5th- big bowl, edina
7th- french meadow bakery and cafe, minneapolis
19th- cafe bicko, minneapolis
24th- dino's gyros, shakopee
26th- market bbq, minnetonka
29th- convention grill, edina
nuts. elaborate coverups are done in the name of trying to conceal that a place is out of them. it happened before, it happened here. the great nut conspiracy. mrs. bad restaurant karma ordered a mandarin chicken salad. nice enough (a bit too heavy on the dressing), but alas, almondless. the server didn't say anything about it.
when we stopped them and inquired about it, we were told that some would be brought to the table. then the manager came and said alas, they were out completely, but we could get some chopped peanuts. which did arrive, though halfway through the salad. it's not a good sign that the manager didn't know, that the kitchen didn't mention it to anyone... and it's an even worse sign that they didn't offer to take anything off the bill or give us a free dessert or anything to try and placate us.
another bad sign... since the knife at my place setting on the table was dirty, i asked for another one. one'll be right over, i was told. i had to ask for it again when the app was served (veggie and chicken potstickers. tasty. hard to cut without a knife.) and it still took a while to meander over.
speaking of appetizers, we had been waiting about 15 minutes for ours when we inquired as to how much longer they will be. the answer should not have been 'i will bring them when they come out.' that does not match the question.
chix mix with stixs, my usual, contains sesame peanut noodles. peanut noodles in the past here have had a bit more of a peanut vibe (like chopped mixed in with 'em and a... peanuttier.... sauce). the chicken satay was a bit wimpy, too.
all this happened without mr. bad restaurant karma being present. that's the amazing thing. i bet if he were there, we wouldn't have even gotten a table (we called ahead and were seated right away. i recommend that here... it was mad crowded for a random wedensday)....
7th- french meadow bakery and cafe, minneapolis (b-)
they had some weirdass muzak debbie gibson thing happening there over lunch. that is not nostaglia, that's just mean.
i really wanted a grilled cheese and cocoa from here, and was a bit disappointed in the experience. first, leave the tomatoes off things in winter, restaurants. they tend to be not tasty. unless maybe they're sundried. these weren't. the roasted red pepper would've been enough. not that it was a bad sandwich, it's one of the better grilled cheeses in the twin cities area (imho and all), but still. and i still want it served with fries with that, not chips.
for some reason i would've thought the cocoa here should've been superlative. not so much. the whipped cream was all lovely, but the cocoa itself didn't reach that creamy chocolate thing that they good cocoas get. i'd guess it warm chocolate milk over real cocoa. same thing, only different (and not in a good way if you want cocoa).
the person i was with got the chicken chili, and the chicken, spinach, red onion, and i think olive quesadilla. the chicken chili was good for the kind of day it was (greyish with flurries). it had white beans in it, a nice touch. went better with the chicken that kidney beans do in most cases. makes it creamier and stuff.
the quesadilla was a surprise when brought to the table, in that it was a breakfast one with eggs. looked nice and all, but it's not what they ordered. for a newcomer there, it's a bit of a ponder of what to do when things like that happen. at lunch, you order at the counter, your meal's delivered to you, then the server walks off. so if you get the wrong order, it's not clear if you wave someone down or walk to the counter to exchange it.
when the right one arrived, it came with guacamole (oddly stringy guac at that), salsa (they do a good one here), and chipotle sour cream (also nice). both of us, though, preferred the whole unctuousness of the grilled cheese. that would've been good with some tomato soup on the side... mmmm... cheese...... er, where was i?
the service here can be a bit slow sometimes because of the way it's set up, and the crowds who flock here. it tends to be a bit less crowded m-th lunches, i think, than any other time, though sometimes weekday dinners (sit-down and be served affairs) can also be less crowded. they have more of a dinner menu, but some of the same things you find on the lunch on are there- same serving, but a bit of a higher price.
19th- cafe bicko, minneapolis (c-)
somewhere in the recesses of my admittedly weirdass mind (does a mind have an ass?) lies the ideal pizza. it has a crust that does not get soggy under the weight of the toppings and is blistered on the edges. the toppings, yeah verrily, they are all fresh (not canned or jarred or frozen), and cooked to the perfect degree of doneness. the sauce is tasty yet not annoying or acidic or weak. the cheese, it is a blend and not just mozzarella, and there's a hell of a lot of it, and a tasty one at that, melty, but with those brown crispy bits here and there. the flavors balance. it does not need red pepper flakes or extra parmesan, but those only enhance the taste.
something like that. i've had close. pizza luce can get the most close most often with most of theirs, there was one pizza that uno did years ago (a limited engagement one) that kept me happy for the few brief months we were involved (a white sauce was involved... multiple cheeses.... ahhhh... where was i?....). i've heard good things about galactic.... i'm not so much an 'og' pizza fan (that looks so weird not being in caps...), and find punch and such ok, but i'm talking american pizza here, kiddies.
the pizza at bicko is not really close to the ideal. it's not great, not bad. average. they do get points for toppings, as most of them seemed fresh. the crust edge was ok, but was doing less well at holding the toppings (we got the thin crust, not wanting to remain there for 40+ minutes), and there was just one cheese, and not a lot of it. we got the veggie. they had a chicken pizza that had some of that mysterious ranchero sauce on it... it's invading the nation. anyway, maybe it'll be better cold for breakfast, as some kinds are (davanni's comes to mind... don't like it hot, just like their cheese pizza cold.... )
the salad was 'eh' the service was not that great (i contemplated standing up and waving my hands in the air like i just didn't care to get a water refill), and the place had a bit of a dingy, 'we are going to suck your soul out after dinner' kind of a pall about it, complete with amateur paintings of jim morrison and janis joplin (where's jimi?), overly loud bad 60's music (ccr does not for good dinner music make), really low lighting (i think i can see my fork somewhere), and a large screen tv that had overtones of orange and grey so cnn looked like the ghosts of news past. the wildly sneezing, not covering his mouth guy in the corner didn't help the atmosphere any. (mr. brk wasn't there....)
though as we were leaving, someone was served a sandwich which looked a lot better than the pizza did, and had a nice-looking pile of fries with that. (yeah, i know, looks can be deceiving with that... but i am easily swayed by fries...)
24th- dino's gyros, shakopee (b)
so yeah,it's not like i've not been here since last time i wrote anything about it, it's just that not a lot has changed 'til now. they moved to a new, larger location not too far from their old one. the space has at least doubled in size, the setting is more pleasant (though they still need to get some stuff on the walls, which i don't think were changed since the coffeehouse that last occupied the space moved out), and as far as i can tell there's no drive-thru anymore.
seating is more plentiful, too, which is nice as i really didn't like sitting at the counter at the old location. i always felt shorter than usual. anyway, it seems more of a place to linger over lunch or dinner than the smaller space, which gave you a bit of an 'eat and get out quickly so someone can have your seat' vibe.
the fries were not quite as good as usual (growing pains?). service was good. i went with the chicken gyros jr. size. i still wish they would have smaller sizes in the fries and a lot of the other sandwiches. sometimes i can't finish a regular size sandwich and the largeass (literally and figuratively) portion of fries with that, and the fries aren't good cold (none are, imho), but they are more apt to be leftover (as much as i love the fries with that). not sure why that is. though the weird thing about the jr. size sandwich is that more random things fall out of it than the regular size, due to the abundance of stuff shoved into it. so grab a fork if you order one, kiddies.
26th- market bbq, minnetonka (c-)
so i went with the half-chicken dinner, because i vaguely recall i've had the chicken sandwich before and wanted something... slightly different. bunless, with toast that is not from texas (more like toasted wonder bread with butter and a thought of garlic or something). the chicken wasn't bad. however, the toast was not the only unimpressive side. the fries were as sad as they first appeared, post-steak fry switch up. the cole slaw would've been ok had it not been very cold slaw (as in one step away from the freezer). service was ok. i dunno.
29th- convention grill, edina (b+)
hmm, i thought i had been here more recently than i have, but scanning the bitedex... not so much. they redid the place since i was last here, those oh, so many years ago, giving the main dining area some sort of semi-slick makeover that makes the room appear a bit out of balance with it's old-school grill cred that the front room reflects.
other than that, no real complaints. this was someone's offering in the search for the best grilled cheese in the city. i had put up french meadow as my pick, but sometimes they can be a bit inconsistent, and the whole tomatoes in winter thing last time.... it was not held up as a shining example. panini vs. trad style was discussed. i'm more of a panini-style fan, i think those tend to have the better bread, and the squishing action in the press gets the cheese more evenly melted, and a lot of things they throw in there enhance the whole sandwich experience.
so yeah, it was grilled cheese, fries with that. they have some pretty nice fries, too, they hold up well against the offerings out there. sandwich-wise, this was a pretty good effort, but i think there's a better sandwich out there waiting to be found. it's a three-cheese, lots of bread version, and it was done almost to perfection... the bread was toasted well, and the cheese was mostly melted, except for the edges. the bread left a bit to be desired, too, i prefer more of a sourdough or something a bit less wonderbreadish in consistency.
service was decent for the busy time we were there, too. apparently for a grill the chicken soup is good, if the number of portions ordered is any indication. huh.
so where to next on the great grilled cheese hunt? alas, no place that starts with a g, so just get that alliteration possibility right out of your mind. possibly zelo. we'll think about it. we're looking for more of a stealth entry, as many people bring up annie's parlour when this is discussed, that's another place with a consistency problem. and yes, i do realize that's odd of me to say having given it decent ratings, but i'd like to think there's something better than it out there.
meanwhile, i'm experimenting now and then to see what i can do to grilled cheese at home (i think there's a 6 million dollar man joke in here somewhere, i'm just to tired to get there). currently i'm thinking the chocolate bread from turtle, triple cream brie, and a nice raspberry jam as a dessert grilled cheese.... there was the recent book on the subject that had goat cheese and spinach on a croissant... now i'm kinda hungry again....
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