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.

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.

Restaurant Review: CRAVE (West End Location)

Earlier this summer I had a rare just-the-girls dinner with some old college friends. We all live in relatively the same area so we met up at the West End in St. Louis Park for dinner at CRAVE. I was looking forward to eating at CRAVE because I had never been and wanted to try it out.

We arrived around 6 pm and luckily we had a reservation because the place was busy. After we were seated our waiter came, took our drink and appetizer orders, and left us to scan the menu.....

We didn't see our waiter for another 15-20 minutes when he came to drop off our drinks and appetizers. By this time we were all starving and promptly placed our orders hoping the previous 20 minutes were just a fluke. I mean, they were busy but not THAT busy.

Unfortunately, we were wrong.

By the time our food actually came it was almost 8 pm. One of the girls I was with still had some planning to do for her job the next day so we each took a couple bites and asked for to-go boxes. When the checks arrived we all already had out our cards, hoping the waiter would pick up on our vibes.

Funny thing happened, knowing that he would get new customers the faster he got us out the door he had our cards back to us in record time!

Now that I got the negative part of my review out of the way on to the good....

The food was delicious!

Restaurant Review: Colossal Cafe (St. Paul Location)

Our food ticket (named after streets in St. Paul)

Apparently we couldn't get enough of St. Paul because two days after Meritage we found ourselves back in our not-so-old stomping grounds! We met up with our friends Ben & Angie who had been telling us about this restaurant called Colossal Cafe (as seen on Diners, Driver Ins and Dives*) that apparently served up a mean brunch menu. *I should note that they do have a Minneapolis location but it only accepts cash and we didn't have enough on hand.*

Doing brunch had been on our summer bucket list so meeting up one Saturday after our Farmer's Market trip was an excellent opportunity to fulfill that bullet point on our list. On the ride to the restaurant Ben & Angie warned us that the place was small and had fend-for-yourself seating, something that would have thrown me off had I not been briefed beforehand. Sure enough and true to the description the place was small and extremely busy. Knowing we were newbies, Ben & Angie ordered quickly and hustled to find us seating while Mark and I mulled over the menu. After finally ordering we took our seats on the two stools at the bar that Ben & Angie had secured for us and waited for our food to arrive.

Mark went with a full stack of flappers complete with apple, brie, honey and walnuts on top. I wish I could have snapped a picture of the look on my face when Mark's HUGE plateful of yeast-based pancakes arrived. They were smothered in the above mentioned toppings and were delicious.... for a few bites. After a while they were just too heavy for me. As luck would have it Mark loved them, especially the thickness of the pancakes. He could see how these flappers worked as sandwich bread (one of the ways you can order any of the sandwiches on the menu). Mark also thought the brie was a great addition to the pancake toppings. However, he noted that there was just too much honey. The honey was literally covering the plate, he couldn't even eat the bottom flapper due to the saturation.

Ready to dig into his stack of flappers

Close up of the apple, brie, walnut flappers with honey

I ordered the artichoke, spinach, tomato, and feta frittata. It was wonderful, eggs with vegetables and cheese... the ideal "Tara" meal if one were to exist. The ingredients mixed together to form the perfect flavor tones. The tanginess of the artichoke, the saltiness of the feta, and the mellow undertones of the spinach and tomato thoroughly satisfied my palate. It came with two slices of lightly buttered homemade toast which were obviously an appreciated and enjoyed side.

My yummy frittata

Mark and I really liked the food and were grateful we had chaperones to lead the way through our busy first Colossal experience. Next time I would probably order the frittata again (THAT good), and I bet Mark would order one of their savory sandwiches on a flapper.

Notes:

*The Minneapolis location is the one featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives.

7.14.12

Weekend Recap

Friday Evening (7.13.12): Got some running around out of the way and made some much needed purchases

Mark's new tea pot, $10 at Macy's!

Mark's new work pants, $30 at Macy's!

Can't wait! And of course we are going with Daren and Jeff.

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.

"Restaurant" Review: Target Field

View of skyline from inside Target Field

Even though April has a tendency to be unpredictable when it comes to weather, its still one of my favorite months. It's finally Spring (spend a winter in Minnesota and you will understand), the days are getting longer, and BASEBALL SEASON is finally here. Mark and I are big baseball fans. I can't think of a much better way to spend a weeknight then relaxing at a ballpark and watching some baseball. What makes it even better is that Target Field is an outdoor stadium and we live 10 minutes away.

Luckily for us the winter was kind this year and uncharacteristically warm. So when our friend Daren offered for us to tag along to the April 14th game against the Rangers we jumped on it. Not only were we excited to watch our first baseball game of the season, we made a pact to try different food items at the ballpark this year. Usually, we go with the reliable and delicious hot dogs or a bag of Angie's kettle corn, but Target Field offers a lot more, and this year they added some items that sound too good not to try.

Of course, I did my research before we went to the game. This is a must for me because I like to actually sit and watch the game, not stand in line and wrestle my way through the crowds. New Target Field food choices for 2012 include: a mega meatball, a baked potato bar, fried pickles (totally up my alley, but Mark isn't a fan), garlic fries, buffalo mac n cheese, and a bacon sloppy joe.

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...