Was in the Quad Cities for a few hours and knew that a trip to the original Lagomarcino's in Moline would be in order but wasn't expecting a delight like that in which I got just down the block from the old time ice cream shoppe. Back to that in a minute. I continue to be fascinated with the Mississippi River and all of the towns located along it throughout the country and the Quad Cities remains a place I'd like to further explore. I remembered jimswside mentioning a couple meat markets around there so I looked them up and enjoyed my stop in at each. Golick's and Johnnies in Davenport, IA are about a three minute drive from each other and each different in their own ways.



Davenports Meat Markets

I'd be alright with having either or as an option for grilling meats so its nice that the folks near there have both. Golick's, as seen in the pic upthread, is housed in an old building and was once a general store but has been a butcher shop the past decade or so. The grill outside was going and the guys inside there were both really nice and happy to talk and see pictures of their place being taken. I got some really nice Iowa pork chops and housemade brats. Both were great on the grill earlier this week. The brats had a distinct flavor to them, not in a bad or unpleasant way, just unlike other butcher shop brats I've had. Johnnie's is another cool place and was really hopping the afternoon I walked in. They're def. the choice for the locals from around that way and reminded me of a smaller version of Peoria Packing. There's some other interesting old time bars/halls to be further explored on Washington ave where Johnnie's is at. After Davenport it was over to Moline and Lagomarcino's. There is a 2nd location in Davenport but Moline is the original, since 1908, a year I hate when I hear it. I know others do too...


Moline, IL

Lago's was a classic stop and the type of place many seek out while riding the American roads. Taking you back into another time upon stepping inside. There's some beautiful old booths but I had to have a seat at the "bar" and sat down at a stool there. The service was very pleasant and all the ladies working in there, some 20-something some 70-something years old, brought a great vibe to the place. I had to start out with a chocolate egg creme soda which was great and couldn't pass on what their known for in their hot fudge sundae. OK so I dont really eat all that much ice cream or desert (I'd rather just eat more appetizers and entrees) but I would had I lived near Lagos. So simple and so good obviously the quality of both the vanilla ice cream and the hot fudge they serve it with is what makes this. I look forward to getting back. I even found Sunkist Fruit Gems in their candy bins, one of my favorites as a kid, I hadn't seen those in forever. Cool place.


Ice Cream Sundae

Before going into Lago's I saw a red draped place on the corner down the block and wanted to see what it was and if it was a worthwhile stop before getting ice cream. I was even wrestling back and forth with my food demons about the idea of trying the QC loved 'Taco Pizza' from Happy Joe's. Well I was alot happier than Joe could of made when I decided to walk down and check the place out. At first glance upon it I saw what looked to be your typical Chinese-American place that you already see in every US city, suburb, town and outlet malls included. Even the name 'Little Rangoon' turned me off as I thought it was a lame play on the 1960's Jewish grandmothers of Miami's favorite, Crab Rangoon. But nope upon further look it was Chinese AND Burmese food and upon further education, Rangoon aka Yangon is Burma's largest city and former capitol.


Moline, IL

I talked to the guy and asked him how or what led him to start cooking Burmese and that's where his wife is from and shes responsible for the recipes. He said they've gotten a really good response from the locals and people there love it. I think they opened in 2006 so its nice to see they're still around and going string from what I could tell and read.

Rene G wrote: I don't have a lot to compare it to but their tea leaf salad was very pleasant, with a great mix of flavors and textures. I'd be more than willing to try their other Burmese food.

I had no clue this place was already Rene G approved but am not surprised to see it so. Silly me I thought I had found one of those "never thought I'd see this there" type spots that I could unveil on LTH. Glad to see to it's already got some love sand I'm here to give it more. Everything sounded great as far as the Burmese selections go, I mentioned I was from Chicago and he said, "You dont even have this over there huh?" and I said no and asked what he thought I should get. I forget exactly which dish this is but I got the pork over noodles (lo mein). Served with a spicy cabbage salad, the pork itself wasn't spicy at all abut had subtle notes of curry, peanut butter and pig. The homemade sauce they offer is special so get an extra one of those. Truly terrific, I'm now hooked and wondering when my next trip the Quad Cities will come, hopefully soon enough. Stay tuned Geo, Jim and all others, getting at it this summer.


Burmese Cuisine in Moline

Golick's Meat Market
1141 East High Street
Davenport, IA 52803
(563) 322-2142

Johnnie's Meat Market
1302 Washington Street
Davenport, IA 52804
(563)-322-0695

Lagomarcino's
1422 5th Avenue
Moline, IL 61265
(309) 764-1814

Little Rangoon
1401 5th Avenue
Moline, IL 61265
(309) 736-7770

I was all ready to stick these things into the recently bumped Great River Road thread. But I was in Le Claire recently and figured these would fit in here better. Many towns along the Mississippi River are better known for economic stagnation and decline. But the tiny town of LeClaire has established itself as the boutique shopping destination in the Quad Cities. Over a decade ago, the skinny guy from American Pickers bought half a block of main st. commercial space here after negotiating down the asking price to less than half of the original amount. The exposure has been good for the town, and it has tons of visitors on the clear sunny day when I recently visited.


Big Dave & Holly's used to be named Dairy Sweet, has survived multiple floods and is just across the train tracks from the Big River. This is not the best tenderloin in the area. And the "more" referenced on the menu is just fried stuff, burgers and daily specials.





Gourmet Pop Corn in a town proud of its heritage of being near the birthplace of Buffalo Bill Cody:


LOTS OF POPCORN:



Two blocks from the Main St. shopping area is the storefront for the cable tv show, the people on the show are rarely here. This bike is supposed to be really special for some reason and I saw the episode but I can't remember whats so great about it:


Big Dave & Holly's
1204 Cody Rd N
Le Claire, IA
http://www.bigdaveandhollys.com

Kernel Cody's Popcorn Shoppe
125 North Cody Road,
Le Claire, IA
http://www.kernelcodyspopcorn.com/

With the QC about 97 miles from the IRV I find myself out there often. Had read about the Davenport Freighthouse Farmers Market and stumbled into it around closing time a couple Saturdays ago. Impressive, probably 100 vendors, veg, fruit, chicken, pork, lamb, beef, pork.

Also a section with some food trucks/vendors for a snack.

http://www.freighthousefarmersmarket.com

jimswside wrote:With the QC about 97 miles from the IRV I find myself out there often. Had read about the Davenport Freighthouse Farmers Market and stumbled into it around closing time a couple Saturdays ago. Impressive, probably 100 vendors, veg, fruit, chicken, pork, lamb, beef, pork.

Also a section with some food trucks/vendors for a snack.

http://www.freighthousefarmersmarket.com

Davenport, Freighthouse Farmers Market is just getting into action for the season. Lots of meats(beef, bison, pork, chicken, etc.).

Some of the cheapest morels I have seen - $10 for a small flat that I have seen go for $30.

Popped in for a return trip to Johnnies for meat, house made Swedish potato sausage, garlic and onion brats(top 5 brat on my list), chuck, snack sticks, and some smoked turkey "tails"(butts). They also had smoked pig tails but I didnt get any...

Always on the lookout for fried chicken when I am out exploring, I read up on a spot thats been around since 1955 - Mulkey's Restaurant:



Cool old spot with a walkup carryout window and couter seating - diner style..The "Henny Penny" on the sign refers to the style of fried chicken they do from what I can gather. Minimal research revealed it is a brand of pressure deep fryer. - Broasted chicken... Im in:



This was some fine chicken. Not the largest bird, but it had some good flavor and was crispy..

Mulkey's Restaurant
3800 14th Avenue
Rock Island, IL.

http://mulkeysrestaurant.weebly.com/

jimswside wrote:The "Henny Penny" on the sign refers to the style of fried chicken they do from what I can gather. Minimal research revealed it is a brand of pressure deep fryer. - Broasted chicken... Im in:

Yes. Henny Penny was a competitor to Broasted Chicken. Both were/are chicken fried under pressure.

stevez wrote:

jimswside wrote:The "Henny Penny" on the sign refers to the style of fried chicken they do from what I can gather. Minimal research revealed it is a brand of pressure deep fryer. - Broasted chicken... Im in:

Yes. Henny Penny was a competitor to Broasted Chicken. Both were/are chicken fried under pressure.

right on, watched the girl running the pressure fryer, a little different than the pressure fryers I have seen at Smitty's.

also makes me curious about this spot in McHenry now.. - Henny Penny Family Restaurant.

http://www.hennypennyfamilyrestaurant.com/

jimswside wrote:
also makes me curious about this spot in McHenry now.. - Henny Penny Family Restaurant.

http://www.hennypennyfamilyrestaurant.com/

I'll be very curious to hear your opinion of the place in McHenry. I spent quite a bit of time there in the early 80's and the Henny Penny restaurant was my go to for fried chicken back then. It never struck me as being anything special, but it was the only game in town at the time. There was another place in Island Lake that was considerably better, but the name escapes me now and it was quite a drive from McHenry proper.

Hit the QC two weekends in a row - a couple repeat spots that will find their way into the regular rotation.

Meatheads Meat Market in Milan, IL. has made for a really good early stop on the past 2 visits to stock up on some meat as well as take advantage of their daily cookouts from 10:30 - 2. Pork chop sandwiches,chicken sandwiches, burgers, etc. As well as some of their housemade brats. From their meatcase I have purchased basics like some nice ground chuck, I have also gotten Iowa cut pork chops, brats and snack sticks.. Back to the brats.. their original recipe is a good one. Their "Hawaiian" snack sticks disappeared soon after I bought them.



Meatheads Market
520 10th Avenue West
Milan, IL.

http://meatheadsmeatmarket.com/

Mulkey's... yep.. this spot has made it into my top ten fried chicken joints list.. Cant resist popping in and getting a 4 pieces dinner to go. Impatient folks might want to go elsewhere, there is no fried chicken sitting under a heat lamp here. It is pressure fried to order. Some really nice folks working here.

Another pic of that sign..


Mulkey's
Address, etc upthread

Ran out of time the past weekend to get some pictures of the Col Ballroom.



I have an interest in things from the past, especially old theatres and ballrooms. Built back in 1914 it has been used as a ballroom and concert venue. Frank Sinatra and the big band days up to Widespread Panic and others.

Didnt hit this show but here it is from the WSP archives:

http://www.panicstream.com/vault/widesp ... enport-ia/

a little more on ballrooms around western Iowa from this website:

Iowa Ballroom Project:

http://www.iowaballroom.com/index.html

Took in a ballgame on this visit, saw they were doing some fun stuff for Easter as well as $2 beers for the Sat. night game against South Bend.

Modern Woodman Park - Home of the Quad Cities River Bandits - "A" Team for the Houston Astros:


always enjoy the first view of the field:



Really nice little park, really friendly and helpfull staff. I spent most of my time in the outfield area, Mississippi River right behind me. Only sampled some cold beer, peanuts & some Dippin Dots at the park, grilled meat items didnt tempt me. Id go back for another game.

http://www.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t565

Mulkey's was the best!

I happened to attend an institute of higher learning right up the road, and just seeing the sign brought up loads of memories.


Surely dont forget Jims Ribs
http://www.jimsribhaven.com/

Or Bent River Brewing
http://bentriverbrewing.com/

Had some spots to check out in the QC this past weekend-



Hawaiian plate lunches/ bbq - Something I like and seek out - we all know of Ono Kine up in Wauwatosa, Wisc, and a few who read what I do have seen what I wrote about K & S Hawaiin BBQ in Springfield, IL. and their Spam fried rice among other things

viewtopic.php?f=15&t=4338&start=90&sp=483344

Heard about a place called Zekes in Davenport, IA., doing some plate lunches jerk, and other island things. Rolled in for lunch and was very happy all around.





Rolled with a Hawaiian pulled pork plate:



some really fantastic pork - tender, juicy and a nice amount of smoke - great, fresh flavors all around Marcaroni salad was ok, but not as sweet as we like it to be.

Huli Huli chicken bowl:


another hit - simple and basic terriyaki style dark meat chicken - egg roll had purple cabbage inside and was ok.

Also went with some of their butter boiled peel and eat shrimp which were nice as well. Next visit I want to try their jerk - Really nice, family run joint.

Zekes Island Cafe
2198 East Kimberly Road
Davenport, IA.

https://www.facebook.com/zekescafe

Dropped the girls at the mall and rolled out to get some pics of neon. 1st stop - Not gonna find this spot on Yelp - yet.... - a classic - Hafners Wagon Wheel - 21 and over only





1/2 liquor store, 1/2 bar and restaurant - my kind of place. Shocked at how crowded the parking lot was at 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon- Packed for their popular lunch. I didnt partake as I had some other stuff in the cards but things looked ok. and priced right. No "welome to the big city, boy" pricing going on here.



Cheap azz drinks here, draft of beer cost me like $2.25 and a shot of Jim Beam was like $2.75 . Old school, heck - they even had one of those hard to find peanut warmers behind the bar.

Hafners Wagon Wheel
2805 Avenue of the Cities
Moline, IL.

FB:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hafners- ... 3120538933


Another sign on my list was Macs Tavern and Tap Room downtown Davenport:



Mac's has been around over 80 years. Home of a 40 foot long curved bar - "which allows a view of everyone at the bar without leaning in". Cool old bar - they were doing a cheeseburger basket special for under $4 so some college kids were in the house chowing down.

Mac's Tavern
316 W. 3rd Street
Davenport, IA.

Next door to Mac's is the Capitol Theater in the Kahl building - Capitol Theatre:



Opened in 1920 - originally 2,500 seats it currently has seating for 1,550 but is no longer open. Closing in 1977. It was one of the final tour stops of the Winter Dance Party on January 29, 1959 before a plane crash claimed the lives of Richie Valens, The Big Bopper and Buddy Holly on February 3, 1959.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_th ... ,_1959.svg

Kahl Building / Capitol Theatre
326 W. 3rd
Davenport, IA.

Gotta have some fried chicken on the list right?.. Mulkeys is a favorite, but I also enjoyed my visit to the Ram's Chicken Shack for some carryout.



Ive been in this neighborhood a bit and never noticed ii, thinkin they are newer spot. (1) breast and (1) thigh were solid, fried to order. Id still give Mulkeys the nod if in the area.



Ram's Chicken Shack
401 East Locust
Davenport, IA.

https://www.facebook.com/RamsChicken?rf=305035459620987

Also rolled in to Harris Pizza - Rock Islands for a bite, and to get of pic of that sign:



Had some wings and a beer and tried to get a personal sized German pizza(kraut, canadian bacon) but they dont do the personal size on weekends, wasnt interested in anything bigger but I do want to give this pizza a try.

Harris Pizza
3903 14th Ave
Rock Islands, IL.

http://www.harrispizza.com/

not bad for 1 day.

Reminded this week of what a valuable resource LTH is. When one has time to explore, it's fun to make one's own discoveries, but for an in-and-out visit, how wonderful to have the words of previous "explorers" to guide one's choices.

I had been invited to speak at the local college in Burlington, IA. Driving down, it was all about getting there in time for my program. But today, while I had to get home, I could take my time. After a morning spent exploring the historic district of Burlington, I headed for Galesburg, IL, where recommendations by Da Beef decided my lunch. Had to try "loose meat," so stopped at Gray's Sandwich Shop for the Cheese Rite. It definitely benefited from having all the toppings (pickles, onion, mustard), but with those in place, it was very tasty -- and it was great fun participating in local culture, surrounded by people who were obviously regulars. I then headed over to Coney Island, the oldest restaurant in Galesburg. Here, I just had coffee, but it gave me a chance to check out the store -- and the neighborhood. Again, a bit of exploring showed me the historic part of town. But the sky was getting dark, so I decided to head straight for home, rather than exploring recommendations for Moline. Next time. But thanks for the intel.