Restaurant Review: Not Justa Cafe (Bayport, MN)

Met Christina and Nate here for breakfast on Saturday. I had to laugh as I was driving we passed runners who were running in the Ragnar Relay which runs from Winona to Minneapolis.

This place is a tiny diner/cafe with a small counter for "single seating" and probably about as many booths as I remember mickey's Diner in St Paul. The food is your typically breakfast fare, Eggs, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits, Messes (which I'll explain in a moment and Waffle/Pancake/French Toast choices.

I had the Ham and Cheese "mess" which pretty much is diced ham and crispy hash browns with a choice of eggs and a practically not-melted slice of american cheese. (You can have your choice of cheese though so it's probably my fault that I went with american as perhaps the other cheeses would be more melty.) Don't get me wrong I still ate most of the whole entire thing and it was tasty. 

Oh and our waitress brought an extra slice of toast because they forgot to give me two slices - as if that plate wasn't full enough already...but yep I did eat almost the whole thing.  If there was any sort of downfall about the plate of food (and this is just a picky thing) but I'm not a fan of crispy brown edges on my over easy eggs....I know it's tough to do on a screaming hot griddle.

They also serve pretty decent orange juice. Not pulpy but a fresh taste of orange - I couldn't tell it was from concentrate, so that passed my muster.

My friends had a plate sized pancake and a waffle...both of which looked like something I'd order typically. I'm a waffle fan (I probably would have ordered that or the french toast looked pretty decent)

I knew I was going to cheesecake factory for a late lunch or I might have tried their special - biscuits and gravy...they looked like great biscuits and the gravy looked exactly right.

Maybe another day.

The pricing is pretty decent - $8.50 for my mess and a $2.00 for the OJ. For breakfast it wasn't bad. I'm glad it was located in a small town were people mind their own business or don't think to look inside unlocked vehicles much. For the first time every in the history of me...I left my keys in the ignition of my car with the doors unlocked - yep I was that excited to eat at this place that when my friends arrived I just jumped out of my car, leaving the keys in the ignition...perhaps just in case I needed to make a quick "dukes of hazzard" escape of some sort.

Alas, no one stole the rustmobile...which could be either good or bad.

2 1/2 of 5 stars...mostly because it was good food but they lost a star for the unmelted american cheese and a really kind of bad crispy corned beef hash that looked directly from Hormel and the seating is a little tight and the waitstaff a tad impatient. But for a Saturday morning breakfast with friends...we will overlook these small faults.

Restaurant Review: Aristo's Stillwater

(moving information from Facebook back to my blog to hopefully start blogging again)

It claims to be the best Greek Restaurant in Stillwater, a claim that might be true since I'm not entirely sure there are any other truly and primarily greek restaurants in stillwater? I'd say a closer description might be that Aristo's stands for "ain't Christo's", which might be more apt since my friends and I really wanted to go to Christo's in St Paul tonight but alas they were closed for a private party.

I had never dined at this restaurant and knew other friends who like it (not the ones I dined with) so I'll also say that while I found the food okay, I probably won't make a special trip to the restaurant again based on some hit or miss items that aren't really deal-breakers but for the price of the food, there are other restaurants on the "list in my head" that I would want to try first...or instead.

Among our group we had:

Saganaki (Flaming Cheese): Okay, my friends humored me as I always wanted to order this but it's not something you can really order if you are dining alone without totally calling attention to the fact that both you are eating alone with a big OPA! exclaimation point AND that is a whole lot of cheese for one person to eat. It was good...in a small amount. Too many seeds in the lemon got all over the cheese and well...it was fun but the waitress was a little timid lighting the cheese on fire and the OPA! too was just a little flat.

Calamari: a little too much breading but seasoned well and not ozvercooked. Pretty decent.

Salad with dinner: Those had to be the saddest salads I've seen - including the ones that I had on my dinner tray when I had to stay overnight in the hospital. The lettuce looks fresh but maybe a little watery. They had two small pieces of cucumber, one lone olive, a sliver of tomato and some red onion. And a little plastic cup of greek dressing.

Avgolemono (Egg Lemon Soup) - Sadly I've had better soup. Just did not have all that great of a taste - not really chicken not really lemon...I had a few spoonfuls and felt kind of bad wasting it.

 Gyros Plate: Good portion of veggies, rice and gyros. The Gyros meat had a decent flavor. Maybe was sliced a bit thinly but not really that greasy or over cooked. The pita as cut into too small of triangles to make a proper bite and the Tzatzaki sauce could have used more garlic or flavor - it was more like sour cream. It came with rice which didn't have that much flavor either.

Taste of Greece Platter - had gyros (see above), dolmades - which were cooked well and had a nice flavor of ground beef rice and herbs and some kind of tomato sauce. Spanakopita (phylo, spinach, dill, onion and feta) was good but maybe needed a bit less spinach and more feta.  There also was a large square of pastitito (greek lasagna - which was tasty but just too much food)

 I have to admit that I had a better time with my friends than partaking of the food. It all was edible but just really kind of uninspiring. Maybe I had played it up in my head a bit more. It's not terrible but I just wasn't that impressed.

I was impressed by our waitress. I appreciate when they actually have a personaility and conversation and aren't just saying "may I take your order" by some kind of rote rehearsed line. She did take a little long to give us our bills and refills of drinks but not terrible...for a small place.

 All in all I think my pleasure stemmed more from the conversation and time spent with friends than the food itself.

Two stars of five (mostly for some pretty decent service)

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.

Restaurant Review: Bachelor Farmer / Marvel Bar (North Loop, Minneapolis)

pork chop - actual size

One of the "perks" of winning this year's Marketer of the Year award is that the six people from our team who won awards were invited for drinks and dinner tonight to Marvel Bar and Bachelor Farmer in Minneapolis.

We started off the night at Marvel Bar for drinks. For those unfamiliar with Marvel Bar - they are a "speakeasy-type bar" in the basement of the Bachelor Farmer. With no sign or really any identifying markers on doors you pretty much have to know that you go around the corner and walk in the only grey nondescript door and then keep walking down a kind of creepy low-lit, unmarked hallway to a purple door - which is the entrance to a super dark bar. I half expected the person at the door to ask us for some kind of password. Inside there were small booths and couches and it all was quite lovely but I cannot imagine how the place would be when it would be crowed. As such, on a tuesday night around 5:30 pm it was really quite "swell".

Marvel Bar had a huge menu of mixed drinks with liquors and ingredients none of us had ever heard of and some things that their semi-famous mixologist came up with that make you think "hmmm wonder what that's like" or "hmmm never thought I'd put that together".

My coworkers each tried their famous drink called the Oliveto - a concoction of egg whites, olive oil, lemon, vanilla, gin, some other sort of spirit and simple syrup. They said it tasted like a lemon merigune pie...which makes sense since it essentially is almost all the ingredients and gin. I'm always just a tad leery of uncooked eggs and my unstable stomach so I just went with a ginger beer (which was deliciously spicy) Also, as a rule I tend to steer clear of drinking all that much when I drive ...knowing full well how my metabolism reacts to alcohol.

We went upstairs to Bachelor Farmer and the five of us were seated right away in a long booth and began what I'll say was a delicious culinary adventure. The only way that I could have had a better meal is if the other two winners from our team (Lola and Sherry) were there.

The wonderful, personable and knowledgeable waitress set a bowl of radishes with butter and salt and some flatbread on the table and greeted us. She said we were in luck as they had been closed the night before so they were also serving some "specials" from their Monday night menu.

I never have been a fan of radishes but these had a lovely snap and we were encouraged to eat them with a little butter and salt and they were delicious.

We ordered some appetizers to share:

Duck fat beets, Parmesan, radishes, pickled shallots, toasted almonds, aged cider vinegar - the beets were thinly sliced  and were good but I think I expected them to be a little thicker cut.

Toasts with Beef Tartare (delicious combination of Beef tartare, fermented sunchokes, cashew milk, capers, and horseradish) and another spread that combined Poached chicken, fermented daikon radishes, pickled mustard seeds, aioli, dill

Both of the toast spreads were very good. I rather enjoy beef tartare and I appreciated that the combination of the extra "stuff" didn't distract from the beef. The chicken kind of tasted like chicken salad...probably because essentially that's what it is. It was okay...mostly the char on the toasts also was just okay.

We were lucky that they were closed yesterday and so their special "chop" was on tonights menu. Three of us had that. They only serve these chops on Mondays. I went with it mostly on the advice from my friend Alaina who said to order "anything Pork" on the menu and she was correct. I have never had a finer pork chop. I had a small chop and it was almost the size of a small head.  (See the photo) It's brined for a few days and while it is fattier than most standard chops - the flavor is superb. Even the fat was melting-ly good. It came with a shaved cabbage slaw that also was delicious. I had a taste of my co-worker's duck breast confit and it was good too. It came with black lentils, roasted rutabaga, celery root, and pickled beets. They ask that you don't take photos or use your phone in their restaurant so I swiped the photo above from their facebook page. But yes this was the size of the chop

The only sort of "blah" part of the meal was dessert. We split the brown butter lemon cake and a pie of some sort. I can say the lemon cake was okay. A little dry and not that lemony. It came with a delicious fruity apricot-y chopped side and parsley ice cream. The parsley ice cream was interesting...I can now say I've eaten parsley ice cream. Yep, that's about all I can say about parsley ice cream. I feel the same way about green tea ice cream...a little bit goes a long way.

All in all it was a great evening and rare treat. It's an expensive restaurant so to be able to taste these foods was a delicious gift.

Restaurant Review Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet (West St Paul, MN

We went to this chinese buffet tonight. We went right after work and it wasn't terribly busy and conveniently we had a coupon for $2.00 off our table.

It for sure is a Supreme Buffet with Sushi, about 8-twosided buffets for different salads and heated items and a complete Habachi Grill.

I started with the sushi. In comparison to Atlantic Buffet in Woodbury, this buffet had approximately 16 different trays of sushi including quite a few different selections and even rolls without the evil seaweed. (I just have never been able to get around the texture of seaweed.) I will say that the sushi chefs that were right behind the counter were a nice touch in that it truly made you see how they were making the sushi and while I was a little disappointed that they didn't make the sushi fast enough (particularly the kind I like) it still was delicious and I had about 8 pieces of different things.

They had a whole lot of fresh fruit (I had strawberries and pineapple that were delicious) and different salads I did not try. They had clams and mussels and peel and eat shrimp. They had a whole buffet lineup of chicken dishes (pepper, champagne, sweet and sour, spicy, uh...a lot of chicken) I had the champagne chicken which was tasty.

They had the whole gamut of appetizers including egg rolls, crab rangoon, bacon wrapped crab, soups, fried dough, cheese... I had one fried cheese stick which wasn't very good. but the crab rangoon and bacon wrapped crab were pretty tasty.

They had green beans and the most lovely asparagus sticks and three different cooked mushrooms and all sorts of rices and noodles (I skipped). They had pizza, ribs and ham and salmon and some other fish (uh...I guess for people who want regular food at a chinese buffet)

They also had a whole hibachi grill...which I didn't try but it looked fresh.

I did read the reviews and have to agree that while the food was all pretty good...I wanted the items I got from the buffet to be warmer. If we go back I'd probably stick to sushi and the hibachi and uh, a couple of the appetizers.

The desserts I think they purchased at the same chinese supply store that atlantic buffet gets their at. They also had some coffee cakes that look like the purchased them from walmart (same black plastic bundt container.

For $11.99 each (and with our $2.00 off per table coupon that was in the clipper this week) it was a pretty good deal and pretty good food that needed to be just a little warmer. (both from a taste standpoint and uh, a food safety standpoint.)

I would pick this over atlantic for the sheer choice of sushi...with the other buffet items.

3 stars of 5.

Restaurant Review: Smalley's Carribean BBQ (Stillwater, MN)

Several friends of mine have posted about this restaurant and I've seen it featured on Diner's Drive In and Dives so I was pretty sure I'd find something on the menu worthwhile. Several friends from our thursday night bible study decided to go after church today (thanks Christina for thinking of it)
I had BBQ pork shoulder, mac and cheese and potato salad. The pork shoulder was moist and had a smokey flavor. I had them put the sauce on the side so I could adjust it. It was flavorful but I forgot how much fat is included with this cut of meat so if I go back I might go with a brisket or some other cut of meat. The BBQ sauce was mild and pretty good. The mac and cheese was delicious, but I"m a big fan of mac and cheese and the potato salad had bacon and eggs in it and it all was delicious.

Always fun with good food melds with good conversation and friends...it's a fun place right along the river in Stillwater. I always forget about all the fun places to each that are all right there.

three and 1/2 of five stars -

they have the same brand as ginger beer that crave does which I really enjoyed and the BBQ was decent.  (I didn't think it was appropriate to pull out my camera to take  a photo of the food but I did find this photo that was pretty close - although it is missing the bacon.)

Restaurant Review: Starks Saloon (Eagan, MN)

A few months ago I was watching one of my favorite public access tv programs called Twin Cities Originals, where they feature locally owned restaurants and do cheesy restaurant review (sometimes with gouda results)

So a few months ago they featured a restaurant that I've seen across Hwy 55 when I've swung through the McD's drive thru on my way to and from the mecca that is Eco-Research&Development.

Today I got out of a painful 4 hour meeting and decided I deserved lunch and while I stood at the stoplight I looked to the left and saw the sign for Starks and was reminded that I wanted to check this place out.

The parking lot was obnoxiously full (probably a good sign) and upon entering the lobby I was reminded of any number of Stuckey's or Union 76 truck stops that we used to stop at when we were kids. There was a write on / wipe off sign that said seat yourself.

I'm not a fan of seat yourself except for maybe at the North Pole restaurant. It's just difficult to know, especially if you are eating alone, exactly where to sit and whether you will be selecting a waiter/waitress that is especially speedy. So I chose the bar.

"Pour me a coke," I requested of the bartender as she handed me the menu and told me of the specials, which sounded delicious and cheap (turkey and trimmings for $6.00 or a taco salad for $5.00).

It was actually kind of fun to sit at the bar as there were a few chatty "regulars" who gave me the scoop of what they liked to eat and how long they had been coming to the joint.

If you have never been there, they have a large sitting area and bar and really a pretty large area with pool tables and a pretty large dance floor. I decided that if I ever needed a bar to just go and hang with friends, I might consider checking this place out.

So I looked over the menu and decided on a french dip. Which was HUGE and delicious. Enough beef really for two sandwiches and really quite flavorful and not at all tough. The au jus was also quite tasty (if but a little salty) and the waffle fries were crisp and perfectly fried.

The gentleman next to me ordered a burger for $5.00...with fries. So for under $10.00 he had a drink and a complete meal and it too looked delicious.

It's not a fancy place by any means, however it probably would fit in my imagination of what a typical saloon would look like.

The dinner menu has about 10 items on it and the appetizer menu looked good too (if you just wanted to go somewhere for a few drinks and apps)

It looks like they have country dancing there on Wednesday and Saturday nights and Swing dancing on Fridays for a $5.00 cover charge too.

I know y'all probably know all about this place, but if it weren't for twin cities originals I probably would have just kept driving. I'm glad I didn't. Three and a 1/2 stars out of 5. (Holding out until I can go dancing for a better score)

Whistle Stop Cafe (Froternac, MN)

The Whistle Stop Cafe is one of those places you expect to see when you get off any highway and take a more rural route and the place delivered both in charm and quality of food.

Even before Alton Brown featured this little diner on his Feasting with Asphalt show, I had wanted to stop. It's located between Red Wing and Lake City along my favorite drive between Winona and St. Paul on Highway 61.

It has a typical diner fare with breakfast being served all day and a blue plate special of sorts. Today's feature was Turkey or Ham Dinner with all the fixings and a trip to a salad bar.

The place isn't much to look at, but the food was excellent. The people watching was even better.

While I was there a woman and a newborn came in and asked the table of regulars sitting near the door whether mom was there. The woman paused and talked for a moment and assured the rest of the crew that she was heading over to the house to check for "mom" there. She promptly left.

The waitress stopped by that table and asked "So Cheryl, coffee today?"

Cheryl said, "Sure, filler up."

I ordered a bowl of soup and a piece of pie. It took me a few minutes to decide on the pie as they had a large list of pies on the write on / wipe-off board above the cash register.

The soup was wisconsin cheese- a lovely, velvety cheese with a hint of smokey bacon-y goodness and a few vegatables thrown in to distract from the basic fact that really I was just eating a bowl of cheese. Mmmmmm, it was good. I probably would have licked the cup if that wasn't uncouth and just a little gross.

I was barely done with the soup when my pie arrived. After pondering the choices between lemon and cocconut cream and strawberry cream and pecan, I landed on Strawberry Rhubarb. And because I hadn't yet had enough dairy for this visit I had an icy cold glass of milk.

And I ate every bite of perfectly stewed rhubarb and firm, ripe strawberry wrapped in a flaky crust. It probably would have tasted great with a scoop of ice cream but I thought I had better limit the further indulgence of dairy for the day.

And it was cheap too. I probably could have had a whole turkey meal for under $10.00 with pie. Instead, my bill for the soup, pie and drink was under $6.00.

I love stopping in towns like this and in family run establishements like this. They provide more than nurishment, these places provide fuel for the stories that roam inside my head. I appreciate the little things like the community cards and poster tacked up by the register that was collecting money for a young man injured in a terrible motorcycle accident. The interaction between the line cook and the wait staff. The youngsters in the corner playing solitare probably because their mom or dad run the place and that's just what they do on sundays. The two older men, eating the blue plate specials and complaining that there's just too much on the plate.

The sign as you leave reads "If you liked what you ate, tell others. If you didn't, tell us."

It doesn't get simpler than that.

Restaurant Review: Meritage (St. Paul) AKA My Adventures with Pig

We haven’t been back to eat at Meritage since last fall and that was well before they knocked through the wall and tossed Annie’s Ice Cream out on their ear from the Hamm Building.  Okay so technically it was up to the building’s owner to allow annie’s ice cream to stay in the building but, well, I imagine the idea of Meritage expanding was a whole lot better than a sort of worn down family owned and operated established icecream stand/card shop.
Anyhow we decided in the gloom and doom of the pending snowy weekend to depart from our usual skyway fast food fare and eat at the newly created oyster bar for lunch today…mostly because I couldn’t seem to get the idea of tuna tartare tacos outta my head, since receiving one for an amuse busche last fall.

So we sat at the bar.  I must say the new renovations and bar area at Meritage are quite comfortable and I typically don’t like sitting at bars but this was very nice.  The bar is stainless steel and the soft spoken bartender was attentive (of course we were his only customer as it was only a little after 11)

I ordered a tuna tartare taco, a pepsi/coke, and a grilled brie sandwich and fries.

The tuna tartare taco came out.  And maybe it was because it was free the last time, but I remember it tasting a little more zippier.  That said, it was still delicious and somehow the combination of the crunch of the cute mini taco shell and the soft velvety unctuousness of tuna cubes just works.

Then we waited.  And waited.  And just when I was thinking “how long does it take to make a grilled cheese sandwich?” the waitress came with another amuse busche…confit pig’s tongue.

Uh, what?

Seriously, I realize we are in a world where foodies abound and want to try different things BUT, I don’t know if the chef realized that I ordered a relatively safe grilled cheese sandwich?

I actually consider myself pretty adventurous.  I know what I like and there are a few things that I don’t like.  I like liver pate.  I don’t like onions.  Tongue is way outta my comfort zone.  But if Andrew Zimmern and Anthony Bourdain can eat it on a regular basis, I was game.  Of course they also eat disgusting things like fried maggots so I’m not sure that was really solid reasoning.

It tasted like a really rich, kind of melt in your mouth pork roast.  You know that inner cut that has been roasting for an hour in it’s own fat (which is pretty much what confit is…)  They gave me two pieces.  I wasn’t sure if this was a couple of slices of the tongue or if pigs tongues were small and thereby I was eating two of them.  And there was a sort of odd shape to them.  Anyhow, I ate the first piece quickly, with a follow-up cleansing rinse of pepsi and all was good…so long as I didn’t remind myself I was eating an actual tongue.  The second piece was fine too.  But I don’t think it will be anything I will be dreaming about anytime soon.

What is it about amuse busche’s that make me feel guilty.  It’s sort of like the chef is saying, “I know you are hungry and I want to gift you with my masterpiece creation.”  Something in me always feels like I have to eat it or insult the chef….and as long as it isn’t onions, green peppers or anything remotely spicy, I will probably eat it. (although I do like French onion soup so I’m not sure even that is accurate?)

Ten minutes went by and I still hadn’t received the brie sandwich.  Was I missing something?  It’s bread, butter, and brie.  Oh and some sort of apple jam.  Yep that’s gotta be what was holding it up.  Oh and they had to fry their yummy pommes frites.

The tv over the bar was playing CNN without the sound and close-captioning.  I might say that either the autocorrect on the close captioning was terribly off or someone needs to learn both grammar and spelling.  Terrible! Randi Kaye looks great though - haven't seen her since her local news days.

The sandwich finally arrived.  The fries were delicious.  Seriously among the best French fries in the the twin cities.  The sandwich was really fried to a perfect brown crispness.  The melty brie was good.  I wish they had put the apple jam on the side.  It was just a little much and the spice mix didn’t really work for me with the brie.

The bill arrived. $3.00 for a pepsi?  Really?  Seems a rip-off when it’s the same pepsi I get in the food court for a 1.00.  Oh it must be the glass.

All in all it was good.  And I can check off “tongue” on my list of culinary adventures.

Three stars

Editor's note: To die for Steak Frittes is my favorite meal here...Bearnaise and fries have got to be one of my favorite combinations. It's a little pricey but for a special treat...so good. 

Restaurant Review: Twin City Grill

It's been awhile since I really went out to eat as I'm trying to watch money and I really just haven't felt like going out much by myself. A friend I work with was in town from Mississippi and staying out near the mall of america so I met her there on friday night and we decided to do dinner.

For me there are three main choices there and we settled on Twin Cities Grill because the bus driver from the hotel had also recommended it to her.

We started dinner with an appetizer of bacon wrapped scallops which were tasty. We both agreed that this was a better way to eat them rather than a whole meal of them. The dipping sauce (some sort of sweet/sour thing) was just a little sweet, but the scallops were perfectly cooked and luciously tasty.

I had the twin filet with bernaise sauce. Perfectly cooked beef really does prove that you don't really need a knife to cut it like buttah. My friend had chicken. I'm glad I didn't order it because it really was pretty much the whole chicken (without the head and feet of course) . I'm not a big fan of chicken on the bone, but she said it was some of the best chicken she had eaten.

They also have sides you can order separately and we ordered creamed spinach and aspargus. Both were okay...I've tasted better but it was still pretty tasty.

Both meals came with a choice of potato. We both had mashed, which also were delicious.

Portion size was huge and prices weren't bad for a restaurant at the mall.

We also had fresh squeezed lemonade. I'm a little bit of a picky person when it comes to lemonade...I know it's fresh squeezed but really it is annoying to suck up pits through a straw. They should work on that.

All in all it was a lovely meal with a fun friend from far away.

Three 1/2 stars of five.

Restaurant Review: CRAVE @ MOA

Since I was @ the MOA wandering the mall with the masses looking for the perfect christmas gift and since it was still lunchtime and since there wasn't a line, I thought I'd check out Crave, as I have been hearing about it from friends and others. (And my godmother sent me $20 for a pre-holiday treat.)

I was seated immediately by a friendly host, who I learned, in the short time that we walked to the table, that he too had not started his christmas shopping AND that he was from Chicago. Yep, he was chatty, but I was kind of encouraging it, so he wasn't really that overbearing.

I was seated by the kitchen. Now most people would find this annoying, but it was the perfect spot for not only watching the cook line, but it allowed me the ability to see what the menu looked like as it was waiting to be served.

The menu for lunch isn't large but it seemed to have a variety of little appetizers, burgers, pizza, pasta and more expensive entrees.

For some reason sushi sounded good. (I know! I typically avoid it because I dislike the sushi made with seaweed thanks to one really bad experience at Fugiya and I can never remember which version is that type of sushi.)

Kudos to them - they clearly explained on their menu what each item was and what made it tasty and that really whetted my craving for sushi - so bonus points to the menu writer.

Actually I have to say that menu writing is truly a lost art form. Everything sounded just lovely. I could almost lick the spoon from the description they gave for their tomato pesto soup.

So I had two different types of sushi - safe bet salmon and yellowfin tuna. I also am a bread lover from way back and on their appetizer menu they advertise a basket of artesian breads for $1.95 or $2.95 for a full basket so I ordered a 1/2 basket of bread, if only to see exactly what made it artesean.

The bread basket was just a bunch of toasted french bread with two different types of butter oh and I guess what made it artesean is that they also had two crunchy breadsticks with it. I guess bread is a craft and I guess the honey walnut butter was a lovely sweet addtion to the bread. They also had this chipolte butter too but it was a little too zingy for my minnesotan palate. (How do you like that - I've grown a minnesotan pallate in the 11 years I've been here!)

They have a lot of staff there - seemingly running around. Maybe because I was so close to the food prep area that it just seemed this way? For as many staff as there was, my waitress took forever to bring me the lemonade I ordered and it seemed to take a long time to prepare sushi. How difficult is it to mush some rice together and thinly slice fish?

(I know I'm probably going to have hate mail from the sushi masters of america but c'mon. Am I wrong?)

I could tell the cranky older woman and her equally grumpy husband were also getting irritated by the amount of time it took to get their order taken.

Anyhow...aside from the waitstaff, the sushi was pretty tasty. As you can probably tell I don't know much about it. I know what I like. I know I don't have a clue of how to work a set of chopsticks in my small, kindergardener sized hands and as much as I try to follow the protocol of putting the whole piece in my mouth - that's just too large of a bite. And so yes, I scooped it up with my fingers and dipped it into the wasabi infused soy sauce. The salmon was salmon...kind of tasted like the salmon you get to put on a good schmear with a bagel. The yellowfin too was tasty but I'm not exactly sure I'd order it again for a $1.00 more. Didn't taste all that different.

While I was sitting there the chef who was in charge of expediting the orders (see I KNEW TOP CHEF would come in handy in real life.) asked his line if anyone knew how to make their muffeltta sandwich. To apparent blank stares from every one of his chefs. So he called one over and explained in clear step by step instruction how to make it. It sounded really pretty tasty too - but how can salami, ham, olive tappenade and cheese really be that bad (other than perhaps for sodium and cholesterol levels).

Their dessert menu was somewhat small and kind of overpriced. $7.95 for a piece of cake.

The other meals I saw pass by my table looked tasty. The pastas in particular are probably something I would order. The buns for their sandwiches looked flaky and buttery. I saw a scallop and shrimp item that also looked tasty. They also have these vegatable chips that intrigued me. Although, again really - put anything into a deep fryer until crispy and put salt on it and I might find it edible.

I'll also say they have a fun menu for drinks. So if I were to go back to the MOA for a date (if they are still open in 5 years when my next date will probably be) or say out with friends, I'd stop there for a drink and some appetizers.

3 1/2 stars...mostly because it's at the MOA and that's one of my LEAST favorite places to venture but if you are there, and have a craving - it might be worth a stop.

Restaurant Review: Mama Maria's (Hudson, WI)

Had dinner at Mama Maria's in Hudson WI tonight and it was delicious and now added to my list of places that I will return to. Not horribly priced, excellent ambiance, over-eager wait staff...so over eager that my friend amy paused in eating her salad and went to go sip her drink and the waiter thought she was done with her salad and took the plate. Which we chuckled about but was one of the points against them.

The salad was a house italian salad that tasted like it perhaps also had balsamic vinegar in the mix, a mixure of leafy greens, pepperoni and some grated parm. It wasn't my favorite but it did have a nice flavor.

I had Veal Marsala (yep, for those who know me, this tends to be a favorite of mine) and it was delicious. Thin slices of veal, pan seared with a light marsala sauce and mushrooms. I paired it with canniloni at the waitress recommendation and wasn't a big fan but maybe because the combination was so heavy and I really haven't eaten much this week, having been recovering from another round of sickness (this time strep throat.)

We went early, and if you decide to go on the weekend it sounds like you best call ahead for a reservation.

The other food I saw looked just as delicious and it's always fun to visit with friends while dining so perhaps I took home more than just good food in my stomach but the realization that perhaps I haven't spent as much time with friends as I would like.

All in all...Mama Maria's gets a 4 of 5 stars. And I will be back to dine another day.

Restaurant Review: The Edina Grill

It was okay, but I probably won't be back...unless it's for breakfast. And really when will I ever be in "the neighborhood" of Edina for breakfast?

The dining area was a bit noisy. We were sitting in the front of the restaurant though so I wonder how it would be if we were further back?

Also, it's more of a picky thing but the sun was setting and my seat mostly looked blindly into the sun the entire dinner which was somewhat distracting.

The food...was pretty good. I had this chicken dish with sweet potatoes, pears, mushrooms, spinach and corn. I know it sounds odd but it was good. My dining friend had a cuban sandwich with pork, pickles, cheese, mustard and bread. It looked good but may have needed extra mustard or something to make the sandwich a little more moist.

I also had a lemonade which a blog I read said was lovely. And it was good. Not exactly lovely but good...lemony. Probably a good adjective for lemonade.

It was a little pricey for the meal I thought. Of course I also thought I was paying, so I probably would have ordered differently. Anyhow...2 1/2 stars out of 5....

Adventures in St. Paul

Skyway Update - Looks like Fun Sisters is opening a store in the St. Paul Skyway too. For those of you out of towners this is an boutique store (mostly purses and other wares) that is only open one extended weekend a month. They are locating a small store in the skyway near the US Bank Building on 5th and Minnesota.

Tonight I worked late (big presentation tomorrow - so if you think about it around 8:30 say a little prayer for me that I remain calm and communicate effectively.)

On the way out the front door of eco-world I caught a flicker of fire across the street and decided to check it out...sure enough Pop!! had opened its doors. And as it was well after 7 and I hadn't eaten yet, I figured why not try Pop!! the Adventure.

They have brightened up the old Fhima's place considerably and I think are still in process of adding more pop culture to the decor. There's still a nifty bar area and a wide reception area before you reach the host stand. I was greeted warmly and genuninely (seriously dislike the fake greeting) and led to a table about midway into the dining area.

They had a pretty small menu which I think serves them well. A lot of interesting combinations of things I've never tried. Since it was late I went for a couple of small plates (which ended up not being THAT small)

I had ham croquetes - which were little almost potato tasting balls that were deep fried and had some sort of cheese in them. There was a quince dipping sauce with them. I've never had quince before so that was interesting. Kind of a cross between tasting like a raisin, fig and a pear and looking like an amber color. It was okay but I think it would be better to share the small plate and only eat one of them. They were kind of heavy although not in a greasy "state fair" sort of way.

I also ordered a smoked queso fundito - which really was a combination of smokey cheese with blue cheese and poblano peppers. Alongside came plantains (where were really good), and some roasted veggies and some little triangles of flatbread.) It was tasty but again, probably better shared with a few more people.

This restaurant also has an entire pop! menu. Just a rather long listing of various bottle soda that they offer. I went with a Peach Nehi. I haven't had Nehi since junior high. It was tasty.

They also offer an interesting range of beer and wine. If I liked beer (which I don't really) I have one that I would try just for their name alone.... cynic ale - hailing from the surly brewing company in Brooklyn Center, MN (Which by the way by a note specifically to my cousin Arnie is available at Durty Nellie's - does that place still exist??? in Palatine or Duke O'brien's in Crystal Lake). They also carried Sprechter Spicy Ginger Ale which I've blogged about before.

For dessert I had to go with a Pop!! Tart. (Key lime) which I brought home for breakfast tomorrow.

The wait staff was friendly. They have an open kitchen which I always find entertaining. And on each table (which was a little strange) they have these Homedics personal massagers. Yep not quite sure what that has to do with Pop!! but it's a gimmick none the less. (Maybe it's like those little puzzle games they have on the tables at Cracker Barrel and it's supposed to keep the table occupied while they wait for the food to come?)

All in all, there are a few kinks that they will work out. The ambiance was decent. The food was tasty. The service was good. And best of all - the bill for all of that food was under $20. (Which for St. Paul is pretty decent, particularly for dinner.) A cheeseburger was about $8.00 / $9.00 and their entrees were about $12.00 or so.

*** / 5

I Blame the Gyros

There are some things that just don't need diversification. Yes, I'm talking about YOU, the OWNERS OF The Oriential Restaurant in Woodbury. Are YOU going to change your name now that you've expanded your menu to not only include Oriental food but Mediteranian and Greek and Indian food as well? Probably not. The billboard isn't big enough to be The oriental mediteranian greek indian restaurant. I must say I was highly disappointed. I knew I was in trouble when I approached the building and saw the poster announcing we now have gyros (pronounce year - ohs). What?

I wasn't adventurous enough to order them. I stuck with my typical sesame chicken (although the menu no longer had the lovely combination platter) Everything was over cooked and I heard the cook come out and ask what a wonton was. Also my glass was highly etched (something I know about thanks to my many tours of our r and d center tours in ecoville.)

Yes, I realize I like what I like and I'm sad when it changes. I obviously don't go to woodbury as much anymore now that I don't hang out at WLC as much however I just don't understand why they had to mess up a good thing. (okay so some people really didn't like this restaurant but I rather enjoyed their sesame chicken, their cashew chicken and something is different.)

I blame the gyros.

Tonight we had manditory work fun at Fogo de Chao in Minneapolis. We had some new members of the company we are acquiring and so off we went...

All that kept going through my head was that line from My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the Aunt goes "You don't eat no meat... you come to my house...we eat lamb."

Wow. That was a meat-extravaganza. And delicious...and a tad insane. and very nice eye candy as all the male waiters and churragauchos where extremely young latin or european males...tall good-looking and oddly carrying around big slabs of meat.

I know, I'm not doing that great a job of selling y'all on the food so let me start there...

You get there and they have these delicious cheesy rolls and pour you water from bottles, which seriously I understand the whole idea of charging more for bottled water but just give me regular old tap water thank you very much. Then we placed our drink orders and headed up to the salad buffet. It can't be classified as a bar. They had meats and fish and cheeses and a whole round of peccarino reggino, and the largest chilled asparagus I've ever seen, beets, and endive and artichokes and sundried tomatoes, regular tomatoes, about four or five things I didn't have a clue what they were...and then you round the next side of this bar and there are marinated mushrooms and olives and this to-die-for apple salad, and then you round the next corner and there is the typical salad fare and bread.

So you troop back with what you hope isn't a heaping plate and the waiter stops by the table to explain how dinner works and warns you to save room for the second course...and boy he wasn't kidding.

So the idea behind this place for those of you who have never eaten at one is you have these little red and green cards and these waiters with roving meat just look for green cards and stop and offer you meat. At one point I had one waiter on one side of me with chicken and these little sausages while the waiter on the other side was offering me a hunk of sirloin ...it was a tad overwhelming....but deliciously so.

I kind of lost track of the little hunks of meat and what they were but the ones I remember...

Garlic Sirloin - to die for butter soft...you can order it from them as you like it (medium, rare, well done) and the season mostly with salt but this had a garlicy crust that was so very good.

There were other types of beef...some of them a bit to grisly for my taste but the fillets were good and I had a small lamb chop that was tasty - with a hint of mint and near the end I think there was a parmesean pork tenderloin that was pretty good too...but boy...even though you are eating just these small morsels of meat...there's a lot of meat there...

They also serve these sides of mashed potatoes, polenta squares and fried bananas...all of which seemed like an afterthought...they probably could have just brought out more of their yeasty cheese rolls and called it done :)

Then of course we had to try dessert. Laisa - one of our new finance people is from Brazil so she recommended this papaya creme desert that was mixed with a creme de cassis...looked really good. I had flan...totally tasted like a roasted marshmellow and also very good...the others had a chocolate cake and turtle sundae and yep...not only am I stuffed, but I probably won't need to eat meat for a really long time

I think it would be a fun place to go with a few people...it was really loud and the concept was fun but I didn't think it was that great of a place for a group...although man that place was hoppin' for a thursday night...there didn't look to be an open table in the place when we got there and it stayed pretty steady through the night.

It was conveniently located in City Center...easy in-easy out parking.

A bit pricey at 41.50 per person not including drinks and dessert however when you think about going to mostly other steakhouses (besides outback) you typically have to pay for all the sides and you have to limit yourself to one style of meat instead of 20