Restaurant Review: Herkimer Pub & Brewery

Birthday girl with her birthday dessert
of carrot cake

I'm a little ashamed to say, that at the ripe age of 24, I can count on my hands the amount of times I've been to a bar. This past Friday, I fell asleep at 9:30 pm watching The Boondock Saints. Yep, that's me. So to say I'm a little excited to write this review is a bit of an understatement.

One night over the summer I (we) did the unthinkable and went to a bar to celebrate a friends birthday. Not only that but the bar of choice was actually my idea. Had I ever been there? Nope. Thank goodness for Google.

Mark's makeshift "24" birthday card

The place in question is Herkimer Pub & Brewery located in Uptown. Inside its hip and interesting, exactly what I was expecting. There was shuffleboard behind our table and a handful of board games to the left. After dinner, the birthday girl, KT, wanted to play Apples to Apples, which we did and Jessica ended up winning. But now to the drink and food.

Recipe Review: Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls

So much yum!

Sometime last week I received an email from Mark's sister with a few recipes attached. This is a semi-regular occurrence between the two of us and I always get really excited because we seem to have the same philosophy on food: healthy without sacrificing flavor.

Two of the recipes were ideas for fall apples, one was for a chicken salad, and the other was for a black bean and quinoa burrito bowl. I knew right away that I wanted to try the burrito bowl first; it just called to me like all other mexican style dishes. So I soaked a huge batch of black beans and cooked them up the next day.

Other than using fresh black beans instead of canned I followed the directions exactly topping ours with fresh tomato, greek yogurt, and guacamole. Yum! Being as its the burrito filling without the wrap I thought I would miss the tortilla but I was wrong. Mark didn't even complain! It doesn't need anything else. Both of us just loved it.

Seriously... Make. This Tonight. It's definitely a winner.

Head on over to The Shiksa in the Kitchen for the recipe.

One last bad picture

Black Bean and Vegetable Tex-Mex Filling

Us at the Twins game. Final score 19-7... Yeah it was that kind of game.

Over the weekend I cooked up some black beans to use for Monday's dinner. When Monday morning rolled around I was craving some Mexican inspired dish. Finally deciding on black bean tostadas, I went out for my run. It was during my run that I realized that Mark has taco salad for lunch every Tuesday so he probably wouldn't want tostadas the night before. As crushed as I was, I settled on black bean sloppy joes made with salsa.

Garbanzo Bean "Burgers"

Bad picture of garbanzo bean burger with a side salad

Often times around here we get busy doing a million things that when it comes time to eat we have no patience to wait around for food to be ready. So having a couple quick, go-to meal ideas or freezer ready meals is a life saver.

Another life saver is vegetarian protein sources like tofu, tempeh, or beans. Why are they life savers you ask? Because you don't have to wait for them to cook through, meaning food gets into your stomach that much sooner. And while Mark and I are definitely not vegetarians, we enjoy the flavors and textures these sources offer.

Today's post is going to focus on beans, specifically garbanzo beans, and no its not a hummus recipe. Its a "burger" patty recipe for those nights when you want a bun topped with lettuce, tomato, and cheese but don't have the want to wait for ground beef to cook.