Rock Bottom; Beer+Burgers=Mmmmmm (Restaurant Review)

Post by The Grumpy One

Rock Bottom

(Restaurant Chain) 1001 16th St.Unit A-100 Denver, CO

http://www.rockbottom.com/

So with my current job assignment, it seems like I might be traveling a bit.  The good thing is that since no one else writes on this blog, I can still give a variety of reviews from around the states, the bad thing, I can no longer have a simple lunch while traveling, I now want to carefully pick the right place, but is that really a bad thing?

So I flew into Denver on Thursday, and flew back Saturday morning, but I was still able to find a really cool place the last night of the trip.  I didn't know it was a chain, but that actually makes me a little happier because this is definitely a place I don't mind visiting again. I present to you... Rock Bottom.

Now it says it is a restaurant and brewery, and I did see some little kids in there with their family (which I think would be more interesting if the children were in the bar by themselves.) but I think I would feel really weird bringing my kids in there. Its kind of like the last trip I took to "Hooters" where they were hosting a little boys third birthday because the dad thought it would help make him a macho man.

Call me old fashioned I just think its weird walking your toddlers into a restaurant that has the main seating area not just facing a bar, but also a distillery.

So the waitress was really informative and nice which made me feel bad because she was describing all the beers and why each one was special, but I didn't care because they offered this.

Mmmmm, beer sampler...don't worry, those are just little glasses (it took about 4 big sips to empty each glass) but it is a good value since it is only 6 dollars for this sampler. I just would rather have this than have someone recite the ingredients.  I know everyone is going to ask which one was my favorite, the answer is...None.  They were good and all, but after I finished the sampler I ordered a Ale that had banana in it that was DELICIOUS.   Enough about the beer lets talk about the food.  My coworker and I started by splitting a plate of nachos.

 

Yes...this picture is of a regular sized nachos...They were pretty good but as I drank more, they started to taste better :) As good as they were, they were nowhere near the quality of the burger.

 

I ordered the Tillamook Bacon Burger mostly because I am from Washington State and am a huge fan of Tillamook cheese.  I was so excited that when I ordered, I didn't notice a special ingredient in the burger.  So about my second bite (and a lot of drinks) I started noticing a bit of spicy heat.  It turns out that the burger has a "BBQ Jalapeño Ranch sauce." I am usually not good with spicy stuff, but it was so good that I am going to try to create my own version one day.

Now as good as the food was, I did have one issue.  Their fries were not good, actually they were pretty horrible.  They were so bad, that even with a few beers in me, I had enough sense to take a picture of them that describes how over salted they were.  Usually I wouldn't say anything about the over seasoning, but they were so bad, that even after a few drinks, they were too salty for me, yet the nachos were not. But that was the only bad point of the whole experience.

 

So overall, good variety or drinks, good food, awesome burgers, and a very reasonable prices.  If I am on another trip, I will be on the lookout for one of these.



King Street Blues; Less than a week to find a good BBQ place (Restaurant Review)

Post by The Grumpy One

King Street Blues

(Local Restaurant Chain) Kingstowne Shopping Center

http://www.kingstreetblues.com/

So we found this place the day that we signed the papers for our new house we are renting for the next year.  We wanted a quick lunch, I was going to do the boring thing and go to a sandwich shop we have been to before, but Kara (AKA "The Wife") wanted to try this place.  I didn't know what to think, from the outside I really thought this was just a normal outlet mall café-ish place.

Boy was I wrong...

...Cars crashing through the wall, creepy distorted animal and human figures doing everything from playing in a band to rowing in a kyak.  It was like Walt Disney had a bad acid trip in New Orleans...but I liked it.  I also knew this was my kind of restaurant when I noticed that the food choices for the boys were listed as "Little Dudes Menu."

So there were a lot of good sounding choices (even have a gluten-free menu for my few readers that actually care about that) but I decided to get the best overall chance of multiple food choice, I would get the "Triple Play." Your choice of soup or chili, pork or chicken BBQ sandwich, and salad.

Like all "multiple food item posts" I do, I will list my food from least favorite to favorite...

Surprise surprise, I start with the salad.  It wasn't bad, just a typical salad.  They didn't have plain ranch so I got the "Tomato Ranch." It was o.k. but not spectacular.

Next actually is a surprise, it was the sandwich.  I got the BBQ pulled pork.  It was really good and like these type of sandwiches should be...really sloppy.  My only complaint I think is, it was too small...I wanted more.

My favorite though, hands down...Corn Chili.  I have never had corn chili before, but if they all taste like this, I am a very sad person that I didn't have it until I was in my 30's...what a shame.  Very good, not spicy (which is good for me since I am a bit of a wuss sometimes when it comes to spicy food.)

But my favorite part overall...

...All of the kids dishes came with a planted American flag no matter if it was a sandwich or Mac and Cheese.  I respect a restaurant that comes out and says "I might have pigs playing guitars on the walls, but all of our food is claimed on behalf of 'MERICA."

So overall, loved the atmosphere, great staff, good choice of food, tasty food, good prices, love the "swagger" of this place.  Any friends or family that are planning on visiting us this year, we might take you here if we want a nice casual meal.  My only negative thing to say about this place, it is a local chain, there are only 3 of them in the world and all of those are in this area, so once we move again, that's it...sad face.

Johnny Rockets; How were they all not fat back then (Restaurant Post)

Post by The Grumpy One

Johnny Rockets

(Restaurant Chain) 7000 Arundel Mills Circle
Hanover, MD

http://www.johnnyrockets.com

So I have passed by this place every time I am at the Arundel Mills Mall, but I have never eaten there.  I think mostly because I usually was by myself in the past, and I didn't want to be that sad picture of the lone person at the booth.  So now with kids in tow, and time to kill, I decided its time to try Johnny Rockets.

 The outside paints the picture of a classic burger place, but as soon as you are inside, you are fully transported to the past.

Everything from the decor, to the uniforms, to the old music, this place was great. Even though it was in a mall, the relax vibe some how kept the loud mall noise out and kept this place really calm.

The little details like the old straw holders (which Kara had to show me how to use) and the Juke box on the table made this place just that much better.  It was wired up, but didn't work, but that was O.K. because both boys had fun flipping through the music. 

Enough about décor, time for food.  The menu was what I pictured the menu like in the 50's, very simple. Burgers, fries, grilled cheese, and that's about it.  Their milkshake menu was literally bigger than their food menu.  I ended up getting the smokehouse single, a burger with bacon, cheese, onion rings, and barbeque sauce.

While I was ordering, I was reminded of a line from "The Brady Bunch Movie," which takes place in the 90's but Alice went to the butcher and passes everyone ordering ground chicken for their health and she makes a comment about...we are raising boys, we need red meat and bacon.  That was this burger.  I don't know how fresh everything really was, but it tasted like they killed the animals right there and took the buns straight from the oven.  Oh and a nice little touch, that Ketchup smiley face was made by the awesome server. 

Which talking about the server, she was incredibly nice.  Not your usual fake waitress nice, but really genuine.  I don't know if all the servers are like that, but it really sells the theme. Her attitude was a great change for us the last few days.  We moved from a very relaxed, kind peopled Hawaii and now are in a very fast pace busy place where people cut you off in traffic then honk at you for being alive. 

So the burger was outstanding, the fries were decent, but the best part...the milkshake.  I ended up getting the Orange Dreamsicle even though there were about 20 flavors, dreamsicle has always been a childhood favorite.  It was perfect, not too thick, not too thin, delicious.

So overall, atmosphere that actually comes close to transporting you back in time, great food, incredible shakes, waitress with real manners and the price wasn't too high.  I have a feeling I might want to bring my family when they come to visit.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop; Not what I thought it was (Restaurant Review)

Post by The Grumpy One

Potbelly Sandwich Shop

 

(Restaurant Chain) 7049 Arundel Mills Blvd #103

 

Hanover, MD     

 

http://www.potbelly.com/

 

 

So I decided to start blogging again, mostly because 1. I have a lot of time on my hands because I am moving/on vacation. 2. Because I am moving I have a lot of new places that I am trying out.  Now even though I am moving from Hawaii, not a foreign third world country, there are still a lot of new chain restaurants that started in the last three years that we didn't have there (they don't even have a Olive Garden in Hawaii.)

 

So I start off with a new one to me... Potbelly Sandwich Shop.

 

 

 

                                

So from the sign, and something I thought I heard from someone, I thought this was a BBQ Restaurant. That's why we were going to skip it and go to Chipotle (which we have also never been too) but it was so loud in there that the second we walked in, the boys started covering their ears, so we walked out and were happily surprised to find out that Potbelly was a sandwich place, since we just needed a quick light lunch before we hit the Aquarium.

 As I walked in, I knew it was one of those "Classy Joints" from this picture on the wall.  You know it is one of those ice breaking questions that make you think, would you vote for Curly, would it be better or worse with him in office, would his campaign slogan be "NYUCK NYUCK NYUCK, WOOOOHOOOOHOOOHOOO" and what does that really mean?

Anyway, so we get to the menu, and usually each sandwich chain has their own cute little names to go with the theme, you know like Firehouse subs has the red engine.  This place has exotic names like...The Hammie, Meatball, and Pizza Sandwich...O.K., so they have to work on the names, but they still get cool points because next to the register is a big jar of pickles.

So I decided to get the only one that was named after something besides the ingredients that make it, and I ordered "A Wreck" its salami, roast beef, turkey, ham, and swiss cheese.

One thing that I will give to the staff...boy were they efficient, and they weren't rude, they were just such a well-oiled machine, I was a little scared of what was happing, they were like creepy twins that didn't even have to talk, they just telepathically told them stuff as they passed the sandwich to the next station.

We paid at the front like any sandwich shop and then found a seat to enjoy my Wreck.

All I can say is...WOW!!! Obviously they took the time to make creative names for the sandwiches, and used that time instead on learning "Dark Magic" that makes a normal sandwich taste like a magical food prom in which you are both the homecoming king...and queen.

My wife enjoyed her sandwich, the boys liked my wife's sandwich, all was going well...until I realized... No one was eating the sandwich we got for the boys...the Pizza Sandwich.

There is no way that everything could be so awesome except for their sandwich...I mean even the sour cream and creole onion chips were good...so I decided to take one for the team and try the sandwich my toddlers rejected....WOW!!! but not the good kind.  It was horrible, like really horrible, like the Dark Magic was made to make you the homecoming king and queen...but in the bad way (and if you think long enough, that does make sense.)

Now this is the weird part and why I know that magic is involved...I have no idea why I hated it. My wife even asked me as I ate it what was bad about it, no idea...just that gut feeling that something was wrong.

So overall, great food (except the pizza sub)...I would tell you how the "Dream Bar" cookie was, except the wife wouldn't share so that is probably a good sign.  Great service at the one I went to. Good prices. And 1 dollar pickles from a jar.  Definitely somewhere I will try again.