5th- vincent a restaurant, minneapolis
8th- bellanotte, minneapolis
14th- axel's bonfire, savage
15th- big bowl, minnetonka
16th- tejas, edina
20th- little sushi on the prairie, eden prairie
29th- hong kong buffet, shakopee
5th- vincent a restaurant, minneapolis (b)hey, i've not been here for a whole week. stopped by to avoid the food at brit's before pub quiz by convincing someone it'd be one of the best burgers she's eaten, and lo, she did agree, and of course also loved the fries. and the bread, of course. me, i had the regular fries (not big ones). they always make me feel better. i got the butternut squash soup with walnuts that was a bit bitter for my tastes. but it had a nice mouthfeel. pretty good service, of course.
8th- bellanotte, minneapolis (b)
had another $50 gift card to spend thanks to the tco tuesdays promotion. why not have a birthday lunch here, i thought. i want to go to the place that's right under the hooters on block e for my birthday.
ok, no, i didn't think that last part, but it's amusing to me that one of downtown's hottest nightspots for the famous is indeed in that particular location. it's near the graves hotel, sure, but then again so it hooters....]
anyway.
it'd be difficult, possibly, to spend that much at lunch, but we probably could.
since hey, birthday and all, we both decided to order some sparking wine. it goes with everything, pretty much. i went with a very sweet moscat d'asti, the other person went with a more trad dry roederer. mine was so girly and all, it was served in a white wine glass instead of the usual champagne style, to have the scent of the fruit hit you upside the head. (well, probably not quite phrased that way in wine circles, but you get the idea).
besides the bubbles, i started with a della casa salad, with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, and more over mixed greens in a white truffle oil. quite nice, but it seemed kind of summery for the time a year. maybe it was a 'transport you to italy' type of thing. the bellanote salad, with shaved fennel and gorgonzola was more seasonally appropriate, and also good, but i liked mine better (always good when that happens).
the bread came to the table slightly before the salad had tapanade with it, which was a nice touch. you also get olive oil at the table if you run out. we started with some salty italian style bread squares, but for some reason basket two brought some baguette slices. maybe they ran out. the squares were slightly difficult to spread the tapanade on.
we both had specials for the main course. i had a clam pasta in a saffron sauce that supposedly had some red pepper flakes for a spicy finish, but not so much on the spice. it smelled great, too. and since it wasn't cream-laden (not that it's a bad thing, if i hadn't gone for that, i would be all over the alfredo) it was a light meal (probably good, as my other birthday meals were pretty much heavy on the triple-cream cheese). you do get a good portion, though. but the dish was a tad sandy and a tad oily. just a bit, not like it made it awful or something.
the chicken saltimboca special was also tasty, with very lean prosciutto (they touted it), and quite niced mashed with it. there were also veggies, which i didn't sample.
the server overheard that it was my birthday, and though no one sang, a creme brulee with raspberries and blueberries was sent to the table, and a candle was lit. i blew it out, and got my wish. i'd say it was an above-average rendition of the brulee, and the berries were fresh, which is a bonus at this time of year. (on the check, the listing reads 'happy birthday!! promo food....). i'd say service was pretty good.
so with the two courses and the bubbly, we topped out at a bit over the $50 for a three course (two and a half course?) lunch for two. i wouldn't say it's an affordable alternative to your local pho house or what have you, but for a business lunch it seems an appropriate place to go. the orange-tinged space is attractive. though a bit dark. the fireplaces (gas) are a nice touch, and the restrooms have a lot of old-school nice touches like an nicer purse shelf in the stall. you do almost forget you're below said hooters.
they had better food than i thought, and it less spendy than i thought it may be for lunch here. sandwiches run $8-10 or so with a side, pizzas and pastas slightly more than that. though having said that, i'm not sure i'd seek out to come here again. being that i am not a person who hits the places to be 'seen,' and they don't seem to do anything no one else does, there's places i like better not too far away, plus block e is weird... and well, i'm not their target audience, am i?
nice for a gift card, but wouldn't want to live there?
wait, that doesn't make sense.
14th- axel's bonfire, savage (c)
they had really good bbq sauce here that came with something we ordered. it was kind of a terikayi/scallion thing, with maybe some ginger or cinnamon (or both action). that was enjoyable.
the rest of the food... well, we ordered off the app menu (thanks for the lunch again, btw), so really, i think the food would taste better at happy hour if you've knocked back a few.
it wasn't bad, mind you, just not that good. as the grade indicates, average. service was average (though taking away a plate with food left on it was slightly below, the rest was competent and efficient enough).
take, for instance, the guacamole. the salsa on the plate had some sort of fire-roasted taste, and was a bit spicy, the chips were ok, though we got a lot of crumbs on the plate. the guac itself, well, we were told it was spicy. after adding salt, pepper, and hot sauce, it was a bit spicy. not much. but a bit. but it wasn't awful, just... got great.
the chicken and cream cheese 'bontons' were good, but could've been better had they tasted more of chicken (you just got a wee bit per... ton) or were larger and maybe more of a mix. (that's what brought up the bbq sauce, plus blue cheese dressing and hot sauce).
we also got the bleu cheese stuffed buffalo shrimp, which were also not spicy. we were not sure if it was just blue, er, bleu cheese in there, as it was stringy, which you usually don't see in that sort of cheese. not bad, though. it also came with... hot sauce and blue cheese dressing.
though the poutine plate (fries, cheese curds and gravy) sounded... interesting (state fair... can you put this on a stick?), some other things were more shady. what exactly are 'bull bites,' for instance? the menu didn't say. they come with onion whisps, however.
oddly enough, this place is one of the few non-fast food restaurants in savage that isn't a national chain, though it's the first time i've eaten here. since i'm not in the area so much anymore, i don't tend to eat out a lot here, and when i do, i usually hit spice. so it was nice to try something new. i'm not sure if i'd come here for lunch again, as the 'real ' lunch menu seems a bit high-priced for the area (half-sandwich or salad and soup is $9, for instance). it'd be good for apps after work, maybe, it seems a very co-worker happy hour type place.
15th- big bowl, minnetonka (c-)
i used to like this place better, when they had chix mix with stix a few years back. we just kind of ended up here as there's not a lot of good restaurants in ridgedale. this one's kind of the best option. nothing on the menu was knocking me out, i ended up with veggie pad thai, recalling their version of pad thai wasn't bad.
alas, that was many years ago, as now, well, it's not so good. especially if there's a half-hour wait before the dinner rush to get four dinners and no apps to the table, none of them complicated.
it's not like real pad thai, that's the problem. no scrambled eggs, i don't recall any bean sprouts (though per their online menu they were supposed to be there), there were maybe half a dozen peanuts, not crushed, it had basil in it. it had asparagus, baby bok choi, and red and green peppers. the baby bok choi seemed especially wrong. not a lot of pad thai sauce. not a lot of taste in it either. and it came with a whole third of a lime wedge... though when i asked for more, i did get an additional 4 complete wedges.
it was ok and all, not great, but after i ate it, i still kind of wanted pad thai, as that wasn't it. maybe if i'm there again at dinner i'd hit the sushi place or leave the building and go... um... wow, they need more restaurants in that area.
tejas is pretty solid as a choice to eat. it's above average, a solid b, which is more than i can usually ask for in a restaurant, having the bad restaurant karma that i do. odd, as their sister restaurant, bar abliene, is not a place i'd go back to. anyway, another in my continuing series of birthday lunches (thanks again, btw).
it's southwestern style food, and the margarita menu reflects that. and yes, i did get one, the latin lover (which recalls ricky martin and that one song he did, because my brain is a vast storehouse of pointless detail such as that). it was tasty- a mix a passion fruit, lime juice, triple sec, and sauza blanco. though sugar-rimmed, it was not as sweet as i had expected, which made a nice companion to the food.
we started with the always reliable tableside guacamole, which is always good with the toasted garlic. i did learn that the tomato is added after the squashing (unlike bar abilene) to not squish them in and so they get their own flavor profile (they didn't use that term, but i figured i wanted to... so there). the guac maker was nice enough to leave the hot sauce on the table so we could doctor it up a bit more, so we added that and a bit more salt, too. quite decent, though i like my guac a bit more room temp.
continuing the 'vaguely healthy' theme i started with the veggie pad thai yesterday (just scroll up, i'm not linking it as it seems to much of an effort, though i'm typing all this... which makes no sense at all), i went with the grilled veg salad with shrimp. though the salad was a reasonable cost of $8 or so, the extra $5 for four medium shrimp seemed a bit excessive. the salad had a red pepper vinaigrette, and queso fresco, and came with flour tortillas. the veg were corn, portabllo mushroom, carrots, zuchinni, red and green pepper, and asparagus, and they were all good with the sauce and by themselves, but they were better when i wrapped them up in a torilla with some of the vinaigrette and tableside suace and shrimp. tasty.
the roasted pobalnos stuffed with mushroom risotto, with a sort of cilantro pesto and some creamy cheese cheese- the 'current' menu on the web site was not actually the current menu, alas were an interesting taste and texture experience. sadly, details will escape me even though this was maybe two hours ago... anyway, the poblanos weren't quite evenly roasted, so you get a bit of a
hot (as in burning your mouth) spot every once in a while.service was cheerful and competant. we were a bit later than the lunch crowd, and the space was pretty empty. i kept expected to see the angry reindeer that we had spotted (some sort of holiday event was taking place at the time) to crash through the window. but i get off topic... i think i like the room better during the day, it seems less dark. we didn't get the house trail mix (i don't think you get that at lunch), but the blue corn fritters (good, but the butter was a bit on the cold, immoble side) came
to the table.another one of those 'why didn't i get here sooner' places... though this time i think i'd put it down to the smoke (scott co. is not yet smoke free). it's pretty much a local institution in shakopee, a la 50's diner, and much better than many of the other lunch joints around. great hash browns here, way above average. alas, not what i ordered, that was the person with me. i may come back soon and do breakfast. i got the broiled chicken sandwich (a decent rendition, with juicy chicken, tomato, lettuce, and i got bbq sauce with mine) and good enough fries and the prices are very reasonable, too. service was personal in a good way.
20th- little sushi on the prairie, eden prairie (c-)
ok, for about what it cost for one lunch here, i can get a costco sushi tray that would provide me 3 very generous meals. here i got the egg drop soup to start (the egg was overdone omelet), and a sushi and sashimi mixed 'bento box' lunch with rice and a few bits of california roll. the roll had tough outer seaweed on it, and a few sushi bits had some inedible parts, plus some of it was not cold enough. it was below average, indeed. the chicken yaki soba had tough chicken in it, but the veg and sauce were good. neither of us had seen it not be soup before. that was kind of odd. the salad was decent, good dressing, though. this made the grade slightly higher. alas, i'd not go back here. no reason to.
29th- hong kong buffet, shakopee (c)
since i couldn't decide what i wanted for dinner (other than the really quite vague 'something squishy'), i ended up at the buffet, which offered squishy food potential, plus the bonus of not having to choose anything in particular off a menu.
it's more like a much smaller atlantic buffet than the awful world buffet, but i think this one's owned by the same crew. same layout on a much smaller scale. no sushi, which is good, but it doesn't have a mongolian bbq station either. it has the same sort of weird desserts (bars, jello, ice cream), and some of the same selections.
the ones i quite liked were the japanese chicken (odd, given the name of the joint) and the cheese-stuffed mushrooms. there were some other decent renditions, like the lo mein and the cream cheese wontons. many things were decent enough. some were good,but puzzling, as in the nut-free walnut shrimp. there were only a few 'one bite and no more' things (egg foo yong, for example, made with formerly frozen peas and carrots), but at this point i am also better at picking and choosing from this sort of layout.
this one has less interaction with people. if you go there alone, once you pay at the door, you're on your own except for the mysterious plate clearing when you go back for more- you get your own beverage and utensils and suchlike. though can't say i'll rush back or anything. it's not bad, but it's nothing particularly compelling.
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