1st- gold nugget tavern and grille, minnetonka
3rd- best of india, st. louis park
6th- dangerfield's, shakopee
11th- jj's coffee company and wine bar, eden prairie
15th- pizza luce, hopkins
27th- minnesota state fair, st. paul environs
29th- cousin's subs, minnetonka1st- gold nugget tavern and grille, minnetonka (c+)
mom hadn't been here in 15 years or so, i've never been. so we went to gold nugget, version 2, now in a newer strip mall with condos or apartments on top.
since a cheese curd is hard for me to pass up, and it was still happy hour, i went with the white cheddar cheese curds ($4.25, during happy hour $6.25 otherwise). they were done in an underseasoned tempura batter and had mustard on the side. i went with a mix of the mustard and mostly ketsup to dip them in, it needed more salt.
i think the tempura batter plus using soybean oil for all frying (which does make things trans-fat and cholesterol free), gives you a lighter and healthier sort of dish but misses the entire point of the concept of deep-fried cheese. if i wanted healthy food, i'd get a salad or something. the curds would've been good on top of a burger, say, but as a stand alone dish they're not worth repeating.
what i wasn't disappointed with was the rachel (not on the menu, but i asked for turkey instead of corned beef in the reuben, $10.25). the turkey i think is done on premises (their roast turkey sandwich says it's brined and roasted), it's the real thing. and tasty. they also had the caraway rye done spot on for the toast. i would've liked a bit more dressing or sauerkraut on top (it was a tad dry) and swiss cheese (surprising no one). it was one of the better renditions of it that i've had in ages.
i ordered the onion rings with it (mostly for mom, but i had one) with it- they had the same problem as the curds o'cheese- batter not seasoned, done in the soybean oil. next time i'd go for the slaw and throw in on top the sandwich. for this time, i dipped it in the leftover mustard. not sure i'd go with the fries, i'm thinking even without the batter they'd not taste quite right in the oil.
mom was impressed with the bbq rib sampler that came with a small side of the slaw ($6.95 during happy hour, $8.95 otherwise). they're done in-house, were tender and flavorful and just a bit spicy, and the sampler makes a good portion side for someone with a small appetite.
we had a dining card, where you get up to $8 off if you order two drinks... the drinks run $2.50 or so for things like iced tea and $2.25 for coffee. so it's maybe $3 off. not worth it, per se, i'd just prefer water.
i would've also preferred a different server- ours was the one who seemed to have the least experience. we waited over half an hour for our main courses (yes, a few ribs and a sandwich)- and also got them long after a table in the other section that sat down after us got theirs first. we didn't get water when we sat either, though tables in other sections seem to. we asked for it after refills of other beverages were kind of sporadic.
per mom, the place looks completely different, more upscale (and had strangely nice restrooms). they kept some menu items. and perhaps they kept the overly large tables that're on the booths- when sitting in them with a full house in front and a radio on the background, it was hard to hear across the vast table. that was odd.
i'd say we'd be fine if we went during happy hour (and not used the card), sat at a table (in another section than our previous server's), and ordered nothing fried.
3rd- best of india, st. louis park (b-)
on a 'field trip' from work, we decided to do indian for lunch along the 169 area. we both wanted to try curry and noodles, but apparently they're closed tuesdays. so on to best of india.
there a few more misses than the last time i was here at the buffet ($8.95, up a dollar in the past year and half or so, not bad), most notably in the chicken dishes. the tandoori chicken and another dish that relied on on-the-bone pieces had more bone than chicken, and the curries that had chicken had either sat too long or were of the stringy sort to begin with. plus one of the two naans didn't get filled.
however, the vegetarian curries (one with lentil and spinach, one with peas and paneer, and i think there may be one i'm missing) and other veg dishes (pakora, for instance and a cabbage side i've not seen before ever anywhere, which is nice in buffets) were still excellent. i was surprised that my favorite dish was a fish curry- the fish was tender, and the curry one of the slightly spicier ones. i do wish there was a bit more heat in the dishes, but i just got some of the spicier chutnies and some pickle to help with that.
service was decent. and they've done up the decore well, though maybe a bit heavily leaning towards maroon. i like that it's understated. unlike the music, which as gone from the techo sort of mix to the trad. and fyi- i heard reports that the restrooms were best avoided.
6th- dangerfield's, shakopee (f)
it's not like i wanted to come here, but it was a work thing. my order ended up an if/then statement...
if
i couldn't get the mac and cheese off the kid's menu ($4.99 with a cookie for dessert, not sure if it should've had a beverage or not). the server said they'd check with the kitchen,
then
i would get a soup for dinner (as i don't trust most of their cooking and figured that if i got a soup, there's less of a chance of things going bad and wrong).
if
i was allergic to the soup of the day (again, they had to check), a walleye chowder
then
i would get the chicken wild rice soup ($4.99 for a smallish bowl).
= my dinner.
which turned out to be... the mac and cheese plus the chicken wild rice soup. um. ok. the server later said they couldn't verify ingredients in the walleye chowder (the only person who knew wasn't working) so they brought me the other soup on the house. which was nice of them. in fact for a large group (around 20, so there was a mandatory 18% or so tip, boo for that) the service was much better than last time by far, even on refills (though they refused to give us even one water pitcher).
we all got a popover, last time i believe not everyone did. mine tasted burned inside so that made it less than enjoyable. the soup was not horrible. it had a few larger chunks of chicken, nice texture, not a lot of flavor other than 'cream.'
the mac and cheese was a complete fail in that it appeared to be kraft dinner which was... just... mindblowing... the markup on that was huge- even if it's $1 per box, i got about half a box or so, and they charge near $5 for that and a cookie. the fact that a restaurant can't boil macaroni and make a cheese sauce (or even get one from sysco and heat it up)? that's just bad and wrong to the infinite degree.
between that, some glassware with lipstick stains (before we sat down) and/or chunks of stuff that couldn't be removed with repeated fingernail scrapings, and the extreme restroom scents that caused me to not breathe... not even sure i'd be back for a work thing. it's always a bad thing when a place tries to kill you. overall it wasn't quite as bad as last time, though... mostly due to the the decent service (barring a few plate auctions) and the unawful soup made this feel like slightly less of a total fail.
*but* failing to serve food you've not cooked, especially when you don't label it as that? i can't do for that. no can do. i'm failing for that. the industrial cookie served with it only reinforces that point (i didn't even bother to eat it). and the one or two places i've seen that serve the blue box blues say so on their menu and are not as freaking high-priced and supposedly upscale as this joint. for that matter, i'm giving them the benefit of the doubt saying it's kraft- it could be generic kraft or eacy mac or something.
11th- jj's coffee company and wine bar, eden prairie (d-)
if your restaurant is less than half full, and your patio is empty, would you drop off a check to someone who has about a third of their dinner left? that's way less than hospitable and made my 'happy' hour even less happy. and it was just odd.
i was here because i had a groupon ($10 for $20 worth of stuff). groupons are good for trying new places to see if you'd go again. that was my exit show. even if the food was great, that's the impression i was left with. and beyond that service was... well, kind of bare minumum. so. i'm glad i didn't have to pay for the food, more or less.
not that the olive plate ($4 happy hour 4-7 pm, $5 regular) was bad, but it was cold, pitted olives of ok quality. what kind? no one said, i didn't ask. it's not on the menu. they were agreeably salty. warm would've been a nice touch and made them flavorful.
like most of their menu, those doesn't require any/much cooking... they have things like chips and blue cheese (you get a cup of it), bread and oil, cheese plates, and a few lavosh and flatbreads and such. though i'm not sure if they have an oven. the really sad nachos ($8.50 happy hour, $9.50 regular, and entirely overpriced) looked to be microwaved (and i did hear a ding of a microwave bell before they hit the table).
i went with nachos over the flatbreads as the one review i saw said they needed work.... but one of the comments said that the nachos were good. i think that commenter was into the wine aspect a bit too much, as i think the nachos, beyond work, need off the menu.
they're a pile of the tricolor chips with not enough cheese by a large factor, way too many jalapeno slices (they tasted canned) that i picked mostly off, a vague dusting of almost sliced (there were some whole ones in the mix) black olives (also tasted canned), a scant amount of diced very sad, pale tasteless tomato that i avoided like the plague after a taste, and an afterthought of green onion bits. plus a small cup of (jarred) salsa. they were pathetic and sad.
and why did those two items take, by my esitmation, over 20 minutes to come out of the kitchen?
the beverage was fine, a mumm napa brut prestige tiny bottle ($8 happy hour, $9 regular, usually $6 or so at the store) and was served in an good looking glass. their dishware is interesting and modern looking, but it's sadly what i liked most about this place. though they have what's probably an impressive wine list (i've heard) but it's light on girly options (a.k.a. moscato d'astis and other dessert wines).
so all in all, it was maybe worth the $10.50 for the food and drink. maybe. and maybe this place is better with people so you can order more things? (though do not get the nachos. don't. just don't.) or just drink wine?
they do get credit for being not a scary chain in eden prairie, which has many packed cougar bars. it's a nice looking in a generic sense sort of place. the music reminded me of the weird semi-house jazz mix i hear in the elevators and public areas of the wynn hotel, which struck me as odd.
but... they didn't do as bad as serving kraft dinner, but it was maybe a step above that. it's not cooking. that i knew going into it, but those nachos were not even half-assed. not even a quarter-assed. you can do better with minimal effort. with that and the unwarranted LEAVE NOW rush at the end it didn't seem worth my visit.
this 'and now for something completely different' redo of a former baker's square seems to be an almost immediate success, judging by the packed house and queue at the door for the place, which holds around 250 (more than the square sat, i believe) for an earlier sunday dinner it seemed mad. the parking lot was insanely crowded. other than the case formerly known as pie, you'd hardly know it was a baker's square, but for a luce it seems weirdly generic of a restaurant.... the patrons were less 'luce' than the other location's i know of, but also more diverse in age and appearance.
after the last bad restaurant karma-packed outing at the downtown one, i wasn't so sure i wanted to try this one, but with a free app with $20 spent coupon again, and knowing that my mom (who now can't eat dairy) loved pizza and hadn't been able to eat any decent ones in years, i decided to take her to suburbanluce.
so once more with the $10.99 appetizer sampler again (oct 09, 1st) again, as it's still the most spendy app and i am all about maximizing my couponage. the artichoke dip was the clear winner in flavor for me- maybe when it's fresh it outshine the sundried tomato tapenade, which was more tomato than olive this time. the fresh tomato bruschetta was still fresh, and a bit more prime, but it was too cold to get anything more than the texture of the tomatoes, though you could taste the olive oil, basil and garlic nicely. marianra still seems like a space filler but it was warm and spicy, and good to dip crusts in. the wee focaccia were also nice and warm.
so i went with the good 'za choice, the ($21.98) large athena ("fresh spinach, tomato, feta cheese, calamata olives, artichoke hearts, red onion, greek oregano and toasted garlic with mozzarella on bianca sauce") with soy/vegan cheese instead of the feta and mozzarella. for a vegan pie, it was excellent, but even for a regular pizza it was quite good... and this is coming from someone who cheese is almost a religion. i was quite surprised how flavorful it was, and the texture rocked. once more a bit more finess on the onion chopping would've been welcome. btw, a large pizza, with the app, got us each enough for dinner, plus three more meals (two dinners and a breakfast, say) leftover. they are not small pizzas for sure.
even the service was quite decent. the packedness of the place slowed the water refill, for instance. the server wasn't all disappearing either, which was nice. mom rated the experience an a-, perhaps because she hasn't had pizza in ages. however, she was seating in a chair, i was seated on a banquette that was so unforgivingly uncomfortable my back hurt a day later... and it was not great to sit in at the time... i'd still go back to this particular luce, but not sit in that area.
27th- minnesota state fair, st. paul environs (see individual grades)
tom thumb mini donuts (a+): oh, hell yes. see last year if you want more detail. these are always a must for me. though i think it was $4 per bag this year. still worth it.
original cheese curds (b-): quite good right after we got them, but kinda disapponting a minute or two later. we probably didn't get a batch right out of the fryer, but some heat lamp curds. boo. maybe i should switch to the recommende mouth trap ones next year? these ran about $5.50 per bag. and as much as i wanted to, i didn't put mayo on them. they may have helped the last ones though.
fresh french fries (a): mom's favorite of the day, actually. a french fry standard, especially when you first get them. they had way fewer issues than the cheese curds with the cooling off, also. i like them with vinegar better than ketsup, it seems to enhance them more. the small was around $4.50.
mike's hamburgers (c): mom's hot dog was undercooked, she said (she likes hers dead-looking) but better than the one she got last year. at $2, a bargain. it was ok, she said she'd try again maybe next year but ask for one more done.
turkey to go (a+): no one was kidding, these things rock. i liked them better than everything, even the minidonuts. if i worked downtown i'd be hard to keep away from these things. tender, juicy turkey on a plain bun. who knew? i put some bbq sauce on it and some cajun seasoning, great with it, but the plain bits were also great. i was very very close to licking the wrapper. ($6 for the sandwich).
custard's last stand (f): the biggest disappointment of the day. first they were so disorganized we were behind only one person and had to wait (i was going to get something similar elsewhere but was fascinated by how long this took)- they only had one person taking orders for a fairly large queue, and did nothing to move the 'hmm, i'm not sure' people along. it's the fair, you need technique people. the supposedly orange/vanilla twist small cone ($3) looked a bit pale orange, but didn't taste like it at all, nor was the vanilla any flavor. seriously, the gelato at target field, vanilla bean and blood orange, was like an adult dreamsicle heaven, this was it's opposite (though to be fair, the cheese curds at target field were a huge fail). this was just... creamy and cold. very disappointing all in all.
oh, and i only had a small sample of it, but i'm guessing that the wine ice creams in the ag building would appeal to anyone reading this.
29th- cousin's subs, minnetonka (c-)
well, it's less crappy than subway, and while they had better bread (like the ad says, even) than quizno's, quizno's toasts their subs and that makes the boring average food taste slightly better. i won't compare them with big 10, as that i see as something different (aka not really a chain).
we had a two for one so it was $2.25 for each 7.5" half sandwich, and since they were big for that i managed half of the half. i got what was billed as the philly, but asked for chicken instead of steak. there was rather a lot of chicken, some raw onion and peppers, canned (boo!) mushrooms- all not sauteed like they're supposed to be in a real philly and some marianara on top for some reason, plus the not enough cheese. as i said, the bread was good. the rest was tolerable.
© The bent sun as risen