Regular Joe's Guide

First visit: Oct 2023 Once again we are in the city, which is going to be a nightly event for at least another week, weather permitting. There's a reason for that, but no need to get into that here. Urban Animal represents the last (and newest) Colorado Springs brewery I haven't been to (I still have a few to write about though). Mrs. RJG missed some of the newer ones, but she seems open to trying them now, so I'll need to get her to those as well. And what better excuse to go than when Dr. Taco is there! He's a staple on Friday nights at Urban Animal. In addition to having the best tacos in town, he and his family were very recently featured on one of the local morning TV shows. So he's now a celebrity too lol. We were concerned it would be too crowded and were thinking of backup plans. Urban Animal is near Cheyenne Mountain, about as far from our home as you can possibly be and still be considered in Colorado Springs. So planning was essential. We needed not worry...

First visit: Oct 2023 (Colorado Springs) Locations: Denver area (6); Kansas City (2); Colorado Springs (1) OK, so we finally made it to Fat Sully's, etc... Mrs. RJG and I were nearby on this fine Wednesday night and decided to try it. As you can see below, I visited once here on a Sunday morning but it was far too crowded. But that was not the case on this night, as inflation has driven many of the patrons away, and it was a boring midweek night, with no sports to entice people into the bars. The first disappointment ensued when we learned that the Denver Biscuit Company menu is only for breakfast and lunch. It appears they have the more enticing menu. So basically it's pizza, though Fat Sully's does offer a fried chicken sandwich and a double smash burger We both wanted to try the pizza anyway, so we'll just stick with that. They're famous for their "Big-Ass Slice", so we each had one. Mrs. RJG asked for it extra crispy but didn't get it. Honestly I t...

First visit: Oct 2023 It's time for the 6 month dental checkup. So off to our former homestead of Parker. It's been three years since I had any kind of freedom around my appointment. Whether it's been my job situation, last minute changes to my appointment schedule, or the pandemic, I've been on non-RJG like missions when in Parker. But finally all those matters have been settled and I can enjoy a nice meal after the appointment. I usually have flexibilty on Friday's (not always though). Nearby is Hilltop Tap House, which reads on paper like my kind of place. Seems to me they should have named it Hilltap House doncha think? Right away disappointment ensued as their beer list was a fairly perfunctory "macro craft" selection. It would be great if they'd have a selection of local microbreweries to go with the usual Colorado and BMC staples. OK, I found one new beer (to me) from Tivoli to quaff. What about the meal? I was excited to try their Chicken Parm ...

Closed: Dec 2024. While a lot of places have been struggling due to basic economics, Drifters was their own worst enemy. In reading recent comments, no one is shedding a tear that they're going away. See below as to why. First visit: Oct 2023 I've had Drifter's circled as a place to go since we arrived back to Colorado Springs over five years ago. But it wasn't until after the pandemic I finally made the effort to go here. Each time, they said the dining room was closed because they can't find employees and other such nonsense. The last thing I want to do after the pandemic is eat in my car. It reminds me of those bad times. So I would press on to the backup plan.  OK, let's go over again for a 4th time. Google Maps says they're open for Dine-In. They said that the last time, and I reported that wasn't true. But maybe it's changed. Get there - and - only open for drive through. Bottom line is Drifter's is full of crap. They can get employees they...

First visit: Oct 2023 (Garden City, KS) Locations: Their website map is broken, but Google tells us they are pretty much everywhere including 3 near here in the Springs. We're working our way back home, and the taco scene way out west in Kansas and in eastern Colorado isn't looking too good (for authentic tacos there are plenty of options - but you know what we mean). Mrs. RJG stated she wanted chicken. We were wrapping up in Garden City, so let's see what Google Maps pulls up. Champs. Never heard of them. Let's try it. Pulling up - yes, OK I see now - gas station chicken. Like with Perkins, I never had much desire to try these places. Just seems like a fast track to the ER. We had them everywhere in NE Tarrant. Chesters, Golden Chick, etc... Ah what the heck, let's try it anyway. Well doggone it, if this isn't damned good chicken! My voice text notes stated: Tenders were moist, light flakey crust (not heavy at all, which is what I was fearing), excellent flavor...

First visit: Oct 2023 (Great Bend, KS) Locations: 32 states (mostly only a few locations each) but not Texas. 3 in Colorado including one here in the Springs. I've never had any desire to go to a Perkins. It looked to me like many other generic breakfast houses such as Dennys, IHOP, and Village Inn. There was one in Denver (Aurora actually) not too far from my apartment in the mid 90s, but never once did I think to go there. That location looks to be closed. But there is one here in the Springs if I get a hankering to go back. So why did we go here? Well... if you read the Page review prior you'll have noted it's right across the parking lot from our Best Western. But that still wouldn't compel me to go. But as part of the stay, Best Western pays for your breakfast at Perkins. Well then, now I'm interested. It's a limited menu of course, but that's OK, we usually eat light for breakfast anyway. Everything I thought Perkins was going to be - it was. Which is...

First visit: Oct 2023 We didn't do as much snacking on this day, choosing to eat a normal sized lunch (Taco Tico) and save up for dinner. We had great success thrifting (and antiquing in this case) in Hutchinson, which shrunk our remaining schedule for the day. It was just a bit too early to call it over, so we pressed on to Great Bend for the evening. I chose the Best Western Angus Inn, As noted here before, I love the vintage Best Western's, as they are the most representative of the motels I remember from my youth traveling with Dad. And this location is perfect. It looks like the first part of the building is from the 1960s - with "down and out" rooms. And the back half has that "70s add-on" look which is enclosed with a pool and small convention space. Our room was in this space, and the back sliding windows open right up into... the convention floor. Haha - a total security nightmare. Had this been in the inner city, I would have taken pause, but we...

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Newton, Kansas) First visit: Jun 1980 (Ada (?), Oklahoma) Locations: Kansas (9), Oklahoma (2), Iowa (2), Kentucky (2), Louisiana (1), Texas (1)  OK, it's Wednesday and we're heading out of Kansas City and back towards home. Our plan was to visit a few towns in rural Kansas, and continue with our thrift shopping. We didn't have breakfast, so by lunch time we're pretty hungry. There's no way I'm going to Kansas without at least one visit to Taco Tico. I'm pretty sure it's in the Bible too. "Thou Shalt not visit the Land of Kansas without paying tribute to the almighty Taco Tico". RJG Chapter 1, Verse 1. Of all the "Didn't I write about this chain already?" entries, this is the most outlandish oversight. It's ridiculous I have not written about Taco Tico, some 15 years after starting this blog. Why? Because this is where it all started. The seeds of the Regular Joe's Guide were planted here. Better lat...

First visit: Oct 2023 Those who follow this blog must be asking "But where's the Thai restaurant? Mrs. RJG insists on it right?". Of course that is what is known as a "hypothetical". In any case, yes indeed, Thai food was on the agenda.  I'm just going to get right to it - Best Thai food I've had in ages! For my tastes it was perfection. I had the Pad Ka Prau (it's my test dish for sure): Ground chicken, Thai hot, Asian oil, garlic fried egg, and lots of basil. Not too dry, not too wet, not full of onions and peppers, but just the right amount. Every single bite was a delight. I didn't have to make hardly any alterations - that's how it comes off the menu (except the ground chicken). Oddly, Mrs. RJG's dish wasn't as good. She tried the Drunken Noodle with "too much chicken" (no such thing in my world), not enough noodle, and too "eggy" (what?). We each enjoyed a nice glass of chardonnay. Beelining here for our next...

First visit: Oct 2023 We're now back in the city, and hitting the hipster inner city areas filled with record shops and vintage clothing stores. The neighborhood is called Crossroads. If you ever want to know the cool parts of town, look for music, food, vintage shops, and drink. Being the least cool guy there is, regardless I always find myself in these areas due to my interest areas. And somehow I fit right in lol. Taking it one step further, this area is also known as Brewers Alley, as there are so many craft breweries in the neighborhood. We had just finished shopping at Josey Records*, and more or less went to the first brewery we saw. And that's Casual Animal. Apparently the founders are also from Colorado, Fort Collins in fact. It's a gigantic venue, with tons of seating, gaming areas, etc... We just had one beer to wind down before dinner. All excellent. Good vibes too. * - Josey Records is named after Josey Lane in Northwest Dallas (their flagship store) - very clo...

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Overland Park, Kansas) First visit: Jan 2018 (North Richland Hills, Texas) Locations: 85 in 14 states. There are 4 in the Denver area and many in Texas. NE Tarrant now has 4 locations alone, including the NRH store that we went to. They also opened up in our former town of Keller. Oh for crying out, for certain I wrote about Andy's before didn't I? Ugh - nope. Like with Planet Sub, we caught Andy's at the tail end of our DFW experience. This review will be simple. Andy's stock in trade is frozen custard, similar to Freddy's, Sheridan's, Ted Drewes, etc... We're in their home market, so they are ubiquitous throughout the city. It's like chili parlors in Cincinnati, once you leave the area, you cannot find them. Or so it seems. It appears they've expanded greatly in the last few years. It's a simple business model and a popular one. We each had a small vanilla and chocolate (mixed) custard. I added espresso sauce and Mrs. RJ...

Latest visit: Oct 2023 (Prairie Village, Kansas) First visit: sometime in 2002 (Englewood, Colorado) Locations: 21 total: Kansas (9); Missouri (8); Arizona (3); Michigan (1) It is now Tuesday and the decision was made to work the Kansas suburbs. Plenty of thrift shops and record stores to keep us both busy throughout the day. I had forgotten about the Planet Sub chain, but having seen it around town, I decided that would be a good place to have a lunch and take a break from the taco train. This is another "didn't I write about this chain already?" post. Apparently not. This would be my fourth encounter with the Kansas City based eatery. The other three were in states they no longer operate in. Essentially they are known for their toasted subs, somewhat like Quiznos, but of a higher quality and more filling. I wasn't aware of their existence until they planned to open a location off of Lincoln in far south Denver. We were living in Parker at the time, so it was on our ...

First visit: Oct 2023 After finishing up in Independence, where Mrs. RJG scored her biggest find, it was time for din-din. We both wanted some Kansas City BBQ, and I wanted to try a brewpub. I wonder if they have both in the same venue? It turns out they do, two I found in fact. And Lee's Summit was only about 15 minutes south of where we were. Let's go there... Smoke Brewing anchors a strip center and is quite large inside. Maybe a bit too bright for dinner, but not too bad. We went for the Beef 3.0 Plate and the Competition Ribs. My voice notes stated that the sliced brisket was excellent as were the pork ribs. The shredded brisket was decent and the burnt ends were too tough. The barbecue sauce was OK, a bit on the sweet side. I went for the mac n cheese on the side. It was great at first but gummed up towards the end as it wasn't hot enough (typical). I also had the mashed potatoes, which I was enjoying until Mrs. RJG said they tasted rancid to her, so I put those aside...

First visit: Oct 2023 After working the northern sections of town, it was time for a taco snack. I found Taco Zone on a quick search and off we went. This review will be easy. Taco Zone are a In-A-Tub knockoff. Since we never eat fried tacos, why not try the competition then? My voice notes stated the meat was more moist but the sauce wasn't as spicy. We both decided against the cheese powder to see what shredded cheese would taste like. Personally I'd rather have the cheese powder. In any case, these were very good, but I would encourage you all to go to In-A-Tub first. I don't think we need to come back either for the same reason. But if we lived here, absolutely we would. It doesn't appear this Taco Zone is related to the one in Lawrence, Kansas. 10/2/23 (new entry)

Latest visit: Oct 2023 First visit: Jul 2007 I may have mentioned this before, but to me nothing feels more like total freedom than a garden variety Monday (not an official holiday) - when you don't have to go to work or school. And you have the whole week to yourself. To me it's the greatest feeling in the world. I suppose once I'm retired, it will be routine. But since I'm still a working stiff, I enjoy the heck out of it. Reminds me of my childhood during summer vacation. We had a full day of thrifting ahead. I decided we'd canvass North Kansas City and Independence. And what drove me to go to the northern reaches of this great city? Well you just had to know we were going here even before the trip started. I'm not quite sure when I first heard about In-A-Tub, but it's likely I was doing some research on fried tacos many years ago. As you can see, I'd been here before, and it was at this same location (they have one other in KC). At that time I was he...

Latest visit: Nov 2025 (Interquest) First visit: Oct 2023 (Interquest) HQ: Pasadena, CA; Founded: 2017 ---11/1/25 Way late for the annual review. though happy to report all came out excellent as the last visit. Took the drive thru option once again, and asked for the same #1 and got it Hot, remembering that last year I was thinking of taking it down a notch. I was in the mood for super spicy and that's what I got. Can't imagine going for the next two levels though. I did receive extra Dave's sauce for dipping my fries, which worked out well. I wisely laid off the chocolate shake, and decided to eat leftover Halloween chocolate instead lol.  Location update: They doubled their presence in Colorado and now have 10 with 3 here in the Springs. There are 329 total (+149 in a year and a half... impressive). California is in the lead with 74. Looks like they added one in NRH since the last update. ---4/12/24 Back again for only the second time. For this visit I tried the drive thr...

First visit: Oct 2023 (Kansas City, Missouri) Locations: Another one of those stupid chains that insists you can only know about your local restaurant. No way we will allow research! I had to use Google Maps. It appears they're in the following states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado (Denver area only), Texas (closest for us would have been Las Colinas), Minnesota, Kansas, and Missouri. For avid readers of the RJG (which don't exist, but allow me to be delusional), you may recall I was in Vegas for a business convention back in early March. Our company rented a block of venues, which included Yard House. Perfect, I thought! I'll just plop myself down at the bar and try as many local beers as I can. Except they only allowed their Yard House branded beers. Which are mainly Stone and other well known brands that I've already had. Dammit. I'm not wasting belly space on that. Thus I ended up bowling with the German team at Brooklyn Bowl... It was Sunday night, and ...

Latest visit: Oct 2023 First visit: Sep 2009 We had some of our best thrifting in Topeka, and we finally arrived in Kansas City. We wanted to try "living in downtown", so I rented a two bed, two bath high rise condo for three nights in the Power & Light District via Airbnb. To cut to the chase, we'll conclude that it's "not for us". But we certainly took advantage of the location, as these next posts will suggest. As noted in the Tiki Taco Shack entry, we passed through this part of the country in 2009. And we spent one night in Kansas City (not in downtown). Of course I was way too lazy to document that trip on the RJG, though fortunately I at least made note of when and where we ate. As you can see, we dined here, when it was known as Anthony's Restaurant & Lounge. For this visit, we only had to walk seven minutes to get here. Perfect. The ambience is great, complete with a vintage cigarette machine. It's old school Italian. On the surface....

First visit: Oct 2023 This being a Sunday, the thrift store hours are more wonky than ever. After leaving Abilene we went to Junction City, followed by Manhattan. Some success at the thrifts in both towns. We decided to take a short tour of Kansas State University and then head to Topeka. Mrs. RJG and I were here in 2009, and I introduced her to Taco Casa (different than the Texas or Alabama chains). That was her favorite taco of that trip. Taco Casa has fallen apart but that same location is now known as Taco Al's. And... they're closed on Sunday. Groan. Let's try for another. I don't recall Tiki Taco Shack from prior visits here, but let's give it a try. Yep - this is your standard Kansas taco. Which means it's great to the RJG's appetite. Once again we just snacked on a couple each, knowing dinner is on the horizon. My real time voice text notes suggested that the sauces here were better than usual - the X-Hot actually being very spicy. Excellent stuff. A...

First visit: Oct 2023 (Abilene) Locations: Abilene, Salina, and Scott City We started the next day by taking advantage of the hotel buffet breakfast. We always eat very light at these. I had a bagel with ham on the side - which was locally sourced and quite good. We then visited a wonderful local park and got in a fast walk. We both needed to rest our legs from running every day, and so we settled on this for exercise. It's amazing what amenities these smaller towns have. The tennis courts are very well maintained, and I longed to play a game. After that we headed towards Manhattan. OK, so here we are at what used to be Taco Grande (read that entry first) having our first small snack of the day. And I think this is the exact location Dad and I went to back in 1981. The website doesn't tell the real history, settling rather on a silly backstory. But it's pretty obvious this is a splinter chain from Taco Grande. Everything is similar, though we give the edge to The Original G...

First visit: Sep 2023 We settled into Salina for the evening and decided on a brewpub for dinner. I'm grateful Mrs. RJG has once again taken a shine to these places after having soured on them for a while. I find brewpubs to usually be the best way to immerse oneself into the ethos of a neighborhood/town/city. Blue Skye puts us right in the heart of old town Salina, an area I doubt I'd been to prior. The place was hopping on this Saturday night with college football on the multiple flat screens throughout both rooms. Great ambience. Feels like 2019! There were no tables available but the bar had seating for two and that was fine by us. We settled on splitting a pepperoni and sausage pizza. Mrs. RJG later rued that we should have added jalapenos too. Blue Skye isn't a typical bar food place where they make simple pizzas. They take it to the next level and have a coal oven designed for pizzas! It was perfect - crispy edges, slight chewy bottom crust, excellent sauce, and gooe...

Latest visit: Sep 2023 (Hays) First visit: Jul 1981 (Abilene) Locations: Best I can tell there are only three locations of this chain left that carry the name: Hays, Concordia, and Wichita. There's also The Original Grande. More to come on that post. We had good success thrifting in Colby, but it was very time consuming, and we needed to get further east, as we did have to be in Kansas City by Sunday night. So the next stop was Hays, a town we're very familiar with. The big decision was do we stop here and eat/drink at one of our favorite brewpubs (Gella's Diner), or press on to Salina? We chose the latter. But we decided on a quick snack before leaving. This will be one of a few "didn't I write about this chain already?" posts. I remember the first date of this chain well because it was at the time of Prince Charles and Diana's wedding. As noted before, Dad was a traveling salesman in the industrial uniform business. It was a garden variety summer Wednesd...

First visit: Sep 2023 OK, so The RJG's are hittin' the road, goin' east! We haven't done a journey like this since 2016, well over seven years ago. I didn't document that trip - like so many I haven't. But I'm determined to maintain the momentum I've had since 2021. There's much to tell... This trip involved Kansas, Kansas City, and eastern Colorado. It's what we call TED - Thriftin' Eatin' & Drinkin'. We had success with all three on this trip. If you go to the Bier Reise blog you'll already see plenty of new entries with dozens more coming in the next two months. This blog is concerned with the E part of the equation, so let's get started. But first we needed a bite to eat on the way out of town. We had a very tight first day schedule, since thrift shop store hours in rural Kansas are wildly inconsistent - and oftentimes inaccurate. Originally we were going to eat at home, but Mrs. RJG suggested Bella's. She'd be...

Latest visit: Aug 2025 First visit: Jul 2011 ---8/8/25 update Pueblo is on our way home from our last trip, so let's stop for some thrifting and for lunch. Why not close off our Western Colorado venture with a visit to Shamrock to ensure we come home as fat as possible! I went for the bison burger this time, while Mrs. RJG stuck with the angus beef. We each enjoyed one beer. One of the few constants in the restaurant world, Shamrock delivers the goods each and every time. I think I'll even add it to the RJG Rotation, it's too good to not at least come here once a year. ---2/17/24 update Back in Pueblo for the first time in 2024. Usually I do this trip solo, but Mrs. RJG wanted to tag along and go thrifting with me. Her deal in the bargain? We must go to Shamrock. This is her favorite place for hamburgers, along with The Brass Tap. And that's exactly what we had - two Angus cheeseburgers, well done, with pub fries. And it came out perfect, as it always does. On this visi...