Irish Lion in Bloomington, IN

Irish Lion – Map
irishlion.com
212 West Kirkwood Avenue
Bloomington, IN 47404
(812) 336-9076

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 5 Gavels out of 5 - TOP TEN

The Certified Auctioneers Institute (CAI) is many things to many people. Of great interest to Starving Auctioneers is that CAI presents many opportunities to eat at new and interesting restaurants with old and bloviating auctioneers. One highlight of the Bloomington, Indiana restaurant scene from last year’s CAI was the Irish Lion. It was one of the must attend places at this year’s gathering. The Irish Lion is a small Irish or British pub style restaurant that is only about four Starving Auctioneers wide and located just off the courthouse square in downtown Bloomington (If Bloomington can be said to have a ‘downtown’)

CAI dinners are more like the Battle of Waterloo than a pleasant, civil culinary experience. Typically a literal herd of balding, out of shape auctioneers will descend on an eating establishment like a Biblical plague and demand as many tables as are available and then attempt to negotiate with the unsuspecting wait staff for free dessert. What follows is consumption on a near epic scale. Such was the state of affairs when a group of Starving Auctioneers showed up at the Irish Lion on Tuesday evening. The group included (L to R in picture) Paul Grist, Brian Braun, your humble blogger, Tim Kruse, Bryan Knox, Michael Nance, Em Barran, David Helmer, and Jeffrey Oberling. A frightening gang with amazingly bad hair to be sure and not a group you want to cross when they are hungry or smell a motivated seller.

This wasn’t the first trip to the Irish Lion for most of the group; it wasn’t even the first trip that week! Dinners included roast duck, fried fish, mutton pie and lamb chops. Dinner was followed by dessert which was OUTSTANDING and far above the fare one normally finds at a Starving Auctioneers' hang out. Try the Irish Apple Walnut Cake…do it. For the second year the Irish Lion was the unofficial Starving Auctioneers' HQ and it should be your first stop whenever you are in Bloomington.

The stories and drinks flowed freely for over two hours of dinning and dialog. Topics included appropriate shirt length, the spelling of waitress’ names, deer meat processing, bid calling and auction fish tales and of course the auction that got away. David Helmer even told some scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago.

Florentine in Columbus, OH

Florentine - Map
florentinerestaurant.com
907 West Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43222
(614) 228-2262

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 4 Gavels out of 5

The most frustrating table to wait on in the food service world is one with two auctioneers when neither has an auction in morning. They just talk and talk and talk and don’t order dessert. To add insult to injury you have to wonder if two people so poorly dressed could possibly be good tippers. Such was the case when Peter and Mike Brandly, CAI, AARE had dinner last week at a Columbus institution, Florentine. The Florentine is a family owned American/Italian restaurant that has had the same menu and sign out front since the Eisenhower Administration.

A short walk from downtown Columbus, the Florentine has been serving Americanized Italian food long before the Olive Garden made unlimited bread sticks cool and pushing cheap house wine the industry standard. The Florentine is the perfect Starving Auctioneers hang out: local, fast, reasonably cheap, and a working class joint. Dinner at the Florentine won’t change your life but it will fill your belly.

Both men had to stop talking long enough to give some serious attention to the menu, after that the orders came out quickly. Mike ordered the fish and Peter the veal. Peter often orders veal as a test of his dinner companions, Mike passed the test in that he did not recoil in disgust, as many often do, and he got a sticker for his decorum. Dinner started at 7 PM and they closed the place down a little after 10 PM. They sat in their booth so long the first waitress gave up and went home and the manager had to call up a new arm from the bullpen. Despite their appearance they tipped well.

This is first review with Mike Brandly but won’t be the last. Mike is a restaurant connoisseur and has assembled a list of future restaurants for review that covers most of Ohio. Mike’s specializes in two simple things: Absolute auctions and finding places to eat in between absolute auctions. In fact his dedication to these two missions often comes at the cost of any type of modern hair care or even simple combing.

Red Pig Bar-B-Q and Deli in Johnson City, TN

Red Pig Bar-B-Q and Deli - Map
2201 Ferguson Road
Johnson City, TN 37604
(423) 282-6586

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 4 Gavels out of 5

It is always special when you are afforded the opportunity to fellowship with a great auctioneer and good friend on his home turf. Such was the occasion last month when Peter called on Travis Royston, CAI, CES, GPPA of Johnson City, Tennessee. Travis is a block of man. The legend says he is 7 foot tall and once killed a wild bear with the carcass of coyote while saving a bus full of red headed orphan children from a runaway locomotive. Truth be told not all those kids were orphans.

Travis is a model Starving Auctioneer: hard worker, champion bid caller, big eater and marginal dresser. Peter was in Travis’ home town delivering a collection of antique water pumps and water rams. If you don’t know what those are and why someone would collect them you can join the club. Travis bought’em, Peter delivered’em that is all you need to know for this blog. Peter dropped the pumps off on his way to Asheville, North Carolina and Grove Park Inn Arts and Crafts Convention (pottery pick up). Having sold cars in the morning and driving all afternoon and evening Peter and his wife (Paige Gehres) and friends, Brian & Annalisa Henslee were ready for some BBQ.

Being a fire fighter (honest) and a Starving Auctioneer, Travis knew just the place: Red Pig Bar-B-Q and Deli. Like most local BBQ this was a homespun place where the owner shakes your hand when you enter and the simple menu has a few items ‘everyone’ had to get.

Everyone ordered a BBQ pork sandwich and a much ballyhooed twice baked potato. Peter also ordered the salad which had more toppings then it had lettuce. This was perfect because, as has previously been mentioned on this blog, a Starving Auctioneer salad is more an excuse for eating dressing and fix’ins then an exercise in eating healthy. We arrived near closing time and thus had our run of the place and sat at a large round table in the corner that Travis said was on permanent reserve for the local politicians and power brokers, that is of course why WE sat there.

The food was good but the stories were better. Travis regaled his dinner companions with tales of auctions, family and friends. The most memorable was the story of Travis’ friend who wished to get into the chicken and egg business on a small scale. After setting up the coop and equipment this friend purchased 50 laying hens and 50 roosters for those hens to mate with, the friend knew were eggs came from at least. After a few rough nights in the chicken coop he called Travis concerned, Travis advised his city folk friend that it is not ‘religious with chickens’ and they don’t mate for life and one rooster can do the deed. Heathen chickens…

UPDATE: Starving Auctioneers fans can expect more of Travis’ stories as he is planning to make a family trip to Ohio’s Amish Country this summer and his travels to the Starving Auctioneer’s home state will surely generate some much needed blog content.

The Common Grill in Chelsea, MI

The Common Grill - Map
http://www.commongrill.com/
112 S. Main Street
Chelsea, MI 48118
(734) 475-0470

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 5 Gavels out of 5

The Common Grill in Chelsea, Michigan is not a likely spot to find starving auctioneers. First they have cloth napkins. Most of the places the Starving Auctioneers eat you're lucky to have a full roll of paper towels on the table. However this was no ordinary auctioneer power lunch. This was a celebration of Peter winning the 2010 Michigan State Auctioneer Champion, winning 2009 Auction of Year, being elected to the Michigan State Auctioneers Association Board of Directors and besting all comers in tiddlywinks in his spare time. A high class place with higher standards was in order. David Helmer was buying so that helped as well.

The lovely and talented Ashley drew the short straw and was the server. Ashley was very observant and correctly identified Peter and David as auctioneers. Both were of course wearing standard issue The Auctioneer Channel attire which one can read clearly at 100 paces. Once the championship nature of the visit was made apparent Ashley got busy and made Peter a congratulatory greeting card out of receipt paper (seen here). Since she could not be in Kalamazoo the card was a nice way of saying she cared. She added extra dressing on the salads because Peter and David ‘looked like we might like that.’ GOOD CALL Ashley. As a matter of fact the only reason Starving Auctioneers eat salad is that it is a socially acceptable way to eat dressing and bacon bits. Doing Balsamic Vinaigrette shots with bacon as a chaser is just not as cool as it sounds and frowned upon in polite company.

The second reason that you are not likely find auctioneers in a high class place like The Common Grill is the food had both a quality and subtlety your standard issue Starving Auctioneers joint does not have. However given the jubilant mood, quality was the order of the day. Lunch was great. Peter had the Lobster Ravioli which tasted fresh and as if it had once been associated with a real sea going lobster. And it was very well prepared. David had the Grilled Chicken Club and in the process of putting ketchup on his sandwich covered his side of the table in the red condiment with one smooth motion. It was a neat trick and impressed Ashley who was just beginning to buy the line that we were successful auctioneers and Internet businessmen.

Lunch with David is never complete unless one makes a few unplanned side trips to walk it off. One of the many benefits to being the Michigan State Auctioneer Champion is that you receive a belt buckle that forever marks you as “The Champ.” After investigation however it was discovered that Peter did not own the required pair of cowboy boots that should always be worn with a belt buckle of that caliber. As luck would have it Chelsea, Michigan’s premiere outfitter of just such apparel and footwear was next door. Mule Skinner Boots was a store full of boots and hats and a few other leather odds and ends. Shortly thereafter, like a scene straight out of a bad ’80’s movie, Peter was walking the rough streets of Chelsea in a custom pair of brown 13 EE cowboy boots and looking for a fight or another bid calling contest to enter.

Nook in St. Paul, MN

Nook - Map
http://www.crnook.com/
492 Hamline Ave South
Saint Paul, MN 55116
(651) 698-4347

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 4 1/2 Gavels out of 5

Minnesota in January is a very cold place to be but when you have a gracious and generous host like auctioneer Col. Kurt Johnson you hardly notice. Peter was in the “funny talking state” to speak to Minnesota State Auctioneers Association in Duluth. Before heading north however, Kurt wanted to show both Peter & Tim Kruse around his adopted hometown of St. Paul. Of interest to regular readers of this blog Tim was ‘persuaded’ to come to the snowy upper Midwest over lunch at the Town Tavern. After some St Paul sightseeing Kurt took Peter and Tim to The Nook.

The Nook is the quintessential dive for starving auctioneers. First it is a local hole in the wall, second it is cheap and fast and you don’t need a menu. The Nook has already been reviewed by far more talent then you will find here. We speak of none other than he who wears his sun glasses on backwards: Guy Ferrari. By beating us to the punch there was nothing left to see except what all the hype was about.

The Juicy Nookie Burger was a must and it was GREAT. Hot meat surrounding a melted cheesy center. Is there anything better? Kurt learned about this crazy thing we do in Ohio: vinegar on French fries; he was not a fan. The Nook was great. If Guy Ferrari and Peter Gehres liked it, that’s really all you need.

UPDATE: Upon returning to the “the Cities” from Duluth Kurt, Peter, and Kurt’s wife Connie grabbed lunch at the Shamrock's(Nook’s sister restaurant)before Peter hopped a flight to Columbus. Same great food and the atmosphere was electric as the bar was full of Minnesota Vikings fans watching the playoff ‘beat down’ of the Cowboys.

Kutters Bar & Grill in Quincy, IL

Kutters Bar & Grill - Map
236 North Front Street
Quincy, IL 62301
(217) 223-5888

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 3 1/2 Gavels out of 5

There are business trips and family trips; Shopping trips and wasted trips. Then there are ROAD TRIPS. The definition of a great road trip is when arriving at the destination is almost forgotten when one recounts the events that proceed it. Such was the case on an epic road trip untaken by David Helmer and Peter Gehres one December week. The trip began with a simple premise: collect a number of items David had purchased from Sullivan Auctioneers. Over time it morphed in to a five state romp visiting auctioneers, buyers, sellers in the heart of the auctioneering world: The Midwest. The best visual would be General Sherman’s march to the sea if he had a minivan.

First stop was for Peter and was to an auction customer in Illinois to deliver some items purchased from a recent Belhorn Pottery Auction. Then it was on to meet the Sullivan Auctioneers. There we collected David’s purchases, a very retro but very cool auction company calendar and some spiffy new Sullivan Auctioneer hats. We took a brief self guided tour of their impressive facility before asking for the best local food. We were directed to Kutters Bar & Grill in nearby Quincy, Illinois. After a wrong turn took us to Iowa and Missouri which offered few food choices but a couple of crossings over the Mississippi we stopped at a transmission shop to ask for directions. It was a bit embarrassing given we had a GPS on board. It was just before Christmas and the journey brought us in touch with the story of the Three Kings. Although we were just starving and would have likely only brought a doggie bag of French fries had we been in charge all those years ago.

Kutters is located as close the Mississippi as one can comfortably get and stay dry. We arrived after the lunch rush and had the place to ourselves and the stag (see picture). We ordered the nachos and the fish platter and were impressed with both. On hindsight though the nachos may have been overrated given it was the only thing we had to eat since dinner the night before. Throughout the meal David attempted to sound like a local and insisted on referring the river outside as the “mighty Mississip” and the effort understandably impressed no one. The service was good and the one could imagine the bar and grill hoping at lunch or dinner.

The next day our trip took us back to a Starving Auctioneers favorite: The Town Tavern in Auburn, Indiana for a power lunch with the Brothers Kruse. Along the way home be visited some potential clients, tractor dealerships in search of rare toys and enjoyed some local pizza while watching Monday Night Football. In the end it was a perfect trip that won’t likely ever be repeated and is one of those events in your life that is a collection of normal activities that lead to extraordinary memories.

Town Tavern in Auburn, IN

Auburn's Town Tavern - Map
1343 South Main Street
Auburn, IN 46706
(260) 925-0555

Strarving Auctioneers Rating: 4 Gavels out of 5

On a cold Monday in December there is not much going on in Auburn, Indiana. The crops are off and the locals are getting ready for Christmas. However on this December morning the 220nd class of the Reppert School of Auctioneering was in session and Peter was presenting Ohio Auction Law and a discussion of Auction Technology to a classroom full of auctioneering students from across the country, Canada and South Africa. As you might expect after a morning of talking and often talking fast Peter developed a mighty appetite. Tim Kruse, Vice President of Reppert (and friend from CAI) knew just the place: Auburn’s Town Tavern.

The Town Tavern is as local as local gets. Looking like a converted home The Town Tavern is a continuous tread that often binds small communities together. An institution in Auburn there really was only once choice for lunch and that was the fried fish with mashed potatoes. That is what we all ordered. Sometimes local joints survive on a lack of competition. This place survives on fried fish and tartar sauce and lightening fast service. I could have gone for seconds but that is never cool on a business lunch. The company was of course great, a mix of auction school students, Tim, his brother Daniel and an intuition at Reppert’s Ron Chaffee the Dean of Instruction. Our table looked like a bunch of Lumber jacks eating the first meal after clearing half a forest rather than a bunch of guys who had just spent the morning talking auctions. I was surprised the waitress was able to keep the drink glasses full without getting bitten.

The students and Ron had to leave in order to be back in time for the afternoon session and that left Peter and the brothers Kruse to enjoy peanut butter pie and catch the opening segment of The Young and Restless coming on in a TV in the corner.

UPDATE (December 2009): David Helmer, the Kruse Brothers and Peter found themselves eating at The Town Tavern again just over a week later when David and Peter concluded their Rampage Road Trip 2009 with a visit to Auburn and Kruse Auction Park to pick up items purchased at an auction there over the weekend. We are happy to report the same great food, service and soap operas.

UPDATE (July 2010): Starving Auctioneers returned yet again to the Town Tavern for another great meal. On hand were Tim Kruse, Jack Christy, Ron Chaffee, Peter D. Gehres, Dennis Kruse and students from the lastest class of the Reppert School of Auctioneering. The Tavern is fast becoming the go to place.

Bamboo Garden in Greenfield, IN

Bamboo Garden - Map
2160 North State Street
Greenfield, IN 46140
(317) 467-8881

Starving Auctioneers Rating: 2 1/2 Gavels out of 5

Recently we traveled deep into flyover country in southwestern Indiana to pick up the most unique collection of pottery we have ever seen. The collection was 100% modern, contemporary and studio art pottery with a focus on Indiana and Midwestern potters. This was a very interesting collection and a far cry from the Roseville, Weller and Rookwood we typically handle, all of which is between 60 and 100 years old. The entire collection required our full and careful packing and after a day of handling pottery our thoughts focused on our next task: dinner. Having left Columbus, Ohio at 6:00 AM and working through lunch we were hungry. Even though it was two hours away from the pick up there was really only one option: Bamboo Garden Chinese Buffet.

As we pulled away from the house Greg’s exact words were “I’m hungry and I’m going to make them pay today.” Much like a lion stalking its pray we were heading in for the kill. Granted this lion was in the form a lumbering van and trailer full of pottery but you get the idea.

The Bamboo Garden is our home away from home when we are hungry and find ourselves in the Hoosier state. Their motto is reassuring: “Not Only Cuisine, But Also Clean.” It does not get much better than that folks. The Bamboo Garden offers a full array of authentic Chinese buffet items including my personal favorite the 5 gallon bottomless heated vat of sweet and sour sauce. We had the pleasure of dinning that evening with some happy Colts fans fresh off a victory. We all enjoyed the slightly above average selection of sushi this buffet offered.

On the way out Peter picked up a brochure in preparation for another Pulitzer Prize winning review and was pleasantly surprised to learn that the Bamboo Garden uses only 100% vegetable oil…if you could not read or did not know what this meant they had little broccoli graphics to help you out. You have to love a Chinese Buffet at a no name exit in the middle of Indiana.