GutGrease's Profile
Where to get Pineapple Bratwurst in the cities?
Funny, I was just rolling past Grundhofer's on Hwy 61 in Hugo on Saturday when I saw that they were having a brat sale. I stopped in and bought packages of bbq bacon brats, garlic & onion brats, sauerkraut brats, and pineapple brats. It looked like they had 40-50 different varieties of brats including their notable gummy bear brats
Mexican Breakfast in Mpls
Not seeing a ton of replies, I'm going to suggest the Andale Taqueria Y Mercado for breakfast. However, against the OP's request, this joint is located on the Richfield/Bloomington border so feel free to disregard this post.
Puerto Rican Food in Twin Cities or anywhere in the State
Not to disparage discus's report, but I think one bad internet review is not enough to deter me from trying a restaurant TDQ. I know that my tastes often differ from those on these forums so it's probably still worth your effort to make the trip!
Scott Ja-mamas
Barbequing is an ancient way of cooking meat out in the open, by multiple methods including smoking, cooking over open flame, and roasting. Purist just means that you latched onto an American concept of BBQ that has nothing to do with origin of the concept.
If Scott JaMama uses a heat gun to make his ribs and they taste awesome, I'll go there. I don't think that we should discourage people from trying foods because of the method uses. BBQ is a very broad term and includes grilling, no matter what the Kansas City BBQ folks like to think.
Scott Ja-mamas
I'd be interested to know about which place you are referring to that's further down Nicollet than Scott's. I was not aware of such a place. Let us know the name if you can remember it.
Scott Ja-mamas
I can't speak to Scott Ja-Mamas from personal experience as I never ventured in there. But I've asked a lot of people and heard either love or hate for the place. It almost seems as if you need to go in there on the right day; akin to spinning the wheel of fish (bad UHF reference).
As for the smoke ring deal, if they don't smoke their ribs then it won't have a smoke ring. Not picking on you Latinpig, but there are many ways to cook ribs and smoking them is only one of them - albeit popularized by tv shows. Lots of great places like Rendezvous in Memphis don't smoke....in fact they high speed cook them high above an open flame. So whether there is a smoke ring or not shouldn't directly relate to whether ribs will taste good. It's only a show of how far the smoke penetrated into the meat IF SMOKED. Just my two cents on the smoke ring deal. I've smoked, grilled, and baked ribs in the oven and can make them taste good any of those ways, with or without smoke rings!
I appreciate getting another review of a local bbq joint.
Best Hero/Sub Sandwiches in MSP (Not Counting Subway and other chains)
Huh, I didn't know that Jersey Mike's had moved to Minnesota. I used to frequent that place A LOT when I worked in Memphis. It was the healthiest lunch spot you could find in a town known for ribs, backyard burgers, and deep-fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches! I'll have to try the St. Anthony location soon. Looks like it's by Hannay's Marine
A Case for Q Fanatic
Smoke rings? Honestly. I don't want to get into a whole BBQ debate here but for 99% of restaurant-goers, the #1 issue is how does the food taste and not whether or not someone detected smoked rings. BBQ purists are who they are, but I'd bet that most people wouldn't care if the ribs/brisket came out of an easy-baked oven as long as it tastes good...and the Q meat tastes good IMO.
A Case for Q Fanatic
I've got a smoker, a charcoal, and a gas grill and have my rib process nailed down. That doesn't mean that I can't / shouldn't sample what other people do!
I appreciate the notice on the Kitchen Window. I haven't been there in a LONG time but might have to check out a few of their offerings. Do you know any more about what weekend this will happen?
EDIT - I just went to their website and saw that it's Saturday and Sunday of this weekend, the 14th and 15th.
A Case for Q Fanatic
I finally went this weekend. We went early on Saturday because our friends were convinced that because of recent Food Network attention to Q Fanatic, it would be hard to get a seat. We arrived at 5pm but had no trouble getting a seat. By 5:30pm the ordering line was out the door and the owner shouted out that food orders would take about 1 hour. Most of the line left. We walked up and each couple ordered the 2-person Q Value Slow Smoked Sampler. The sampler includes 1/3 pound of beef brisket, 1/3 pound of pulled smoked chicken, and 1/3 pound of pulled pork along with a choice of two sides and four rolls for $18. A good value in my book. We added a half rack of dry baby backs because I wanted to know how the ribs tasted. Our companions ordered the sampler but added a half rack of the wet spare ribs.
First of all, the food came after about 30-40 minutes. Overall we were all very impressed with the meats, and that's what it's all about. Everyone raved about the dry baby backs that we ordered. I liked it and the rub was good, not too overpowering. The wet spare ribs were good but were truly wet, meaning that it looked like they slathered them with sauce post-cooking versus grilling on the sauce. Just a point of clarification.
For sides, we were all impressed with the mashed potatoes and the potatoes gratinee. The corn fritters were okay. We all liked that they had corn bits inside, but it was basically a fried piece of dough without any flavor of its own. Dunking it in sauce helped. I was looking for my staple bbq companion of corn bread, and was as close as we could get. I personally wanted more corn meal in the fritter or just a fried cornmeal fritter. The rolls were decent and tasted like they were basted with butter and garlic. I ate two or three of them but most of the others concentrated on the meats.
I've been to Ted Cook's, Paston Hamilton's, and most of the bigger bbq restaurants in town. I think that Q Fanatic did the meats (overall) the best but lacked a little bit with the sides. It was well worth the wait for food and I'd wait the full hour next time. The only thing that wasn't cool was the 2-beer CAP. They won't serve you more than that so while waiting for food, I had to switch to soda. I don't mind their motto which is "we'd rather lose your business than our own" but with long food waits, they should figure out a better way to deal with apparent "rowdiness" than to cut us all off like children! On an environmental note, I also think that they should recycle their cans and bottles. However, any of these down sides are overshadowed by the awesome meats coming out of that place. Hopefully their expansion doesn't kill the golden goose - unless they smoke it!
Bachelorette Party in Minneapolis!
It's been a decade since I spent any time at the downtown bars. However, if you're not "into the bar scene" then you might stay away from 1st Avenue. I'm sure that there are some great bars there, but I'm assuming they are still dance clubs and meat markets. There are some great bars more along Nicollet Avenue (The Local, Britts) and a bunch of others that might be more fun than a hiphop dance party.
Don't forget that there are about 15 bars at MOA, so you could kick things off with dinner, a few drinks pub crawling along, a bachelorette ride on the roller coaster, and then off to downtown!
Dining Help-Staying at The Depot Renaissance
A couple of guys? I'd walk across the bridge and go to Nye's. Good polish food - not great but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. There is polka dancing to a live band, live karaoke at the piano bar, and of course two bars. If it's a nice night, you can also stumble down St. Anthony Main to the bars and sit out on a deck looking across the river to Mpls. The walk back across the river to your hotel would be perfect for walking off dinner/drinks.
Where to get Pineapple Bratwurst in the cities?
That sounds like something the Wedge would offer....pineapple with chicken sausage
Aida - A Taste Of The Mediterranean (Richfield)
I finally made it back to try the Kofta Kabob. I noticed that they've modified the menu a bit. It's different than the old menu, which is still on their website. However, the kofta kabob lived up to my expectations. I ordered it with the fiery red sauce and was delighted. It was spicy and tasted good all at the same time. Now I'll have to branch out and try more menu items.
Aida - A Taste Of The Mediterranean (Richfield)
Interesting about the Groupon. I'm not into those fancy web-savings deals so I never would have known.
As for the service, the article that I read did say that this was the owner's first ever restaurant. I expect that they will have a much longer learning curve than most restaurants. However, if the food remains good across the menu board, I won't mind if they make mistakes and bring me the wrong meal.
Aida - A Taste Of The Mediterranean (Richfield)
I tried going to the new Mediterranean restaurant in Richfield on Saturday. It would have been my second trip and was excited to take family who was in town. We showed up around 12:30pm and the place was packed. We decided to take a little sight-seeing drive and came back around 1pm to find the place even more packed. I'm excited that these folks are getting good business. It just means that I'll have to start going at off-peak times!
There was also a good story about the restaurant in the local paper. The owner's husband is Egyptian and they've hired two Egyptian chefs who create all of the food there. It was a good article and made me want to go back even more!
If the mods of this forum want to combine with the other Aida thread - great. But the old thread had the restaurant name spelled incorrectly in the thread title.
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Aida
2208 W 66th St, Richfield, MN 55423
Moving to Minneapolis
It might be worth noting that many restaurants here serve walleye since it is the official state fish. So to balance out TDQ's post, she is right that you'd have to ship in expensive fish from the oceans at most seafood restaurants but then again, this is the Land of 10,000 Lakes so there are lots of good, local, lake fish to eat.
Aida Mediterranean in Richfield
We went there yesterday (Sun) for lunch. I'll give my recap below but to sum it all up, it was good:
As noted, this is an old Taco Bell but they've done a good job of hiding that fact. They have three big HDTV screens mounted on the wall with the menu, but were handing out laminated menus to people when they walked in....not sure if that meant that the electronic menus were wrong or not. The cooks make and assemble everything within view, so it's fun to watch the process.
There were already 3-4 other lunch parties in Alda when we arrived. The make ordering relatively easy. I think that they called it a 3 step process. Choose what you want: sandwich, platter, or salad. Then choose one meat, three toppings, and one sauce. I kind of liked that approach. We both ordered sandwiches of which you can choose pita or naan. They have a good assortment of meats to choose from. We both wanted the kafta kabob (seasoned ground lamb) but were told by the owner that he makes it fresh and so it would be a 20min wait. We both ordered gyro meat (sliced lamb) instead. Then you get to choose toppings. I went for hummus, feta cheese, and onions. As for sauces, I chose the jalapeno sauce. We made one of the orders a combo in order to get their Red Sea french fries and got everything to go.
We probably waited 10 minutes and then got our food. We both enjoyed our sandwiches quite a bit and the seasoned fries were great. Everything was on the heavy end of saltiness - which we don't mind - but it's worth noting. They did (I believe) use pita bread for both of our sandwiches instead of the naan as requested. They also forgot to charge us! I realized this after finishing at home but went back and paid. A new business has enough to worry about. They also seemed to be having problems with their credit card machine, so I just ended up paying with cash.
Overall I'll give the food a 7 out of 10. The seating area is pleasant and I wouldn't mind staying on the premises to eat next time. The service was a bit disjointed, but seeing that she just opened on Friday and this is mom & pop, I'm willing to give a lot of leeway until they get up and running.
In conclusion, I'll be back and definitely want to wait around for the kafta kabob and try some other topping/sauce combinations.
Aida Mediterranean in Richfield
Funny that I never noticed the Taco Bell. I must have subconsciously blocked it out of my memory. I assume that this is across from the liquor store or Lariat Lanes? I'm going tomorrow.
Great steak for a decent price
I drive past Lindey's all of the time and have heard great things from my carnivore friends. However, my wife went there last month for a birthday party and loved their steak. That's rare. She's only said that once before, and that was eating Murray's butterknife steak.
The back history on Mrs. Gutgrease, is that she was a vegan before meeting me but was just getting back into meat eating. Third date we were at a friend's cabin. They served prime rib, bloody. Grossed out Mrs. Gutgrease. It took three years for her to try another steak. She's only liked the butterknife at Murray's since then. Then all of a sudden she's forced to eat the one at Lindey's. She loved it and even brought home the leftovers.
Maybe all of that helps, if Linnea isn't a all-the-time vegetarian!
Do you do the pan flip?
I flipped my potatoes/onion/garlic last night and then my fried eggs this morning. However, 2/3rds of the time I flip my contents with a spatula. I mostly flip just to avoid having to clean a spatula - so I'm a lazy flipper. Often times the trick is knowing what you can and can't flip and when - such as lots of grease, something that is yet too runny, etc...
Butcher Block Rec
I can't read all of this without thinking of the waiter in The Blues Brothers saying to Elwood, "...Wrong glass sir!"
Dinkytown Recs
If you don't want to break the bank, go to Vescio's. It's right in the heart of Dinkytown, is an old Italian joint, and serves good food that is above burgers and fries. It's not a fancy place but more of an old-time joint that you'd likely find up north than in the heart of the UofM.
Looking for a Burger / Beer joint -NOT chain. (north)
Unless you try to order a beer...they'll likely be out of it, and your next choice, and your next choice, and your next choice, and your .........
...but good food
Do you love Banana Bread? What's your favorite banana bread?
Banana cakes and banana breads are sort of my baking specialties. When I head up north, I usually prep banana bread ingredients so that I can use the oven to help warm up the cabin!
As for some of my tricks, I only use once-frozen bananas. I let them thaw in a ziplock so they are black as night once they reach room temperature. After the bananas ooze out of their skins, I squeegee the skins with my fingers to squeeze out every last bit of nasty banana juice. That banana juice is like breastmilk to a baby, it's pure gold.
When I combine the dry ingredients in with the butter/sugar/egg/banana mix, I hold off on the milk until I've mixed things a bit. Then I start adding milk until the batter has the consistency of a thick tomato soup. This is generally more milk than most would use. However, I extend out the baking time and lower the oven temperature so that it cooks through to the center. The bread always comes out a little wobbly but after only 10-15 minutes of cooling, the center is solid and it is a dense and moist masterpiece.
That's how I like it and nobody has turned up their nose to it yet.
Other tips/ideas?
Best Reuben you've had in the Twin Cities?
I finally stopped in at Mac's yesterday. It's been a while. I had their lunch reuben, which is a half sandwich plus one side. The reuben was tasty, and as advertised, surprisingly not greasy. I was impressed.
Can I really bake dinner in a toaster oven?
Like others, I use my toaster oven all the time. At my wife's request, I just retired the one that I bought in 1995 - but only because it was hopelessly dirty. I have an originally Montgomery Ward double oven in my kitchen, which undoubtedly isn't very energy efficient. However, since it is electric I figure that I match the meal with the oven size. If the meal fits in the toaster oven, I use that. If it fits in the side oven, I use that. If it's big enough to require the main oven then I'll use that.
Also, I find that the toaster oven does a much better job of reheating meals as it doesn't dry out meals (especially meats) like a microwave does, even if you use the glass-of-water trick in the micro.
What Is All-Purpose Flour Good For?
I'm firmly in the mindset of "it's not the instrument, it's the musician." I use all-purpose flour for just about everything. Nobody has ever spit out any of my creations and then questioned whether or not I used the correct flour. I get that there are advantages to it all, but don't personally think that it matters enough for me to have three, four, or five different flour jars.
Eggs and Garlic
I know that this is a four year old thread, but worth reviving. I just made garlic eggs this morning, one of my favorites....although with full disclosure I love garlic.
I used a garlic-infused olive oil to saute half a clove of minced garlic. I only sauteed for about 15 seconds before cracking two eggs over the top. I cooked the eggs normally, then added the rest of the minced garlic before flipping the eggs over for 15 seconds.
For me, this all started from my grandma's baked eggs. She puts a half stick of butter in a 9x13 glass dish, followed by onion, assorted peppers, and minced garlic. Then she breaks eggs into the dish and bakes it all at 350 until the yolks are slightly firm, slightly runny.
