shadowfax's Profile
Roasted Pear in BP?
Driving by Target HQ today I saw that Morgans has been replaced by Roasted Pear. Anyone been yet? Is this the same as the other Roasted Pear in town?
Visiting Minneapolis Memorial Day weekend, what to eat?
Travail in Robbinsdale. (north from Minneapolis on 81) Get there early. They open at 5. Get there at 4:30 unless you're ok with potentially waiting a LONG time for a seat. Get the 10 course tasting menu for 2 for 80 bucks. They're one of the brightest spots in the metro.
Oh, and re: Red Stag - every time I've been there it's been overpriced, inconsistent, and sometimes just plain lousy. The last time I was there, they served me a steak that my steak knife couldn't get through. Beef jerky. I sent it back, they offered to replace it with a better cut, not bothering to tell me that they would charge me for that replacement. That's right - they charged me for their screwup. The replacement at least was vulnerable to a knife, but very underwhelming flavor-wise, and had what tasted like about 2 tons of salt on it.
I won't be going back to the Stag, but if you want a restaurant in that area that IS good, try Gorkha Palace - very good Indian/Tibetan/Nepalese place. If you want more American-style stuff, Bulldog NE is on the same block as Gorkha and has good burgers and a large selection of interesting beers.
Maple Grove Area Relaxed Supper May 25th
3 Squares. Good food, pretty relaxed, and sometimes they're even inventive. The prices are reasonable too.
It's just north of the Arbor Lakes shopping center. Take 694 to Hemlock, go north, turn left on Elm Creek, turn right on Main street, go a few blocks, and it'll be on your right. If you pass a big amphitheater on your left, you've missed it.
Where's the beef?
I agree with you on the Lion's Tap. I don't get it. I can get about the same quality of burger they have at any ballpark. The only thing I can think of to explain it is that they had the best burgers in town back when Perkins was the best restaurant in town, and now people are nostalgic for them.
A few places I've been where I've enjoyed the burgers:
Bulldog NE -Pretty solid burgers, though the buns can sometimes be dry.
Barley Johns - off 35W at County Road C north of Minneapolis - Really good burgers, though again watch out for the buns on some of them. You want to order one that comes with a normal bun, not something fancified. Great fries to go with 'em, and they have their own in-house microbrewery with some really good beers.
McDonald's (I kid, I kid)
Morgan's in the Park - Zane and 610 in Brooklyn Park. The wild rice burger is very good.
3-squares in downtown Maple Grove.
Restaurant Week! [February 26 - March 2, 2012]
The most amusing one this time around is Stella's. Entrees are steak, fish stew, or salmon. You can get salmon just about anywhere. How about something that's more focused on, say, a fish cafe?
Restaurant Week! [February 26 - March 2, 2012]
They do wonderful things with beef and lamb there.
Grocery Delivery, Minneapolis or St. Paul?
Coborns does not allow its drivers to accept tips.
Grocery Delivery, Minneapolis or St. Paul?
Coborns is good. The quality is good, the meats are better than the average grocery meat, the veggies are always fresh (and rated as to how fresh they are), and if they're out of something, they automatically replace it with a free similar substitute. I use them as my main grocery now, only making trips to Lunds for oddball things that noone else carries.
What's the big deal with Red Stag?
I agree. For myself when considering places like what I experienced at Red Stag, if the food isn't at least consistently good, but I'm paying more for it than the tasting menu at Travail, it's pretty much a no brainer that I'd rather go to Travail. Not that I think they should be the bar of comparison for every other joint in town, but once you get into the >$50 for 2 not counting drinks territory, you should give me a reason to pay that much. I can get lousy food much cheaper at Perkins, after all.
What's the big deal with Red Stag?
Well, I'm kinda glad you guys had similar experiences. Makes me feel maybe I'm not crazy after all ;)
I'm kind of surprised that they're so busy all the time. With all the consistently good options, even just in their neighborhood, you'd think they'd be struggling by now.
What's the big deal with Red Stag?
Am I just unlucky? I hear a lot of good things about the place, but both times I've been there I've left unimpressed.
The first time was at RW last year. I remember the duck confit was excellent, but the scallops were terrible - overcooked and old - and the cake wasn't any better than the pre-made ones at Cub. I wrote that off, thinking maybe they were slammed, or their RW menu wasn't their normal menu. Turns out, the confit isn't on the normal menu, but the scallops are.
Last week we went for a second try. The cheese curds were really nice, but the New York strip was more like New York beef jerky (I literally could not get my knife through it), so they took it back and said they'd replace it with a tenderloin. This was much better on the tenderness side, but they emptied a salt mine on it before it got to the table.
Were I running a restaurant and served something that's obviously my fault (tough steak is easy to verify unlike "this just doesn't taste good") I'd at least take some money off of the bill or. . Something. . To make up for the awkwardness of one person having their food and the other not.
Instead, they charged me full price for the tenderloin, which I didn't want in the first place and only accepted because what I did want was leather, and which was more expensive than what I had ordered. I couldn't believe it. I actually got charged extra for a mistake.
Service was also lousy - no one refilled drinks until finally making a tepid offer to refill mine at the very end, while setting the bill down.
Some of their food has been pretty good, but at the prices they charge, ALL of it should be good, and if it's not, there should be some form of compensation. I don't see myself going back.
Scallops- best dishes now
Hands down the best scallops I've had here were at Travail.
Authentic, fresh or innovative Mexican food?
I've only been there once, so I certainly can't speak to whether or not this was a normal experience, but I enjoyed the flautas. One of the more authentic tastes I've found around here. But like I said, they could have been having an off day ;)
What's with the salt & pepper shakers and Sriracha at every table in MSP?
Chili water at Brasa? I've never seen that there, is it new? How odd - that's a Hawaiian thing.
Salt shakers are very important in restaurants that insist on putting a little napkin down under the drink glass. You sprinkle a little on there so that the napkin stays on the table.
Or better yet, order wine ;)
Bread Pudding Trend?
Famous Dave's has had bread pudding for a long time.
Hazel's NE has a good one. It's nice to have a dessert option that doesn't beat you over the head with sweet.
What's missing from MSP's culinary landscape?
In general, yes I think so. Provided the ingredients in whatever regional dish you want are available here in the same quality as they are in that region (for example, a peach cobbler in Georgia is going to taste different than a peach cobbler made here with peaches flown in from China even if the same guy who made the authentic cobbler in Georgia flies up here and makes it the same way in St Paul). Muffalettas use (high quality) cold cuts, cheese, and olive spread. Nothing that we couldn't do here if someone knew how to do it right.
And that's the problem with the cuisine that we're not only not doing well, but not doing at all - New Mexican. No one's making that stuff here. But then, in order to make it right, they'd have to know where to get the ingredients (chiles from Hatch and only from Hatch, etc) and how to properly combine them. Unless they lived in New Mexico, it's unlikely they'd realize that, and probably even unlikely that they'd realize there is a significant difference between Mexican and New Mexican food.
I don't need to be staring at the Sangre de Cristo mountains from a rooftop patio on an adobe building in the historic district of Santa Fe while eating carne adovada (though that would be very nice) to enjoy the flavors. But first I need a restaurant here with a chef who's even heard of the dish ;)
What's missing from MSP's culinary landscape?
Seafood suffers from a freshness issue when you have to transport it to the midwest. Muffalettas use cold cuts, sliced cheese, and olive relish. None of these ingredients have to be pulled out of the ocean 10 minutes before eating to guarantee freshness. The only reason we don't have a good muffaletta here is because no one makes a good muffaletta.
Global Kitchen
The Global Kitchen in Brooklyn Center, on Shingle Creek just across from the library, is an odd little place. Mexican / African cuisine, and that doesn't mean fusion. It means they have a Mexican chef and an African chef working out of the same kitchen, each making half of the menu.
We went for the African side to try something new, but that didn't stop them from bringing us chips and salsa to munch on while we waited (odd, I thought, when they already knew we were going for the African food). The salsa was fine - good bit of cilantro in it, and more heat than a lot of Mexican places around here, but being from the Southwest, I'd have been happier with even more.
The food was pretty good - my fish was well-cooked with a crispy skin and the "house gravy" poured over (it's not like American-style gravy). The whole, gutted fish was there, head, fins and all, which delighted me but might put off more conservative diners. Couscous and very nicely grilled plantains completed the dish. The chili sauce that accompanied the dish was Hot. Your entire mouth including your lips will burn if you dab just the tips of the tines of your fork into it and then take a bite of food. I loved it, but it will be very much too hot for some people, especially here in the Midwest, but it's served on the side in its own little dish, so it can be avoided.
It should be noted that, at least in our case, the dishes on the African side of the menu will easily feed two. I've got a lot of fish and couscous sitting in my fridge for tonight. The Mexican dishes, from what I saw glancing at other tables, are sized more for 1.
Service was somewhat awkward, and the dishes arrived in the wrong order (first her entree, then my entree, then a few minutes later the appetizer, in a Styrofoam take-home container). The waiter, who was very friendly but seemed to be quite new, failed to give me a choice between the fish and the chicken for my dish, and the menu only said it was couscous and plantains, with no mention of any meat, so I was surprised when it arrived and I saw a fish looking up at me. Fortunately, I'd have gone with the fish anyway given a choice. For this visit, I'm chalking these stumbles off to growing pains - the place has only been open since late August, but the service and the awkward sending of dishes (my companion felt uncomfortable digging in to her dish while I waited for about 10 more minutes for mine) leads to the 3-star rating.
That said, it'll be worth trying again, though I'll give them a few months to get their feet under them before I do.
Oberweiss eggnog
I've checked there and also Target, which also has it according to the website. I must be showing up too long after they restock.
Oberweiss eggnog
My SO wants this stuff. It's the only non-alcoholic eggnog that tastes good rather than just sweet. Trouble is, I can't find it anywhere, even in the places that had a lot of it last year. Anyone seen it somewhere this year?
Best Croissant?
They do pretty well on croissants at Chez Arnaud. 2 locations, Plymouth and White Bear Lake.
Surdyk's Liquor infuriates Surly Nation!!!
Do we know for certain how much profit Surdyk's was making on this? Remember that, unlike sales at the Surly brewery itself, sales from retail stores involve the beer passing through the hands of the MN Beer Wholesaler's Association's distributors, who tack on additional money so that they, too, can make a profit off of it. Even beer sold at-cost by a retail store is going to be more expensive than beer sold directly at the brewery, unless the brewery itself is jacking prices on brewery sales.
Holiday Party Ideas
Allow us to clarify something. When you say $15/guest, do you mean to include food, drink, and activity, or do you mean $15 to get in, and then you pay for food and drink separately?
Travail
I do wish they hadn't gone to dinner-only. I work in the general area and wish they were still an option for lunch.
Travail
The wait is why I don't go unless I can be there at (by which I mean slightly before) 5. Then the wait, if any, isn't any more than any other restaurant. If you get there any time after 5, there's a wait. I agree about the frustration, but in considering the alternatives, I'd rather wait - if they start taking reservations, they'll quickly find themselves in trouble because eating there is more of an experience than just shoving food down your gullet, which means some people are going to spend an hour, and some are going to be there for 2 or 3. Especially since it's hard to predict whether someone is going to just grab a burger or go for the tasting menu.
The other option would be to expand, which would then require greater output from the kitchen, which would mean that either they have to cut corners, or hire more chefs and hope those chefs share the vision of the founding chefs. Alternately they could hire actual waiters (your waiter was your chef), but I think the interaction with the chef is a good thing, and would hate to see them replaced by waitstaff who are more excited about tips than the food (and the price of the food would increase significantly since they would now have to pay a bunch of waiters)
Where are y'all going for Restaurant Week?
I think if they're freezing lasagna, the RW rush is not the problem. It's that they serve frozen food. That's fine for chains like Applebees, but if you want to make it as a real restaurant rather than gussied-up fast food, you don't freeze stuff.
Certainly not vegetable stuff.
Where are y'all going for Restaurant Week?
Yeah, I was thinking I might hit Fogo as well. Haven't had an induced meat-coma in quite awhile now ;)
Good to know about Bradstreet.
I know RW isn't much of a discount, but any discount is better than nothin'.
Baby and toddler friendly, St. Paul & Minneapolis
I thought all the Fuddruckers closed. Could have sworn I read that they went bust. Did I miss something?
Take the kid to Texas Roadhouse. They actually do a pretty decent steak (better, frankly, than Pittsburgh Blue by far, and less than half the cost), it's cheap, and the kids will love the cinnamon butter on the rolls. It's loud and kid friendly, and even if your kid starts squalling he won't annoy many people.
You can also do call-ahead seating, so you don't have to plan in advance. And there are peanuts to shell and eat to keep the kid entertained while you wait.
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Texas Roadhouse
2780 Main St NW, Minneapolis, MN 55448
Pittsburgh Blue
11900 Main Street North, Maple Grove, MN 55369
Where are y'all going for Restaurant Week?
I was pleased to see a Japanese place pop up, but not so jazzed about the menu (don't give me American cakes for dessert - give me a Japanese dessert!).
Bradstreet Crafthouse? Are they any good? The menu sounds interesting, but I don't know how they serve that for only $15 and still manage to pay the staff.
What's on your list?
