We’ve all seen the place in movies—the little small-town café, long and narrow, booths on one side, the counter on the other, where everyone is friendly and the food satisfying. If such a place makes you wax nostalgic, then pine no more. Head on over to Rock’s Anchor Grill on Harrison in Davenport, and experience a true American tradition.


The affordable, classic fare begins with breakfast, of course, which is served anytime. The omelets are superlative. The lunch menu boasts exactly what you would expect—burgers, club sandwiches, ham and cheese, Reubens, along with soups and salads. Dinners are of the meat-and-potatoes variety, with chicken, beef, pork chops and tenderloins. There is a daily special featuring everything from liver and onions to goulash to nacho supremes. The menu is no prima donna, but you can expect to receive a hearty portion, cooked properly and served as you like it. Oh, and did I mention that everything is cooked from scratch?  Most people can't even get that at home anymore.

Want cream for your coffee? (Not that non-dairy imposter!) You got it. Real butter for your bread? Ditto. Yearn for someone, anyone, who truly knows what you mean when you order eggs “over-easy?” Then this is the place.

Cook Bobby is cheerful, swift and graceful and knows what he’s doing behind a grill. Take a moment and watch him work as he darts efficiently to and fro behind the counter. Waitress Sandy is friendly, wise-assed, and fast—just what you want in a waitress (not to be confused with the befuddled and formal “servers” found at most restaurants). Special orders and exceptions are easily accommodated.

Rock’s Anchor Grill is located at 1526 Harrison Street in Davenport in the revitalizing Hilltop Campus Village. Hours are Monday-Friday 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 to 7:00 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 6:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., phone 563-323-6289.

One of my favorite places for lunch in the QCA is Atlante Trattoria in downtown Rock Island. This is one of the few places in our area where you even get quiche, let alone good quiche. The quiche varieties change daily, so you have to check their specials. The day I was there recently the quiche was chicken, broccoli and gouda cheese, mushroom and brie, or the Mediterranean with olives, spinach and other good stuff. I had the chicken quiche, but no matter what variety I’ve ordered the quiche is always firm—not runny or overcooked, which is easy to do with delicate egg recipes. The pastry is flaky and buttery—the perfect pie crust. My chicken quiche sported a distinct but balanced broccoli flavor that did not overwhelm the daintier flavor of the chicken. All was enhanced with savory pockets of warm cheese, and the entire dish was finished with a golden brown flourish, served at the right temperature.

But Atlante is about more than quiche. The same day’s menu boasted roast chicken, lasagna, their usual assortment of sandwiches, a variety of flavorful salads, and paninis—none of which have I tried because I can never resist the quiche long enough to order anything else. Bread choices in the sandwiches include white, whole wheat, sourdough, wheatberry (my favorite), ciabatta, rye and French.

Top of your lunch with one of their delightful gelatos. My favorite is the tiramisu, a cool, rich, cinnamon-y treat with a soothing eggnog-like flavor. Other flavors include lemon, strawberry, pineapple (all garnished with fresh fruit), cookies’n’cream, and other surprises. Gelato is as refreshing as ice cream, but lighter.

All the items on Atlante Trattoria’s menu are affordable—most entries and salads are under $6. Soups are $3.50 or under. Atlante is open for lunch during weekdays and dinner on weekends. To learn more, visit their Web site at http://www.qcatlante.com/.

Tiramisu Gelato                  

The Last Straw

When I was a girl, aside from walking uphill two miles to school (both ways!) in the snow and eating dirt and liking it, we had only paper straws with which to sip our Coca-Cola. They were spiral wrapped paper, encased in another paper cover. It was great sport to tear one end off the wrapper and blow through the exposed straw, thus launching our paper wrapper across the restaurant and into the mashed potatoes of some unsuspecting matronly patron. I know this firsthand because my Dad taught me the trick, but discouraged the practice after that afternoon in the Howard Johnson’s.

A few years later, paper straws began to be replaced with plastic ones, wrapped in very tight paper covers. No more straw-paper-launching for me. The new paper wrappers were so tight, the best you could hope for was to blow the other end off the wrapper.

But we adjusted to this new technology as we did all the other technology thrust upon our generation. Sometime in the 1970s, many fast food restaurants began a sort of competition to see who could produce the thickest milkshakes. These milkshakes were traditionally served with the ordinary, one-size-fits-all straws and a long-handled spoon. Many a child spent threatened to ruin their future good looks by collapsing their cheeks in an attempt to draw the thick, chocolatey shake into their mouths. Then somebody in the straw-manufacturing business had a great idea—make a fatter straw. Ah! Now we could drink our shakes and eat them, too!

But sometime in the past two decades something went horribly wrong. Now, it seems, many restaurants have been sold on the idea that ALL their straws must be the wide ones. And now, drinking through a straw is like drinking out of a garden hose. I frequently find myself blustering at too-big-a-mouthful of tea or soda (pop, for you native Midwesterners); it’s almost as bad as the days when we had to siphon gas.

Restaurant owners, please recognize that the fat straws were designed for THICK beverages like malts and shakes. And stock the regular thin straws for liquids that have no more viscosity than water. In the meantime, I’ll try not to drown in my sweet tea.

Polar Bear Hotel Has Seen Better Days

There was a time when the Holiday Inn at the airport in Moline, Illinois was a landmark. Once an excellent hotel with a light airy atmosphere, the Holiday Inn was a busy place. In the 1970s, John Deere “conventions” and traveling families kept the place hopping. The lounge hosted entertainment on weekends, and boasted a brisk business throughout the week. The restaurant was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Most of the rooms looked over the outdoor pool area and the place seemed filled with light. Many travelers remembered this hotel long after visiting it only once because of the enormous polar bear that greeted visitors from the center of the lobby. I’ve met people from New York to California who remember that polar bear from some childhood vacation.

Alas, the hospitality industry, like the airline industry, has apparently grown past its golden age—at least it has at the old Quad City Airport Holiday Inn.

Now a Ramada Inn, the Holiday Inn underwent a remodeling in the late 70s or early 80s that included enclosing and rebuilding the pool. The new look was fresh, futuristic, and a huge glass dome allowed natural light to illuminate the pool, whirlpool, and rock-built waterfalls. Today, the pool and the rock walls are still there, but the pool area is dark, the dome covered some time ago with an acoustical drop ceiling, making the interior dark and cavernous.

The polar bear is still there, but has been moved out of the lobby into the gloomy pool area and he seems to be tilting forward a lot more than he once did. He sits in the center of a wishing-well pool, now dry.

The lounge and restaurant are open only for limited hours, and there is no room for live entertainment. The place looks neglected, shabby in its corners, despite a newly remodeled lobby and redecorated rooms.

I worked at this place in the 1970s and have a lot of important memories there, so its sad to see it in such shape. The vitality of the place is gone. When I was there in ’77, working in the lounge, hordes of farmers and farm implement dealers from all over the world would swarm in on weekdays around 3:30 or 4 p.m. on a one-day whirlwind tour of the John Deere headquarters. They would gulp through happy hour in 45 minutes, get on a bus to dinner at JDHQ, return to the hotel lounge around 8:30 and stay until closing time—1 AM in those days. The next day, a new group would arrive.

Today the lounge is only open a few hours on weekend evenings and business is slow. The restaurant, too, has limited hours, so room service is a thing of the past. The waterfalls don’t run unless it is a Friday or Saturday and the hotel has enough bookings. The whirlpool is tepid and wimpy, lacking decent jets. The place is like a badly aging diva, doddering into her decline.

I hope the Ramada Inn people (whom I also once worked for) realize the potential of this property. With some work, the place could once again feel like a resort and become a place people want to stay. Open the lounge and advertise to attract local patrons. Strive to make the restaurant one of quality and service. Get some skylights, at least, in the pool area and upgrade the hot tub. Think “room service.” Add an informational sign and throw some light on that old polar bear, so the next generation can make new vacation memories.

This is a one-star rant. *sigh*

Special Spots

Welcome to QC Special Spots! After many years of criticising restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, travel locations, and other things, I finally decided to share my experiences with other Quad Citians and visitors to our area. This may include, from time to time, reviews of other places, of books, of plays or events, or anything that moves me to either rant (negative) or rave (positive), granting stars as a measure of my pleasure or disgust. Five stars is the ultimate--the best or the worst.

Today's review is Floriana's Cafe, located along Illinois Route 84 (State Avenue) in Hampton, Illinois. My husband, Rick and I were out scouting possible camping locations for my upcoming birthday party and we were on our way home after visiting Illiniwek Park (rejected for our camping excursion). It was past lunch time and hunger led us to stop at the first cafe we found. And what a treasure we found!

Floriana's Cafe hosts an abundant menu--Italian, American, Greek, seafood, sandwiches, full dinners including prime rib, as well as run-of-the-mill breakfast and lunch. I began by asking about their soup of the day--Spinach Cheese. I requested a sample and was delighted to discover this exquisite soup. It turns out that the chef at Floriana's makes all his own soups, salad dressings, gravies and sauces. The man is a genius. The spinach cheese soup was rich, thick, flavorful--in fact, I took some home and used it as a sauce over noodles the next day.

I ordered the crab cake dinner and my husband the lasagna. The lasagna was the genuine article, with authentic ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, and a savory sauce boasting the perfect balance of herbs and tomato flavor, served with golden toasted garlic bread.

My crab dinner included three large crab cakes, Maryland-style, with french fries with a light, crispy, mildly seasoned coating on them. They actually re-heat well, unlike ordinary fries.

Anyone who knows me knows that I can never eat an entire meal at one sitting. In fact, I think that restaurants should serve smaller portions, not larger ones. Good food can be satisfying with only a few bites and one need not eat a pound of anything to enjoy its flavor and obtain its nutrition. But, this being America, of course, we have to have the biggest, the best, the most ostentatious of everything, so inevitably I order my take-out box when I order my meal. My refrigerator is constantly filled with leftovers. This makes me a bit of an expert on re-heating the food that comes home in doggy bags--or more often, these days, in styrofoam clamshells (worth a five-star rant in themselves!).

Floriana's food was delicious in the restaurant and even better re-heated the next day. The sheer volume of choices on the menu ensures that I will go back again and I am looking forward to trying their many other menu items. If the River-Cities Reader hasn't reviewed this restaurant yet, they may want to stop in. Oh! And the service was excellent and friendly, always a bonus. I'll give Floriana's a Four-Star Rave, only because I'm saving that last star for their other menu items.

Stop back soon for the next blog!

Google Map link:
Floriana's Cafe
421 State Avenue
Hampton, IL 61256-9681
(309) 755-9230

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Floriana's+Cafe&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=421+State+Ave,+Hampton,+Rock+Island,+Illinois+61256&gl=us&ei=Ntm4S6DJI5HENp_rmeIL&ved=0CAcQ8gEwAA&ll=41.55471,-90.410614&spn=0.007563,0.013711&z=16&iwloc=A&cid=15774922678784861838