After some unsuccessful tries I was finally able to ascertain that Champs was open and serving food again.  I really didn't notice much different in the restaurant area after their closing.  There was sign out front saying new management and new cook.  We once again sat in a booth in the gaming area only to move to the main part I think because it was too cool.  I was looking at memorabilia when the decision was made.  While we were deciding what to eat I asked about the change and one of the things the waitress said was they old cook took all the recipes with him.
The don't have a big menu so I once again ordered a burger with provolone.  I went over thinking salad for a side but changed to onion rings at the last moment.  Lisa got an italian beef with chili, Debbie got a jalapeno brat and Mike got a cheeseburger with homemade chips. 
My cheeseburger was better than the last time but the onion rings were a big step back.  It was obvious that they are now frozen out of a bag instead of made on site.  Lisa's italian beef looked really good but she said it the flavor was all in the au jus.  She said her chili was once again had good flavor but way too many beans.  Debbie seemed to like her brat.  The look on Mikes face when they brought out his plate was priceless.  The homemade chips were tortilla chips instead of potato chips.  To make it worse for him they ran out of Sailor Jerrys rum.
I'm not as excited about going back as I was previously since before everything was handmade on site.

I must admit I've never been a fan of Tres.  I guess it was a nice place to have a drink but not eat.  Now they've remade their menu into a traditional menu with a few mexican dishes so we decided to try it out. 
I'd seen some pictures so I went over thinking catfish and I stayed with the plan when I got over there.  I ordered the catfish dinner, onion rings and california mix veggies.  I got the veggies over the salad because they didn't have any dressings that sounded good.  Lisa got a burger and a salad with mayo with chopped jalepenos in it.  We both had our first taste of Garage beer owned by the Kelce brothers but also partially AJ Hawk (ex Packer).  Really nice taste, better than most of your standard beers.
We received a basket of chips and salsa when we sat down.  The chips were okay but I really liked the salsa.  Better than what I remember their salsa tasting like.  I mentioned I wanted tartar sauce with my fish only to be told they didn't carry it.  What the ???  Fish without tartar sauce is just fish.  I couldn't believe it, two fish dishes and no tartar sauce, wow.  Anyway Lisa said just get some mayo and pickles and chop the pickles into the mayo.  We told the waitress and she did try but needed more pickles.  Oh she did bring a lemon slice to squeeze in.
Lisa's salad came first and it was a nice sized salad but the dressing was too heavy.  Then out came the entrees and mine had two delicious looking monster catfish filets and some great looking onion rings.  I knew right away I wasn't going to eat both fish filets they were so big.  I had a couple onion rings and the breading wasn't sticking to the onion very well, when it did it was really good.  Same thing happened with the breading on the catfish.  It made me wonder if their fryers were turned off and they had put the stuff in before it was fully warmed up.  Seemed like an excess of grease on the plates too.  The veggies were typical frozen bagged veggies and weren't overly warm or seasoned.   Lisa wasn't real wild about her burger and said she wouldn't get one again.
Overall not very impressive.  It almost seems like they want one foot in the past and one in the future but the changeover was recent and it may take some time for them to adjust.

After staying to long at Kellys bar last night (Harper Valley PTA reference) we decided to pick up China Buffet yesterday.  I know the name isn't Kellys but Kelly does own it and it made for a good opening sentence.
I ordered beef and stir fried veggies combination while Lisa ordered chicken in garlic sauce.  The combination comes with egg roll and choice of white or fried rice.  We both opted for the fried rice.  We also got a large egg drop soup.  The order was ready when I got there but I managed to hit every light coming back, or so it seemed. 
The egg drop soup was very good but needed to be hotter.  My ordered had way too much beef in it for me and could have used more veggies.  While it was good the sauce didn't have as much flavor as I would have liked.  The fried rice was okay but I think I'll order white the next time.  Lisa's chicken in garlic sauce had flavor but it was different from the other garlic sauces we've had.  I liked it but the kick was almost too much for me anymore.  I thought the egg roll was okay especially the inside but Lisa didn't care for it much.
Lisa hadn't been wanting to try China Buffet for some reason but maybe this will get her kick started.

It took longer than I thought but we finally made it back to Log Cabin yesterday.  I thought we'd be back sooner but it took 2 1/2 years to make it back.  The bar was crowded with what appeared to be regulars but most tables were available.
We grabbed a table and made our orders.  We decided to split a garlic burger, chips and an order of wings.  We got half parmaesan garlic butter and half dry rub.  Mike got his standard burger and chips while Debbie got a BLT with a salad. 
Debbies BLT arrived remarkably fast so she waited a couple minutes until the rest of the food came out.  The burger was once again good but not as good as I remembered.  The chips were much better than the previous time, seasoned much better but some weren't crisp.  The wings were mostly drummies, wish we would have seen if they would do all flats.  The garlic butter parmaesan were good and not as sloppy as they appeared.  The dry rub wings were even better.  I much preferred the dry rub. 
I wanted to get back to Murphysboro before the temp started dropping so we headed back but were derailed by a stop at River Rats where we stayed too long but had a great time.

We went over to Bennies yesterday mainly because Lisa said she wanted italian.  It was nice to get out of the house for a while since we've been lazy butts laterly.  There was more traffic than I anticipated but we didn't have any problems.
I went over thinking italian sausage sandwich and stuck to my plan.  Lisa was thinking baked spaghetti and stuck to her choice.  We set down in a booth and got our drinks but other than that service was slow.  I ordered mine and got the house dressing on my salad.  It took so long to get my salad that I finally asked about it since our waitress had disappeared.  I was told she was chopping salad since they didn't have any one doing that.  Lisa said others were asking about it too.  The salad finally got there and it was a really good side salad, I really liked the dressing.  After another wait our waitress reappeared with our dinners and took our next drink order.  She got back fast with the beer but got the wrong kind, not a big deal since we both like Shiner Bock.  The included fries weren't much to brag about, standard crinkle cut fries.  My sandwich was good especially the lightly toasted bun. The sandwich needed more onions though.  Lisa said her baked spaghetti was okay but she expected a lot more from a place that specializes in italian food.

We took a quick trip to Herrin to eat at Joe's Pizza yesterday.  I'd done some picking up and cleaning and Lisa had de-christmas our house and neither felt like cooking anything.
We chose Joe's over Quatros, Frenchmans Widow and Champs. It appeared they were just getting over the lunch rush so we chose a booth that still needed cleaning. Lisa likes booths over tables and I probably do too.
We ordered a small pepperoni and sausage chicago style pizza.  Mike and Debbie ordered thick crust pepperoni and also salads. I have to say the salads looked good and so did their pizza when it go to the table.  Our pizza was good, Joe's has a sweeter sauce than most and it paired well with the other ingredients.  Small was more than big enough for us, in fact we had two pieces left that Mike and Debbie took home.  I tried a corner piece of their pizza and it was really good.  I'll probably push for that the next time we go over.

I got a text from Thursday night from Teresa, a neighbor from when I was growing up.  She said her mom would be at Faye yesterday morning.  Her mom practically raised me, I was over there all the time mainly because of her older brothers Mike and Tom.  Mike is a year older and Tom is a year younger.  Allen from the neighborhood was also there.
I ordered orange juice and a sausage patty only to find out they were out of sausage so I ordered bacon instead.  The orange juice was good and bacon is always good but it wasn't about the food.  It was about the memories and there were more than a few stories told.
Really enjoyable.  Lisa couldn't make it because Bailey got sick and we had to watch Brinley and Dax.

We had some much needed new furniture delivered yesterday so of course I made the mistake of jokingly telling Lisa we should have a beer.  She didn't get the jokingly part so I had to get us a beer.  Not a big deal except it was 10:30am. 
Joe stopped by and picked up a chair and some end table for his buddy Dez.  Bailey and Shad stopped by to check out the furniture and then Mike and Debbie did too.  By this time it was past 1pm so we decided to go to PKs for burgers.  All four of us ordered burgers with various toppings.  Both me and Mike ordered American fries and Lisa ordered chili.
My burger didn't seem as big as last time and I should have got a double.  It was still a really good burger and everyone seemed to like theirs.  The American fries looked more like hash browns but were good.  Mike ordered his well done and they were almost burnt and dry.  While we were there we ran into our old friend Red who we hadn't seen in a while.  He was part of the slow pitch softball team I played for and I tried to talk him into coming to cards some Monday.
After we left we stopped at Boobys for a beer.  I also ordered a tyrolian sub to go.  When we got home Lisa put half the sandwich on the panini for me.  It really hit the spot at that point.

We don't eat breakfast out much but for various reasons we did yesterday.  I chose Mary Lou's because we know the owners family and we always prefer to eat local.  Once there we chose to eat at a table instead of the counter.
I ordered sausage, hash browns and two eggs over easy and of course I also got the complementary biscuit and gravy.  Lisa got bacon, two eggs and the biscuit and gravy.  We had barely ordered and the biscuits and gravy was there.  Good because I was hungry, bad because I was afraid I would get full before the rest of the meal.  We both managed to pace ourselves and the rest of the meal arrived a little later.
Now to the important part.  The sausage was good but a little done for my taste.  The two eggs were done like I like and tasted good.  The real star was the hash browns and the biscuit and gravy.  I normally put bbq sauce on my hash browns and they had Country Bobs on the table so why not?  It was really good combination.  The biscuits and gravy were also very good. 
About halfway through I realized I should have just ordered one egg.  A little bit later I realized I should have just ordered B&G and hash browns.  Not that it wasn't really good, just that I couldn't eat all of it.  I was afraid someone was going to stamp Goodyear on my butt and float me around.

We don't go to a lot of BBQ places because I'm somewhat of a BBQ snob having ate too much competition BBQ.  We also rarely go places that don't have beer but Smokin Ks in Marion came on our radar recently because of the cajun part of their menu and also having oxtails.  I've never had oxtails but they looked really good.
We got a little bit of a late start and I missed the turn and had to come in the back way, not really a big deal.  Oxtail was one of the specials and I mentioned we'd never had it so they brought a piece out for us to try.  Debbie wouldn't try it and of course Mike wouldn't either but both of us thought it was good so we got an order of oxtails and an order of gumbo.  We had three sides so we chose red beans and rice, slaw and fried okra.  Mike got his standard pulled pork sandwich with fries and Debbie got burnt ends with red beans and rice.
The oxtails reminded me of a more flavorful and rich chuck roast.  I liked them but not sure when of if I'll get them.  I'm glad I tried them.  The real star was the gumbo.  I don't remember liking gumbo as much as I like this.  The red beans and rice looked kind of thick but were very good.  Lisa really likes fried okra and said this was the best she's had, I have to agree - very good.  Mike said his sandwich was okay but didn't like his fries, not thin and crispy,  Debbie like her burnt ends. 
Nice place and I hope we make it back soon.
We stopped in at 618 Taphouse, Mike and Debbie had never been there.  They were talking about going to Frenchmans Widow but it was getting dark and I wanted to get back to Murphysboro, sadly it was only 3:30. 
We finished up with a quick stop at the Da Nite.

Both of us have been hankering for a pizza so last night after the grandkids cleared out we ordered one from Cummares.  It's been a while since we had anything from there in large part due to closing from 1-4.  That's doesn't really fit into our current lifestyle plus they don't deliver so someone, me, has to go get it.
It was ready when I got there so I didn't have to wait around.  We got the pepperoni and italian sausage medium pizza.  In the past I've been a huge fan of their pizza but this one seemed different.  Still really good but not as good as I remember.  That being said we both really liked it and is one of the best thin pizzas around.  There were plenty of toppings and sauce.
I think I'm becoming more of a deep pan/chicago style pizza fan.  Having said that we won't wait near as long to order Cummares as we did this time.

Yesterday we managed to get away for a quick trip.  We decided on Champs but decided to call to see what the special was.  Good Move.  The kitchen is being remodeled so we decided on PKs.
Our nephew Andrew has been saying they're the best burgers around so we decided to see for ourselves.  We both got Amberbock drafts while we decided.  I tried to run a tab but I'd forgot it was cash only.  No problem really.  I decided on a double cheeseburger with swiss and no Ketchup and some fries.  Lisa went with a single with no ketchup and a bowl of broccoli cheese soup.
Score a rare point for Andrew, the burgers were spectacular.  I'd say the best true smash burgers around.  They brought me waffle fries instead of regular and they were just okay.  Lisa like the soup but said it was a little thin.
I think PKs will be added into our favorite rotation now.

The time between thanksgiving and christmas has been a very busy time even busier than normal.  We haven't had a lot of time to do anything.  Plus watching Dooder three to five times a week wears a person out.  Last Saturday we had an open day but both of us decided to relax at the house.
I don't write much about Lisa's cooking but probably should, she's a real good cook so last Saturday while we were relaxing she cooked up some fried pork chops and green beans.  She'd mentioned them for my birthday but we went a different direction so they've been on my mind ever since.  Fried pork chops are not in her wheelhouse but boy oh boy did she make some good ones. 
As most of you are aware I'm not a christmas guy, no exception this year.  I'll power through it but I'm ready to get it over with.  Bah Humbug.

Lisa had "hair", some kind of secret ritual for women.  So we had just enough time to go someplace and eat.  That someplace was Boobys. 
I ordered a Robyn and Lisa went with a Tyrolian.  We both got them toasted and both got sea salt chips.  Once again there was only a handful of people there counting us.
The Robyn was a good change from my normal tyrolian and I'm not sure which one I like better.  The only downside is they now have tomatoes on them.  I asked and they said they always had tomatoes on the sandwiches, I don't buy it though.  The chips were fine but not the charleys chips of the past.
After we left we walked down to PKs for a quick beer before heading home.  Mike and his son Jacob were in there and we had a nice conversation.  Oh and the beer was nice and cold.

Last Friday was my birthday, black friday.  Kind of a pain.  I had to go to Rural King for dog food around noon and was surprised by the number of people still there.  Since going to a lot of places were out of the question Lisa offered a number of tempting choices but I finally decided on Bottoms Up to redeem my last trip there.
Me and Lisa decided to split half a chicken all white and each got a salad.  Mike as always ordered chips for the table.  The salads really hit the spot and were just big enough without filling me up.  For some reason the chips tasted even better than normal and were well seasoned.  The chicken is always great and this was no exception.
We decided on a stop at Brews Brothers.  While driving there some guy almost t boned me going down spruce st.  I don't know how we didn't wreck.  After one at Brews we headed to Da Nite for a couple before heading home.
Lisa really stepped up on the weekend by fixing smoked sausage, potatoes and carrots that I really like and then chicken and dumplings on Sunday to official redeem her dressing failure on Thanksgiving.

Yesterday was Debbies birthday so we gave her a lot of places to choose from.  She chose the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomsdale Mo.  It's really a nice drive up route 3 then across the bride before turning on route H.  From there its a turn onto route 61 and straight to the Bloomsdale and the Dew Drop.  Bloomsdale is a town of 639 and it takes a little over an hour to get there.
It's confusing as there are two or three places in the same building.  There was a nice lunch crowd there for a town that size but I imagine they draw from a large area.  They have an impressive 16 taps.
I chose a big spicy cuban with a side of onion rings while Lisa got a single smash burger with a cup of chili.  Mike went with his standard pulled pork sandwich.  Sadly I don't remember what the birthday girl got.  We also ordered pretzel sticks and fried mushrooms as appetizers.
The pretzel sticks were really good and I managed to snag the one with the most salt.  The mushrooms were great and very big.  So big cutting them in half was the way to go.  The breading held really well and they were fully coated. 
My cuban was on point and not overly spicy also a very good size.  I could only eat half.  The onions rings were awesome, well breaded and very tasty.  None of them had the onion pull out leaving only the breading.  Lisa liked her burger and her chili but it needed to be hotter.  Mike said his BBQ was really good.  Everyone liked the shoestring potatoes sides that Mike and Debbie got.
Really great place and hopefully it won't be several years before we go back.

A lazy day yesterday so a trip to Carbondelis was the call.  We both customized our own sandwiches.  I went with a 12" knowing I'd have leftovers.  I got their regular bun with pepperoni, salami, pastrami, ham with provolone.  For toppings I got red wine vinegar, olive oil, cucumbers, lettuce and red onions.  I also had it toasted.
They were having an issue wrapping the whole sandwich soI told them to wrap the two halves separate.  Much easier to wrap and better for me since I only planed on eating half.
The sandwich was great but too big, hard to get it in my mouth (I know surprising).  Lisa said hers was good too.
Really good sandwich but should have got less meat.

Lisa had another follow up appointment in St Louis yesterday and got some good news.  She doesn't have to go back for a year.  It was a lot easier trip than last times monsoon trip.
We've been coming back route 4 most of the time lately mainly to get off the interstate sooner.  This time I decided to just head on back to 13 and come home that way mainly so we could stop at Jules Joint in Nashville.  Not a lot of options on Monday.
I was tempted by some other things but I stayed with the plan and got a cheeseburger with a side of house made chips.  Lisa surprised me by ordering a cod sandwich with a side salad.  The burger is hand pattied and the chips are made in house.
The burger was just okay but nothing special, for some reason I expected better.  The chips were very crisp but with very little seasoning.  Salt helped but still underwhelming.  Lisa's fish was really good.  The bun was great and the fish done very well.  Her salad was stems and twigs otherwise known as spring mix so I wasn't impressed.
It was a welcome stop on the way home but disappointing for me.  We'll be back though.

We almost just stayed home yesterday but finally decided on a little Jeep ride around Hutchins Creek.  It's become one of our favorite places mainly because there's a couple creeks that are easy to cross.  We went through them one way and then turned around and came back the same way until I went down a rode I don't think I've ever been on that took us to 127.
We stopped in Havisham in Alto Pass on the way back for a couple drinks.  It's a really nice place but expensive, Mike and Debbie said California prices.  They had Smithwicks on draft so that's what I had, everyone else had blackberry lemonade.  While we were sitting there the place really filled up.  After a couple rounds we decided to go grab a bite to eat and finally decided on Sergios Cantina.
I backed off my normal seafood del mar and went with two street tacos, one steak one chicken, and some rice.  Mike got street tacos while Debbie got enchiladas while Lisa got birria tacos. 
The street tacos were very good and Mike said they were the best he's had.  I liked the chicken better than the steak which really surprised me.  Lisa's birria looked great and I'll probably try next time we're there.  Debbie seemed to like her enchilada.  The rice was good but I probably should have passed on it, very filling.

On Thursday we went to Ashleys to check out some deals and were debating on going to Smokin K's in Marion but finally decided to go to Chilis instead and get the $10 special.  Lisa had a coupon for free chips and salsa so we opted for a different special.
I went for a side salad and smash burger and they let me get corn on the cob instead of fries.  Lisa got a smash burger with mac & cheese but don't remember what else.
I didn't realize the side salad was a spring mix I think.  To me this just a bunch of stems and I don't really care for it.  The corn was okay but nothing special.  This time the burger didn't taste near as good, it seemed like it had too much thousand island on it.
This morning we went to Ashleys again and ordered some much needed furniture.  On the way home we stopped by Bunmakers.  Lisa had a $25 gift certificate.  She got B&G with scrambled eggs with cheese on top.  I got some sort of combo with a biscuit, sausage patty, hash browns and scrambled eggs. 
The biscuit was good but would probably be more suited to B&G then stand alone.  The sausage patty was pretty routine.  The eggs and the has browns were really good.  I had a taste of Lisa's B&G and really liked that.  She also got two small cinnamon rolls that were big.  I took a taste of one and it was great but sweet.

I had three things I've been wanting lately: Gumbo, chicken and dumplings and fried chicken.  No idea why.  Lisa took care of the gumbo "hankering" this past week with a pot of her yummy chicken and shrimp gumbo.  Normally we have smoked sausage instead of chicken and it really tasted good.  Apparently there's some unwritten rule about mixing seafood and meat in gumbo but that's probably traditionalist which I'm not.
With Lisa in St Louis shopping we went down to Bottoms Up yesterday to take care of my fried chicken desire.  I wanted to be back in time to watch the Red Devils so it was a quick trip.  I ordered a 1/4 chicken with a salad and steamed veggies.  I requested some extra seasoning on the veggies and they said they would but they didn't have  much left.  Mike and Debbie went with 1/2 fried chicken with tons of chips.
I had a few chips while we were waiting and they were really good.  My salad was good but plain since I'd ordered no tomatoes or cheese. Just as the food was coming out I mentioned that I thought I'd forgot to order all white.  I'd forgot so the meal was disappointing from the start.  The leg and thigh I got were okay but small and just not as good as the breast and wing.  The veggies were okay too but not to much you can do to jazz up frozen veggies.
We got back a little after the game was on and the Devils were already down 14-0 but played better the rest of the first half.
Overall a rare disappointment from one of my favorite places but that's my fault.

It appears another Octoberfest season has come and is closing fast.  As mentioned previously I really like most Octoberfest and have tried so many I had to start keeping track of what I've tried so I know which ones I like the best.
Here is a list of what I tried this year:

Sam Adams - still my favorite and first out this year
shiner - not as good as last year
Boulavard Bob's 47  - a new one and I really can't decide on
Leinenkugel - really good this year, probably second favorite
Hand of Fate Octoberfate - not bad
Urban Chestnut O-Katz - okay but nothing really special
Riggs - don't remember it
Big Muddy - really good
Half Acre - don't really remember
St Nicholas - good
Molly's Pint - had a quick taste so really not much to go on
Schlafly - better than I remember but had it on tap
Blue Jay - new brewery, really enjoyed it.

Here is a list of what I've tried before:
Sam Adams - first I saw this year and still at the top
Shiner - second out this year and seemed better than in the past
Leinenkugel - One of top 3 or 4
Sun King - probably my least favorite I tried this year
Desthil - okay but didn't really make an impression
Civil Life - good
Breckenridge - really good
Salukioctoberfest - very disappointing
St Nicholas - probably my new favorite among local breweries
O'fallon - nice tasting beer I had at Big Muddy Brewing, come on Chuck brew one of your own.

top tier
Sam Adams - easy to get and really good on draft.
Leinenkugel - another easy to get and it's close to Sam Adams
First two are bottles but these two are cans
Founders - a surprising find from last year
Alesmith - first year having it but it's right up there
Flying Dog - real good but more expensive (bottle)

Next tier - good but not as good as the top tier
Revolution - very good especially on tap
Tighthead - would be top tier but comes in a 4 pack of 16oz
Civil Life - just misses out on top tier
Brooklyn - a touch behind Civil Life
Odells - same as Brooklyn

Just misses out on top two tiers:
Bells - good at first then goes a little downhill
Shiner - Good and normally the first one out
Schlafly - Haven't tried this year
LeftHand - really had to get a handle on this one.
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad, haven't tried this year

Middle of the road tier
Staghorm - surprisingly mediocre
4204 - ok but nowhere close to top tiers
Old Nation - barely in the middle tier and it comes in a 4 pack of 16oz cans
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad
Great Lakes - has a different aftertaste, just ahead of the bottom tier

Bottom tier
Paulander - good but only comes in 11.2 oz bottles
Spaten - ok but nothing stands out
Hschorr- Pschorr - like Spaten nothing really stands out

Least favorites
Capitol - surprising close to Von Jakob
Von Jakob - couldn't drink a whole glass
Hofbrau - light taste and only comes in 11.2 oz bottles

With a kid free day yesterday we decided to bring New Kahala home and relax.  I had a dermatologist appointment at 12:45 so I told Lisa what I wanted and then sent her a text when I was close to being done.  I still got there early but no big deal.
I ordered beef rice noodle with extra sauce and veggies with some egg drop soup.  Lisa ordered twice cooked chicken with extra sauce and an egg roll.
Mine just didn't seem to have much flavor or extra sauce.  Both are very unusual for New Kahala.  Lisa's tasted good but had a little too much spice for me.  The egg drop soup tasted really good.
New Kahala is a long time favorite but is just didn't hit the spot this time.

Lisa asked where you taking me so that meant she's not cooking.  We had to be back by 3 so that limited the places we could go.  We finally decided on Emily's Eatery mainly because their Thursday special is normally blacked ribeye and that's been sounding really good.
They don't have draft beer but but they had Modelo Negra so we got those.  I was very tempted by the handbreaded catfish sandwich but in the end stayed with the blackened ribeye with a salad and a baked potato.  I first ordered their excellent onion rings but changed to baked potato.  Lisa went with a club sandwich with a salad. 
As we sat there a guy came in who asked it I was Joe Melvin, turns out his name is Jeff and we worked together 45+ years ago at the student center bookstore.  We'd only ran into each other a couple times in the time since we worked together. 
Anyway the food arrived and my steak was very thin.  It surprised me.  I didn't think they could get it medium but it was close.  The flavor was okay but it wasn't the best ribeye I've had.  I'd have rather paid more and got a thicker steak.  The baked potato was a baked potato, nothing special stood out.  The salad was good especially the french dressing and you gave you more than enough dressing.  A lot of places don't give you enough.  Oh and once again their garlic bread was outstanding.  Lisa really liked her sandwich and it was plenty big.  She got the house dressing on her salad and the bite I had was really good.
Tale of two meals, mine was mediocre hers was good.

Part 2 of the hillbillies go to the big city.  Read part one here.
After Maggies we went back to the hotel to leave the left overs then went to Schlafly's Taphouse.  We followed the gps and went right out of the hotel then left then right again, After walking 5-6 blocks we finally got to Schlaflys I looked over and it the hotel was only a couple blocks away.  I guess the gps assumed we were driving and there were some one way streets.  We walked in and sat at a really nice small bar with a couple people who appeared to be regulars.  We each ordered an Octoberfest which is much better on tap than in the bottle.  The bartender asked where we were from and then he started talking about Quatros.  He said he'll drive two hours one way to bring one home.  Of course we mentioned we were there the previous weekend and that our grandkids were featured on their facebook group.  The people at the bar told us about a new place a few blocks away so off we went.
We got to the Blue Jay Brewery and the entrance we used went through their beer vats which led to another small bar.  We each got an Octoberfest that was really good.  While we were the owner said there was another new brewery a few blocks away but the sun was starting to go down so we left out the other side of the brewery and there was a really nice outdoor area and there may have been some more inside room.  Wish we'd have seen that first.
We got back to the room and I decided to get some popcorn so I went back down the elevator which I'd now figured out.  When I got back to the room I struggled getting the door card out of my wallet as a result I dropped the popcorn and about 1/3 went on the floor.  I finished off the rest and went downstairs for more popcorn and a beer.  When I got back to the room I reached into my pocket for the room key and spilled some of the beer in the popcorn bag, wasn't the best popcorn I've had.
When it was time to got to sleep I ploped in bed only to have the bed reject me.  I'd never had a bed do that before but after making sure everything was okay I managed to get in bed.  After we finally got done laughing we tried to go to sleep but it didn't really come for me.  I kept worrying that my bed would reject me again, not really just couldn't sleep until the wee hours of the morning only to have the alarm go off at 5am.
We got to the hospital around 6am and Lisa's procedure went smooth so we were out of there a little after 10am and so concludes the hillbillies in the big city however there were other stories left out.