katebauer's Recent Activity
Chowhound Post
(MSP) Northeast Social Club
I went to NE Social last night with two friends and while the space is wonderful, and the waitstaff friendly, the food disappointed. Specifically I found what MNLawGirl mentioned - I asked for my burger medium rare and it came back at least medium well, not a bit of pink in sight, which also made it very dry. I meant to mention it to the waitress, just so she was aware of the situation, but between serving the entrees and getting the check she didn't stop by our table. I will say the shoestring cut fries were incredibly good.
Besides that most obvious disappointment, the other dishes we got were just okay. The pate appetizer was fairly bland, and friends' risotto special was nothing great. I also found the on top beer choices pretty limited and uninteresting.
Chowhound Post
Bun Mi - Stadium Village [MSP]
I went to Bun Mi last Monday for lunch and got the fresh spring rolls and the Bun Mi special sandwich. Overall both were okay, but I much prefer Jasmine Orchid's version of both. The spring rolls were pretty typical, but the dipping sauce was way too thin so you ended up with hardly any flavor on your spring rolls. The sandwich had a nice assortment of fillings, the pate was especially exciting, but I agree with Laura that the mayo flavor was overwhelming. I also thought the veggies were too bland and a much stronger pickled flavor would have contrasted with the meat and mayo much better.
I waited probably 5 minutes for my sandwich, which is equivalent to the time I've waited at Jasmine Orchid for a custom made to go sandwich. My total meal (spring rolls, sandwich, soda) came to a little over $10 which is fair for the amount of food I got, but is a little more than I like to spend for a quick lunch on a regular basis.
Chowhound Post
MSP - El Meson
I always get the ceviche, it's one of the best renditions in the city in my opinion. You get a large serving for an appetizer and it comes with tostones on the side, so I usually just get 2 appetizers as my meal.
Chowhound Post
MSP: "Best" Grocery Store
With this thread in mind, I did some shopping at the Rainbow at 494 and Penn last night because I was nearby. Ugh, what a horrible experience. I've shopped at the Rainbow at the Hub before and that location is so much better. The produce department had so many empty bins. I couldn't find any organic yogurts (are they somewhere else besides with the yogurt?) and I bought a lime to make chicken tortilla soup and I swear to god there was no juice in the lime. My husband squeezed it after I did and we got maybe a teaspoon of juice out of the whole lime. I was happy to discover that Roundy's organic baby food is half the price of Earth's Best at Kowalskis, but considering we make most of our baby food I don't think going to Rainbow just for that savings is worth it.
If you're looking for the price savings of Rainbow I'd absolutely go to the Hub over 494 and Penn.
Chowhound Post
Golden Syrup in MSP?
Really? I had no idea. The person I'm making the cookies for said it was extremely hard to find.
Chowhound Post
Golden Syrup in MSP?
Thank you! I was at Cost Plus and didn't see it but I might have missed it (they were out of marmite:)). I will definitely be heading to Irish on Grand this weekend.
Chowhound Post
Golden Syrup in MSP?
I'm attempting to make ANZAC biscuits in celebration of Australia Day on the 26th. Does anyone know if there's anywhere in the Twin Cities that sells golden syrup? A Google search revealed that it's on a cheese plate at Porter and Frye, but I couldn't find out where it might be sold by itself.
Chowhound Post
MSP: Loose Meat Sandwich
Probably - I wasn't sure where we were but it was before the baby woke up and started to scream around Alexandria :)
Chowhound Post
MSP: Loose Meat Sandwich
We also say a sign for Maid Rite while driving up 94 towards Fargo last week. I can't remember exactly where it was but I want to say it was before Albertville.
Chowhound Post
Bun Mi - Stadium Village [MSP]
Wow, sounds like that's definitely worth a trip over from West Bank. I do hope there's enough business along Washington for two Vietnamese restaurants. I spoke with the owner of Jasmine Orchid a few months ago and she said they're having a hard time at that location because few people realize it's the same as Jasmine Deli.
Chowhound Post
MSP-A quiet, intimate bar?
The bar at La Belle Vie would be perfect. Expertly mixed drinks, extensive wine collection, delicious food if wanted and lots of nooks and comfortable seats to tuck into.
Chowhound Post
[MSP] Where in Twin Cities to buy six-packs of obscure, unsual, even funny beers?
Surprisingly, Cost Plus World Market also has some interesting beers at good prices, and they allow you to mix and match.
Chowhound Post
MSP: Fried Mushrooms
There's also a Houlihans in Richfield at Lyndale and 66th
Chowhound Post
MSP: Fasika chowdown report
Holy Land also carries injera.
Chowhound Post
Anniversary Dinner - MSP
Funny - our anniversary is next week and we have an 11 week old baby. We're going to La Belle Vie because we wanted the over the top experience and we haven't been there in about 2 years.
We go to Alma more often, and always have a great experience there. In my mind it's more of a date night place than an anniversary place. Mostly because the service, while good, isn't nearly as attentive as somewhere like La Belle Vie.
Fugaise however does provide that special occasion attentiveness. I find the interior a bit depressing, but the food and service are outstanding.
I haven't been to Chambers, Max or P&F yet.
Chowhound Post
MSP : Sen Yai Sen Lek
I absolutely agree that the majority of Thai places in the cities are mediocre at best. However, the yum goong I had at Sen Yai Sen Lek was so sub-par that I would have taken a Sawatdee dish instead. I also have had good meals and/or quality ingredients at some of the Thai restaurants around (True Thai, Chai's and Tum Rup Thai specifically), those restaurants just miss on consistency both between dishes and between visits. All I was saying is that if Sen Yai Sen Lek could offer dishes that are on par with the better dishes of other places in town, and have their ambiance and wonderful staff, it would definitely be a winner.
Chowhound Post
MSP : Sen Yai Sen Lek
We went for dinner last night and as much as we really wanted to love the place, we have to give it mixed reviews for now. For starters we had the Pop Pia Sod (fresh spring rolls) and Tod Mun (fish cakes). The spring rolls had a thicker and more opaque wrapper than usual and reading the ingredient list now this morning I'm not sure I could identify any of those ingredients because there was so little filling. My husband loved the tamarind sauce it came with, and we both enjoyed the fish cakes quite a bit.
For entrees I had Yum Goong (spicy shrimp salad) and it was incredibly disappointing. I was hoping for plump, spicy shrimp like what Chai serves in their seafood salad. This was limp, tiny shrimp with almost no flavor. There was lemongrass and basil on the plate but the shrimp didn't taste like them at all. The plate even looked really sad, I was shocked they sent it out of the kitchen. My husband had the Pad Kee Mao which was thick noodles with pork. His was very tasty, rich and nicely spicy.
Because I was totally unsatisfied with my entree, we ordered dessert. I had Izzy's salted caramel ice cream with fried bananas and he had warm sticky rice with bananas in coconut milk. His was absolutely delicious, warm and sweet and comforting. Mine was delicious because it was yummy ice cream and fried bananas but the combination really wasn't special and I was expecting lots of banana and a little ice cream but really it was maybe 1/2 a banana and a large scoop of ice cream.
The waitstaff was so friendly and kind and the space was attractive and inviting. By the time we left at 7:30 the place was packed, mostly with 30 somethings who seemed to be friends or friends of friends of the owners.
We will definitely be back and I hope the weak dishes improve. I would love it if they had the quality of some of the other good Thai places in town with their staff and ambiance.
Chowhound Post
Midtown Global Market MSP - It's Up To Us
I wonder how much their expansion was related to their demise. I wonder if they paid more rent to take up more space, and obviously they had to put more money forward to buy all the additional food they offered. It's a shame if they could have stayed in business if they stayed smaller or if expanding was a last ditch effort.
Chowhound Post
MSP - New Locations...
Does anyone know if the skyway location of Bombay 2 Deli will be open for dinner? I'll admit that I don't get up to the Central Ave location as often as I'd like because I always think of going on Monday or Tuesday when they're closed. Since I don't work downtown I fear I'll never get to the skyway location, especially if they're only open for lunch.
Chowhound Post
MSP : Sen Yai Sen Lek
Funny - Holly and Joe are friends of friends of mine. I hadn't heard about their restaurant but I'll have to check it out soon! It will be great to have another Thai option around as we just got takeout from True Thai and it was disappointing.
Chowhound Post
(MSP) Quiet bar for a book club
The bar area of Sapor is often not very populated and it's quite easy for a group of 10 to sit around and talk for a while. Perhaps if you called ahead they could reserve a space for you.
Chowhound Post
MSP - Need fun rec's for friend facing the big 4-0!
I'm curious why Chatterbox should be boycotted. I've given up on the Minneapolis location because I always leave smelling like grease, and the food isn't very good at either place, but it is a fun place to spend a weekend afternoon.
Chowhound Post
MSP - New Food Warehouse opening
We also attended last night but could only stay for about 15 minutes because we were running late for something else. We did purchase some blue cheese (I'm sorry - I can't remember the vendor) and had it for dinner last night. It was quite good and at $5 for a good sized chunk the price was on par with what I would pay elsewhere.
We also found the experience very chaotic and chalked it up to them not expecting the crowds they got. It took going through 3 different people to sign up for a membership (we just did the $10 one day) and purchase our cheese. I ended up just giving them the $15 we owed them and leaving before they were able to ring us up because we were running so late and had already stood there for at least 5 minutes. Also, I guess there was some ticket system to purchase a glass of wine, brats, etc. but I completely missed that until the end and unknowingly stole wine and a brat.
I'm honestly not good about paying attention to food prices, but I did notice that one (the?) meat was the same as is sold at our Kowalski's - Thousand Hills is the brand I believe. If it's not cheaper at the warehouse then I'm not sure why I would shop there, as dairy and meat would be my main draws.
I was really hoping for lush and plentiful offerings in an enjoyable space where I could do my weekly shopping, but I'm not sure this place will be it. I feel like I could get similar products either at MGMkt which is on my way home from work or even at Kowalskis.
Chowhound Post
MSP - New Food Warehouse opening
We're heading to the opening night event soon so I'll report back.
I'm actually quite excited about this place. We live in S. Minneapolis and none of the coops are very convenient to us. We regularly shop at Kowalskis, and sometimes the Rainbow on 66th and Nicollet, so this place will be right in the area where we usually food shop. I would love to buy all our foods at a coop or the farmer's markets but just can't seem to fit getting to these places into my schedule, so hopefully this new place will have enough variety and be priced well enough that it's worth fitting into our regular shopping.
Chowhound Post
Honey Sunflower Ice Cream - MSP
Shoot - it was just instinct that it was on that corner. Clearly my instinct was wrong!
Chowhound Post
Honey Sunflower Ice Cream - MSP
It's sold through a window on the outside of the Ag building. I don't know the streets, but it's near the southeast corner of the building.
Chowhound Post
"Fancy" Fried Chicken [MSP]
We had the fried chicken dinner at Cafe Levain last week and it was quite good. I wasn't crazy about the accompanying cole slaw, the fresh mint (I believe) in it didn't work for me, but overall the meal was quite good.
Chowhound Post
The MSP labor challenge
I'm actually with the HCMC midwives and have directed my husband that I want a bagel and lox and matzoh ball soup from Brother's Deli sometime during my hospital stay.
Chowhound Post
The MSP labor challenge
Thank you all for the suggestions, especially the "my wife ate at X and went into labor" ones. I didn't even think of Punch and all the potential combinations. I think we're going to try and hit the Highland location this weekend.
Last night we were invited to Pad Thai for a friend's birthday and I got papaya salad and pad thai made pretty spicy. Some increased false labor contractions this morning but nothing that could be called progress. It was tasty none the less. The service there was pretty poor though. Several people didn't get the beers they ordered and we were overall pretty ignored.
Pregnancy, not labor related, but we went to The Strip Club last week and got lots of great parenting advice from Tim Niver (I believe he's the tall, curly haired one) :)
Yup, Oberlin grad, 1998. I'm not sure if we'll be able to afford the tuition for this little one, I can't imagine what it will be in 2026! I do so miss Mandarin Kitchen's sesame chicken though.
Chowhound Post
The MSP labor challenge
I thought my Chowhound friends would enjoy helping me with my latest task. I'm pregnant, due in 12 days, and trying to fill my time by trying all these crazy (but not harmful) old wives tales regarding bringing on labor. There are several foods that are thought to help labor (or alternatively help speed up your digestive system...)
The lists I've found so far include:
spicy foods
pineapple
eggplant
maybe the herbs in eggplant parm including basil and oregano
papaya
What restaurants would you head to if you had to eat these things? I'm thinking Little Szechuan for spiciness, maybe the new Thai place on University for papaya salad, and I have plans at an Italian place in Fridley next week for eggplant parm. Evergreen also has a great basil eggplant entree. Who might have the best spicy Indian eggplant dish? Any other suggestions for red sauce Italian?
