Garlic Shrimp Pasta

This is the kind of dinner you're thankful for turning out. This is the kind of dinner that you pull out of your ass because its 7 o'clock and all you have in front of you is thawed shrimp. This is the kind of dinner that makes you want to blog it for the next time your ill prepared.

I know this isn't anything new or inspired, but its just what we needed after a long day. Not to mention, it was the perfect dish to break in our new 12 inch All-Clad skillet!

Isn't she a beauty?

Retail price: $180.

Store price: $99.

Final price after using $50 gift card: $57.

Who's winning at life now Charlie?

I'm done now.

Restaurant Review: Sawatdee (Washington Ave Location)

After a month of dealing with the moving process I am happy to be settled into our new place and ecstatic to have internet! Being so busy with everything I haven't had time to conjure up any exciting new recipes, so here we go with another restaurant review. Up to the plate this time around is Sawatdee.

Now before starting this review I just want to make note of our history with Sawatdee. Maybe it was because he had a stellar first experience, maybe it was because he was from a small town, or maybe he just liked it because it was different but back in college Sawatdee was Mark's favorite restaurant. He used to go on and on about how great it was. Finally, one time he convinced me to try it and I hated it.... Everything except the calamari that is. Love does crazy things because a year later I agreed to try it again, this time for dinner after a Twins game with his parents. Long story short, I was forced to order quickly and ended up not liking my dish or Mark's at all. Needless to say, Sawatdee had two strikes on the count with me.

Fast forward to this Fall. While we were hanging out with another couple, Ben and Angie, we walked by Sawatdee and the boys started to reminisce about a great experience they had there years before when Angie brought up that she had never been. Because I love Mark so much, and because it gave us an excuse to see Ben and Angie again we made plans for dinner. I decided to go in with a completely open mind (maybe my tastes were more sophisticated now and I could appreciate what Sawatdee had to offer, maybe I had always ordered the wrong entrees) and give the place one last shot.

The place wasn't very busy when we arrived and we were seated right away. To be honest, I don't remember much about the decor or atmosphere so I will skip ahead to what we ordered.

Restaurant Review: Zelo

As much as I love spontaneous dates, sometimes I get disappointed with the way they turn out. What can I say? I'm a planner y'all. So imagine my disappointment when I took the bus downtown one summer day for an impromptu lunch at our favorite spot, just to learn it closed 15 minutes before we arrived.

After whining for about 10 minutes hunger took over and we hopped on over to Zelo. Given it was a hot summer day we chose to sit on the patio, perfect for people watching. We were given menus and brought out a bread basket to enjoy while we waited for our meals to arrive.

I ordered half a brazilian salad with salmon and a cup of tomato basil soup. The salad came with mixed greens, hearts of palm, celery, tomato topped with a lemon vinaigrette. To ensure that I got some protein I added a piece of salmon and was (pleasantly) shocked to see that it covered practically the entire salad. The salmon was seared to perfection and paired well with the lemon vinaigrette on the salad. The soup, while flavorful, was just too heavy for me. I felt like I was eating a bowl of pasta sauce, so I will skip this soup in the future.

Do you see the size of that piece of salmon?

Before I get to what Mark ordered I need to share a conversation Mark and I had while browsing the menu:

Me: Do you know what you are going to order?

Mark: I actually think I am going to get something lighter for lunch. *half a second later* I'm getting the lasagna.

That is probably my favorite quote from Mark ever. He didn't even take a breath between saying he was going light and deciding on probably the heaviest menu item. Maybe you had to be there to get why its so funny?

Anywho, on to his dish: lasagna with sausage. Overall, it was very 'meh'... The piece was enormous, more than any one person needs in a sitting. The sauce was heavy, the sausage wasn't predominate enough, and the ending impression was that he wouldn't order it again. The one positive: he was beyond full until dinner.

About to take on his lasagna, which is much larger
than this picture makes it seem

Zelo was perfect for Nicollet Mall people watching but just ok when it came to the food. I loved my salad and if I ever go back would order it again. However I'm not sure if that is because of how good it was or out of fear of being disappointed in my choice of dish.

8.21.12

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 Restaurant Week Summer 2012 Edition: Meritage

Mark's Zoolander face

As Mark mentioned, when Restaurant Week rolls around we spent copious amounts of time picking out new places to try; however this time around there was one restaurant that was a shoo-in, Meritage in St. Paul. You see, a couple months ago Msp Mag released their "best of the best"restaurants issue and Meritage beat out our beloved Vincent for best french restaurant in the readers poll.

Obviously we had scope the place out for ourselves. The menu looked good, but they had some big expectations to fulfill. For starters, did they have a cool french-looking waiter to give Mark free iced tea?

Due to the fact that the restaurant is all the way in St. Paul (Minneapolis, you feel me?) and Mark had to work all week we went for dinner.  As with most Restaurant Week participants, Mertiage put together a 3-course meal menu for a fixed price of $30. So it's a nice way to try some of the best restaurants in the city for a reasonable price.

Restaurant Week menu

When we arrived it was extremely loud and busy. The place is laid out kind of like a small European cafe (not that i've ever been to Europe, just what I imagine it to be). We were seated in a tiny booth/table with no room between us and the next booth/table. Our waitress came and although she was clearly American she was nice so no strikes were given against her or Meritage. Since we had studied the menu for weeks prior we were able to place our orders right away. This calmed me immensely because it was already close to 7:30, I was starving (the three pieces of buttered bread I inhaled upon arrival did nothing to sooth my hunger pains), and the place was packed with no end of incoming traffic in sight.

Luckily, I remembered to take a picture
before devouring and asking for more

Restaurant Review Grand Marais Edition: Dockside Fish Market

Looking tired and waiting for our food at Dockside Fish Market

One of the many reasons Mark and I were excited to be going to Grand Marais was for some fish. We figured that since the town was on the shore they had to have some good fish and TripAdvisor confirmed our hunch with some pleasant reviews about a couple restaurants. Since we were only going to be in Grand Marais a few days we knew we wouldn't be able to try all the seafood restaurants, so we narrowed it down to two and make sure to try at least one.

As soon as we arrived at the lodge I was feigning for some fish so we checked in, threw our bags into the room, and headed into town for some grub. We quickly located all of the restaurants we planned to try, but I was still in the mood for fish. So we headed over to Dockside Fish Market to get me my fix.

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.

Trip To Grand Marais, MN (part 1)

Mark and I are always talking about going on vacations. The problem is we are indecisive dreamers. Luckily a couple months ago a livingsocial deal for a two night stay at the Cascade Lodge in Lutsen, MN popped up and we made the impulse buy.

The next day Mark called to make our reservations so we wouldn't forget to use the deal. We scheduled a June 18-20 stay and then eagerly waited for date to come by researching things to do and places to eat.

Finally, the time to take our trip had arrived. We loaded the car with our luggage, snacks, and list of restaurants to try and were on our way. We were so excited to get to Lutsen we didn't get hungry on the entire 5 hour drive.

Us taking in the view of Duluth from the rest area

We checked into the hotel around 1:30 and were pleasantly surprised at how secluded the place was. I wanted a getaway free from texts, calls, and emails and boy did I get just that and then some with no choice in the matter, which we will get to later. After hauling our luggage up to our cozy room overlooking Lake Superior, we drove the 10 minutes into Grand Marais to get a bite to eat.