Archive for 2025

Parkside

Parkside came to our neighborhood a couple of years ago and has quickly become our go-to spot in Hyde Park Square. It has it all: reasonably priced food, kids’ menu, great draft beer, cocktails, a nice patio, and wonderful staff. If you’ve been to their sister restaurant, Delwood, expect pretty much the same experience here, but with a completely different menu, which is great!

Dip Duo

Dip Duo

For starters, we almost always order the dip duo, which includes both their guacamole and pimento cheese dip, served with corn tortilla chips ($12). I love the pimento cheese dip and could order that alone ($10), but for $2 more, throw in the guacamole too! Another great appetizer is the Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls, featuring pulled chicken, mozzarella, pepperoni, zucchini, Crystal Hot Sauce, and blue cheese crumble ($6 each). Also, the Parkside chopped salad is nice to split as either an appetizer or a side. It combines romaine, tomato, red onion, avocado, roasted chickpeas, goat cheese, and honey dijon vinaigrette ($7 half).

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

There are three items on the main menu that I rotate between. The grilled chicken sandwich is a Peruvian marinated chargrilled chicken breast topped with roasted garlic aioli, white cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and onion ($15). This is probably my most ordered. I also really like the veggie burger, which is a falafel patty topped the same as the chicken sandwich ($13). If you like falafel, definitely give this a try. I also order the boneless wings from time to time, which is a rather large portion of hand-battered chicken ($15). Don’t forget to wash it all down with a Three Floyds Zombie Dust pale ale, which is always on tap ($7).

Now Powered by DreamHost

After over 20 years of hosting edpaffjr.com (and other sites too) from my home PC’s, I have moved everything to a shared server at DreamHost. The final straw for this move came as the power supply on my newest PC died for a second time. Keep in mind that this machine is almost 20 years old! It was struggling to keep up anyway, so rather than buying another power supply, I bought this hard drive docking station on Amazon to pull the files I needed off the 2 hard drives in this old PC. So far things are mostly working as they were before, with one big change being the old photo gallery I was using for years hadn’t been updated in many years and I couldn’t get it running on PHP 8, so I uploaded all these old photos onto old posts that can be viewed in the gallery category. Now that the site is running much faster, perhaps I’ll update more regularly again. Time will tell!

Bokampers Sports Bar & Grill

If you find yourself in the Fort Lauderdale airport and looking for something to eat, Bokampers is a good option. It’s a traditional sports bar with a large menu and many drink options. Plenty of TVs entertain you while waiting for your next flight.

Inside

Inside

I enjoyed the crispy chicken sandwich topped with spicy mayo, pickles, and lettuce and served with fries on the side ($18). The chicken breast was large and fried well and the spicy mayo was a delicious condiment. It wasn’t very thick, and almost melted over the chicken.

Crispy Chicken

Crispy Chicken

For dessert, my daughter insisted we get the fried Oreo cookies, which are dipped in a sweet cream batter and fries, served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce ($8). These were very good and I would highly recommend them. This comes from someone who is not typically big on dessert, but you have to try these!

Fried Oreos

Fried Oreos

Mercer Social House

I was super disappointed when Urban Grill on Main went out of business. For many years it was a staple of spring and fall soccer seasons, with its convenient location near one of the area’s largest soccer parks. Fortunately, the space has recently reopened as Mercer Social House and many of the same things we love about the former restaurant continue to be true with the new ownership. We have already been a couple of times and have sampled the brunch and regular lunch/dinner menus.

Fried Spicy Chicken Sandwich

Fried Spicy Chicken Sandwich

An early favorite on the menu for me is the fried spicy chicken sandwich topped with sriracha aioli, cabbage slaw, and cherry pepper ($15.45). This is served with Saratoga chips or you can substitute fries for $1.25. The spicy on this sandwich is no joke and the cherry peppers really sealed the deal for me on this one, such a great flavor from those. The fries were alright, but next time I think I’ll try the Saratoga chips.

Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo

On the brunch menu, I selected the Monte Cristo with French toasted brioche, tasso ham, Swiss cheese, provolone, and dijonnaise all deep-fried and served with raspberry compote ($19.95). This was a large and very filling sandwich. I must admit one of the best Monte Cristo’s I think I’ve had. The outside was crispy fried, but the inside was soft and had a really nice combination of flavors. Overall the food has been good, the service great, and the atmosphere perfect. Spring soccer season is just around the corner so I’ll soon be back more often!

My Year In Cities 2024

Happy New Year! Below is the list of cities I visited in 2024 with at least one night spent in each place.

  • Boyne Falls, Michigan
  • Cincinnati, Ohio *
  • Duck Key, Florida
  • Seven Springs, Pennsylvania
  • Park City, Utah
  • Fishers, Indiana
  • Denver, Colorado
  • Copper Mountain, Colorado
  • Grove City, Ohio
  • Dayton, Ohio
  • Columbus, Ohio
  • Burlington, Kentucky
  • Williamstown, Kentucky *
  • Dania Beach, Florida
  • Nassau, The Bahamas **
  • Little San Salvador Island, The Bahamas **
  • Cockburn Town, Turks & Caicos Islands **
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania *
  • Montreal, Québec
  • Québec City, Québec
  • Indianapolis, Indiana
  • Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands
  • Logan, Ohio
  • Newport, Kentucky
  • Snowshoe, West Virginia

* Those cities marked with an asterisk were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.
** Those cities marked with a double asterisk were ports on a Caribbean cruise.

See also: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006