Author: ekuhns

by ekuhns on Trip Report

Niagara-on-the-lake – Day 1

For my mother-in-law’s birthday, this year, we decided to take her to the wineries at Niagara-on-the-lake. She expressed her interest in it since we were just up there. I love the area and it’s a fairly stress free vacation so I was more than happy to go.

The drive up was pretty standard and without any surprises since we just did it a few months ago.

We checked into the Hilton and got situated. Maura and her mom wanted to take a little rest so I decided to head to the bar for a beer to clear the dust from my throat.  Amazingly the bartender remembered us from when we were there in January. It was truly shocking considering I’ve been to the same bar in Pittsburgh dozens of times but the bartenders treat you like a stranger.

We chatted for a bit and he told me he lives near Niagara Falls and that they were going to be doing an Earth Day thing where they turn the lights off for the falls. Our plan was to head down that way for a bit anyway so I was worried this might make it a traffic nightmare but that wasn’t the case.

I grabbed my beer and headed back to the room to rest before we made our way back south a bit.

We drove the longish way down to find a casino. I’m not a gambler so it didn’t really make a difference which one we went to but the one that was chosen was the Fall’s View Casino. Someone dug deep for that name.

Before we went there, however, we stopped to look at the falls. It had been about 30 years since my mother-in-law was last here. It was good to know it hadn’t changed that much. We, of course, took a selfie with the falls in the background.

Then it was off to the casino. The plan was to find the bar and deposit me while they went and gambled. I found a nice spot where I could watch the Penguins hockey game. While I drank my beer Maura broke about even and we decided to head back to the lake for dinner.

We decided to try and get some food at the Silversmith Brewery that we discovered the last time. However, we weren’t taken with their menu or the drink options.

I wanted to head further into town and try the Exchange Brewery since they had some great IPAs the last time. Unfortunately, they were closed. So we made our way to The Irish harp.

Even more unfortunately, the Irish Harp is now two-for-two on our trips there. The service wasn’t very good and the food turned out to be kind of bland. Worse yet, we ordered bottles of beer that we discovered too late had expired some time before.

Seeing that the fortunes were against us. Maura got a dessert to go and we decided to call it a night.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

NYC Day 3

This morning I had to head into the NYC office of my company for a meeting. So I got up a bit earlier and made my way down to Rockefeller center. It took me a bit to find exactly which building I was supposed to be in I quickly found my meeting.

After my meeting I was took advantage of my location and went to the Nintendo store. There were a ton of people checking out the huge, in-store demo for the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, on the Switch but I wasn’t there for that. I wanted to get a new 3DS game. I also decided to pick up some new coffee mugs. We used to have 2 Nintendo mugs but one of them went missing. I got a Zelda and a Mario mug. Then I headed back to get Maura.

Once Maura and I were ready to leave the hotel it was time to get something to eat. We decided to try Jacob’s pickles again. This time we had much better luck since it was a school day. The food was awesome and they cooked Maura’s bacon right.

Without any real plan for the rest of the afternoon we decided to check out Central Park.

In particular we wanted to see Belveder castle. It wasn’t as big as I was expecting but it offered some great views and I can people wanting to use it for Summer events.

We took a selfie or three.

We then made our way to see the Alice in Wonderland statue and passed through this cool underpass where there was a musician.

It’s a very large statue and people let their kids climb all over it.

After walking around for a bit we decided to go warm up and grabbed a beer. I located a place with some decent reviews and so we made our way to The Pony Bar. It was a good place but we wanted to change venues to be closer to our show after a bit.

We located an Irish pub near the City Center called Draught 55. They were pretty packed because of it being happy hour and the service seemed to not take notice of new people at the bar. We only had a beer and an appetizer then decided to get out.

Finally it was time for our show.

We got to the City center, found our seats and settled in for an awesome show. Most of the comedians killed it. Even Dave Attell got a laugh out of me. One of the cast members from Saturday Night Live was there and thought it was a good time to just wing it. Bill Burr killed it.

After show we had a bad moment involving trying to get an Uber. It thought we were on the other block and so we had to hustle around the corner to try to find it. Then I got a notification that it was canceled and their system wouldn’t let me order a new one. Maura had to order one and it took about 20 minutes.

We headed back towards our hotel and wanted to get something to eat. In particular we were looking for a slice of pizza. A quick Google search had us looking for Freddie & Pepper’s. It seemed to have great reviews but when we checked it out the pizza looked dried out and they were only selling old slices. We moved on.

While walking up Amsterdam avenue we came across the always good Insomnia Cookies. While not dinner food we grabbed a couple of cookies for later.

Feeling like we’re running out of options and tired of looking we stumbled upon The Meatball Shop. They were open and still serving food that was made then so we grabbed a couple of seats, a few beers and had some dinner. We headed to the hotel to watch some TV and eat our cookies and call it a night. The next day we had to drive back to Pittsburgh.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report, Uncategorized

NYC Day 2

The morning began with my trip to Starbucks. It’s a brief walk just a couple of blocks away. I usually use the walk to check on the car. Especially if we don’t get a good spot near the hotel.

Once we’re we somewhat caffenated we headed out to find some breakfast. However, there was a wrinkle in our plan as it was a weekday and that meant street cleaning. In NYC they clean one side of the street one day and the other the next. This means that for a couple of hours in the morning the parking gets worse as it becomes half of what it was.

We had to move the car. So we got in and started driving around looking for a new place to park on the other side of the street. This unfortunate process ended up taking two hours. Two hours of driving up and down the streets in a 10 block area. It was terrible. I also learned that New Yorkers don’t believe in turning right on a red light as a guy yelled at me.

Driving for 2 hours can work up an appetite. We needed to find something and my first choice for brunch was packed with a 2 hour wait time. The other place that came up on my search was 5 Napkin Burger. They were right around the corner and sat us in 10 minutes.

The food was good and the place was pretty neat. The only downside was the amount of kids that were there. It was some holiday where kids weren’t in school so they were all out for lunch with grandparents and whomever.

We had awhile to go before our dinner reservations so we went to one of Maura’s favorite stores, Verameat. This time not in Brooklyn we went to their flagship store in the East Village. One of the goals with this stop was getting a Seinfeld pin that Maura had seen online.

Mission accomplished.

While in the East Village we decided to try to get into the speak easy that we missed our reservation for the previous year. They don’t open until happy hour so we had some time to kill and wanted something to eat. Near the speak easy is a coffee shop/cafe that had some good coffee called The Crooked Tree. It was a little hip spot and got out us out of the cold for bit.

After that it was time for us to go to our reservation. You have to call earlier that day and they give you a time to be there. It’s a very formal, strict policy. Which is odd since the entry way is through a phone booth in a hot dog shop. There was a line going out the door of people waiting to for their turn to use the phone booth. I wondered what the people that were just eating hot dogs were thinking was going on.

The line moved rather quickly and we got inside and a seat near the door. Please Don’t Tell or PDT as they like to shorten their name is a cool, underground bar that serves a nice blend of cocktails. I had two drinks and was feeling pretty good.

From their it was time to bust a move to Harlem. Our dinner reservation was quickly approaching so we hopped an Uber and shot north. There was another place I wanted to stop by as well while we were in Harlem. It had been on my radar for a couple of years and we just never came north.

I don’t remember where I heard of Mess Hall but I know that I liked the look and idea of it. A craft beer and cocktail bar in Harlem sounds like an interesting place to me. I had a beer and a pickle back. A pickle back is a shot of whiskey with a shot of pickle brine. Much better tasting than you would think.

Dinner time.

We thought we were ready for what the Red Rooster had for us. We weren’t quite. The food was amazing. The environment was alive and we were having a great time. It might be a new spot on our ‘must visit’ list. I know we’ll be back.

 

 

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

NYC – Day 1

Another NYC trip. This time we’re off to see the Patrice O’Neal benefit concert. This is our 3rd-4th time we’ve gone to this annual event and we still enjoy it. We got up early as we always do and hit the road at 8:30.

I usually try to get to Breezewood before we stop. That’s a good distance to go and then we get a bathroom break and a snack at Starbucks. This time we also discovered that they have a cookie butter bar. This thing was delicious. However, Maura’s apparently had ‘elder hair’. There were these tiny, little, white hairs sticking out of her’s so she didn’t get to eat it.

Once we got to NYC we were staying in Manhattan at the Riverside Hotel. Since we were arriving on a weekday we were going to be dealing with a parking situation but I didn’t realize how long it would be. We drove around the blocks for several hours looking for a parking space before we finally found one several blocks away.

After we checked in we had to make our dinner reservation in Brooklyn so we ordered an Über. The best option we had was an Über pool. These aren’t our favorites as you never know who you’re going to be riding with. This time we got a driver that was apparently booked for more passengers than he could take. He got into a disagreement with the lady that had made that reservation. It was a bit awkward.

We got over to Brooklyn in time to make our reservation at Maison Premier. I was ready for an Oyster stout and some good oysters.

From there we made our way to a new place for us, Barcade Brooklyn

This was a pretty cool place. Maura and I and a bunch of quarters beat Final Fight which was something I never did on an arcade machine as a kid. After another round of beers it was time to call it a night.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Brooklyn – Day 2

I woke up early and went to the hotel gym. No free weights of course. Just some dumbbells, machines and ellipticals. I did what I could with it. Then stopped in the lobby cafe to pick up some coffee. We weren’t in any real hurry this morning so we watched the snow and people out the window while we drank it.

We eventually ran out of coffee and then we decided to find some brunch. A few blocks from our hotel there are a number of restaurants. I found one that had a good reputation and rating. Myrtle and Gold was nicely lit spot on the corner of a building.

From there we made our way to the Brooklyn Flea. This time it was in an old bank. Unfortunately it was really warm winter day so with that many people in a confined space it was a bit too much for me. I didn’t buy anything but it’s always nice to see what’s around.

Maura found something she liked.

Of course a trip to Brooklyn would not be complete if we didn’t stop at the brewery.

After that we did some shopping. Maura went to Vera Meat where she bought this interesting necklace.

I stopped in the bookstore and was able to get the instruction book for my tarot cards I had bought a few years prior at the same store.

We had dinner reservations so we headed in that direction. Another staple of our Brooklyn trips is the delicious Maison Premiere. This is an interesting place with a New Orleans 1920’s atmosphere to it. We go there for the oysters.

From there it was back to the hotel and an end to our trip.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Niagara on the lake – Day 2

We like to start our wine adventures with a good breakfast. As the Hilton has a good buffet we started there. This allows for us to also craft a plan of attack. This year we decided to do things a bit differently and go to the wineries on the bench instead of near the hotel.

The bench is an area a few miles away that sits a bit up from the lake. It has a climate that is apparently very suitable for growing grapes and making wine.

Our first stop was Angels gate, a nice winery that sits on a hilltop and has a great selection to try. I sampled the Mountainview Chardonnay, Pinot noir, Merlot, Cabernet merlot. I didn’t buy anything because I knew our next stop is one of my favorite wineries.

Fielding Estate is a great winery. They have an amazing view that looks out over the winery and a catwalk that lets you look at the wine making operation. I tried the Chardonnay unpacked, Viognier, Gamay. Here I bought a bottle of the Gamay and we bought our travel passes for the Ice wine festival.

With wine and passes in hand we head to Rosewood.

Rosewood is a winery and a meadery. I’ve been recently getting in mead and this place was awesome. We tried the origin Chardonnay , sussreserve Riesling,  long rows red, lock, stock and barrel, origin cab franc, spiced mead, cyser Apple honey mead. I bought the spiced mead. Maura bought some honey.

Maura took a candid group shot.

Our next stop was KEW.

We found KEW only a couple of years earlier but its quickly become a favorite of ours. They have a nice table to handle larger groups for tastings.

I sampled the 2010 Rosalie, 2014 old vine Riesling, 2014 Marsanne, Soldier’s Grant Cabernet. I ended up buying the barrel aged gamey noir. It seemed to be the theme of the night.

From KEW we headed to Mailvoire and wanted to do the Ice Wine pairing.

At the entrance we were treated to a cheese sampling that was really good. We proceeded to the back of the winery where we had roasted duck ice wine pairing. It too was really good. We also did another wine pairing. I had the Bidous Brut NV, 3014 Mottiar Chardonnay, 2013 Stouck Merlot. I also bought another Gamey. Outside they had the food truck for the cheese monger, the Cheesy Guys. It was really good and Maura bought a bunch of cheese.

We then make a stop at Vineland Estates for their ice wine pairing a dark chocolate and venison stew with their merlot. The rest of the group seemed to really enjoy it but Maura and I didn’t. We also tried their 2010 Riesling with golden bilth cheese and rosemary sea salt cracker cinnamon bark jelly that was really good.

Our next to last stop was Creekside. They’re a favorite of ours. We did the ice wine pairing which was a  chicken liver pate with iconoclast red. I enjoyed it. Maura had zero interest so I took hers. Now it was time for dinner.

Our first choices for dinner weren’t able to accommodate a group our size for that night so we headed to Trius which turned out to be a high point of the whole trip.

Here the photos do way more justice than I could to describe how awesome this meal was.

Check out this awesome smoked salmon.

That was the end of this day. It was a wonderful start but more to come tomorrow.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Niagara on the lake – Day 1

Every January we head north to Canada to meet with some friends for the annual Ice Wine festival. This year we also happened to be traveling on the same day I had to take an important call for work.

As is usually the case we like to get up early and try to get on the road before rush hour traffic starts. We usually mess this up somehow but we did what we could.

Along the way we realized we weren’t going to make it across the border before I had to take my call so we got off the road in Buffalo. We were looking for an antique spot for Maura to check out while I had my call but only found a shady looking place that was more pawn shop than antiques. So instead we stopped in a supermarket lot and I took my call while Maura napped.

After the call we quickly made it across the border into Canada on a day when I honestly thought there’d be more trouble because of the Trump inauguration.

We made it to the hotel in pretty good time and were way ahead of our friends so we decided to try and take a nap. The unfortunate thing though was the floor beneath us was being renovated so there was terrible noise the whole time and what sleep we got just made us more tired.

Since Maura’s Buffalo antique shopping was a bust we decided to try our luck in Niagara on the lake. We found one place that was open that we had been to in the past and Maura bought a picture. We also discovered these old trucks by the side of the road.

By this point I was getting hungry and thirsty. The first order of business was food. We weren’t really in the mood for anything so we did a very rare thing for us and got McDonald’s. I had Big Mac with Bacon which is apparently a thing no one thought to have until now. I don’t remember what Maura had.

Still thirsty we went to a brewery we’ve never been to in Niagara, Silversmith brewery. It’s great to see craft beer creeping its way up north as the last time we were in Toronto it was pretty hard to locate but I think we’re spoiled in Pittsburgh.

We didn’t realize they had a kitchen there or we would have skipped the McDonald’s and tried their food as well.

I really liked this brewery and we’ll definitely be coming back. Maura liked their logo enough to get a growler but we didn’t take any beer with us since the point of the trip was really wine.

Unfortunately while we were there they didn’t have anything on their cask pull.

Back to our original plan to return to Oast House since we were there before so we wanted to check them out. We only stopped for a quick drink there because we wanted to go to the Irish pub for dinner and have a couple of drinks there. Oast House has a unique decor and looks like a remodeled barn.

From there it was time to head up to Niagara on the lake proper and see about the Irish pub that we usually have a great time at while we’re there.

We ended up parking a little further away and walking through the town a bit. They have an old apothecary that is never open when we’re there but we remain hopeful. I’m glad we walked though because we found another brewery that had opened the previous year that we somehow missed.

The Exchange Brewery is a very slick, clean looking brewery and they have some great double ipas amongst their line up.

While we sampled some beers we began a conversation with the couple next to us who also happened to be from Pittsburgh and in town for the Ice Wine festival. Small world.

It was time to eat so we headed to the Irish Harp Pub expecting some delicious clams and to see the band that usually plays. However, what we got was quite different. Our hostess was a bit rude and didn’t want to seat us. The band was a new one that made several derogatory remarks about the USA that got on our nerves. Instead of hanging around we got what we could takeout and went back to the hotel to eat.

We decided to call it a night and looked forward to wine and friends in the morning.

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Brooklyn – Day 1

It’s December. Which means another trip to NYC. This time to Brooklyn with pretty much no agenda. We’re staying in a new place this time. The Dazzler Brooklyn.

We got in a little later than I would have liked. Once we found a parking spot we unloaded the car and checked in. I went back to the car and moved it because the parking spot we had seemed a little shady. It’s a good thing I did to because we left the interior light on. I also managed to score a better spot right across the street from the the hotel.

Our room was very nice.

Once situated we decided to pop into the “beer garden” to clear the road dust. What they call a “beer garden” is really just a bar. With only a few taps and not a large bottle selection. We made the best decisions we could before venturing out.

Our goal was to find a Pittsburgh band, Beauty Slap, that happened to be playing that night. They have a hip hop meets old jazzy kind of feel that I loved.

After that it was time to get some pizza and catch an Uber home. We stopped at a place we first found on one of my first trips to NYC. We lost it for awhile but recently rediscovered it. Pomodoro has some huge NYC slices that are just awesome.

Then it was time to call it a night as it was a long day.

 

 
by ekuhns on Uncategorized

Milwaukee – Day 2

A rainy day start to our day this morning. I got up and went to the gym for my cardio day. There was another guy in the gym taking speaker phone calls on the treadmill. Very annoying.

Our plan for the day was to pay a visit to the Pabst mansion and do a tour of the Miller brewery.

But first we stopped at the Public Market to get breakfast. The market is a huge warehouse full of different food vendors and stores. We found a place that had breakfast available and ordered up.

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After breakfast we got on our way to the Pabst Mansion.

The Pabst mansion is very beautiful mansion. The tour was about an hour and a half. While full of great details about the building it seemed to be lacking a bit about the people that lived there.

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After the tour we discovered it was too late to go to the Miller brewery as they were closing soon. We decided instead to head to a local brewery that was came up in a Google search called District 14. They offered a lot of different flavored stouts which aren’t my favorite but their taps are changing all the time.

From there we were told of a nearby bar with 60 taps called Sugar Maple. The choices for drinking at this place were great. I ended getting a flight of 5 beers because the ones I wanted to drink the most had some high ABV. People were there eating pizza that there ordered to the bar as I guess it is bring your own food.

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Our last stop for the night was Lulu Cafe which came highly recommended from Google. We all greatly enjoyed our meals but it was time to call it a night.

 

 
by ekuhns on Trip Report

Milwaukee – Day 1

Yesterday we drove up to Milwaukee from Pittsburgh. The actual drive itself was pretty uneventful. One thing I did notice was that there seems to be less rest stops over this way. There were several very long stretches where we wanted to stop and couldn’t.

So we get to Milwaukee and learn that the address my Garmin had found was for the wrong place. So we went to the Google Maps backup. Fortunately we were only off by a couple of minute drive. After driving for so long we were all eager to get out. … →