kersie's Profile
Italian in Downtown Chicago
The menu at Piccolo Sogno looks just my speed food and stylewise but the reservation times for the weekend that I am there are awful (5:30 or 9). Is there a bar area a group of 2 could sit without a reasonable wait or some place that's comparable to it in style? I would love to have a lovely modern Italian meal.
My husband and I ate at Spiaggia on our trip to Chicago last year. It was a lovely meal, but as former New Yorkers who ate at a lot of New York's top restaurants we found it absurdly overpriced. I'm not sure Cafe Spiaggia offers a much better value.
Wise Acres is a great addition to Tangletown
We were there last night. The service until we sat down was very strange. We added our names ot the list and went over to the bar to grab a glass of wine to enjoy on the patio. The bar had completely cleared out, so I grabbed a stool to order my drink. The bartender informed me that stools were reserved for diners, and then took my drink from the side of the bar, where we were nearly bumped into by 3 servers. I get saving bar seats for diners, but not when they aren't using them right that second. Then, two tables opened up outside and were clean for probably about 15 minutes. The hostess, rather than seating us when they opened up, first seated the parties in front of us who were waiting for inside seats. Since their tables weren't ready, we couldn't be seated either. That clearly made no sense. Our server was fine and the food was fine but it wasn't overwhelming enough to make me go back and wait extra time simply because the hostess couldn't figure out how to manage a crowd. I'm sure we'll probably be back to try the custard/quick side with our toddler.
Scott Pampuch leaves Corner Table
Every time I have been to Corner Table Scott has been in the kitchen. I cannot for the life of me imagine how this place continues to operate at the level it has operated without him in the kitchen night in and night out.
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Corner Table
4257 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55409
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
He does and his ramp dishes hold a special place in my heart as he made a great ramp dish especially for me the night I went into labor with my daughter last April.
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
The Cheese Shop @ France 44 had ramps today. $15/lb. Not sure how that compares to the pricing elsewhere. Seemed like a lot of ramps but also a lot of $. I purchased some anyway as I was excited to see them back in season. Last year, France 44 and Clancy's both sold wonderful ramp pestos.
Date Night in Minnetonka?
My husband and I live in Edina and eat out in S. Minneapolis/Edina a lot. My parents live in Minnetonka (near Hopkins High School/Ridgedale) and are watching our daughter tonight so we can have a date night. Our last date night in the area was at BLVD. Honestly, it would have been fine for a drink but the food was subpar. Any suggestions? We'd rather stay out by my parents than head back toward our usual haunts but it seems like the area is completely devoid of any good food. We do Bacio, Redstone, Big Bowl, etc. pretty often with the family - looking for something new and different and searches do not seem to reveal anything exciting.
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Bacio
1571 Plymouth Road South, Minnetonka, MN 55305
Big Bowl
12649 Wayzata Blvd, Minnetonka, MN 55305
Which foundational cookbook would you give a beginning 23 YO cook?
Two different approaches to learning:
My husband learned to cook with a Chinese cookbook by LeAnn Chinn. Although his mom and younger siblings cooked, he never had. My husband's mom (who cooked) told him to pick a cookbook he was interested in and make some recipes. To him, it was more interesting to make something nobody in his family had ever made than to start with a basic cookbook. It took him HOURS to get a meal prepared the first time, but our favorite soup is the soup that he cooked the first day he learned to cook.
RAKU japanese restaurant/ 50th street/ downtown edina
I thought my non-sushi entree was okay but every overpriced. The service was brusque, and the waitress didn't bother to tell me they were out of the app I ordered until everybody else's meal showed up.
Awesome Fried Chicken MSP?
It's a little bit more upscale than traditional fried chicken, but Corner Table was serving a fantastic fried chicken the last time I was in there.
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Corner Table
4257 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55409
Birthday dinner recommendations - Orange County
They said they'd have no trouble accommodating us but apparently certain tables there are better for accommodating a car seat. Looking forward to it!
Birthday dinner recommendations - Orange County
Would it be inappropriate to bring a baby for an early reservation at Tabu Grill? My husband and I will be in town this weekend and this sounds like our sort of restaurant. We have an 8 week old - still young enough to sleep through most meals and pretty much a non-cryer by baby standards. We are staying at the St. Regis but it looks like Stonehill Tavern might be a little bit too formal for us. We lived in NYC for many years before relocating to Minnesota and Blue Hill at Stone Barns was one of our favorites. (For some reason, we never liked the Blue Hill in the Village as much. Our other favorite was also outside of the city -- North Fork Table with a similar emphasis on seasonal, local cuisine.)
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Stonehill Tavern
St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, CA 92629
Tabu Grill
2892 S Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
Looks like ramps are available but with limited availability. The Wedge's website says theirs are in, but my husband was unable to find any when he was there Sunday morning. We were at Craftsman yesterday afternoon having drinks and smelled the heavenly smell of ramps coming from the table next to us -- they are using them in their gnocchi and our waitress told us they will probably have them in specials for the next month or so.
Best Scones in the Twin Cities Metro
They are amazing. We also recently discovered that they sell them frozen, which are the perfect treat on Sunday morning when they are closed.
Trattoria Tosca [MSP] - lovely meal
Tosca has been one of our favorite restaurants since it opened. I am seriously disappointed that we missed the opportunity to go there before Adam left. Has anybody been since?
Best challah (kosher or not) in the area?
It Takes the Cake in Minnetonka has amazing challah.
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
Looks like we are done for the season. Our supplier from Mill City Market told us it got too hot and too windy. I guessed when it hit the 90s last week we had to be close to the end. Fortunately, we made some ramp butter with ours and had it today on some sourdough, plus I got to have some of the pickled ramps at Tosca again this weekend.
St. Croix River Dining Options With River Access (MSP)
We will be doing some boating this summer on the St. Croix River. When we boat, we often like to stop for lunch at places along the way. I have favorites on Lake Minnetonka (and am familiar with all of the places that aren't favorites as well), but know nothing about places along the river. We'll be leaving from Stillwater so we are particularly curious about places that are a little bit of a boat ride from Stillwater (North or South or even across the border into Wisconsin). I know the options might not be up to the usual "chow" standards, but we need to eat -- even if it's just a decent burger or a place with awful food but a great setting.
MSP Rotisseria Chicken-Man to resurface in Deephaven
The Cottagewood General Store is seasonal and I think it opened yesterday based on their website. (It's a very cute place and I hope that the chicken helps keep it running as my understanding is that it hasn't been open continuously.) It is run by the community and typically has fairly limited hours. But it wasn't clear to me from the article that the chicken would be available at Cottagewood on its opening day.
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
They had some beautiful looking ramps at the Wedge yesterday. I am fairly certain they were from Harmony Valley farms. I used a bunch to make our favorite risotto recipe with them and they were a little light on the distinctive rampy flavor (it may be too early in the season) but still delicious.
East St. Paul Drinks
As perfect as that suggestion was for our group, our event is on a Monday. Not surprisingly, Strip Club is not open on Mondays. Any further suggestions?
East St. Paul Drinks
Thanks -- that's perfect. Given my limited geography knowledge of St. Paul, I had no idea Strip Club was in East St. Paul.
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
Thanks for the suggestions. I went to the Wedge on Saturday with the hopes that they'd have some spring stuff out only to be reminded that it is just too early. (After living in New York for 7 years, I am used to some of the earlier spring stuff being out by now.) So I will keep looking!
I have never been as into fiddlehead ferns as ramps, although my husband loves them. They're also a little more fussy to cook because they taste a lot better if they are blanched before being sauteed. But I am excited about having more morel options!
I think I also noticed a ramp dish at Heidi's last week, but I may be wrong.
East St. Paul Drinks
I'm looking for a place in East St. Paul for drinks after a corporate event at Vertical Endeavors. Would rather not go downtown or cross to the other side as traffic might be bad at that time of day, but also need some place where a group of 10-15 lawyers can grap a drink and some light food. I had considered some of the Mexican restaurants in the area, but it's not clear whether any of them serve alcohol. Any thoughts?
Best places to eat and buy ramps (MSP)
We had a great meal at Trattoria Tosca last night that was ramp-filled. I know we are a little early fo ramp season here (theirs came from West Virginia), but once we are into the full of it in a couple of weeks, where are the best places to buy ramps (for home use) and what are te best restaurants to eat them at? I'm almost ready to join the Harmony Valley Farms CSA just for the ramps, but that seems a little bit excessive.
Pls. advise: Heartland, Craftsman, or Levain - MSP
I have not been to Levain, but between Craftsman and Heartland, the easy winner for me is Craftsman, especially given the reservation issue. I took a group of 6 to each restaurant and I would say that all of us enjoyed our food more at Craftsman, from the more adventurous eaters among us to the more picky eaters among us.
Been to Easy Street (Park City) since it "reopened"?
Has anybody been to Easy Street since it reopened? It used to be one of our favorites in PC, but it was closed when we were last there in 2007 for the construction of condos. The bar in particular was really good, although it looks like the bar dinner menu is now the same as the regular dinner menu. I'm thinking of taking a group of 6 there next week, unless it's no longer up to snuff.
(We'll also be going to Chimayo and Fireside Dining for the entertainment factor!)
Nonalcoholic Drinks [Minneapolis]
It won't help for your downtown outing, but I would highly recommend that the two of you try out Cafe Maud sometime for the nonalcoholic drinks. The list is AMAZINGLY thorough and creative and every time I'm there I think it would be a great place to take a pregnant woman.
Has anyone ever eaten at the bar at Babbo?
We've eaten there a couple of times. One time we showed up early on Sunday (they open earlier on Sunday) and the other time right when they opened on a weekday. I've never tried later -- on some days you could be out of luck as they can get super busy. It probably also depends how many you are.
[MSP] Dieting (gasp!) deliciously in the Twin Cities?
Having tried Macy's basement, D. Brian's and the Skyroom, I think none of them get close to what bullygirl is talking about. As somebody who has also just moved from New York, I'm thinking I'm going to have to start frequenting Cosi to get these salads -- and I'd pretty much given up Cosi in New York! I haven't found many healthy skyway options, but it's only been a month. Will have to try Salad Creations, but it's a bit far for everyday for me over at 6th & 2nd Ave (as is Cosi, really).
Mia Dona
Has anybody seen any information on a reservations line yet (or when they plan to open)? I'm hoping to take a group for lunch at the end of next month.
