to crush  with a straw. Perhaps the bartender should read the description.

We have stayed at Hard Rock Hotels and eaten at Hard Rock Cafes around the world and have always appreciated the service and quality associated with the Hard Rock brand. We sampled these items at a media tasting at the St. Louis, MO Hard Rock Cafe at Union Station.

I feel that I must say that I was not impressed with this Hard Rock Cafe. Starting with our arrival, there was no one at the entrance desk to tell us where the media event was being held. There was also a strange, acrid smell in the lobby area, but not in the other areas.

We found a group of servers standing at the kitchen door laughing and talking amongst themselves. I asked where the media event was and one of them simply pointed toward the patio area and kept right on talking with her friends.

Approximately ten members of the media were treated to the various cocktails with a glass of each cocktail on the tables. There were a pile of straws on each table and we were instructed to sample the cocktails by putting the straws in the drinks then hold our finger over the end of the straw and siphon off a dribble of the drink. Really? I know that the Hard Rock serves a Margarita Flight that features small three or four ounce glasses. I think they could have served the drinks in these glasses so we could actually get a swallow of each one.

We were served “slider” versions of the various burgers. It took a great deal of time to serve the small group of journalists and it was not because they were busy. There were four people in the restaurant and two people at the bar while we were there.

It was my opinion that the burgers we received were not freshly cooked. They were over cooked, dry and cold. I think they had been prepared much earlier in the day. Also the buns were cold and not toasted as their description had stated All of the toppings were also cold and some of the cheeses on the burgers appeared to have been put on the burgers much earlier and almost looked congealed!

We love the Hard Rock brand, but if this experience given to the media at a press event is indicative of the typical experience at the St. Louis Hard Rock Cafe, I would suggest you think twice about visiting this restaurant.

Restrictions on Electronic Devices

We recently traveled to Amsterdam on Turkish Airlines. First, I want to compliment Turkish Airlines on a series of great flights. We enjoyed good meals, good service and ample legroom in coach class from Chicago to Istanbul to Amsterdam and return.

Because we flew through Istanbul on Turkish Airlines we were forced to check some of our electronic devices. As working journalists we each carry a laptop, and cameras as well as audio recording devices etc.

We did not have to check our electronics on the way to Europe, but we did have to check them on our return flight to the U.S. The security check at the boarding area at Ataturk airport was very professional. Sue had to check her laptop after being asked to turn it on. She also had to check her Panasonic Lumix DSLR camera. Each item was wrapped in bubble wrap, labeled with an adhesive numbered receipt which also notated the contents of the package. A copy of the receipt was given to Sue which was used to recover the items when we arrived in Chicago.

I was asked to check a small netbook computer, but I did not have to check my Sony digital pocket camera, microphone, GPS unit, small digital voice recorder and a carry-on bag filled with cables, chargers and USB cords etc. We both kept our cell phones.

The bubble wrapped items were placed in a heavy duty road case similar to those used by touring musicians. The inside of the case was divided into smaller compartments so none of the items were stacked on top of each other. There is no question about it, these items were safer from damage than if they were simply in our carry-on bags in an over-head bin!

 Upon arrival at Chicago we used the Global Entry Program and breezed through immigration in about three minutes.

At the baggage claim carousel there was a small table where we presented our receipts and claimed our checked electronics. This was all done by the time our bags arrived on the carousel.

All in all, the total experience was not that bad. It is just another method of protecting the traveling public.

Amsterdam Schipol Ibis Hotel

A Great Hotel at the Amsterdam Airport

After a long driving trip through the Netherlands, Germany, Lichtenstein, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and back to Amsterdam, we decided to get a day of rest before we flew home. We chose the Ibis Hotel at Schipol Airport. It is part of the Accor group of hotels.

It is a great hotel with a “Burger Bar Diner”, a grerat buffet breakfast and a wonderful sit down restaurant.

Our room was very clean. It had a desk and large flat screen TV. The staff is very friendly and speaks perfect English.

We really enjoyed our stay, and yes, they have a free shuttle to the airport every 20 minutes.

On a side note, the grounds of the hotel are home to a large number of rabbits of all sizes and colors. It was great fun to watch them out our window.

We highly recommend the Amsterdam Airport Ibis Hotel

Missouri's Montelle Winery

I have enjoyed Montelle Winery since the mid '70's when they were located west of Augusta Missouri above the Missouri river.

Montelle was one of the first Missouri wineries to produce quality dinner wines as opposed to fruity pop wines. They produced a small batch of premium red wines each year with names such as Cask Arthur, Cask Victor etc. I saved some of these for more than 10 years and found them to be fantastic wines that totally amazed me.

Montelle was also one of the driving forces behind America's first designated viticultural areas known as an "Augusta".

Montelle subsequently moved to a location just north of Augusta, on highway 94, also known as the Missouri Wine Strasse. A change of ownership has not affected the quality of their wine production.

While going through my wine rack, I found a 2010 Montelle Chambourcin and decided to give it a try. I let it breath for about twenty minutes before serving it with a strip steak topped with blue cheese.

I was surprised at the extremely smooth finish of this wine. In its early years it has a bit of an edge, but still goes well with beef and Italian dishes. This wine was almost "buttery"! As the meal went on I was able to first taste a cinnamon spice flavor, then a bit of a smokey taste followed by a touch of caramel!

Having live and worked in France, I found this bottle of wine to be equal to, or better than many well known French reds. I am impressed!

If you have not tried a Missouri wine please do yourself a favor and enjoy a great wine from America's first AVA.

I also suggest you try a Missouri Port, they are awesome!

Dining on Route 36 "America's Way of Genius"

We recently took a road trip across Missouri on US Route 36, “The Way of American Genius”. The name comes from the fact that cities and villages along this 195 mile route were the hometowns to Mark Twain, the "unsinkable Molly Brown, Bill Lear (inventor of the Lear Jet and 8-track tapes) Gen. Omar Bradley, Walt Disney, Gen. John J. Pershing, the inventor of sliced bread, the inventor of the dial telephone, the Pony Express, Jesse James and Aunt Jemima among others. Needless to say, it gave us the opportunity to eat our way across the State.

The Mark Twain Dinette is a true piece of Americana and we had a fantastic lunch there while visiting Hannibal, MO.

I convinced Sue to have her first Maid-Rite and I had the same. This crumbly ground beef sandwich is served with a fork with good reason. It is impossible to pick it up and eat it like a normal burger. My previous experience with Maid-Rites was while I lived in Iowa and I found them to be the perfect end to an evening on the town. While I don't usually put mustard on a burger, I think it is the only condiment needed for a Maid-Rite. 
 
Their home-made root beer was excellent as was their peach pie with ice cream. They also serve onion rings “by the foot.” They come to your table stacked on a stick and are delicious! 
 
The Mark Twain Dinette opened February 2nd, 1942. It's stood at the same location of Third and Hill and is still neighbors with the Mark Twain Boyhood Home. 
 
The Dinette is famous for it's revolving root beer mug which still stands today. They also have a full menu of sandwiches and plate lunches and their famous Mark Twain Fried Chicken and catfish meals. There is something for everyone at the Mark Twain dinnette including a checker board place mat folded into a mug with a set of checkers for your gaming pleasure. It beats the heck out of golf tees in a triangle.
 

The Mark Twain Dinette, 400 North Third St. Hannibal, MO 63401 (573) 221-5300

Monday — Friday 6am —9pm Saturday — Sunday 7am — 9pm

The Pear Tree, in the small town Bevier, MO was a destination for people from all over the world. Birthdays, anniversaries, club events, business dinners and parties for all occasions and for “no occasion – just because.” The Pear Tree came to an end in November of 2012 when it burned to the ground.

Albert James Abbadessa started his restaurant career at the Blue Herron at the Lake of the Ozarks and decided to open his own restaurant and now it is “AJ’s Eat and Drink... The Steakhouse”, now serving The Pear Tree’s traditional favorites along with those of AJ’s Eat and Drink. 
 
The new menu offers the delectable Pear Tree Salad, amazing battered fried lobster, along with mouth-watering black Angus beef steaks, prime rib accompanied by their famous homemade golden onion rings served with perfection. 
 
We split an order of the onion rings as an appetizer and they were so good we could have made a meal of them alone! I had a perfectly cooked KC Strip Steak with a baked potato and Sue had Penne Pasta with Lobster in a creamy cheese sauce. It was filled with the meat of at least a full lobster tail and was amazingly good.

The dinners come with a house salad of very fresh greens in a chilled bowl with your choice of House, French and Ranch dressing. The individual salad bowls were also chilled, a very nice touch!

The service was quick, polite and attentive and the food was excellent. This may well be one of the best restaurants in Northern Missouri. Unfortunately we didn't have room for dessert, but they looked great.

On the same menu you’ll find the very best of AJ’s, including The tower burger, tenderloin sandwiches and fries. All cooked and served the “The Pear Tree way”. 
 
AJ's is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 11:00am to 9:00pm Friday, Saturday 11:00am to 9:30pm. AJ's is closed on Sundays and Mondays. The bar open late on Friday and Saturday.

The JC Wyatt House is a source of fine dining in a turn of the century mansion in an historic district of St. Joseph. While it is by reservation only, it is certainly worth the effort for lunch of dinner. We had a lunch of pan seared salmon and shrimp kabobs both served with a delicious Mediterranean salad. Chef Jeff then presented us with a number of small desserts that truly expressed his culinary skills. 
 
We have also had dinner here on a past visit to St. Joesph and it was an epicurean delight.
Trip Advisor rated the JC Wyatt House the best dining establishment in St. Joseph. It is located at 1309 Felix call 816-676-1004 or e-mail jcwyatthouse@yahoo.com for reservations.
 
Resembling a true Mid-West Supper Club, the Fredrick Inn Steak House is another true piece of Americana.

Knotty pine walls and historic photos give it an old time ambiance and the dinner crowd seemed to include a lot of families. 
 
The Beef Backer Hall of Fame Award gives Fredrick Inn Steakhouse bragging rights to being the finest steakhouse in town, serving mouth-watering, slow-roasted prime rib au jus and hand-cut, aged filet mignon, Kansas City strips, ribeyes, and top sirloins for over 34 years. 

All-you-can-eat Soup and Salad bar comes with all the evening entrees, as well as all-you-can-eat homemade dinner and cinnamon rolls. Nightly specials may include smothered chicken, catch of the day, pork chop, stuffed shrimp, and steaks with a variety of toppings or sauces. The evening menu also boasts great fried chicken, chicken livers, liver and onions, and a variety of seafood offerings.

We started out with an order of fried pickles. Yum! Then I had a strip steak and baked potato and peach cobbler with ice cream Sue had the talapia and coconut cream pie. We both had the salad bar. With drinks the total was a very reasonable $48.00.

Early birds get a bargain with smaller portions, yet also including salad bar, at reduced prices (most entrees under $10.00) Monday through Thursday 4 to 5:30 pm. Lunch Monday through Friday has entrees for under $8.00. 
 

Fredrick Inn Steakhouse 1627 Frederick Ave. St. Joseph, MO 64501 Phone: 816-364-5151 

Monday - Thursday 11:00am – 9:00pm Friday 11:00am – 10:00pm Saturday 4:00pm -10:00pm

Closed Major Holidays and Sundays

A new unique and trendy pair of restaurants for St. Joseph are Ostrea & Komatsu at 724-26 Felix are two restaurants sharing the same kitchen. One, an oyster bar and the other a Japanese noodle restaurant. We had a variety of noodle dishes and hot, steamed buns. Everything was very tasty. Some people may find it a bit pricey, but definitely worth it for a somewhat different dining experience. Be sure to try some sake!

Memories Are Made Of This....

America's Last Bastion Of Free speech!

Last week I had a flashback to forty-seven years ago when I got out of the US Army. I was working for HFC at the office in Kirkwood, MO I always tried to get to work early so I could have biscuits and gravy for breakfast at Spencer's Grill. While driving down Kirkwood Rd, I saw they were still there. It was time for lunch so I was compelled to give them a try.

I must confess that I have a soft spot in my heart for diners. Diners are a perfect example of real Americana. From the time that I got out of the Army until now, I have found that a diner almost always offers something unique. For example, the Overland Diner on Woodson Rd. had one of the greatest old pin-ball machines I've ever seen, let alone played. It also had no tables or booths, only a counter with stools. It was the real deal. Some of my other local favorites include Lady Di's in St. Charles, where they have a smoking and non-smoking area and a thirteen egg omlette with cheese and chili if you want! Like most diners, you won't go hungry there.

Of course it's difficult to not acknowledge Tiffany's diner in Maplewood. An all-night ER for the famished that always comes to life after the local bar's closing time. There is something to be said for the curative properties of the jukebox in the corner and the inhalation of grease laden air along with lots of hot coffee. I must admit that the next morning most people will second guess that late night decision.

The other thing I really appreciate about a diner is that, no matter the time of day, or night, is the ability to eavesdrop on some very interesting conversations. Sports and politics followed by family issues are the most often heard topics. These discussions are always straight from the heart. Especially if fueled by an elegant sufficiency of alcohol. With the vastly divergent nature of a diner's clientele, you will soon realize that this is a perfect example of America's belief in free speech. Depending on your patience and degree of sobriety, you may feel free to join in on the great debates!

After parking in the lot behind Spencer's, a wave of nostalgia came upon me as we entered the door on Kirkwood Rd. A row of booths, stools at the counter complete with purse hooks and a menu on the chalk board on the back wall greeted us along with the smiles of all the employees dressed in their Spencer's T-shirts. The decor includes a '50's era wall clock and other kitsch wall hangings, a collection of children's coloring book pages and lots of chrome and formica. Also, be sure to look for the pyramid stacked coffee creamers. I love it!

We sat in a booth and were quickly served by a young waitress who brought us the largest drinks I've seen in a long time. Thy had to be at least 32 ounce! The daily lunch special was meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans for $7.75, not bad.

Sue wasn't that hungry, so she had a toasted ham and cheese sandwich on wheat bread and a side of apple sauce. The sandwich was grilled in butter and delicious. Since I always had breakfast at Spencer's in the years past, I had two eggs over easy with some hot sauce and biscuits and gravy! That's another way to tell if someone has been in the Army, hot sauce was the only way to make powdered eggs have any kind of taste! The best thing about Spencer's, other than the food, is the fact that the breakfast menu is served all day, as is the lunch menu. You can always get what you want, when you want it. Brilliant!

Spencer's has been in business since 1947 and still serves great food at a reasonable price in a family atmosphere. Once again a true American experience.

Now may we have a moment of silence for O.T. Hodges and a late night – early morning Slinger!

Spencer's Grill is located at the corner of Kirkwood Rd. and West Monroe, 223 South Kirkwood Rd. 314-821-2601 open daily 6am - 3pm

We Love Alaska Airlines!

We had our first opportunity to fly Alaska Airlines from San Fancisco back to St. Louis. It was great!

We had one stop in Seattle for about an hour so we had time to get a sandwich and walk about 150 feet to our new gate. SEATAC airport was very clean and nice.

Both planes were Boeing 737-900's with comfortable leather seat made by ricaro, the same people that make custom seat for Porsche's etc. Each seat had an individual power supply and a USB port, again, a very nice touch.

They offered tablets with pre-loaded, first run movies for $8.00. and they served Biscoff cookies as a free snack.

The best part about Alaska's configuration was the leg room. I am 6' 4" and I still had at least 3 inches of leg room for my knees! I haven't seen that kiind of legroom in coach since the 1980's! Bless you Alaska Airlines.

The staff was friendly, the flight was comfortable and on time and the price was right. We will be flying Alaska Airlines when ever we can!

The best view of San Francisco

The Hilton hotel at Union Square  has just opened Cityscape" and this is definitely the best view of the city by the bay!

Calistoga, CA hotels

We stayed at these two hotels while in Calistoga, CA. They were both very unique and the mud bath was a first for both of us!

Napa Valley Hot Air Balloon Ride

Here is a video Sue's first hot air balloon ride in Calistoga, CA

Let's Eat Granbury, Texas

Let's Eat is a great little restaurant in Granbury, Texas. Chef Curran Dodd is the only person in the kitchen and prepares truly amazing meals to his eager guests.

Let's Eat is a very casual, fun place to dine. Here is a short video we are sure you will enjoy.

https://youtu.be/zsLZpT-Sk9g

Cheers

Kevin and Sue

La Compagnie Airline

La Compagnie Airline is a very affordable way to flyBusiness Class to France. They offer daily service from Newark, NJ to Paris, CDG.

W have  flown La Compagnie twice and found them to definately be the best service for the price!

You will enjoy flying on a Boeing 757 with only 74, lay flat, seats with wine and meals from a French Chef. The service is excellent and you will arrive rested and relaxed, with a smile on your face.

Luxury French Canal Cruising and Gourmet Dining

We recently enjoyed a European Waterways French canal barge cruise on the Canal de Garonne in south west France.

This was our second barge cruise with European Waterways, the first being on the Canal de Bourgogne, in north east France.

Both cruises offered a very relaxing experience with beautiful scenery, daily excursions into the country side and villages and an amazing dining experience.

We highly recommend European Waterways canal barge cruises which are available throughout Europe. For more information go to www.gobarging.com

Please views this video to see an example of the fine dining you will experience on board the Rosa.