Restaurant Review: Eat Street Social

09.29.12

So at the end of September Mark and I did something nobody (including ourselves) ever thought we'd do: got married. And we did it exactly the way we wanted, without telling anyone and with no ceremony. It took $1000 and a month to plan. The only catch was that we needed two witnesses, so we invited Daren, Jeff, Ben, and Angie for a day of marriage license signing and food.

The food, thats the important part. We thought it would be a nice "thank you" to take everyone out to lunch after the wedding. After much research and a livingsocial purchase, reservations were made at Eat Street Social in Uptown. This was a place I had had my eye on for a couple months after reading about their soda fountain drinks in an mspmag article. I thought it would be perfect since we had the whole spectrum of eaters joining us and their brunch menu seemed to fit the bill.

After our early morning of driving to Rosemount and back we stopped into Eat Street Social for some grub. We were seated at a huge booth that comfortably fit all 6 of us and in plain sight of the bar, which I enjoyed.

Weekend Recap

Our turtle, Zooey

Friday Evening (8.17.12): We started our new apartment search by viewing a place in Golden Valley; the place set the bar pretty high. Then we went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to purchase some much needed new Brita filter, went home and ate dinner (dessert too!), made some notecards for Mark, and watched some Dark Shadows!

Friday night dinner: slow cooker vegetable-pasta soup
with ham & cheese sandwiches

If I write out the formulas that makes me smart, right?

Dessert from Cocoa & Fig

FINALLY some Dark Shadows!

Restaurant Review: Sweet Taste of Italy (Crystal Location)

"Please form a single file line." Anyone else remember
hearing that all through elementary school?

Way back in July, after our day at Canterbury Park with Daren and Jeff we went out to eat at a place called Sweet Taste of Italy in Crystal. I think the Crystal location is their second shop because it was tiny, like the seating area must be navigated in single file tiny. For some reason Mark and I enjoy restaurants with small kitchens connected to the order counter and limited seating. I think we were born cafe type people.

For being in such a cramped space it's got quite an extensive menu: sandwiches, pastas, wings.... All of which we wanted to try, but lets be honest Mark and I went for the pizza. We have a duty to the great people who happen to stumble upon this blog to show them the way to great Minneapolis pizza. It's a tasty job, and we are more than happy to do it. No "thank you" necessary :)

Sandwiches, pasta, and wings will have to wait for another day.

Back to the pizza. They do both by the slice and full size pizzas, which makes it a great spot for a quick snack or ordering take out. On the day we visited we were in a bit of a hurry to catch a movie so we went the pizza-by-the-slice route. This worked out well as it allowed us to try more toppings.

Mark ordered a slice of sausage & onion and I got a green pepper & onion. When our two slices came we were pleasantly surprised to see that each "slice" was the size of two normal sized pieces. They were thin crust pizza slices with a respectable amount of sauce, cheese, and toppings. And when I say a respectable amount of cheese I mean quality mozzarella oozing off the sides. As for the toppings: the green bell pepper was fresh and had really good flavor, the rings of red onion were cut thick and not skimped on, and the sausage was marble size (some bigger) and spicy.

Absolutely delectable.

We devoured them alongside a tossed salad (that makes it healthy, right?) and it ended up being the perfect amount of food for dinner.

Look at the size of Mark's one "slice" and those sausage bits.

A "slice" of pizza with 2 toppings of your choice comes at a price of $3.75. The choices available for toppings are lengthy , especially for the size of the place.

For our rating:

1. Crust: 6 - Remarkably sturdy for a thin crust but nothing to blow you away.

2. Sauce: 8 - Mild, good amount, and not overpowering. However, it wasn't on Buca's level.

3. Toppings: 7 - Both of us were big fans of the sauce & cheese but would need to try more topping to give a better rating.

Overall Sweet Taste of Italy gets a 7, the pizza was pretty tasty but the cheese and size of toppings were the only parts that really stood out. Above average and a steal for the price.

Not bad.

7.7.12

Weekend Recap

Thursday (8.9.12): Spent the day at Valleyfair, something we have been meaning to do for years.

Big breakfast for a big day: quinoa cooked in coconut milk with
cinnamon & bananas

Lunch break before going on more rides

Waiting in line

At the top of the ferris wheel with Snoopy in the background

Scene straight out of Little Big League

Weekend Recap

Friday (7.20.12): Mark worked from home. After he was done working we went to the mall so he could study and I could shop. We ended our mall excursion by eavesdropping on interviews being conducted inside the Barnes & Noble during the job fair. That was fun. Then we went home, ate some dinner, and watched some Netflix.

Mark started watching Firefly for the first time last week

Restaurant Review: Benihana (Golden Valley Location)

Us celebrating Daren's 25 birthday at Benihana

I don't know this for sure but I have a hunch that when you reach the age of 25 you start to feel really old. Something about realizing you are out on your own, paying your own bills, and 5 years from 30... Woah, I'm breaking a sweat over here just thinking about it. Luckily I still have about a year and a half to prepare myself. And thankfully when Daren turned 25 in June he set an excellent example for how to take it by eating good food (make mental note of this).

One of the places we accompanied Daren to for a birthday celebration is Benihana. I love Benihana and all the restaurants out there like it. It's always a good time watching the chefs prepare your meal right in front of you.

Chef Aaron pouring the yum yum sauce

Making a heart out of the chicken fried rice

Cooking the entrees

If you weren't aware, Benihana has this program called the Chef's Table; it's basically them sending you a monthly "here are our specials" email. But the real reason you should subscribe to this is for the $30 voucher they send out at the beginning of your birthday month. It's good Monday-Thursday anytime during the month of your birthday. Quite the sweet deal as it practically pays for your entire meal (excluding tax and alcohol purchases). So it goes without saying that when mine, Mark's, or Daren's birthday month rolls around we take full advantage of this offer.

Restaurant Review: Punch Pizza (Wayzata Location)

Recognize this picture? It's the blog background!

Like I previously explained, we are on the search for some awesome metro pizza. Anyone you ask says that Punch Pizza is the place to go in Minneapolis. And despite living here for almost two years, Mark and I had yet to try it. That all changed one evening in May after a day of hanging out with Daren and Jeff.

The restaurant we originally wanted to go to was closed for some reason so we settled on Punch because we had never been and Daren hadn't been in a long time. We drove the long 7 minutes back to Daren's hometown of Wayzata and pulled into the Punch lot.

As we were walking in we noticed a huge pile of wood by the door and when we entered the restaurant it all made sense. In the back of the counter area stood a huge wood fired oven heated to 700 degrees. Right then and there we knew this would be an intriguing pizza eating experience.

Restaurant Review: Buca di Beppo (Maple Grove Location

Most of us at Buca fro Daren's 25th birthday

Back in June our good friend Daren turned the ripe age of 52... I mean 25. It was a big one because he is the first of my friends to do so. If you couldn't already tell, we are pretty tight with Daren and his family. We try to get together once a week, and you will often find us over at his house where Mark will be playing MLB The Show with Daren's little brother Jeff. So when his birthday rolled around he and his family kindly invited us along for a birthday dinner at Buca. If you recall, Mark and I had recently tried Buca for the first time and were anxious to try it again.

We went with Daren, Jeff, their parents (Daryl & Sue), their aunt (Cheryl), and her roommate (Patty). Once we were seated the complimentary bread basket was delivered. Forgetting our previous experience, we made the mistake of eating some. It was a regrettable decision; sorry Buca two strikes and you are out with the bread basket.

Next we started looking at the menu, which turned into Mark and I getting schooled on the way Buca works. As it turns out each entree serves at least two people and there is still a good chance you will have leftovers. So Mark and I sat back and let Daren and his family take care of the ordering because we were rather lost.

Weekend Recap

Friday (7.6.12):


There are no pictures for our Friday night. I was feeling a little under the weather so we stayed in and lounged. We did watched Breakfast at Tiffany's for the first time and were pleasantly surprised that we thoroughly enjoyed it. I think we were expecting a semi chick flick/romance, but appreciated how different the movie was as opposed to if it were made today.

Saturday (7.7.12):

Morning:

Farmer's Market Swag:
-Bok Choy
   -Swiss Chard
-Broccoli
-Onions  
 -Tomatoes
  -Blueberries

Turkey Momos with Tomato Chutney

Us enjoying our momos from the farmers market

Vegan Caramel Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting (Twix Cupcakes)

"Twix Cupcakes"

Last week one of our best friends, Daren, and his little brother, Jeff celebrated their birthdays. We got Daren a two year subscription to Motor Trend magazine and we got Jeff a Chicago Bears candy dispenser (I know.....a Bears fan).

Chicago Bears Candy Dispenser

To celebrate we tagged along on their birthday dinner to Daren's favorite restaurant, Buca Di Beppo, where we had fettucine alfredo, pepperoni pizza, chicken parmigana, etc. The next night, we went out to Benihana, which is ALWAYS a good time. But more about that in another post...