Gmabling with the Weather in Colorado

So, here I am in Colorado this week and I'm gambling with the weather to see a baseball game tonight. I bought tickets to the Rockies vs. Brewers game for tonight. All week it has started to rain in the afternoon and has been getting pretty violent after 5pm. Last night, I went to meet a friend for dinner I hadn't seen since high school. On my way, I thought I was going to have abort and turnaround. The rain started, then hail started. Cars were scarmbling for cover under anything they could find. Even under the 75 foot overpass that was about 10 feet wide. Have you heard what hail sounds like on a car when you're driving at at 55mph? Try this. Put a metal bucket over your head, get four or five friends to pound on the bucket with the handles of screw drivers. See if you don't freak out from the sound. Lucky for me, the hail lasted all of about five minutes and I was able to conitnue on.

Fast forward to today, and the rain starts up again like clockwork at about 3:30pm. It is just pouring down. People in the downtown streets below were running for cover. One poor lady ended up with a broken umbrella from the 40+ mph winds. I checked the weather on the 'Net and found the rain was supposed to stop around 6:30pm. Game time is at 6:40pm. I'm within walking distance, but I don't want to get stuck in the rain nearly a mile from my hotel. That would suck and probably get me sick.

So here I sit in my hotel room after getting off from work waiting and watching to see if the weather will break enough for me to get to the stadium. I've got my chips on Black. The ball is slowing down and bouncing bewteen Red and Black right now.

--Live update-- I see sunlight hitting a building nearby. The online weather radar is showing there will be a break in the next few minutes and stay that way until much later tonight. I think I see the ball settling on Black. Winner, winner! Chicken dinner!

Let's go see a Rockies game sitting in the 2 row from the edge of the left field foul line. This is gonna be a great seat to watch a game in a stadium I've never been to. I'm hoping for a foul ball to come my way. Wish me luck.

How to Make Cabbage with Lettuce

So here’s a question. If you opened a restaurant and served only salad would you expect to hit it big or be laughed out of town? Here’s the answer… You’ll hit it big. I went to a place called Green Fine Salad Company in Denver, CO for lunch today based on the recommendation of one of my customers. The menu was nothing at all like Kravers in Wisconsin. Now, Kravers was pretty good and had a ton of selections. Green’s has a 12 item menu with the option of creating your own healthy salad. The twist is you can get them in a bowl or a wrap. The portions are plentiful and all salads are prepared fresh right in front of you. A couple of slicers, some dicers, and a tosser, and voila! You have a freshly prepared salad of your choice with your name on it. Literally, they put your name on your salad. Now you can respond, “Yes, it does have my name on it!”

I think this restaurant is a fantastic concept. It offers healthy food choices, drinks from local companies, and an easy price on the wallet. Oh, yeah, the food is pretty good, too. It’s not often you get to enjoy a healthy food choice. I certainly enjoyed mine.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

Tokyo Joe’s – Japanese Cuisine to Go

When in Denver you don’t typically think – “Hey! I got an idea! Let’s get some sushi in Denver, because they should have some great local seafood to offer.” Well, I did. Well, it didn’t really happen like that. I actually found some restaurants nearby my location in downtown Denver and found Tokyo Joe’s filtering towards the top of the list. Google Maps places this in categories of Japanese Restaurants and Fast Food Restaurants. Isn’t that an oxymoron? Whenever I have sushi, it’s never considered fast food. Well, consider this. I ordered an 8-piece sushi roll and it was at my table in less than 5 minutes. That’s some fast sushi. Joe’s was an easy walk away from my client site down through the 16^th street mall.

I had the Joe’s Roll – Shrimp, Avocado, Cream Cheese, and Cucumber wrapped in seaweed and finally in rice with sesame seeds. Presentation was typical of something related to fast food. I got my wasabi and ginger on the plastic black plate, but my soy sauce cup was a small plastic cup covering my wasabi and ginger. So far, this is nothing exciting and nothing I would call home about. Well, I probably would call home, I would just make sure to have something else to talk about, since the conversation night last about 18 seconds. The roll looked pretty good and tight. Everything looked fresh and smelled good. The wasabi was pretty potent. It’s kinda hard to screw that up, though. So I take my first piece and dip it into the sauce, carefully mixed with some wasabi, and my roll began to fall apart as soon as it hit the sauce. Man, that sucked. The sticky rice was not soy proof. My pretty soy sauce cup with wasabi now has floating pieces of rice and sesame seeds. Oh, well… I scooped up what I could and hoped this was just a one off. It tasted pretty good so that encouraged me to try again with another piece and it was better. It held steadfast and I didn’t lose anything this time. That bite was pretty tasty. I mowed through the rest of remaining pieces having to utilize my chopstick martial arts to get out some portions that broke up in the soy sauce.

Overall, I liked the sushi. I didn’t like having to use ancient Japanese chopstick martial arts to get at the pieces that broke up easily in the soy sauce. I didn’t like that fact that they were out 2 of the 4 Black Tea options when it was just barely past 1pm. I did like the fact I was able to enjoy some pretty good tasting sushi for less than $10. I would probably return, but I might get there a little earlier since anytime after 12:30pm seems to be problematic for getting what you want to drink. I found out about another sushi place nearby that is not considered fast food and is supposed to be better. For under $10 I can’t really complain too much. If it stuck together better I’d gladly pay a few dollars more.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

The Place to be On Friday’s for Lunch in Milwaukee

Today is Friday, July 08, 2011. I am in Milwaukee. The place to eat in Milwaukee on Fridays for lunch is a place called Larry’s Market. Why?

5.       Larry’s offers local foods and beverages daily

4.       Larry’s has a great deli with fresh food available daily

3.       Larry’s creates the feeling of being in an old country food store

2.       Larry’s prices easy on the wallet

1.       Larry’s has a cookout every Friday!

So, I have been to this place before when I came through this area about 4 weeks ago. My customers told me about a sandwich place called Larry’s Market that I had to try on a Friday. They have a cookout for hamburgers, catfish, sausage, and other great foods. My first impression when I got there, was where is the horse and buggy parking? This place has history built all around it and inside. The concrete steps line the entire front of the shop. Inside wood floors creek as you walk around. You can almost see how this shop would have operated 100 years ago with horse drawn buggies lining the front and getting their weekly general needs that could not be grown at home. For me, places with a rich history and charm hold a special place. I am a big fan of history and love to see buildings that show their original character through their decades of use.

On Fridays the outside is filled with the scent of grilled foods, from Cajun catfish to chicken apple sausage to hamburgers. There are a couple of tents off to one side where the food is prepared and the fixin’s are plenty. The employees are handling the line of people waiting to get their food and guiding them on where to get their trimmings for their choice du jour. Today is a great day to eat outside with temperatures in the low 80s, lots of sun, and low humidity. The seats outside are usually always filled up, but plenty of picnic bench seating is available on both sides of the building. There is no problem sitting next to someone you don’t know. Sit down introduce yourself to your neighbor and the conversations run away for the lunch hour. Or you can sit and just enjoy the outdoor dining.

The inside of the shop has a hint of historical charm with the modern trappings of refrigerated drinks, a deli with electric scales, and computerized cash registers. You will be hard pressed to find the typical national foods you find in a supermarket. Most, if not all of the foods are from local or regional companies and growers. They offer several types of beverages from local and some national companies. One of my favorites is Root Beer from Sprecher’s that is local to Milwaukee. I’m a big root beer fan and this did not fail to impress. One of the ingredients unique to this root beer was the use of locally produced honey. Mmmm… mmmm… good.

So, now I have my Cajun catfish and found a spot to sit. The catfish is nice, hot, and fresh on a standard bun with a descent amount of Cajun seasoning. I put on some Cajun mayonnaise to increase the spiciness and flavor. The fish was cooked just right. Not overdone, or underdone. The seasoning wasn’t over powering and was well complemented with the Cajun mayo. I think the bun was just a little too thick for it, but that’s okay. I was still able to enjoy my fish. I added some sour cream and onion chips and washed it all down with my Sprecher’s Root Beer made with locally produced honey.

I am giving Larry’s Market a high recommendation to visit when in the Milwaukee area. I will be through this area again in the next few weeks and will be sure to visit this place again. I love the charm, character, atmosphere, and the food. The staff is plenty helpful and fun loving. I think I will be trying the chicken apple sausage next time I go on a Friday. Thanks for reading. Remember you can always provide a comment to any of my posts.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

Horny Goats, Smokey Robinson, and Beer

Normally, mentioning something like that in the same sentence can elicit some really bad images. And sometimes it is the premise behind a joke on the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Neither are the case this time. These three phrases actually go great together. Let me tell you about a really cool brewery I found in Milwaukee called the Horny Goat Hideaway. Well, I say, "I found", but the cool crowd in Milwaukee already know about it. It is located just a few minutes north of General Mitchell International Airport off I-94. They brew their own beer, have an awesome semi-outdoor and large bar area, and a really big outdoor dining area. They even sport about 8 beach volley courts. That can be nice entertainment on a summer afternoon.

Anyway, the place is a little hidden off the beaten path, hence Hideaway in the name. They have plenty of real estate for parking and the brewery is directly on site with tours available by appointment. The staff was friendly and attentive, even in the bar area. I found easy parking in the huge unpaved back lot. Upon arrival, the whole place was alive with lots of activity, live music, and beach volleyball going on in the back area of the property. This is not your typical hide away brewery. All of the eating is done outside. The bar has a modern industrial feel with roll-up doors all around and plenty of large LCD TVs sprinkled around. It's hard to find a spot that doesn't have at least one great viewing angle. I would have had to wait for a seat in the outdoor dining area, so I took a readily available seat at the bar and planted myself right in front of one of those TVs to watch the baseball game.

The menu was pretty simple. I had a choice of beer, burgers, salads, and appetizers. Even though it sounds bland, it was anything but. The recommended burger with the Smokey Robinson. A hamburger topped with pulled pork, haystack onions, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce held between a large round bun with a toothpick that could have been used by Paul Bunion. Even though I already had a pulled pork sandwich earlier today, I was game to try this one. Here's something to remember when going to dinner later in the evening and it's going to be crowded, don't expect all flavors of their brewed beer to be available. They were out of the Hopped Up 'n Horny, and the Horny Blonde. I finally settled on the Belgian Wheat. I know, no fun name for that one is there?

My beer arrived rather quickly, the burger arrived about 10 minutes later. Right on time. The beer was very smooth with no bitter taste. It looked every bit of a wheat beer. I'll be honest. I'm not much of beer connoisseur. I know a good beer when I get a hold of one, though, and this was a good beer. It was smooth and consistent throughout the whole glass with no bitter after taste. Best of all, it went great with my Smokey Robinson. You can see the picture of this beauty below. The burger was piled high with all of the toppings. I didn't know if it was going to fit in my mouth or if I was going to have to cut it up. I guess I now know that I have a big mouth. Some of you may have already known that, though. The burger fit and I went to town on that thing. The burger meat itself was ok. Nothing spectacular. What set that particular burger apart from any other was the pulled pork and the rest of the toppings. The pork was tender, cooked evenly, and covered in barbecue sauce. The haystack onions added some great background flavor and the veggies were fresh. There's nothing worse than limp lettuce and under ripe tomatoes on a burger. These veggies were spot on for freshness and taste. As a side, I got tater tots with my Smokey Robinson. These were pretty good tots. I won't babble on about those, though.

I finally finished every last savory bite of my burger and washed it all down with the last few sips of my smooth, cold, and great tasting Belgian Wheat. That meal was worth every penny. I ended up paying a little under $20 with a tip included. If I could get away with eating like that every day I'd do it again tomorrow, but alas, I am over 35 and therefore am destined to have to eat like my mom taught me. Those meals will have to be fewer as I get older.

If you are ever in the Milwaukee area and want to find a good local brewery, you need to check out the Horny Goat Hideaway. Check out their website for any specials going on. You can also plan ahead for what you want to eat as their full menu is available there, too. I think I will sleep well tonight after that meal.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

Marriott Courtyard - Brown Deer, WI

So as you may have guessed, I am in the Milwaukee area this week. This is my third trip to the area in the last 8 weeks and my third hotel. The first one was awful. A Hampton Inn that got left back in the mid 1990's. The second one was the best. A Hilton Garden Inn that had nice amenities and decent food. The third ranks very close to the Hilton Garden Inn.
The staff is nice and attentive to your needs. I happened to forget my toothbrush and they gave me a new one. No, it's not the newest Colgate tooth brush that whitens teeth, removes tartar and plaque, and can jack up a pickup truck by putting a rock under it, but it does the basic job of cleaning the crud from my teeth. They have a nice mixer later in the evening with drinks for everyone. I just missed the end of it when I got in from seeing my movie at the Fox Bay Cinema Grill. Maybe I'll partake in it tomorrow night.
The parking lot is well lit and there's really not a bad parking spot on the premises. The hotel provides easy access to the main road going in either direction out front and there plenty of restaurants within easy driving distance. The Interstate is just a few miles away and Mitchell Airport is about 25 minutes away. So far the hotel has been quiet even though there has been quite a few partiers out front and roaming around the lobby for the past two nights.  Being right by the elevators I thought I would be subjected to a lot of loud noises. It has been pleasantly quiet.
I think overall, I would give this hotel a thumbs up. I will be coming back here again in the next few weeks and will probably stay here if the Hilton Garden Inn is booked up again. If you need lodging in the northern region of the Milwaukee area, check out the Courtyard. You might like it.
This is the Nomad Consultant providing a review while on the road. Keep checking back for more updates. I might review a spot in your town.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

Kravers Handled my Cravings

I went to a place called Kravers Frozen Custard for lunch today. This is a local restaurant in the Milwaukee area. It boasts over 100 items on the menu and good size portions at reasonable prices. One of the first impressions I got was cleanliness with plenty of sitting room. The other impression I got was that it was hardly any kind of custard shop. The menu board looked fairly intimidating spreading across about 25 feet of overhead space covering foods from Europe, Mexico, and the US, but I managed to get through the selections and find something that appealed to me, the pulled pork sandwich. This was a strange beginning to a restaurant considered to be fast food.

My food was served in about one minute. It was a good looking sandwich sitting in the black plastic platter plate next to a heaping helping of fries. I think I would have liked to see a little more pulled pork or a less bulky bun to make it a tad better, but it was pretty good as it was. The sauce had a good mixture of spiciness and tanginess, and was not too messy. The pork was pretty good, too. It was tender and the sauce certainly boosted the flavor. The bun was large and fluffy, and had a little of the sauce subtly seeping into the bun from the inside. It made the bun seem thinner than it was, which was helpful. The fries were nothing spectacular visually or taste wise, but were plentiful. They were just your typical Orida type wrinkle cut fries. The drink selections were the usual suspects of soft drinks.

The cool factor was the plasticware dispensers. Forks, knives, and spoons were held in lever activated dispensers. Pushing down a lever on the appropriate dispenser kicked out a fork, knife, or spoon. Out of all of the restaurants I have ever visited, and trust me there have been a lot, I have never come across something like these dispensers. The knife dispenser was the coolest. It actually jettisoned a knife out with gusto. I had to fight the urge to pick up the dispenser, face it outward, and start pushing on the lever like it was a semi-automatic weapon yelling like Rambo and swinging it around in slow mation. I think that would have been pretty fun. Even the drink lids were held in a nicely organized dispenser. Tables were well spaced and the booths had plenty of room. Unfortunately, the drink dispenser area gets a little crowded due to patrons waiting around for food to come out. The pickup area and drink dispenser are very close to each other leaving little space for congregation and those wanting to get a drink. That’s when you grab the knife dispenser and start shooting to get people to back off.

Ultimately, my meal was rather inexpensive, about $8, for what I got. I liked the pulled pork sandwich, but the bun could have been a little thinner. It didn’t overpower the sandwich, but it could have come very close rather easily had the sauce not slightly seeped into the bun and the bun not be as fluffy as it was. Those stiff, thick buns that I run into from time to time at other places would have ruined this sandwich. I would consider this a fast food restaurant with a choice for everyone. If you are craving anything from gyros to quesadillas to burgers to bbq, Kravers can satisfy the craving. The combination of selections, price, and time bring back memories of the old Sizzler commercials in the early 90’s. “I don’t have a lot of time. I don’t have a lot of money. I want a lot of choice.” You will have no trouble meeting that expectation at Kravers. You can judge for yourself on what you like the best. For me, the pulled pork sandwich was good, but I might try a quesadilla next time. I love quesadillas.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

F-Troop on Patrol in Terminal D at DFW Airport

Even the TSA is not immune to getting a review. On Tuesday, July 5th I got to DFW Airport Terminal D with just over 90 minutes to get to my gate. Plenty of time. When I got to security, no one was waiting in the holding line and there were about 15 people in the security line waiting to get their stuff into the x-ray. In my past experience this process should no more than about 5 minutes to get through. The x-ray line went to a dead stop for at least 5 minutes and the line began building in the holding area. There did not appear to be any major security problems afoot. There was one traveler waiting for articles on the other side and there were three TSA agents looking at the x-ray screen. Really?? It takes three highly trained professional TSA agents to figure out what's in the colored picture on the TV screen?? It must have been training day. Here’s a suggestion, take the bag out and open it. That is an option the TSA has at their disposal. Not only to speed up the security process for others, but to perform necessary checks when "what's that in the bag" questions come up.

It took 30 minutes to get to the point of putting my articles into the x-ray machine. Remember there were only 15 people in front of me. I have been through other check points at DFW where 30 people took 15 minutes. I have even been through a check point in Philly where it took 40 minutes to get through over 100 people. Today, they most definitely put the F-Troop on Terminal D. I think TSA now has a new meaning – Totally Slowing Aviation.

There were seven TSA agents manning this security entry point with only one x-ray machine operational. One was checking passes and IDs. Two to three were reviewing the screen on the x-ray. One was shuffling totes back and forth. One was manning the metal detector. And one was holding the floor down. This was government waste at its best. If I performed like that on my job, I would have been written up, fired, and prevented from getting unemployment.  It should take no more than four or five to run a security check point. One to check IDs and passes. One to man the x-ray. One to man the metal detector. And two to float between points for male or female checks, shuffle totes back and forth, or check IDs.

I know I’d be taking away jobs, but I would much rather see seven people manning the fast food shops in the airport so it doesn’t take 10 minutes per person to order a sandwich. After all, it’s not like there would be much in the way of a salary change, right? I would much rather see it take 30 seconds per person to get through security, and 60 to 90 seconds person to get a sandwich.

I don’t think I want to see the TSA or any kind of security check points go away. They serve an important purpose. Some of the rules are a little extreme, but when you choose to fly you are essentially signing a contract that you are accepting the procedures and policies of not only the airlines, but also the TSA. I just think it can be done much better and more efficient. I’m sure everyone else has an idea on the subject, as well.

At any rate, feel free to comment on this. Even if you fly once a year the TSA affects your experience, too. I am a big believer that feedback is important to improving a service. Of course, that only works if the people providing the service are willing to hear it.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

Movie Night at Fox Bay Cinema Grill

Tonight I am at a local movie theater that is independently owned an operated in Milwaukee, WI called the Fox Bay Cinema Grill. It was originally opened in 1951 and then remodeled many years later. This theater holds quite a bit of charm and nostalgia just in the entry way alone. They left the original box office out front and the lobby has one of its original movie projectors. The reels it holds are about 22" in diameter. That projector is a monster.

I walked into the theater for my movie, Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon 3D, and it is definitely a modernized theater, but still holds some of that Hollywood Golden Age feel. There was a large red velvet curtain covering the screen. Three dimensional art work was delightfully mounted on the side walls about half way up the 40 foot ceiling to keep the cavernous space appealing.

The concept of a theater and grill is not new, but this place is better than the chain places I have been to. The food is all made to order and the wait staff is on top of it from the get go. I wasn't sitting more than 3 seconds before I had someone taking a drink order. I got the Buffalo Chicken sandwich for dinner. It was rather tasty and definitely had that homemade taste. It was worth the price.

So how does this theater stack up with a new 3D movie that was supposed to be seen in 3D? It did very well. The sound was fantastic! It easily filled the theater, but was not over powering like most eat-in theaters are. Their sound system has true power that doesn't have to over compensate by nearly blowing out underpowered speakers. It sounded well grounded and full. The 3D was state of the art. I had no complaints about how this theater presented the movie. It was smooth and bright.

If you are in the Milwaukee area and you have a chance to catch dinner and a movie go to the Fox Bay Cinema Grill. You will not be disappointed. The food is great, the wait staff was attentive and invisible when needed, and the atmosphere was how a movie should be enjoyed. They are located at 334 E. Silver Spring Dr., Whitefish, WI 53217.

This has been a traveling review brought to you by the Nomad Consultant. I review all kinds of places wherever I stay during my travels. Stay tuned for more travel reviews.

The Nomad Consultant

Hi. I'm the Nomad Consultant. I travel the country as an IT Consultant helping companies plan for and implement service desk and computer asset management software. It's a pretty fun job as I get to see the country and meet great people in different industries.

My intent for this blog is to document my travels providing everyone my experiences at different hotels, local restaurants, airports, and even airlines. These are all areas considered part of the service industry as they all provide customer service at the front end. Some will provide it better than others.

I encourage your comments to this site. I know there are plenty of other blogs out there doing the same thing. I hope that I can provide a real review to the places I visit so that if you go to the same location, you can say you heard it here first.

Talk to you soon.