4th- lone spur, minnetonka
6th- cafe latte, st. paul
8th- hell's kitchen, minneapolis
11th- mainstreet bar and grill, hopkins
16th- dino's gyros, shakopee
18th- park tavern, st. louis park
20th- luci ancora, st. paul
26th- pizzaria uno, edina

4th- lone spur, minnetonka (b)

quarter smoked chicken meal with steak fries, texas toast (yee haw?) and a cup of the beer cheese soup. the soup was better than last time. the lot was decent enough, and mrs. bad restaurant karma liked her brisket better than some of the meals she has had there (she tends to stray from the tex mex/meat axis, which going by the rule of getting what the restaurant is themed on is not a good idea here... ). the cole slaw was odd, too.

6th- cafe latte, st. paul (b+)

usually cafeterias are kind of icky and boring, this one's quite nice. (has to be, in the tonier bits of grand ave in st. paul...). and though i've had baked goods from here, i've never eaten here before.

since even though it was warmish outside, i was freezing as they had the a/c on too high for me (icy hands of death!), i started with a cup of soup. clam chowder. which should have been potato chowder. not a lot of clams. decent enough, i suppose, though something i would not order in a cup again (the tater chunks were way too big for the cup). comes with your choice of bread, i got a lovely focaccia. soupwise, you'd be better off with the chicken salsa chili (tasty and spicy), served with heaps o'toppings 9cour cream, onions, cheese... probably some other things i can't remember) and some tortilla chips. besides the bread, that is. and maybe a bowl's a better deal, in most cases the price difference was a dollar or less.

to go with that, i got the trio of spreads. you pick 3 out of the bunch that they had there. the spinach chicken cream cheese was the best of the lot and was something i'd gladly eat again. the crab spread was ok, the mushroom spread was nothing to write home about in that it didn't really taste of anything. it comes with a nice chunk of baguette (would've been nicer had it been sliced all the way through, as tearing it off leaves you with hunks of bread it's hard to get the spread on), tomatoes, cuke slices, and some sprouts so that you may form your own little sandwiches if you so desire.

did i get dessert? no. i'm just weird that way (and yes, in many others).

though i did get some bread to bring home.

8th- hell's kitchen, minneapolis (a-)

no fair. i wanna work at a place where you can wear jammies to work. hard to do that in my line of work, though. here, alas, you can.

is it odd to say the best tasting ketsup i've had in my life was here? it's homemade. or restaurant-made. just not made in a factory. it completely rocks. (the hash browns were ok too... would've gone with the rosti, but there's bacon in it and on mom's day i didn't want to go for any special requests as they were busy).

mom got a free glass of champagne, and not just a tiny flute. nope, it was a healthy portion of tott's, i'd say at least 2 flutefuls worth, in a glass. she went with the hell's breakfast stir fry, and omelet sort of affair with eggs, cheese, multicolored peppers, asparagus, and some other veg scrambled together. comes with some nice toast and fruit. it was nice, and not too cheese-packed the way some places would do that to cover the taste of the other ingredients. here it all balances out nicely.

i went with the sampler of the mahnomin porridge (i checked the review in sole food and knew not to order a whole bowl if ordering other things, heh....), which are dried fruit, hazelnuts, maple syrup and cream in wild rice. all that and more, this was. way tasty. i also went with an order of breakfast bruschetta, which is toasted walnut bread topped with sweetened mascarpone and berries. lovely. couldn't finish it all, and took some home.

the coffee was very good (even decaf, according to mom). in the sole food review, they mentioned the inability to get seated, but with our reservations we had no problem (i'd recommned it for weekend brunch). service, though sweet (if that makes sense), was a bit spacey. and the prices still seem a bit on the spendy side for some items (though not all) for what you get. but since the place is organic and local, foodwise, while possible, it's easier to go along with.

it's an interested space to be in, halfway below street level. we were in the back bit, which was nicer as there were windows (though looking out on a parking lot). the space is airy and clean (though for my icy hands of death, a bit cold until i swiped some of mom's champagne, with permission and had some coffee). though the chair i was sititng in, every time someone walked by, it dipped because of some weird floor thing.

11th- mainstreet bar and grill, hopkins (b)

upgrade for kickass service. though somehow i am thinking a side bet was going on in the kitchen as to how many glasses of water i would go through (for the record, 3.5... i'm just that thirsty). i don't recall having service this good in a while...

i forgot how much the fries were not that good, and got them with apparently the same sandwich i ordered last time. in a turnabout, the sandwich was not that great (hugeass bun, tiny chicken and swiss and portobello mushroom), the fries were ok, but needed salt. have to remember to order something different next time. i was going to this time, but grilled cheese (what i wanted) was not on the menu and i had to do a quick order without really making up my mind. i'll live, though, don't you worry.

16th- dino's gyros, shakopee (b)

so usually i wouldn't go mention dino's yet again as soon as now, bu i've yet to say anything about the falafel there. which is pretty decent. especially since the shakopee area isn't really crawling with joints where such things as falafel are readily available. it's gett better, but still...

being that it's been a while, i went with the side salad. it's improved greatly since the drive through debacle of 03 in that the lettuce is no longer brown and slimy and the tomato is ok. however, it's just not an interesting thing to eat. there's a hugeass pile of lettuce, a quite good salad dressing, a bit of feta, a half-slice of tomato, an olive... and that's it. it's not worth what you pay for it, that's for sure.

so fries again, next time. not that i mind their fries, i keep saying they're consistantly quite tasty, but it does get a bit old having them over and over and over. and most of their other side dishes are not that appealing... though if that were the only problem i had in my life, a lucky person i'd be, n'est pas?

18th- park tavern, st. louis park (c)

ok, weird. i could copy the first sentence from the time i was here a year and a half ago, and it's still mostly true... "not good, not bad. though the service was a bit slow. it's like the waitress was not really in the moment, she seemed like she would have rather been elsewhere. or retired."

the smoke issue has improved, as it's now banned in the county. business does not seem to be hurting for a wednesday even without being able to smoke inside, it was fairly crowded there. though smokers were more or less blocking the door, as it was raining, and they would not move to let people in. that seemed odd.

chicken mushroom swiss is now on the menu, but i went with the nachos, as that's what i was in the mood for. there's lots of food on the plate, that's for sure. not that great, though. everything everyone ordered needed to be cooked more, hotter, or something like that. the side of guac (not real) was so not worth the $1.50 charged for it.

20th- luci ancora, st. paul (b-)

as a group, we were supposed to go to ristorante luci across the way, but too many people wanted to go for that. it's not a large place, so we switched to ancora across the way. i prefer luci, it's more old school italian than ancora, which is more new school, and where the results are more hit and miss.

i was kind of in the mood for soup and salad, even though for a change it wasn't raining. alas, the only soup was a cold one, so i went with small cesear salad, which was nice and creamy and garlicky, though for my tastes i would've like a bit more anchovy and a slightly less garlic. a nice rendition of it. then i got a tubular (totally) pasta with tomatoes and leeks. according to the menu, it had a vodka cream sauce. however, i could detect no residual sauce the pasta itself and i was underwhelmed with it. and i didn't think the breads in the bread basket were all too good, but they weren't bad.

other folks had mixed results... the pastas were generally enjoyed, but the kobe beef with potato rice cakes (which apparently taste a lot like advanced tater tots, but in a good way, especially served with sour cream and chive sauce on them) was less than thrilling- the inside was a nice medium rare, but the outside was charred enough to render it inedible. the fish special of copper river salmon over potato and corn chowder was quite good, i would've liked to order it, but it seemed pricy.

they do have an option that for a set price ($32 or so that night), you get all of the chef's specials, the antipasti, soup or salad, first course and main course, in reduced portions. that seems like a good deal.

desserts seemed more of a hit, though the tiramisu cheesecake didn't seem to have booze in it, which for some reason disappoints me, even though i didn't order it. the flourless chocolate cake and vanilla bean creme brulee were also good.

they handled service for a large group (about 14 people) well, even after additional people showed up that were not on the reservation. water was filled, courses were brought out together, though the people with four were a bit more staggered. they did add 15% to the bill as a tip, too. again, a practice i am not too fond of.

the restaurant itself is light and airy, and overlooks the main front gate of st. kate's. i will say i am not fond of the window coverings, but other than that, it's a nice place to be in.

26th- pizzaria uno, edina (b-)

the salad again, slightly worse for wear, with tomatoes rivalling rocks.

slightly different pasta for mrs. bad restaurant karma, she got penne instead of fettucini with her chicken parmesan in marinara. it was not well conceived- a bit too fried crunchy breast of chicken in mozzarella on top of a large pile of penne in a really really sweet (in a bad way) marinara.

i went the creamy pasta route again, the so-called 'rattlesnake' pasta (perhaps because it features tabasco in the sauce and has jalapenos on top and in the sauce). a bit spicy, but ok, and the chicken was in pieces, so it was all around easier to eat. the breadstick was pretty good, yet i still think it chintzy to only get one per person.

service was a bit odd. we had to request spoons with hot tea, and oddly we didn't get... teaspoons. we got spoons that looked like they were supposed to be in malt glasses, three times the length of the cup.

 

 

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