I like the butcher shop sign as you enter, especially when they have quarters of beef hanging in the shop as it reminds me of my childhood in my father’s meat market and him staggering under one of those quarters as he brought it from the abattoir—I didn’t really know what that was ’til I was in college and I came across it in my single literature course—into the cooler. I remember him telling me it was a lot easier to help carry a wounded friend and fellow soldier a few years earlier.

You can have a burger anyway you want here. First of all, there is the size, starting at 1/4 lb and going up, I forget how big you can go. I usually take a 1/3 lb. burger but I like to leave it not smashed down as this one was. They look like they have a respectable amount of fat too. Then, if you order it medium, it will come with a little pink in the middle. This is a good thing. You can get some fixings on when it is cooking. I had a Swiss Melt with sautéed mushrooms—very nice—and some onions, a few too many for my taste, but they are easily brushed off, and of course the cheese, usually American because it has just the right texture which kind of sinks into the burger, but in this case I gave the Swiss a try. And then there are all the extras in the next room to add if you need them: a variety of decent mustards, and other foo-foo kind of things and some real seasonings etc.

I added an order of onion rings which were at least average. Only one bite pulled the onion out of its covering. I like a few pickles on the side. If the burger is not as good as you expect you can always put the pickles on it. A lightly toasted bun is really a good idea as well. And of course, some decent beer, which on this occasion was some Moose Drool straight from Bayern in Missoula MT. I have had some good beers from Red Lodge recently in case you are interested in micro-brews.

This was very good. Could serve as a kind of standard that all the fast food places should have to meet before being allowed to serve there burgers.

But the Nielsen’s say that “artisan” means this: made from scratch without fillers or stabilizers, by people skilled in the art of baking. We give every dough the time it needs to ferment properly—at least 12 hours—and let it rise naturally. This process gives our bread its hearty texture, naturally savory taste and homemade goodness.

Wisconsin Cheese soup is available on Tuesdays.

We stopped in for lunch today for relaxation after a strenuous visit with all our grandchildren over the Christmas holidays.

Carol had a nice Reuben and I had a pot roast sandwich that was very good. See the picture to the right.

Pleasant people and reasonable prices. Wine and beer available though we didn’t sample any of that. We had Henry Weinhard root beer.

Apparently they are becoming a chain as I see they have a place in Biloxi, MS.

Just across the street from Enzo’s, this slightly lower class pub—lower than Enzo’s that is—serves some very nice pizza and other things that go well with beer and wine of varying sorts. Nothing really fancy. Didn’t see much of seafood on the menu.

In contrast to its neighbor it is open for lunch. Service good, but then we were there early for lunch. “You guys” was standard form of address. I guess that is a requirement for young lady serving wenches in all Billings restaurants, or is that all of the good old USA. On the pizzas you had several choices including some really thin crust if that is what you want. Clam chowder was good. So was lemonade and Arnold Palmer.

This female bear, I think the proper term is sow, had no cubs to be seen so there was little danger. This looks like a good place to meet your friends after work or stop in for a late evening snack and drink too.

I didn’t realize that this is a Montana chain and is located in all the major cities of Montana and some of the smaller ones too. And also in Coeur d’Alene Idaho.

Pigs Ass Porter Tap

This fine brew comes from Belt MT and is being served at the Red Robin Restaurant in West Park Plaza, and, I suppose, at other fine dining establishments around Billings MT.

The rest of the menu looked fairly interesting too. The owner was cooking this evening. He cares for his customers.

The usual for lunch is a toasted cheese sandwich and a variety of soups, most on the menu with a few specials for the day. Those are available in the evening too with a few fancier extras on the menu.

Looked like a good lunch menu including a very good Reuben sandwich, this day and the next because it was so large. The soup was a very nice mushroom and wild rice. I had a baked pear and Gorgonzola sandwich which was excellent too. Give it a try. The dinner menu looked interesting too.

On trips to the McCormick Cafe next door we have been noticing this place on Montana Ave, usually not open because we eat breakfast or lunch at McCormick’s and Cafe Italia only serves an evening meal. It does, however, open at 4:30 in the afternoon, which means that us early birds are well taken care of.

Well, we finally got around to checking them out courtesy of a good friend who decided we didn’t get out often enough. The brick walls and painted reddish high ceiling are similar to McCormick’s and I’m sure both date to the architecture of the late 19th/early 20th century when this area was the center of the downtown.

There are a couple of very good Italian restaurants around Billings, the Olive Garden, Bruno’s and Johnny Carino’s come to mind quickly, there may be more, so we were wondering how Cafe Italia would stack up against the competition. The answer is they did extremely well. We had three different meals and a variety of wines and all were excellent. I am anxious to come back to try out some other items on the menu.

In addition to the excellent menu, the wait people were very attentive and there were some good wines by the glass as well. And even better, you get to watch the trains going by, loaded with coal and other goodies.

Too bad no passengers to be seen.

I had to include a picture of my dates for the evening.

Next door was The Staggering Ox, not very attractive on the outside, but pleasant enough on the inside with nice serving people and some funky decorations. They said they had been in business for a couple of years which of course embarrassed us because we like to check out new restaurants before they go out of business, usually in 6 to 12 months.

But then these folks haven’t gone out of business and have a decent beer and wine menu as well as some fancy hard drinks, which I guess means a full liquor license.

Their sandwiches looked odd, the bread made fresh in the shape of a cylinder closed at one end and stuffed with whatever goodies you might want, to which you add your favorite dressing. A combo bleu cheese/horseradish sauce turned me on.

The shape of the sandwich is trademarked or patented I’m not sure which, and called a Clubfoot. Yah, me too, not sure why. But they were good and the French Onion soup was very nice as well, not so salty as they often are.

We were there for a late lunch at 2 pm, fairly empty then, though a few couples in love wandered in while we were there. We will try them again for dinner or supper soon. Not sure if the menu differs, probably not. Sorry about the gnawed look to my sandwich. I was hungry.

St Vincent Hospital is adding on to the Emergency Department and the Walk-In Clinic, perhaps getting ready for more patients when all those not receiving health care now will start knocking at the door as health care reform kicks in. I wonder why they are waiting until 2013 for these reforms to take place. I would like to see reform now.

West Park Plaza is moving along. It should look fairly nice when all is done. The folks at CVS told me that the wine department is moving to the corner of Grand and 24th. so I guess that is where we will be moving our drug business. that sounds like a balanced diet of drugs and the pleasant form of alcohol.

That is the cover—to the left— of the magazine Magic City which is about, not surprisingly, Billings Montana. West Park Plaza is not seen on the map above. Ironically the editors apologized to their readers for the playful map as the original of New York City was meant to tell the readers that New Yorkers did not pay attention to anything beyond the Hudson River. Of course they didn’t want to give that impression to their readers or viewers that Billings is not interested in anything south of the Yellowstone. I guess they think we are yahoos. By the way, this looks like an interesting issue of the magazine. I have already mentioned that they gave out false information on a hamburger joint article some months in the past. They never apologized for that so I’m still understandably wary of anything they say.

The facade on the Red Robin is different but the interior is much the same. A big bird greeted us today. These folks do a good job, their burgers and fishand chips dishes really are good and they have a decent wine and beer menu and even their margaritas are worth commenting on. This ‘shroomburger was not quite up to par. I forgot they put Swiss cheese on this, not one of my favorites. The mushrooms needed to be a little more juicy as well.

Burgers around town seem to be improving. Even McDonald’s have had to go over to Angus beef to compete with Hardee’s.