Restaurant Review: Phil's Tara Hideaway (Stillwater, MN)

Went for an early dinner with my friends Christina and Nate and had a meal that left me feeling "thanksgiving full" - you know, the point where you think you might not be able to move or do much else but sit on the couch and hope you can breathe soon. Yep - I over ate, but it was good food (and company)

We ordered the grilled octopus - it looked delicious but I'm not as much of a fan of that so I didn't try it. What an interesting way to serve it though so if you were every looking for something out of the ordinary it fit the bill and had an interesting stack of pickled cucumber with it.

Nate had Rabbit and Christina had Lamb and I went with the mediterranean pork chop. The pork chop was huge (I could barely eat 1/2 of it) and sprinkled with oregano and a few other spices and nicely grilled.) It was a little more pink that I typically like pork but plenty and flavorful enough that I didn't feel bad for not eating it all.  It was served with a delicious New England Clam Chowder.

The best way to describe the chowder would be like I imagine eating liquid garlic bread would be like. Just the right amount of garlic-y buttery creamy goodness with a proper thickness to the chowder. It had a nice proportion of potatoes, carrots and clams. I ate the whole thing.

For my choice of accompaniment I ordered the Orzo with artichokes. That was also very good.

At that point I was already really full, but I'm a fan of dessert so I persevered and once I saw that they had a butterscotch bundido in the menu I knew that was the choice. So rich of a butterscotch pudding with a drizzle of a maple syrup reduction, whipped cream and a small sprinkle of sea salt. Delicious.Yum. (Not as good as the bundido I had at Acqua this fall but still very good.

Everything looked and tasted delicious. It's not really a place I'd eat at alone, but I'd go again for a small dinner on a special occaision with a friend or two.

The place gets super crowded and it's super cozy/small.  It's a little expensive for some of the entries $13-$20 but that's not terrible for a decently cooked dinner…right? Looked like they poured delicious looking cocktails too.

Thanks again Christina and Nate - for expanding my foodie range further into stillwater. I give the restaurant 4 of 5 stars.