1st- pig and fiddle, minneapolis
4th- hell's kitchen, minneapolis
5th- duluth grill, duluth
6th- harbor view cafe, pepin, wi
15th- the scoreboard, minnetonka
18th- babani's kurdish restaurant, st. paul
20th- biryani, edina
25th- barbette, minneapolis
1st- pig and fiddle, minneapolis (c-)getting a $10 for $20 groupon here seemed like a good idea at the time- both mom and i like trying new places (though she tends to not like ones that are so far away, and this one isn't). the menu seemed interesting enough. but this place brought the ambivancence on big time.
they staffed oddly- there was the bar with the bartender and one server for not tons of tables, and one server in the more dining area with a bunch more tables. we sat in the dining area, and that seemed good to start, but one group of 10 people slowed things down for everyone else in the room (so yep, no water refills and the bottle that it would've come from was also empty so i couldn't DIY it either and a long, long wait for the check while the other backed up tables got to order first).
there a lot of waiting was going on while the bar server had not a lot going on on the other side didn't come to assist- there's no excuse for that, it's not like they can't see in there (a half wall divided the two) unless they're told not to by management.
the dark wood bar trying to be old school bar ambiance made the place kind of cave-like on a very hot day- that's not a bad thing, but it seemed either underdecorated or it still had its new bar look. if you took a few of the pictures down, you could be anywhere.
as for the food, the only thing either of us liked were the pickled onions (all two of the tiny ones) and the coating on the fish. the haddock in the fish and chips ($15) was overly 'fishy' (and yes, i like fish). the chips were very crispy but also very underseasoned to the point of blandness. and if they were starting with actual potatoes it didn't show as there was no potato flavor in them. the pickle remoulade was bland and watery.
i ordered wrong, i will admit that. i was swayed by sweet corn- it isn't the first time that happened and it won't be the last. i went with the pasty with smoked chicken and sweet corn ($11 i think), both ingredients that were undertulitized as it tasted mostly like not so very good mashed potatoes. there were also random carrots in the mix, unmentioned in the menu. i hate cooked carrots. the pastry wasn't bad (which for me is saying a lot as i usually loathe all crusts).
it also came with a side- i went with fries (the other choices are salad and warm potato salad). i found them more tolerable after i had covered them in salt (they had a bit of sea salt on them i think), doused them in vinegar, and then dipped them in mayo. that's a bit far to go for flavor.
we didn't hate it but found nothing redeeming in the food- it's like a million other gastropubs out there... more pub than gastro. though hey, their name is fun to spoonerize.
4th- hell's kitchen, minneapolis (b)
thought i would get my kickstarter bonus (pretzels from the angel food bakery upstairs, and fyi they have the best chai i've ever tasted) and use the 'golden ticket' for free huevos rancheros that i won a few months back at their anniversary shindig, where i had, yes, huevos rancheros ("a crisp flour tortilla with buttery hash browns, spicy black beans, soft-scrambled eggs and a 3-cheese topping, all baked to a golden brown. topped with hand-chopped salsa and a dollop of sour cream," $11.25).
i figured it would be less busy (though it was tons busier than i thought it would be) so it would be better than last time. i remembered to ask for the bottled hell right away (the oddly containing corn syrup hot pepper sauce they use, if they made their own it would be better i bet) and also asked for crisp hashbrowns.
this time the food was hot, the hashbrowns were improved and not undercooked (but still not quite done enough) and the eggs weren't overdone. but the eggs. along with the cheese, was lost in the food, as was the cheese. if they did fried eggs with it i bet it'd be way better and the egginess wouldn't be overwhelmed by the beans. the beans take over the dish a bit too much.
mom wasn't that hungry, she got some excellent sourdough toast ($2.25) and a cup of soup of the day ($3.75), tomato vegetable. it came with baguette that was less interesting than her toast. the soup was a bit spicy (in a good way) and flavorful (in a 'used the real and good tomatoes to start it way').
the service was competent and friendly though the server had too many tables (i.e. it took a bit too long on water refills).
5th- duluth grill, duluth (a-)
still all that and a bag of kale chips. they're doing more veg by themselves, but most of it is not ready at the moment, but they're still about using the organic and fresh and having a variety of choices for people with different dietary needs while still making some very tasty indeed updated diner classics. i remembered the malt wasn't my favorite so we stuck with water- the manager brought around refills promptly.
the smoked salmon omlet ($12.50, menu prices online not updated to reflect the actual, they still have it listed at about $1 less) was packed and topped with rather a lot of local (northern waters smokehouse) smoked salmon and havarti with dill. you get a lot of fish for the money. i wish the omlet would've been a bit more seasoned and fluffy, but it was only off by a shade. and yes, doubters, fish and cheese do go together.
it comes with one side, you can add another for $1. i went with hashbrowns, though i forgot to order them crispy they came that way (which is sadly rare, bad pun intended). again, needed a hit of salt. i topped them with the housemade ketsup (better than hell kitchen by a bit, but yes.... it also needed more salt, but again i like things way saltier than most of you humans... one of these days i should keyword search to see how many times i mention that most things served are never salty enough for me and only me and everyone else would find them fine...) and pickapepper sauce they had at the table, that made them a lot more interesting, flavorwise. i put those on the omlet too, why not.
i also added sourdough toast (team bread!) that was thick cut and served with housemade toppings (well, not the butter), i went with strawberry jam that was fruity and flavorful without being too sugary. i liked the flavor of the bread also.
mom is still on her soup kick,so it was soup and a half sandwich ($8, one cent more than online menu and that? is just odd). she had a similar soup last time- beef then instead of the current buffalo with barley and various summer veg which she quite enjoyed. the tuna in the sandwich was a bit too undrained.
it was slightly less packed than last time, though we probably went on a weekend before (i am too lazy to look that up) and this was on a thursday. we were seated right away and the food came quickly, service was attentive in a dinerish way (if that makes any sense). i am a bit sad that it was hot out- i really love turkey and the thursday speacial is the turkey dinner, but that kind of meal on a warm day for lunch means instant naptime. sigh.
6th- harbor view cafe, pepin, wi (a-)
i've been wanting to try this destination restaurant for years, and figured during my 'staycation' that it would make a good day trip, calculating that the usual long waits would be lessened by the mid-week holiday.
it was odd that the menu was leaning towards heavy, creamy, and/or fried dishes during the heat wave (it broke 100 today again), especially as they are all in huge, dinner like portions (we were there for lunch)- summer cassoulet, pasta dishes, duck breast, that sort of thing. i wanted the portobello sandwich, but that was erased while i was looking over the choices on the blackboard. the only other main dish that seemed cool was the grilled chicken topped salad, which sounded boring.
we started with some nice but kind of personality-free white and much better wheat bread with lovely butter. i should've asked where the butter came from, i'd like a lot more of it.
ok, well, i was a bit wrong about the menu- you get soup or salad with your food, and i opted for soup. it's not as crazy as it sounds, as it was a chilled cucumber soup that was creamy, had interesting seasoning and was the most perfect thing on a day like today. i could bathe in that stuff. i want to eat that daily during the summer.
i should've gone for a bowl of that with dessert maybe and not what i ordered. or i should've asked about it, as the menu called them 'stuffed mushrooms' with cheese and linguini ($18). i thought the mushrooms were maybe large portobellos with the stuff in them, and that would've been ok. instead it was pasta dish in a heavy creamy sauce (tasty, but still...) with the whole parmsean cheese-topped mushrooms on top.
not really what i was thinking or what i wanted in heated weather. the whole mushrooms were hard to cut in the overstuffed bowl, plus the dish needed one more element to complete it, some herb or something to bring it all together (my vote is tarragon). i ordered wrong for the day, for sure but this is not a dish that should be on a menu right now of a seasonal, organic place.
the bit broccoli and lemon on the site were good, but i wasn't sure why they were on the side of the plate. maybe if the broccoli was in the dish it would've been the thing to unite it.
mom opted for the green salad with house made french and peppercorn ranch dressings. nice flavor in the salad because of the ingredients, and the housemade dressings were wonderful.
it turns out that the pan fried trout with new potates and green beans ($22) was a better order. the whole cranberry sauce and the grated horseradish cream went well with the fish (i wouldn't have guessed that about the berries). the fish was fried to perfection in a coating that was just right (not too light or too heavy). they included the head so the cheeks were accessible. since mom is a mushy veg fan, she didn't like the green beans (they were more of an 'al dente' thing), i thought they were just right.
alas, we couldn't really view the harbor due to the mostly shut blinds and dark, lighs out interior (keeps cooling costs down and people cooler, at least psychologically). the service was a bit strained when we got there (still busy) but water was filled quickly and we were offered bread when our basked was rained. unlike some other places i've been after wanting to go for ages after hearing about them for so long, this wasn't disappointing. so that's always a plus.
15th- the scoreboard, minnetonka (a-)
though the chicken thighs on the salad bar were not as great as last time (they were breaded- still tender and juicy, but the breading wasn't my favorite), they seemed to have lost the cauliflower that's usually on the salad bar ($8.95), and the place was overly packed and service a bit slower than usual,
but.
one of the two soups on the salad bar was most likely one of the best beer cheese soups i've ever had. just a hint of beer, and the rest was like drinking cheese, with just the right amount of seasoning for me (many people may have found it a tad salty, but that's how i roll), and that is something i could do all day...
and the soft serve ice cream doesn't hurt either on a day like today.
{ungraded since all i had was a speck of potates- mom got the meatloaf sandwich ($8.95), it comes with rather a large portion of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and a mix of peppers, broccoli and squash (from real veg, not frozen). she thought it was ok but needed a bit more gravy,}
18th- babani's kurdish restaurant, st. paul (b)
seeing a show at camp bar's theater, and opted to go here vs. anywhere closer because it seemed like a more interesting option. i was the only one who had been here before.
the appetizer i had wanted the last time i was here and was awol was in today, so we split the large order of the naska nan we panir ("kurdish bread... with a special blend of feta cheese, pure olive oil, oregano, garlic. served with cucumber, tomato, olives & lemon. (small $4.25, large $6.75). somehow we had thought it would all be on the bread, but the cheese etc. was on the side. still tasty, just not what we expected. there's four slices of bread in the order, a largish pile of cheese, and four kalamata olives, four slices of tomato, four slices of cucumber. very precise.
all dinners come with soup or a salad (it makes it a good deal as usually you'd shell out $4.25 for a small and $5.00 for a large one in either case). the jaajic ("cucumber, dill and fresh garlic in a yogurt sauce") was pretty much raita with larger cukes. very yogurty. the tanyata was half jaajic and half tabouli, which brought a little more interest to the dish and made it less like you're eating a condiment. i had soup- the niskena "red lentils, sweet onion, olive oil, and spices") and though thinner than expected, the broth was spiced powerfully but not overwhelmingly and accented the lentils just right.
i didn't taste the kubey sawar ("crushed wheat made into a dough and filled with lean ground beef, spices, and onion then sauteed in olive oil" $12.50) but had a bit of the chicken tawa ("chicken sauteed in lemon and other spices then baked in layers of potato, green pepper, onion, and dried limes" $12.00) that came with basmati rice. it wasn't as interesting as it sounds. the flavors were good on the chicken but i think it was a bit too potato heavy. and the rice came in its own bowl, adding more starch to the dish, which was a bit odd.
as it was a bit warm, i had the kurdish salad ("layers of rice, lentils, tossed salad, silopi salad, topped with feta cheese and peppery chicken breast" $11.95) that came with another slice of bread. it was good for the warmish room but had no sign of the silopi ("chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion with lemon, salt, black pepper, olives, olive oil, and parsley") that wasn't part of the tossed salad- no olives, no parsley. and the chicken was just... chickeny, not peppery. it was a good dish to have, but underdelivered anything new.
they have updated the room a bit, it's more modern and less grandma. that was nice. for a bare bones operation service was quite good.
after looking around indian places in st. louis park/bloomington that i had gone to, i saw that i had given this one a bit higher grade than some of the rest of them a few years back, so here i was again. buffet prices have gone up a bit ($9.99) which is understandable. last time i was here it was a bit more packed than today's half-empty and emptying more room (and this was only around 12:30 pmish), so that could perhaps explain the low level of some foods and the 'sat around a bit too long' on others.
usually i don't go for soup on indian buffets, but having luck with lentils last night, i went for them again. this was a spicy (as in hot), chunky version of yellow lentil soup with other veg in it too, the first time i recall seeing that. they also had a tomato soup that i skipped. the naan was the superior of the two breads with depth, the other (i was to say it was a bhatoora but i could be quite wrong) was more 'wonder bread' boring.
though the mixed pickle wasn't the best, the array of chutneys (i'd say all done in house) was all quite lovely- they had red onion chutney, hot mint chutney, i really liked the mango version. the raita was a bit watery for me (not much) but was otherwise superior to most.
your enjoyment level of the pakora depended on when you got them. i had the fish version straight out of the kitchen and was wowed by them- tender, flaky fish bits in light, crispy batter (more like fish and chips). i didn't get to the veg ones until they had sat out a bit and while i still enjoyed them, i didn't love them as much as my friend did. stll good and not soggy, but they lost a bit of crisp.
the veg dishes shined more for me than the chicken. there was a curry with greens in it that i just loved- and it didn't even have cheese in it, it just tasted verdant. the chana masala had a lovely curry going on around it and there was a quite decent dal too. the tandoor chicken was moister than most but not interesting, the chicken curry was too bony (i am too lazy to work for my chicken) and the chicken biryani was a bit dried out when i got to it. (they also had goat and beef dishes).
i mixed one of the better kheers (rice pudding) around town with decent rendition of the mango pudding (sans fruit as it's usually fruit cocktail, not sure if it was here) to cool my mouth off after i was done- they don't go for minnesota level of spices in the dishes.
service was slow for a slow time, that was a bit disappointing to wait on initial water refills.
25th- barbette, minneapolis (b)
barbette is not a place that bounces to the top of the list for dinner out (my friend agreed). though different concepts, kim bartmann's places remind me a lot of each other in that they are all ok to decent, but not great- they don't pull me in. i like the concepts better than the execution.
i was about to say it's not like anything was bad, but something was... the first batch of pomme frites ($4 half order, $6 full) with a not as rich as you'd think saffron aioli was all soggy and not quite cooked. i would guess that it was only fried once, not twice, plus they weren't salted well if at all. they did replace the bad batch with a (massive) batch of much better ones after we commented on them. they charged us for the half order instead of the full. half points for that then, not full. some people swear by their fries but even batch two was good, but not meritage. oh, and as it turns out? so completely deja vu on this whole fry thing.
a concept i could get behind was the truffle whipped brie ($12). loved the flavor of the truffles in the cheese and the spreadable consistency, i would've liked to see a more unctuous higherfat brie used for true decadence. i figure if you're going that far, go all the way with it. the toasted baguette with it was a good background for the cheese, but the table bread was nothing exciting. nice butter though.
the angel hair pasta ($10) was very lemony (from the preserved lemons) but didn't look to have much zucchini in it that i could see (i didn't try any myself- maybe it had a bunch of yellow besides the green that melded into the dish better). it was a true appetizer size portion.
i went with the soup of the day, the melon with mint oil ($4.50 small bowl, $5.75 large bowl). it was very refreshing and really i should make something like that at home. well, the soup, i'm too lazy to make the mint oil. it was a good pick as the hvac system wasn't working entirely effectively to keep away the humidity while inside (that's also why i avoided the girly wine).
table service was hampered by having too many tables per server (more distracted than anything- it's a bit odd to backhand the wine to the table when speaking with someone else), but boy was the water person so very on it- i complimented them on their awesome water service. they get extra points for working in such a packed environment.
© The bent sun as risen