7th- mainstreet bar and grill, hopkins
12th- dino's gyros, shakopee
14th- famous dave's bbq, minneapolis (linden hills)
16th- mediterranean cruise cafe, eagan
22nd- el burrito mercado, shakopee
25th- vincent a restaurant, minneapolis
28th- macaroni grill, edina
7th-mainstreet bar and grill, hopkins (b)
so i've been there twice in recent memory ( july 03, october 03). had fajitias both times. i can't do that anymore, their menu changed. it's pretty much stuff on buns, except for the soups and salads. hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, cold sandwiches, other sandwiches, the earl of sandwich, that kind of thing. which makes more sense than have other random food. and costs a lot less, there's no plates now, just baskets with wax paper. hell on ketsup.
service... well, onion rings were ordered, but not received when the food was delivered, but they did bring free ones (well, a few), and my water glass was kept filled. the philly chicken was good, but then again, it's hard to go wrong when you cover things with cheese. the chicken could have been trimmed a bit better, the reuben was ok, i was told, but the bread used to be better. and still avoid the fries and get the onion rings. bad fries, bad. still not a bad place to eat.
12th- dino's gyros, shakopee (a-/b+)
sometimes the fry quality dips, and since the fries are usually a grade quality, and they were slightly subpar, i'm grading hard on this one, slightly, as i am all the more disappointed when they are not lovely. and for the first time ever, for some reason i was not able to finish my entire fry order. perhaps because i got a falfel sandwich instead of the chicken gyros, maybe that's more filling. maybe my heart wasn't in it. odd, that.
14th- famous dave's bbq, minneapolis (linden hills) (b+)
following restaurant logic, i got bbq. chicken. it was good, i like the rich and sassy sauce. i wish i was rich and sassy, sometimes. not just periodically sassy and not rich. the fries are good, especially when hot out of the oven, like ours were. coleslaw was tasty.
the corn muffin was not that great, i think they switched the recipe or provider. or maybe i just thought i liked it and never did. and the corn, well, ignore it or play with it, just don't eat it. they said they would stop putting it on plates soon. when it's out of season (like in winter), corn can be nasty, the frozen and reheated and under the salamader corn. perhaps they just don't work well with corn products.
16th- mediterranean cruise cafe, eagan (b)
the food. spanakopita plate. the two spanakopita were kinda greasy, but otherwise ok. the falefel was unusual, in that the inside was green (i think they use fresh chickpeas or something). i like their hummus. a friend of mine posited they may use fava beans instead of chickpeas. it's a lot more velvety and doesn't taste like chickpeas, or any white beans i can think of the taste of. the pita was ok, but not warm enough, and the 'greek' salad had sad lettuce. the olives were not that plentiful. my water glass was kept filled.
the atmosphere. ok, so it's a greek/middle eastern food joint, featuring belly dancing on some nightes, tapestries and olive oil up the hinder, etc, and the music was... weirdass for that. so completely out of context, it belonged at a retirement home or something. at one point the awkward blue danube played (thus dubbed as it sounded like a version of the song people who would trip over each other dancing would dance to). another song featured what sounded like a give minute intro building to something, and that was it.
and most oddly, they had the strangest version of 'strangers in the night' every in the history of earth (thus far). it was cheesy, welkian, instrumental about halfway through, and then there was maybe two bars of humming in the chorus, then singing only on the words 'strangers in the night,' then back to humming for maybe two more bars and no other vocals, even when the chorus rolled around again. kind of like what you'd do in some store if you heard it on the muzak because all you know are the words 'strangers in the night... something something, strangers in the night...' did my friend and i burst out laughing? of course. and we hummed all the way home. and started making up new songs to it... da da da da da... prarie center drive.... da da da da da.... it's all in the technique.
so i've heard about the burritos there. raves and operas written about them, more or less, for the burritos in st. paul. i mean, it's in the name of the place. however, no burritos on the menu to be found (as much as i can comprehend menu spanish, anyway, it's not in english, on the poster on the wall). and since only one person is making the food in the cafeteria line (or was when i was there), the wait could be a while. so the atmosphere leaves a lot to be desired, and i hate having to buy a beverage, especially when all i want is water. (there's no fountain and stuff like that.) that's the reason behind the b.
the food was pretty good, more a minus-y. apparently i have upped my heat quotient through use of red pepper flakes and the like, so the heat level was tolerable (it's not aimed at minnesota-bland palates). i had the shredded chicken quesadilla platter. the rice was really good, and i usually hate the rice that comes with this kind of plate, as it usually tastes like tomato soup, which i like as a soup by itself, just usually not an ingredient in things that are not soup. the beans tasted homemade. the quesadilla was not like the grilled chese things you get at your p.j. o'pootertoots (stealing from stiller again for that one), but packed full of chicken. it came with homemade guac, and random lettuce and a few sad tomato bits (leave 'em off, please, if they are plastic tomatoes). it was huge, as in too full for dinner eight hours later-sized. it was worth it.
everything's lovely here still (and the bathroom is not at all overly warm now), the food, the service, the atmosphere. fries, of course, the best i've had this side of the atlantic. duck pate and a cheese plate was split. wine by the glass was sampled and decided upon. three kinds of creme for dessert. baguette by the... flowerpot-full was consumed, with tasty butter. not in that order. for under $20 you can put together a meal with a glass of wine that's really worth it (closer to $10 without wine...) like a tasty soup or salad with baguette. and fries. or have a nice dessert for about that, too. it's sad that it was kind of... not at all full. though it is sunday night, so it's less sad than seeing it that way on, say, a saturday night, n'est pas?
soulless corporate anti-food (d grade). my entree tasted like nothing in particular, which always freaks me out a bit. ok bread (c grade), decent enough service (b) to save it from a d. therefore... c.
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