steveb leatherworks: the blather

What is this? Its a long bone wallet –  I hate to tease you, but this one is no longer available. The long bone is a big wallet. It holds a lot of stuff. It’s a unique, one of a kind unit. Its made of great American-tanned vegetable tanned leather, the very same leather used […]

A wonderful local orchard, farm, road stand kind of spot

This local orchard, road side fruit/veggie stand is a great destination – and the apple pie – RULES!

Umberto’s is a pretty good clam house, often in the dog days of summer they set up a oyster bar  right on the street so you can pick up a ncie cold refreshing oyster or clam, right there for $2-4 ea. niiice!  An added bonus is that their cocktail sauce has so much horseradish in […]

All over the country there are kids playing baseball, dogs chasing those kids and more kids playing in mud puddles. Aint life grand?

Sal’s is a mainstay go-to pizza spot for me & Freddy. The trick to places like Sal’s and the singular reason of their success is that they excel at the art of serving the “slice”. I have never bought a pie at Sals, only slices – and I have been coming here for a good long time – probably consumed over 50 pies (by […]

Used to be we stopped at stores that were “pure-play’s” – meaning they usually did one thing, and they did that one thing well. These guys had a deep knowledge of what they sold. As a result when you did your shopping you made a few stops. More than likely you stopped every day and […]

the good stuff does not come from supermarkets, the good stuff comes from places that are fast disappearing… places that are special, places that are a pain in the ass to get to, where parking sucks, places that are not the cheapest, but the best. 

yep – you’ve been here before and so have I.. we got bar pies at the Colony on tonites menu!!  Thank god it hasn’t changed. Of course i had a Hot OIl pie with a Stinger and the boss had…the plain cheese, please. A long neck in hand, and i was good ta go! 

Bill’s is one of those places I love – homey, local, good food with a wry sense of humor and resignation.  There is a place in Riceville, IA that i stopped at years ago on a bike trip heading back east that had a similar feel to Bill’s. Shank and I busted up to Bill’s not too […]

Trying to keep me knowledgeable on a national scale, my friends and readers send me info about all sorts of cool local happenings. I tend to be pretty much focussed on what is happening in line of sight from the end of my nose and the East Coast in particular, so these missives really help and I thank all […]