dalewest's Profile
Minnesota Road Trip
The original Punch is the closest to me and I have eaten there before any of the "satellites" opened. I normally only hit the newer branches for lunch so I like the "express" type format I have been really impressed with the consistency from a quality point of view. The small chopped salad is my go-to for lunch and it has been very good at any location. I have also had the pizza's I find them as good as at the Highland store.
In general, I think they take very good care of their brand.
Big Green Egg alternatives?
Don't buy a BGE if you just want something to "grill" on . Its good for that, but where it shines is in long slow cooking like when you want to smoke a pork butt overnight. You could do this on the weber kettle but you need to sleep next to it and add charcoal every hour or two. Also, depending on use, I believe the BGE would outlive the weber.
Big Green Egg alternatives?
I have had a large BGE for about 10 years. I have been very happy with it quality wise. The only part that has required replacement was the fire grate where the goals sit. The original was ceramic. It was a replaced by a stainless steel plate. I am still using my original felt liner thought I know I should replace that My primary use for the BGE is for smoking (pork butts for pulled pork, brisket, ribs, etc.)
I have looked at alternatives online and the Bubba Keg/Broil King stainless steel unit seemed like a good alternative at a somewhat lower price. The insulated stainless seemed to get all the advantages of the ceramic with a lighter product and at a lower cost. That being said, all of these products are pretty limited by cooking area. If I wanted to cook quantity, i would probably look at a square electric heated smoker with wood chunks. Not sure how good the taste would be compared to the charcoal/wood chunk flavor from the BGE but with proper care on temperature, etc. who knows.
50th anniversary venue for my parents
If we assume your folks live in the Twin Towns, where do they live and what restaurants do they like? Are you looking for a restaurant alternative to a more old school picnic style get together or something more formal?
The Big Green Egg
I agree you don't "need" a controller for a BGE, but about 8 years I finally bought one. The BGE does keep its temp very well on its own but I still sleep better when I am smoking overnight knowing I have my IQue contoller attached.
I did some hot smoke salmon with it which turned out well. I think it is a nice tool for the lower temperature smoke (
Ngon Bistro Virgin
We always get the rabbit dumpling appetizer. Its a bit hard to cut into 4 pieces and its really tasty so you might want 2 orders.
Sadly, I have only been there only about a half dozen times, mostly for lunch. I can vouch for pork tenderloin bahn mi with sweet potato fries and the special pho. I have also had a dinner entree with sea scallops that was very good and generously portioned. Dang, I need to get there more often for supper. As of now, I have always had really good food and service at Ngon.
Minneapolis weekend
I live pretty close to the Craftsman and have been regular there (Once every month or two so since it opened.) Before that I enjoyed Chet's Taverna which was Micheal Phillips small resto before that in st paul. The restaurant got its real footing when Micheal took over as chef. (I don't recall exactly how long the original chef was involved.) Since Mike left it has not changed radically. Menu has been pretty similar and we have always enjoyed the service there. The chacuterie plate is still pretty darn good and at least most still made in house.
Rick Nelson gave a lot of love last weekend to Benjamin Jacoby, the current Craftsmen chef who started as a dish washer at Chet's and was 2nd in the kitchen with Mike at Craftsman. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/139379488.html
I am always happy to go there. The only thing I would like to see is more regular changes on the menu.
Victory 44
I have read about Victory 44 (and Travail) quite a bit but never dined at either. We live in South Minneapolis near the river so the north end of north Minneapolis is about as far away as we can get and still be in the city limits. But since we were in the neighborhood Friday night we decided to swing by and give it try.
It was about 8:30PM and the place was pretty full but their was a table for two available for us. Drink menus were distributed but for food we needed to read the chalk boards. We weren't close the boards and the lighting wasn't doing my aging eyes any favors so a trip to the board was required to read the menu.
Service was very good and we settled on the $28, 3 course menu. (Price wise if you buy an appetizer and Entree you might as well get the 3 course menu with a desert.)
My wife and I both really enjoyed the meal. I had the apple salad for the starter and she had the "Beet Textures". For the main I had a lovely hanger steak sliced thin and served over some very tasty lentils and she had the lamb terrine. The deserts were also excellent.
In general, I thought all dishes were beautiful and presented with a nice explanation of ingredients by the server, extremely tasty and satisfying.
That's as goods as gets, right?
duck confit
So, I rendered the back and wings (and some skin) in a dutch oven at about 225F for 6 hours or so. I used some water to try prevent any deep browning/burning. In addition to some extremely tasty shreds of duck meat which I quickly devoured this produced about a bout 1/2 cup or maybe a bit more of duck fat.
On Friday I salted the duck legs and put them uncovered in the bottom of the fridge to cure/kosher. This morning (Sunday) I rinsed them and vac packed them separately with about 3 TB of duck fat each and put them in a 175F water bath for about 10 hours. After that I quick chilled them in an ice bath and now they are back in the fridge.
I will try them out some time this week by crisping and reheating them in a saute. ( Or maybe tonight if I wake up hungry ;-) )
On question though. It is good to reuse duck fat? Not surprisingly it seems there's i more fat in the bags than before I cooked the legs. Can I reserve this duck fat for future confit or general cooking?
duck confit
Dear Hounds,
I purchased a small whole duck at my local coop 2 days ago. I was planning to cook the whole thing with a method I have used before that involves first steaming for a about 40 minutes to render fat and then then roasting to crisp the skin. However, I have been a bit busy the last couple of days so today I took the duck duck apart, removed the breasts and cooked them like steaks. They were delicious, but now I need ideas for the rest of the duck.
I have reserved all the parts. Could I render enough fat out of the backbone, and wings to cook the leg/thighs comfit?
Ideas? I have vacuum sealer and PID controller for sous vide cooking so suggestions using that would be welcome.
Thanks.
What should a home cook buy at a restaurant supply store?
I love my 1/2 sheet and 1/4 sheet pans from the restaurant store. They are very versatile, For example, I use a 1/4 sheet to isolate a raw chicken when I am seasoning it. Both are also great when you have a cutting board that fits inside so you can carve tableside with no worry about drippings.
The other items from the restaurant store are rectangular storage containers. I have a couple of the larger lexan ones (8 quarts?) with red lids and a couple of smaller ones. I use these for things like brining chickens. They fit into a fridge much better than a round container. I use one of the smaller ones for my flour container. It is perfectly sized to hold a small bag of flower.
Last but not least, serious oven mitts that nearly cover your elbows. They ain't pretty but they work darn well.
Wifey birthday dinner
I am not sure if "classically prepared meal" has special meaning for you, but in addition to the great suggestions of Vincents and Meritage, I would add Restaurant Alma in SE Minneapolis. Great food and service. If the weather is nice it is easy to take stroll on the stone arch bridge before or after dining.
My wife and I ate LBV in the old Stillwater location a couple of time and really liked it. We had dinner once at the new space by Minneapolis. The food was great. Service was great. However, we found the feel the main dining room to be a bit cold. It was a fairly quiet night in the summer so maybe that has something to do with it. I have seen some people recommend the lounge of LBV as being more cozy.
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Restaurant Alma
528 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Vincent A Restaurant
1100 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Meritage
410 Saint Peter St, Saint Paul, MN 55102
Homemade sausage with picnic shoulder?
Maybe :"perfect" is not the right word for 80/20 fat lean ratio for sausage. Maybe "minimum" would more accurate?
Homemade sausage with picnic shoulder?
The only issue would be your lean to fat ratio. Most agree the butt has a perfect 80/20 lean to fat ratio but the picnic end of the shoulder might run leaner. If it seems pretty lean you might want to add some fatback to your mix.
Lunch near University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN
Luci Ancora (right across from St. Kates) might be a little out of your lunch price range but worth considering if you really like a nice quiet atmosphere. (At least it was pretty darn peaceful last time I had lunch there).
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Luci Ancora
2060 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105
Range Hood vs OTR Microwave
I just ordered a 30" Zephyr Range hood today. I am not that worried about the uninsulated whole in the wall but at 680CFM it could sure suck all the warm air out of our house in a hurry. (It's about 0F in MN at the moment.)
Range Hood vs OTR Microwave
Dear Chowhounds,
I am in the process of the doing a kitchen update and am pondering the the trade-offs between the extra counter space an Over-the-range (OTR) microwave yield and the superior venting we would get from a dedicated range hood.
Until now, we have only had a recirculating/filtering vent hood. (For this update we will be doing the work to add external ducting.) Considering that, and assuming I don't do a lot of deep frying or other highly odoriferous cooking, would an OTR Microwave with a 300 or 400 CFM vent make me happy or should I go with dedicated hood??
From a budgetary point of view, I am considering lower end gas ranges with convection ovens. I would like to keep the range / hood or microwave combo under $2000 or so.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts. Any recs on specific brands models in my price range would be welcome too.
Dale
source for Tellicherry peppercorns
If you do Costco (store locations in SLP, EP, and Maple Grove) you should be able to find plenty of Tellicherry peppercorns for a reasonable price. The container won't be small but whole peppercorns keeps quite well.
Champagne, Martinis, and Fresh, Plump Oysters?
+1 for Meritage. Last time I was there they had a pretty decent happy hour special on the oysters (2 for $3). Its a beautiful spot as well.
Travail - Prepare us!
GG,
Good advise about self imposed ignorance. Our 15 year older perfectly enjoyed an appetizer of sweetbreads at Blackbird earlier this year. Later she found out what it was. Her facebook posting read "Had sweetbreads tonight. It was neither sweet nor bread."
Dale
Piccolo first visit / recommendations?
Brad,
I supposing eating the whole menu is one sure fire way to find out what's good on the current menu. Being only two our sample size was a bit smaller, we ordered eight different savory plates plus one desert and used the "plate swap" method to share.
Without going into detail, we thought about 2/3's of the dishes we had were excellent but the rest were only good. I expected the dishes to be small, however I was surprised at variation in sizes between the dishes. One dish, smoked potato agnolotti with pickled herring was extremely delicious but it was so small it almost hard to share. I would have loved to have 5 copies of that dish. Other dishes were much more substantial and better suited to sharing.
If I recall correctly, the waiter's recommendation was 3 to 4 plates per diner. I found 4 to fine for light meal. 3 would probably only satisfy the lightest eaters.
While I am glad we went, I don't think it will become a regular spot for us. For my money in that category of fine dining, I would prefer the food and ambiance of a place like Restaurant Alma over Picollo.
DaleW
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Restaurant Alma
528 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
Piccolo first visit / recommendations?
My wife and I are making our fist visit to Piccolo tomorrow (Friday) evening and I am looking for recommendations regarding the current menu. I searched the board but didn't see any recent reports so I am wondering if someone can give an update.
Thanks
DW
Best Pollo Asado in Twin Cities?
If you find yourself in South St Paul at lunch time try Pollo Campero on South Robert. Its fast food located right next to KFC but tasty none-the-less. I have been there twice and had the fried chiciken and the grilled chicken. I like the fried chicken better than KFC (it didn't have the heavy KFC batter) but I really liked the taste of the grilled chicken. I like the Campero beans too.
Brasa Rotisserie Rest/ East Hennepin Ave/ Minneapolis
I have eaten at Campero twice. The first time I had the fried chicken which was "nice" (most likely better than the neighboring KFC). The second time I had the "grilled" which I really enjoyed. I liked the marinade they used and would like to dupe that at home.
In either case, I found the campero beans to be pretty tasty.
state fair prices: shocking
I am just fresh off the experience and the prices where cheap but not too crazy either.
1) Cheese Curds (mouse trap place) $5.50. Our family heads to places like the Groveland Tap and have cheese curds every now and again. They probably cost the same or bit more.
2) Gyro from Holy Land. $9. This is basically a take out container with a pita across the bottom some tomato and lettuce on top followed by a lot ( yes a lot ) of gyro meat and some taziki sauce. My wife and I had this for lunch. At Mid town market I guess / believe the price for Gyro is $6 or so and I don't think they have nearly the quantity of meat in them.
3) Dairy. From the Dairy barn ordered 2 cones and one chocolate Sunday: Total : $10 and sizes were generous. I don't know about you, but last time I went the DQ , prices were pretty high and portions not so much.
Anyway, this is what we had at the fair today. Great weather so water fountain water was good for me.
Regards
D
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Groveland Tap
1834 Saint Clair Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55105
Where to get Corned Beef?
Cooked one of the costco corn beef briskets (a bit of 3#) in the pressure cooker yesterday for supper. Had left overs for lunch today today. It was quite tasty.
Best Pho?
I am not sure what you are missing at Pho 79 in terms of garnish. Sprouts, Basil, Lime and Jalapeno peppers are all there. I have maybe received some different colored peppers in the past which are pretty but probably don't effect taste much. What are you missing? If you want more basil or something you should let them know. They will probably bring it to you upon request.
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Pho 79 Restaurant
2233 Energy Park Dr Ste 800, Saint Paul, MN 55108
Best Pho?
My goto place for Pho is the Pho 79 which is located in a strip mall on Energy Park drive near 280 in St. Paul. Consistently very high quality with excellent broth in the pho. Other places which I like are Pho Tau Bay, Quangs and Saigon.
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Pho 79 Restaurant
2233 Energy Park Dr Ste 800, Saint Paul, MN 55108
Pho Tau Bay
2837 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55408
