ssioff's Profile
Base Camp: The Don (St. Pete Beach)
Miss E, I am not a local, but spent a week there in March. The link is to the places I ate at. Enjoy your time. Oh and +1 on the Floridian for a cuban, I forgot to put that one in my post.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/838921
Downtown St. Paul Skyway for Lunch?
http://www.senorwong.com/
In the skyway and they have a pretty good happy hour too.
Not in the skyway:
http://www.greatwatersbc.com/
http://blacksheeppizza.com/
http://www.thebulldoglowertown.com/
seeking recs for in and around Treasure Island, Florida
Oh and +1 for the Floridian.
seeking recs for in and around Treasure Island, Florida
Yes, that is wrong, but I've had a saki bloody mary that was surprisingly tasty.
Good lunch place in St. Pete Beach Drive area
Here was my weeks worth of eating there. The nicest place and best food was Snapper's IMHO.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/838921
Woody's - water view
Sea Hags and Billy's marina views
Where to get Pineapple Bratwurst in the cities?
RJ's Meats in Hudson, but there is more than just pineapple in there.
http://www.rjmeats.com/browse.cfm/hawiian-bratwurst/4,29.html
Catered Crepes for a Party?
You could check with Meritage. They have a crepe stand outside the restaurant Tues and Thurs weather permitting. Not sure if they would cater it out or not.
St. Pete Beach March 7-13
Woody's Waterfront
Great Ultimate Woody Burger. Cooked as requested with lots of burger flavor. Nicely caramelized onions, but canned mushrooms. Bun stayed together too.
Sea Hags Bar and Grill
Awesome grilled grouper sandwich. Average salad, but at least they used greens and not iceberg. Why oh why bother using unripened tomatoes. UGH. Fried shrimp were delicious and not greasy.
Skidders
Had the gyro omelet with feta. Better than I thought, but the eggs were over cooked. The tatziki sauce is out of this world with tons of grated cucumber, very thick, and better than the average tatziki. Would have loved to try some of their other greek items.
St. John's Pass(Pass) - Scully's
Spicy shrimp corn chowder better than the lobster bisque. Very fine pieces of lobster. Smoked fish spread fair, but too much mayo and stale pita chips. Why do they never give you enough chips/bread to eat all the dip? Buffalo grouper nuggets - awful. Drenched in Franks and overcooked. Coconut shrimp about the same as anywhere else.
Billy's Stone Crab
Had the prime rib special. Great piece of meat and rare as requested. Mashed potatoes home made still with a few chunks in them. Awesome bread. Great martini too.
Snappers Sea Grill
No liquor. Great red pepper hummus to start with pita strips, but perhaps a bit too much cumin. Had the stuffed gulf grouper. OMG. Shrimp and crabmeat stuffing is right, very little filler if at all. Champagne cream sauce very nice and appropriately rich. Outstanding potato puff pastry. Small potato probably precooked sliced in half with some sort of cheese in the middle and surrounded by puff pastry and baked. Creamy, crunchy, and very good. There was also a nicely cooked side of veg with orange and yellow carrots, green beans, snap peas, and red peppers and imagine this - appropriately seasoned. Best meal out by far.
1 1/2 pound stone crab claws from a local market. Drawn butter. Heaven. Oh and a key lime pie from Publix that was not half bad.
Please help, I've never made Jalapeno poppers and my son has requested them for the Super Bowl.
Here are some recipes. Also there is a handy dandy tool to take the seeds out. Bought one for my friend at our state fair last fall.
http://www.jalapenogriller.com/Recipes.php
Best Reuben you've had in the Twin Cities?
Cherokee Sirloin in West St. Paul. It is served open faced, but one of the better ones I've had.
Best Take-Out Pad Thai
They are only open until 6 during the winter. I think she said they go back to 7 in March or May, but I don't recall which.
Yes, they are still open for lunch.
Asian Deli at 388 Western - What a GEM
Wanted to give this thread a bump. Awesome place with great, fresh food. Stopped last night and got stuffed chicken wings and egg roll salad. Yummy as usual.
FYI - They are closing at 6:00 instead of 7:00 until the clocks spring forward again.
Cozumel Trip Report
I don't know what the issue was at La Mission, but the fish was very dry and way over cooked. Also the rice and veg was cold/cool and not the least bit warm. However, the one bite I had of the rib eye was great. La Casa Mission sounds much more up my alley - neighborhood, local places. You couldn't pay me to set foot in Senor Frogs, Margaritaville, etc...
On my way to the airport the taxi driver took 65 Ave N and I saw a million other places that I would try on my next visit. All mom/pop local places and a few with fairly long lines. Knowing the lay of the land always changes my next visit to a place signficantly.
Yep, not much conch in MSP-flattered that you bothered to investigate where I was from. I would assume Costal Seafood would carry it. Veggo, a bit off topic, but is conch like calimari or octopus in that it needs to either be cooked very quickly or for a very long time?
Cozumel Trip Report
This was my first time to Cozumel. I only had a car for one day, the day I drove around the island. Now that I have the lay of the land so to speak, I would definitely get a car for the week and explore the loncherias and places much farther off the beaten path.
Wish I had tried Casa Denis. As I said most of our meals were in the condo and we only ate one meal out a day - one breafast out, one lunch out, and five dinners.
La Mission by the plaza on our first night. I believe there was one cruise ship in that day, but we ate later in the evening and not many "cruisers" around.
Specifically went to Kelley's to watch the game.
I don't think my two experiences eating conch have contributed too much to conch depletion. That aside, I did enjoy it. I doubt that you can find conch where I live, even at the one and only high end fish market.
Thanks for the recs if I make it back there some day.
Cozumel Trip Report
I did not see much on Cozumel on this board before I left so I thought I'd do a short report on our eats there. We stayed in a condo so only ate out once a day or so. I found drinks to be much more expensive in Cozumel than the rest of Mexico and in general more expensive than what I pay at my local hangout. I'm not sure if this is because of the tourists or because it is an island or both. Our trio decided that in the future that we would stop in a restaurant, have a beer, use the restroom, and look at the menu before we decide if we want to eat there later. In no particular order...
La Mission - Two of us had grouper that was over cooked and dry with cold rice and vegetables. One had a rib eye that was very good, tender, and flavorful.
Kelley's Bar and Grill - Two of us split the daily special. Grouper with peppers, onions, shrimp, and cheese. It was very good and rich. I forget what the third had. Gucamole $6 - one smashed avacado with chips, that's it, no onions, cilantro, jalapeno, tomato, nothing - would not get that again. My guacamole is way better than that was.
Alberto's Beach Bar - Only two went to dinner and we had the seafood platter for two. OMG. Lobster, grouper, shrimp, and conch in garlic butter. I had never eaten conch before except in fritters. What a revelation. So sweet and tender. My new favorite seafood.
Casa Blanca - We ate there twice, dinner first then lunch. The first time it was awesome. Good food and great service. The fish tacos were good and queso con chorizo was a hit. Grouper was also good. Lunch, the food was not as good and neither was the service. Different cook, different waiter, who knows. The bathroom was AWFUL and didn't use it the first time we were there. Dirty, no soap, no paper,etc... If I had used the bathroom at dinner I would not have gone back for lunch.
Abuelo Gerardo - We ate breakfast there. Very good and cheap. The best part, the bathroom was spotless. If I had a few more days in Cozumel I would have gone back there for dinner.
Tako Rock - ROCKED! Four tacos loaded with goodies for $8. So much food I couldn't finish the last one. Would definitely go back there again.
Knife Sharpening
I haven't used this service for a while, but Byerly's used to do them for free and I was very pleased with the results. Not sure about Lund's. There was a limit of two knives I believe and you can pick them up after 48 hours. Worth a call ask for the meat department or you could stop there.
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Byerly's
1601 County Road C W, Saint Paul, MN 55113
Downtowner Woodfire Grill {Moved from Minneapolis-St. Paul Board]
I should have given my post a different headline.
I agree about the penny, they should get rid of it. The server indicated to me that part of the policy was so the wait staff did not have to deal with pennies when making change.
Still curious if anyone out there has had this experience at another establishment or if there are any servers/bartenders that work at an establishment that follows this practice.
Downtowner Woodfire Grill {Moved from Minneapolis-St. Paul Board]
I stopped at Downtowner Woodfire Grill last night for a quick cocktail and nibble.
The food: I have eaten here several times before. I love Moe's cajun breakfast and their pizza with apple, onion, and blue cheese. Last night I had the chicken, mushroom, and smoked moz pizza. The crust was adequately cooked and not soggy in the middle. There was a decent amount of chicken, mushrooms, and cheese. I did not really detect much smoked moz flavor though.
I very much enjoy the food and atmosphere there during non-event times.
The restaurant policy: My cocktail was $8.50 and nibble was $10.95 bringing the total to $20.28. My receipt showed a balance due of $20.30. When I questioned the server about the $.02 discrepancy she stated that the computer system is designed to round up or down to the nearest nickel and for the establishment it is a wash. The server seemed suprised and said that a patron had never brought it to their attention before. It was not so much the $.02 that mattered, it was the principal that bothered me. It made me think about how many of us do not really look at our bills, blindly paying them. So apparently, some patrons get the benefit and others pay for the benefit. Does the establishment make or lose money with this policy? Just my two cents. I wonder if this is common practice in the industry?
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Downtowner Woodfire Grill
253 West 7th Street, St. Paul, MN 55102
NY style pizza?
There is also a Pinos pizza in the skyway in downtown St. Paul and I beleive they are somehow related. Brothers that had a falling out or something like that.
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Pinos
2110 Eagle Creek Ln Ste 500, Saint Paul, MN 55129
best of TC: chicken chow mein, egg rolls, won ton soup, egg foo young
Off the top of my head House of Wong in Roseville(love their shrimp toast), Leo's in St. Paul for chow mein, Duc's in Maplewood/Woodbury for won ton soup.
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House of Wong
Roseville, MN, Roseville, MN
A delicious buffet -- oxymoron or possible?
From the UN website...
8. Dining Room
The Delegates' Dining Room at UN Headquarters is open for lunch Monday through Friday. A reservation is necessary and should be made as far in advance as possible, by calling (212) 963-7625. Business attire is required: jackets for men; jeans, shorts, sneakers and flip-flops are not permitted.
Hours: Monday to Friday – 11:30 am to 2:30 pm
Saigon Closed for Remodeling
Haven't been there or driven by lately. Did they ever reopen?
Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza: MSP
I hear you NugarifiK. First time I had a Punch pizza I wanted to take it back to the counter and ask them to cook it until it was done.
Black Sheep Coal Fired Pizza: MSP
Had a #5 for lunch yesterday. Good pizza and attentive service. I like that the pizza does not come soggy in the middle like it does at Punch.
Los Ocampo in the East Metro
Had lunch there on Friday. They were slammed. If they stay that busy at lunch they might want to think about hiring a day bartender. One of the waitresses worked the bar and the dining room. As a result, service was a bit slow. Food and drinks were great and I'll be back.
