2nd- vincent a restaurant, minneapolis
3rd- minnesota state fair, st. paul environs
4th- risotto, minneapolis
9th- heartland, st. paul
22nd- victor's 1959 cafe, minneapolis
24th- brit's pub, minneapolis
25th- ramy's pizzaria and mediterranean cuisine, apple valley
26th- benihana, maple grove2nd- vincent a restaurant, minneapolis (a-)
a bit better happy hour/dinner here, but alas and alack, the sweet corn veloute is already gone from the menu. i coped.
i think was better because we were inside, with the good bartender (they've been there for years, and service is never a problem with him... that i can remember), and the food got to us more quickly from the kitchen. i think last time it may have sat for a shade too long.
we split the tartine ('a thin open faced sandwich on baguette (with) cantal cheese, sauteed mushroos, pine nuts and a drizzle of honey,' $4), the flat bread ('smoked chicken, caramelized onions, bleu cheese and red grapes' $4) and the fries ($3.50). hotter worked better for the tartine, and the bread was thin and a bit crisper, plus there was more cheese which always makes me happy. the flatbread was good, too. it could've been a shade crisper, but the onion really brings that together. the fries could've used a bit more crisp, too, but were otherwise good and seasoned to the just salty enough point. nice.
i didn't get any drinks, but there's good deals on champagne cocktails like the one that's essentially a kir royale with poire william (i like the sweeter, more girly original kir royale) for $5, and a selection of wines by the glass are $3.
3rd- minnesota state fair, st. paul environs
this year i think i'll do the individual food grades... something different. though overall, i was impressed with most of my choices.... the bad ones i can blame other people for... right? please note all prices are approximate... between the allergy meds, and deep fried haze, i kind of spaced on specifics. though this year i am putting in the actual names of stands, courtesy of the state fair food finder. too bad they don't list prices there, too.
so i started with the necessary... the one, the *only* mini donut that you should get at the state fair (imnsho), the tom thumb minidonuts ($3.50, maybe, or 3 for $10 for sure). i always end up at the one that's near the wcco booth (a few to the left of that), i assume the other stand is also all that and a bag of... donuts. fresh out of the grease, with a brief delay for sugar-sprinkles, into your waiting hands in seconds. crispy, almost creamy, somehow... oh, yessss.... sorry, chef shack, even with the indian spices you use, these have the edge for me. (a+)
having tried other ones in the past, i only now get my cheese curds ($4 maybe) from original cheese curds (dan patch between nelson and underwood), not, say, the one inside the food building... i recall trying those ones and not liking them as much. this year they weren't all fused, like they can be, but seperated well with no cheese-less pockets, and salted just right, and just the proper amount of melt. (a+)
someone recommended the reese's peanut butter cups at the deep fried candy bars stand ($3.50 i'm pretty sure). the closest i came to something on a stick- it had toothpicks in it. the first ones maybe had sat around for a while, so when i bit into it, they weren't all lovely and melty inside, instead it was mostly just the regular candy with dough and icing sugar on it. when asked if the package was made fresh, they weren't sure, so they did make new ones. they were only a shade more melty. i can see where it was headed, but it never arrived there. disappointing big-time, and not something i would get again. but hey, it was new. (d)
though the tastes of blue sky creamery ice cream they were handing out in the food building booth were quite nice, after sampling the honey lemonade last year at the minnesota honey producers assocation at the agriculture/horticulture (everytime i go there i think of that really bad joke) building, i remembered i wanted to try the honey ice cream with sunflower seeds ($3.50, $4? for a cone) and didn't get it then (i can rememeber pointless information quite well!). so i skipped the usual dairy building. i liked the texture with the sunflower seeds, but i think it could've used a tad more honey flavor. and i prefer the soft-serve to hard packed ice cream, but for hard packed, it was quite creamy. (b)
after all that creamy and/or deep fried stuff, i wanted one 'real' bit of food before we left, something sandwich-y. i opted for the chick pea and potato roti ($5 for sure) at harry singh's carribean restaurant in the food building- new this year. the line was fairly short, for one, and most things in the food building are not things that i wanted to eat right then, couldn't eat, or had very long lines. roti usually run about $10 at his place and are fairly huge. the ones at the stand are not huge at all for the money, they could've been a bit more generous with what are fairly inexpensive main ingredients. the curry sauce they were in was nicely spicy (not quite as much as i like it, but i can see why) and complex. and the roti was freshly made at the fair, so points for that. even with a short line, though, the wait was a bit long (i think a few people had large orders they were picking up). plus it's hard to walk and eat this at the same time. i'd rather go to his restaurant and maybe try something else that's fair specific... giggles campfire grill always has interesting things, but i'm never around machinery hill at lunch.... (b)
4th- risotto, minneapolis (f)
there was a lot of wtf going on with my lunch. let's get the whole... they don't have risotto for lunch out of the way first. i knew that going in, but it's still a bit of wtf. if it's in the name of your restaurant, you really should find a way to have it on the menu. even at lunch. even if it takes a bit longer. all the reviews mention that.
there's no bell or anything on the door. when i walked in, no one was to be seen for quite a few minutes. i was about to turn and walk out when someone finally appeared. odd. they seemed surprised someone wanted lunch.
i had wanted the portobello mushroom panini (i had seen the online menu before), so of course they were out of it. well, i'd say they just didn't have it in. which is odd. it's (for now) permanently on the menu, you're going into a weekend, and people eat out more on weekends, and i would guess it would be on the supply list... wtf happened there?
the fallback was the grilled chicken breast, red pepper and fontina panini ($8). you get a cup (it was more of a bowl) of tomato-basil soup or a spring salad with that. at best it was ok, but lacked seasoning (salt helped some) and personality. nothing made it good. edible, sure. adequate, sure... but flavorful? no. and if there's only one person in your restaurant, and i assume the soup is already made, should it take 15 minutes for you to get a grilled sandwich to the table? especially if you think people won't wait the 20 minutes for risotto? wtf?
but the biggest wtf was something that would make me not go back ever (not that i was impressed by anything else)... the very religious music in the background of the supposedly secular restaurant. it wasn't a mexican artist singing about his friend jesús in the background, or miles lord they were singing about.
it was almost too quiet to hear when i sat down, and by the time i noticed it a while after my order (when there was a heavily jesused song on), i didn't have time to cancel it (limited time to eat before an appointment). but *any* kind of religious music is *so* not appropriate in a secular restaurant (well, maybe xmas carols don't count, they tend to be about santa, who's not a religious figure). i did run this by a noted restaurant critic, who thought it also thought it 'crazy' that this would happen.
it's not hospitable at all, and this is not a place i will ever spend any money again.
and btw... there was also cross (or perhaps a rosary) hanging on the winerack.
how so very uncomfortable... the opposite of hospitality.
so i ate quickly, never to return.
for those of you who think i should've said something or asked them to turn it down... perhaps i should have, but that doesn't excuse them playing it at all and it's not like i would've come back again. it had already happened. it's their job not to play it. i figured i would eat and leave as quickly as i could.
i wanted to use my gift certificate (thanks again!) while there was still a bit more produce around (august would've made more sense, for that no?), though even a trip here in december is worth it. plus hey, who knows what'll happen to this location if they pass the food allergy ordinance. and i will preface this by saying they're usually pretty great, i am kind of grading on a curve here. there was a bit of 'off' in the vibe today i think.
let's start with the wine... i was pretty sure the glass i ordered not what i got. i liked what i got, however (the saracco moscato d’asti, piedmont, italy 2008 $8 per glass). they did offer to replace it, but i had already had some and was happy with it. i coped. but that was kind of odd, as i remember pointing to it on the menu. but other than the weird wine thing (again, they offered to replace it), service was quite fine, water refills and all.
the fennel seed rye roll was flavorful and hearty and strangely better without the butter than with. the wheatberry oat roll was not the evening's favorite of anyone. it lacked personality. and perhaps salt. i did love the amuse bouche, though, a chanterelle (i think) mushroom mousse with a flax and grain toast and tiny, tiny bits of kirby cucumber in a walnut vinaigrette. a perfect late-summer bite.
since the 'flora' menu (the three course prix-fixe menu for $30) i usually opt in for was a bit too heavy on the beets (aka it had any amount of beet in it), i went a different course. to start, it was the 'minnesota chanterelle mushroom-wild rice soup with sweet corn and fresh chives' ($10). more fungi, yes.
i am not sure what the intention here was. were the mushrooms for the meaty texture? they were way larger than everything in the bowl- moderate chunks compared to the rest of the ingredients that ranged from tiny chive bits to veg that were maybe a bit bigger than a brunoise. they're not really flavorful per se, they give a wee hint of nutty that played well with the wild rice's creamy nuttiness.
but corn was the predominant flavor. not that i minded, i love corn, but the billing had the mushrooms as the star. it was quite good and also was in the whole late-summer vibe, but sweet corn was more the star than the advertised featured player. i will say it was nicer when i got a bit of everything in a spoonful, then i can see where they were going with the soup. but if it were indeed the same mushroom as in the mousse, it worked better there.
to make the mushroom theme complete, the main course was the 'wild acres farm duck breast with puffball mushroom-butternut squash napoleon, leek confit and crabapple glace de viande' ($30). the duck (i am trying hard not to mention anything along the lines of mr. quack here, but i know when the battle is lost....) itself was perfectly cooked, but it had fat that was on the difficult side to remove (even with the non-butter knife i was given to eat it). i had to fight for it.
the napoleon was a bit perplexing. tall food is not my favorite thing to attempt to eat and this was around a 1" to 1.5" slice (?) of a large cakelike bit of squash, a tiny, tiny layer of mushroom, then another squash cake thing on top, then the leek confit. and as it turned out, it was a bit bland by itself and needed a dunking in the sauce to be tasty. so i ended up more or less knocking it down and cutting it in smaller bits. like the soup, the more ingredients i could get together to eat in one bite, the better the dish was. i would've liked a bit more salt than was used in the dish, too.
i walked out thinking... hmmm. slightly disappointed, they're off their game just a bit tonight maybe. it'll be all good next time, i'm sure.
22nd- victor's 1959 cafe, minneapolis (b)
we went here because every now and then i get a coupon or gift certificate or something for a new place, just to see what it's like. in this case, it was restaurant.com's sale (sometimes you can spend $1-2 for $25 off $35, but it's often for places you don't wish to go, as those sell out too quickly, but that's another story).
mom opted for the ropa vieja (" shredded flank steak is simmered in our own sherry-spiked spanish red sauce with green & red peppers, garlic, onions and sweet green peas," as seen on tv, apparently). she substituted the yuca ("steamed, then fried, and served with our garlic & lime juice mojo with lightly sautéed onions") for the sweet plantains, and since they were out of the yellow rice, she got white with some of the red sauce on the side ($14).
she thought her food was just ok. from the menu description it sounds like it's more of a stew than it is, the dish she got was pretty much meat, not so much veg. after several doses of extra red sauce, it was decent enough, she reports, though it also needed more salt.
since i was in a girl drink mood (plus we needed $35 worth of stuff to order to use the $25 off), i got the guava tropical mimosa ($6) with my salmon with mango ("a 6 oz salmon filet, pan-seared and topped with a mango glaze, served on a bed of spinach that's been sauteed with garlic") and opted for the tostones- fried green plaintains- instead of the sweet plantains and the white rice with black beans. my plate was generally better. since i usually like my things very salty, i also used more on my plate, that was about it. the salmon was nicely done, the sauce was tasty, the spinach wasn't bitter. the starches were fine.
i don't have tons to say about the food as it was for some reason. maybe it could've used a bit more excitement on the plate (like a more complex seasoning). but both plates had generous helpings, and the mimosa was served in a very generous amount. the server was cheerful and helpful (down to the water refills), the place interestingly divey (down to the writing on the walls). the coupon made it a very good deal all around.
24th- brit's pub, minneapolis (d-)
they're only getting an upgrade as the server fed us a few trivia answers... the artichoke dip was quite icky. supposedly it was artichoke and spinach dip, yet it had no spinach. and it needed smaller artichokes, less clumpy cheese, more flavor, and overall help. ack. ($5.95 during 'happy' hour, though it made me very unhappy.) but hey- there was tons of decent bread with it. but alas, it was supposed to be toast. it's been less icky before. crispin brut was $3.53, which seemed way random.
the sad thing is if i have this again here, i'll forget when i order how bad it was last time, and order it again and it will probably be bad then. or hey, maybe i could be surprised? heh.
25th- ramy's pizzaria and mediterranean cuisine, apple valley (f)
what is the first flavor sensation you think of when you think of greek pizza? for me, between the olives and the feta, you'd think salt, right? here, the pizza tasted like... nothing, really. after applying tons of garlic, salt, some parmesan, and red peppers, it tasted... kind of garlicky. that's about it.
though billed as having 'fresh plum tomatoes' it had more sad regular tomatoes (flavorless). the spinach, though fresh tasting as opposed to frozen, was piled in weird clumps in random spots. there was a stingy amount of black olives, and the feta lacked the briny taste i expect. the red sauce was a nonentity of flavor. the outer crust held up ok, but the middle sogged.
but the quite crappy pizza is really not why i won't be back here a third time (even though the first time was not so bad). i'm not coming back because of $3. i printed off what i thought would serve as a coupon- the section of their web site entitled 'specials' said you could get a variety of deals, including $3 off a large pizza (typically $15.95 for a large per their web site, though i think they charged even more in store).
but they said it wasn't a coupon. um... then wtf is the section entited specials for? deals that rhetorically exist if you had a coupon, so it's special that they could exist? that is so very, very wrong and messed up and makes the fake picture-filled web site (none of them of the actual restaurant, not sure it's the actual food either) even more bad and wrong.
but they wouldn't take the $3 off. $3. it's not like it was half off the thing. or even a third off... it's not like i requested a huge discount.
they did hand out a coupon so there could be $3 off the next pizza... but um. once you said no to the paltry $3 off that time... i. am. not. going. back. there. ever. because hospitality? is not that. i can have less crappy pizza with better service elsewhere. (well, maybe not in apple valley, but i can always hit satay 2 go while there for good food.)
and eating the sad pizza after the sad service sealed that fate right quick.
as we were finishing, they brought out bakalava ($2.50 on the web site, not sure what they charge for it once you get there). a gesture that was probably made overhearing me say i'm not coming back and then talking that over with the other restaurant person. and was too bloody little too bloody late.
though hey... the bakalava was the best thing i ate out of that kitchen. ironic, that.
26th- benihana, maple grove (d+)
admittedly, i didn't think ahead of what being allergic to shellfish means at a place like this. that's my own fault. but i do think i can't be the first person who showed up with a shellfish allergy there. they did cook my food in the back so it wouldn't touch the shrimp-filled grill. but there were a few problems here... i'm on a run of bad luck in restaurants, it seems.
they replaced that shrimp appetizer (standard with all teppanyaki) with... nothing. not extra veg, not chicken or tofu or salmon or noodles or chicken fried rice. nothing. and they charged me full price. also, though whereas they brought out the non-teppenyaki part of the meal with everyone else's (a decent enough japanese onion soup and a boring, too-cold standard iceberg lettuce/sad tomato salad that had least had not horrible ginger dressing on it) most of the time i spent there pretty much sat around and watched the chef cooking for others and the other people eating. i didn't get any food past the salad until near the end of the show when they did the rice..
so not fun.
i don't think bringing out my veg would've been too hard to manage then. i mean, they had someone refilling that water before it got halfway down the glass, most of the time. one of water-fillers could've taken a minute to go back and get a plate.
maybe the whole experience would've been a bit better if we had a top-notch teppanyaki chef, but ours dropped stuff, missed a throws, and didn't do as much of a show as the chef who was right behind him.
and definitely the whole experience would've been better had the food been good. perhaps i ordered wrong or whatever. but i was in a noodle mood, so i got yakisoba with chicken and veg. i was expecting udon, but it was more like angel-hair whole wheat pasta. there was not a lot of veg (other than the zucchini and onion that was standard with the meal i don't recall seeing any, so maybe none entirely). and almost no chicken. and what there was of it- underseasoned by tons. so not worth the price ($17.60). i did think it odd they brought me rice with a noodle dish, but hey, it gave me something to eat at that point. was it horrible? no. but it was below average for sure.
and also... my friend had a birthday coupon for a free meal, which they forgot to take off. so they ended up taking $30 (the coupon maximum value) off the total. we ended up paying about $10 each with tip. hers was worth it, she thought. mine, not so much.
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