tower cafe

i loved tower dogs.  it was a sad day, for me, when it closed down.  however, i was excited to hear that something would take its place, and hoped it would be good.  that place: tower cafe.  this mainly is a review of dinner last night, but first let me throw out some details from a few stop ins i had previously had.

tower cafe, like tower dog before it, is open late.  many a time i found myself hitting up tower dog for a late night meal, and am happy that tower cafe is keeping that option available.  the have a simple hot dog, and that's cool.  but, what may be the death of me is their cheesy tots.  good gawd i love their tater tots covered in cheese sauce.  this is the perfect late night, salty post pub grub. i've also had the pulled pork sandwich and it was pretty decent.

anyway, last night the wife and i met two friends at tower cafe for some dinner.  we each ordered different items, so it was cool that we could talk about the different foods.  mike ordered the hot pastrami with fries and it looked delicious.  he said it tasted very good.  from where i was sitting, i could see the cook preparing the food, and so i got to watch him toast the bread, then melt a piece of cheese on it. the pastrami also had cheese melted on, creating layers of pastrami & cheese in the sandwich.  adam ordered the cheese burger & fries.  tower cafe does hand formed burger patties, which i think is a great idea.  they're well seasoned and adam was a fan of the burger.  heather ordered their turkey sandwich.  it was shredded turkey, which i thought was an interesting idea, as i expected sliced turkey.  the sandwich had a cranberry spread on it.  she enjoyed the sandwich well enough, but she's not a big fan of dark meat and so the mix of white & dark meat wasn't her favorite.  i ate the other half of the sandwich today and thought it tasted very good, even as cold leftovers.  all three ordered the regular fries, and i had a few as well, and they were tasty.  me, i went with the spicy cheeseburger.  i'm not sure what sort of spicy spread they put on the burger, but it was great.  very flavorful and spicy, but not too hot.  combined with a pepper jack cheese it tasted great.  i had the curly fries w/cheese sauce (they were out of tots - sad face) and dug them.  they would have been good even without the cheese.

the decor of the place is simple and clean. the staff was very friendly.  the food, all prepared after ordering came up quickly.

overall, we had a good time, and enjoyed our meals.  i definitely be back, and not just for the late night cheesy tots.

tower dogs is closing

from facebook today, "

I would like to start off by thanking everyone who supported TDogs. I am going to sell TDogs so I can move on to doing something I've always dreamed of doing. Its not that I don't love TDogs but it just isn't what I personally want to do anymore, so if you are interested or know someone who might be please call me.This could be a great opportunity for the right person or family. I would really like it to stay Tower Dogs, but I really can't control that. Today will be the last day we're open until after the Fair, not sure after that. Again thank you all for your support I'm so grateful."

 anybody wanna loan me some $? i've always wanted a hot dog stand.

tower dogs

first of all, i'll admit that i have been to tower dogs three times in the last four days. yes, that is excessive. but i enjoyed it the first time, and several friends have wanted to try the spot out so i tagged along. i have had:
the tower boat - chili & cheese over fritos - i like the chili enough, although chili + beans might be good for a boat.
the chili dog - chili & cheese on a dog - however, i love this chili on the dog.
the kraut dog - saurkraut + dog - grilled kraut was awesome with mustard and the dog
the mexidog - chorizo + nacho cheese & jalepenos - pretty tasty, and i'll try this again
the caliente hot! hot! hot! dog - habenero sausages, grilled onions & red peppers + sour cream - umm, the habenero sausage was dang spicy. not unbelievably hot, but pretty spicy. grilled peppers and onions nice.

i have loved all these dogs. seriously. these are nice, high quality dogs. the service is quick, and it happens via a walk up counter.

seating is limited, and outdoors, so this may be a problem in hotter or colder months.

they're open 11 am - 10 pm M-Th, but here is the real kicker: friday's & saturdays, 11 am - 3 am! holy crap, bar crowd, you need to hit this spot.

the only real drawback may be that the dogs are a little pricey for some. the dogs pretty much run between $3-$4. but i'm down, they're dang good.

so far, the business traffic seems to be decent. i'm hoping it keeps up after the newness fades. and, i can't wait to try the last call dog. it's only available after 11 pm, and comes with a polish sausage, eggs, hash browns and nacho cheese. super yum.