Friday food

Not just any Friday Food--it's BURGER QUEST!

I know. It's been a while. I took advantage of having Teen 1 home from college over the holidays to go out on the Burger Trail again.

We decided to check out the Gold Nugget Tavern and Grille in Minnetonka. I'd heard good things, but had never wandered over there.

I'm glad I did.

We were only going to get burgers, but then we saw the menu listing cheese curds with the claim: "Better than the State Fair!" Pretty sure that couldn't be possible, we cynically ordered a batch.

You know what? I think this is the only order of cheese curds I've ever had that rivals the Fair. White cheddar, lightly breaded, nice and greasy, cheese all flavorful and melted on the inside. Wow.

The burgers got two thumbs up too.

Off the rather extensive list of choices, Teen 1 chose the Smokehouse--Cheddar cheese, bacon, and BBQ sauce. He proclaimed it very good.

Teen 2 went with a novelty burger, the Signature Stadium Burger: a pretzel roll, American cheese, and nacho cheese dip on the side. He devoured it and also proclaimed it very good.

I went with a patty melt, and oh people, it was such a good patty melt. The bread was toasty-crispy, the onions beautifully caramelized, the Swiss cheese fully melted. Ah.

The fries were OK, not great, a little soggy. But the seasoned sour cream offered as a side was quite good, a bit on the spicy side.

So--the Teens both loved their burgers and said they'd go back, but once again--because basically they're both broken records on this subject--they still point to Lions Tap as their favorite. Personally, I thought this was far better than Lions Tap, but it's also a different category of burger; Lions Tap has a very limited menu of options (no patty melt!!), whereas Gold Nugget has a really fun list of options, and from what I can tell, they execute those options darned well.

No matter. We'd all go back. 

Comments

[Minnesota Prairie Roots]

I'm not a burger fan, but I am a fan of home-grown eateries. Last night my husband and I dined at a restaurant chain because we had gotten a gift certificate to this particular place. We were so disappointed. Everything was loaded with salt; I felt like I ate a two month's quota of salt in a single meal. And don't even get me going on the grease or the onions on my chicken dish that seemed to be left over onion rings.

I'm not saying every chain serves bad food or that every home-grown eatery serves great food. It's just that I appreciate a menu and food choices that I'm not going to find everywhere in Anytown, U.S.A.

I'm glad you had a great dining experience with your sons. And boy, can boys eat, huh?

[Amy Rea]

Boy, can they ever, Audrey!!!