4th- honey baked ham co., burnsville
4th- corner table, minneapolis
9th- r. norman's, minneapolis
16th- french meadow, minneapolis
18th- frankie's stonebaked pizza, st. louis park
27th- punch pizza, eden prairie

4th- honey baked ham co., burnsville (c-)

i was once more forced to choose a box lunch from here. i went with the chicken salad on a croissant. and once more a sandwich from this place tasted like nothing. weird. i skipped the cookie, and once more an average pickle and a bag of chips (though not all that).

4th- corner table, minneapolis (b)

now that restaurants are smoke-free, can they also be scent-free? i had to switch tables mid-dinner because of the person being seated next to me had taken a cologne bath, which started giving me hives within a minute of their table being seated. the only free table at this very busy time was a four-top just one over from where we were sitting that i felt a bit guilty taken up, but the staff was very nice about the reseating and offered to bring me anything i needed for the allergy attack (the over the couner allergy pills i took helped a lot).

they also said they could smell it, too. yes, i'm not allergic to the food, i'm allergic to the people. figures. though after we switched tables, we felt we had to eat a bit faster, as there were people standing pretty much right next to us waiting for our corner table (literally) soon after we switched. no pressure was put on us, but still.

because of their helpfulness in this, service that had been a bit on the kind of awkward side gets a bit of a bump. i think the server was new-ish to the job. when i asked for the girliest wine on their menu, they recommended a processo. about halfway through that glass, they brought out a tasting of the moscato d'asti that was on the dessert menu they had forgotten about. nice of them to bring it, but it was a bit late on that. water refills were also odd. compared with the thoughtful service of last time, it was a it disappointing.

my dining companion started with the bibb salad (hickory smoked bacon, capers, hard boiled eggs, in a balsamic herb dressing, cut and paste job there for the ingredients) and she loved it. she followed with the open-faced mini-burgers on toasted brioche with horseradish cream, caramelized red wine onions, and micro lettuce salad. one of them was almost mooing, it was that underdone (why she didn't send it back, i know not), the other one was fine and tasty. she went with the chocolate dessert, a slice of cake served in a pile of mousse, with a non-chocolate wafer atop the whole pile. she loved it.

i started with the special of the day salad, winter microgreens with shaved white asparagus, blood oranges, and probably some other things i have forgotten in a white truffle viniagrette. the salad could've stood a few more blood orange bits than the three tiny ones there, it was a shade on the bitter side. though it had just enough dressing, which is hard to do.

for the main course, i did two other appitizers. the first was a soup of puree of grilled leeks with a sweet pea cream, also a daily special. this was also on the bitter side, and could've used some croutons or a bit more of the sweet pea cream or both to great effect. the second was a crepe with a savory duxelle (mushroom) topping and a creamy blue-cheese sauce. this was the thing on the menu that caught my attention asap when i had looked it over, and held my attention while eating it. the best thing prepared i ate all night.

i phrase it that way as i was really into the extremely creamy yet somehow light-tasting edelweiss gouda on the cheese plate i had for dessert. not that the unremembered origin creamy but sharp blue cheese was anything but good. the plate had generous servings of both cheeses at the correct temperature for reasonable price ($7 i think). also on the plate were honey, some smoked almonds, and a few pear slices. i got more bread with it. the breads are from rustica (they have a joint venture going where you can get corner table-made sandwiches on rustica bread at rustica for lunch... i hear they sell out in like 5 minutes). the baguette went well with the cheese plate, and the starting courses, but the potato bread, with large chunks of unpeeled potato, didn't quite go so well with the cheeses as it did the rest of the meal.

since it was a friday, it was more crowded than the last time i ate here. don't know if i'd do a crowded weekend here again, the place is on the small side and if i run into a patron who's all cologne-stinky like the one i did this trip where and it gets to the point of having an allergic reaction to that, there may be no open tables to move to. i guess this is something i now have to consider in my dining out plans from now on... and probably should have before.

9th- r. norman's, minneapolis (c-)

for a place that's just been open maybe minutes, it's interesting what kind of price hikes went on since they posted their menu online. mrs. brk has the burger, that went from $13 to $14. she thought it should've been more 'steakhouse' style of a burger, but it was just an average california burger, sans mayo.

i had the half-chicken, which was spendy at $18, as posted on the menu, but way frickin' overpriced for the salty mess of a sauce it was covered in at $22 (oh, plus the white meat was dry, and the wing burnt). mrs. brk had a french fry allotment for her burger included, i had to spend extra to get a side, in this case the white truffle oil fries with parmesan, which held steady at $8. so a chicken dinner with fries was $30. may i say 'wtf?' that makes no sense at all. i wouldn't have gotten that ever had i not had gift cards.

i have only myself to blame, it is a steakhouse, and we were more or less told than unless you get steak, don't come here.

since mrs. brk wanted the dessert floor show, so we split bananas foster for $10, about what she paid the last time she had it elsewhere, but that show came with ice cream and cheesecake. it was just ice cream here. dessert prices aren't listed online, so i'm not sure how much it used to be. both mrs. brk and i agreed that the bananas non-foster (no booze or fire) that i make is way tastier than their version.

the bread basket (raisin rye, baked-in parmesan, and baguette slices, served warm) with honey butter was nice. if that counts for anything.

odd as hell service, though. the people refilling water would creep around behind me softly and stick their arm in front of me. at least they didn't yell 'boo' with it. the server we had at the beginning of the meal was replaced by another with no explanation (though we didn't miss the first one, they were trying way too hard to upsell... you want a cocktail? app? sides? more food? buy more! now! buy more!). if the first one was trying to rush us through the meal, that wasn't going to happen since we had to wait almost half an hour for the food to hit the table. the second server was tons better.

owned by the same people as bellanotte, r. norman's didn't have the usual supper-club decor, it's lighter in here, with a gas fireplace, pictures of the rat pack, and more modern furniture and lines. but you have to stare at things like a bus stop on hennepin (from the bar) or a looming picture of rush limbaugh (enough to make anyone lose their appetite, ahem) and block e from the restaurant. this place was not worth the $55 or so for dinner before the gift cards were taken off. it was maybe worth the $15. (pre-tip.) but hell, i'm not coming back here, and since the sushi lounge is more about the lounge than the sushi, i see no reason to go there either.

16th- french meadow, minneapolis (b-)

as the holiday fast approaches where i can't eat it, i want to eat even more bread than i usually do. it is possible, you know. difficult, but possible. anyway. so french meadow seemed a logical choice for dinner (and a to-go loaf after). mrs. brk and i split the sampler appetizer of castelrosso cow's milk cheese, green fields cow's milk cheese (well, i had most of those, of course) with a killer swanson honey (though not made from killer bees), picholine olives, tapanade, and mushroom pate, and they threw on some caperberries that hadn't been listed in the menu description. that was only $8, with nice sized portions of the cheese. perfect to split. with tons of their lovely bread in a variety of flavors. we were both impressed with the spread.

we were less impressed with the dinners. my baked butternut squash/blue cheese ravioli in a brown butter sauce, admittedly a fall sort of dish, was oddly sized. a small bit of squash/cheese mixture in the middle of big acres of pasta. the sides were way too big. and it needed salt, and also, oddly, fat. the sauce didn't taste of butter. it was much better after a large sprinkling of salt and olive oil.

i had encouraged mrs. brk to try something different from what she usually gets (we had a two for one deal). she ended up with bison brasatto- bison short ribs braised provencal style with rice, asparagus, and green onions. it was underseasoned also, and we were sitting in a drafty part of the restaurant and her food cooled too quickly.

in fact, probably the most disappointing thing here was the ambiance. it was way too loud between the blaring jazz music and the table we were near with a bunch of very loud people. hard to hear even across the table. though the table we were at was a lot better than the small, dark table right next to the loud table we were first shown. odd they tried to give us that one right next to another seated table in a half-empty place. service was also a bit on the spotty side. i like lunch or even breakfast here a lot better.

18th- frankie's stonebaked pizza, st. louis park (b+)

i'm not going by ambiance here, just by food. though the mpr member connect card said dine-in only, this is not a dine-in place. there's one table with just one chair, a small counter with three stools, it's designed strictly for waiting. had i known, i would've made other arrangements, they did say i could get it to go. but hey, we stayed. and got half off the pizza (per the card) so it was way reasonable.

the thing had the best deep-dish pizza crust in the twin cities (especially now that uno is gone), i would wager, and would hold it's own against most crusts in town. not surprisingly, i'm a deep dish sort of person. yes, i can be pacified with luce's combos and such, but it doesn't make me truly satisfied the way a good deep dish can. and they got the balance of toppings to crust just right.

we got a large chicken alfredo with garlic, chicken breast, tomtatoes, onions, and green pepper, and it held up against the cheese without any sogginess. this place is my new favorite pizza place. though i am not sure i'd get this particular pizza again. it was nice, but it needed red pepper to sprinkle over them (though i suppose i could do that at home) and more toppings- they were way light on the chicken especially.

27th- punch pizza, eden prairie (c)

a bit under half a decade later, i still don't get it. maybe, as mentioned above, i'm more of a deep-dish person at heart, but the crust was slightly underbaked, so not crisp enough, and the cortina pizza i got (white sauce, mushroom, garlic, gorgonzola, sun-dried tomato, and oregano, menu price $9.95) had not a lot of any of the toppings, except large clumps of garlic that also needed a bit more cooking. it was ok, not great. it was also not seasoned enough.

mrs. brk went with the bruni (sausage, spiced salami, onion, oregano, with red sauce, sans the mozzarella, menu price $9.70). hers was also underseasoned and a bit underdone. the pizzas got to the table very quickly, but another minute in the hot oven would've improved both. she was also kind of underwhelmed, but hers was probably due to lack of cheese... there was tons of the rest of the stuff.

but hey, i figured i usually end the lack of bread period with pizza, and we had a coupon for buy one get one for $1, so it worked out to be $12 for both. i don't think they were worth the menu price, quite. we each finished half the pizza, so hey, four meals for $12 ain't that bad.

since it's a order at the counter, seat yourself and get your own water place, service is not a factor...

 

 

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