A closer look at flyover land

Friday food

Quite a while ago I won a Twitter contest for a gift card to Cafe Maude. It took me a while to get around to using it, but we finally did, taking in a family brunch.

The interior is friendly and relaxing. Teen 1 noted with some disapproval that it appeared to be a bit hipster to him. He's having hipster issues these days. Ignore him.

DH and I indulged in a bloody Mary.

Wonderfully spicy, nicely paired with its beer chaser.

Teen 2, who wasn't feeling quite himself, decided to bypass the burger option and order the granola griddle cakes.

These were light and sweet, covered with dulce de leche and sauteed apples, served with maple syrup. Teen 1, who was feeling just fine, went for the burger.

Thick and meaty. He got a strange look on his face after his first bite. I asked him what was wrong. "It's not wrong," he said, "but it tastes like meat loaf, not like a burger." I tried a bite and agreed: it tasted like an excellent homemade meat loaf. We were split in our opinions on this: I thought it was great, while he wanted something more akin to a burger.

DH ordered corned beef hash.

This was a gem, with big meaty chunks of corned beef and carrots, cabbage, and potatoes, topped with hollandaise sauce and a fried egg.

I went with the eggs Benedict.

Asparagus and pancetta, poached eggs, hollandaise sauce, with mixed greens. YUM.

I felt as if I couldn't eat another bite, but Teen 1 wanted to order the seasonal cheesecake.

This was an amazing concoction, involving cheesecake, a curry cookie, and diced peaches and basil with curry. As I am the only curry eater in my household, I got the fruit and cookie all to myself. Lordy, it was good.

I loved that the bill came tucked into this.

The cover of an old children's book.

The service was excellent when we were there, friendly, checking in exactly often enough but not too often. Would I go again? In a heartbeat. Especially if there is more curry on the cheesecake.

Friday food

Earlier this week, I wrote about visiting the Clemens Munsinger Gardens in St. Cloud. While I was in town, I stopped for a bit of lunch.

Val's Hamburgers. I'd heard of this place; apparently it's a local institution, been there for years, and not much has changed, except for the addition of several touch-screen ordering system. No tables, no place to rest, just a bunch of touch screens where you tell the cook what you want, and a few minutes later, you get it.

I was alone, so this is sort of a burger quest, although I had no Teen input. Look at that bag! It's huge! And greasy! And only $5!

People! Seriously! This was a small order of fries! There's enough in here for my entire family! I couldn't finish them! And they were good fries, simultaneously crispy and greasy, and nice and hot.

Sorry for the craptastic picture. I drive a VW Beetle, and when I have no choice but to eat in the car, there's not a lot of room for photography. The burger was also nice and hot, the cheese all melty and gooey, the bun soft.

Best burger I've ever had? No; but darn good and a great bargain, and a burger I'd go back for? Absolutely.

Friday food

This week I attended a conference downtown Minneapolis. The conference was at a hotel, and lunch was provided. But still, I felt I had a choice--turkey wrap from hotel catering, or a real lunch?

Should I pause and let you guess which one I chose?

If your guess was, "She said screw the hotel catering, she wanted a real lunch," ding ding ding! You win! I went to Vincent. Which is to say, I went to the exact opposite of dull hotel catering.

Vincent is a French restaurant across the street from Orchestra Hall. It's lovely and peaceful. The menu isn't lengthy, but I still had a hard time choosing. Should I get the cassoulet, a lovely winter treat? The fixed-price lunch with a chorizo frittata and a British steamed pudding of creme Anglaise and chocolate gelato? The traditional Nicoise salad?

Mais non.

What the day called for was a Vincent Burger. Vincent (yes, there's a real Vincent) does his own take on the Juicy Lucy with this creation: ground beef mixed with ground short rib meat and smoked Gouda.

Just think on that for a moment.

You can get it with a side salad, but for the full experience, I recommend choosing the fries instead, and get the side of Bearnaise to dip them in.

You will be very, very happy. As I was. Along with feeling pity for all the conference folks who gamely chowed down on their hotel turkey wraps.

The Teens weren't with me, but I can pretty much predict their response: good, but not as good as Lions Tap. I beg to differ. This is one of my all-time favorite burgers in the Twin Cities. The short rib meat and smoked Gouda raise this well above your average burger.

Also? Vincent has great happy hours Monday-Friday, and the Vincent burger is usually a featured item, discounted heavily from its regular price. Happy hour, indeed.

Friday food

Burger quest!!!

Yes, it's been a while. Too long. We were in desperate need of a burger. So off we went to Five Guys in Edina. 

It's a good option for a quick, casual, but above-McDonald's-quality burger.

While you're waiting in line to order--and there was a line the whole time we were there, although it moved quickly--you can munch on some peanuts.

The menu is short and sweet.

Burgers, fries, or if you must, hot dogs or a grilled cheese sandwich. Coke products, bottled water--those are your choices. Not the place to go if you simply must have a beer with your burger.

Teen 2 immediately complained that the menu didn't offer a double cheeseburger, his personal favorite. But as we found out, the standard burger is, indeed, a double--if you want a single, order the "little burger." I thought that was a kid's menu. Silly me.

The fries are quite good.

As was the (as it turns out) double burger.

There are plenty of choices for toppings: raw or grilled onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, relish, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, mayo, jalapenos, green peppers, A-1, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce. So you can gussy that burger up any ol' way you want, at no additional cost.

I went with pickles, mayo, grilled onions, and of course mustard and ketchup. You know what? It was pretty good. Teen 1 declared it to be on par with Lions Tap, which you might recall has been the consistent winner in the Teen demographic. Teen 2 thought it an awfully close battle, with Lions Tap winning by a hair. But given that both Teens added toppings not available at Lions Tap (BBQ sauce for Teen 1, A-1 for Teen 2), I think it's safe to say Five Guys did have an edge in some ways, whether they admitted it or not. I preferred it to Lions Tap, just because they have so many options for toppings.

Would I put this burger up against burgers from, say, Salut or Vincent? The Teens would say yes, I would say no. I still think trying to lump all burgers into one category is really an exercise in futility. At Salut or Vincent, you're getting a gourmet burger, and what's more, you're getting a restaurant experience. Lions Tap has table service and beer, but that doesn't mean it's a slow, lingering meal.

So: in my opinion, if you're in the mood for a quick, good, and reasonably priced burger, Five Guys is a good pick. We'll go again.

Now if they'd only add guacamole to the list of toppings, I'd be the happiest camper.

Friday food

It's been too long, don't you think, since we had a burger quest? Yeah, we thought so too. We decided to check out one of the (many) new burger places that's opened this year. Some of them have had decidedly mixed reviews, but let's face it, the first few weeks of a restaurant's life are not usually their best. We waited until they'd had enough time to work out some of the problems, and took an expedition to Minneapolis:

Burger Jones, near Lake Calhoun. Burger Jones is part of the Parasole restaurant holdings and one of the burger joints that everyone fussed about when it opened. We went early, just to be safe. The interior is pleasant, not the overdone kitsch that I feared.

Service was friendly and fast, although oddly our appetizer order of cheese curds showed up with our meal. So there was a lot of food on the table at once.

The curds were good. Not State Fair good, but good.

I know it will shock you when I tell you that no one at the table ordered the White Trash Burger: a burger covered with chicken-fried bacon, cheese curds, and Velveeta. It just sounded overwhelming. Although I'd like to see one. No, we stayed with the basics.

Figuring (correctly) that the burgers would be sizable, DH and I split a plain burger, while the kids kicked it up a notch and split a bacon cheeseburger, "chronic" style--which means the fillings were doubled.

For grins and giggles, we ordered the tri-fry tasting tower, which has hand-cut russet, sweet potato, and Parmesan waffle fries, served with your choice of dipping sauces.

These were really good. The sweet potato fries dipped in chipotle aioli were especially tasty.

And the Teens split a s'mores malt.

They proclaimed it yummy.

But here's the thing. A family of four ordered 2 burgers, one order each of fries and cheese curds, one malt, three fountain drinks and two beers (cheap domestic tap)--and the tab, before tip, was almost $71. That's a bit on the high side--at least for what we got. Did we enjoy it? Yes, we did. It was tasty. But it was not $71 worth of fabulous. At least compared to some of the better burgers out there, like another Parasole spot, Salut. Or the not-yet-reviewed-here Vincent burger at Vincent.

In other words, if a place is going to charge upwards of $15 for a burger, it better be amazing. And these were good--but not amazing.

Friday food

It's been a while, so this week I decided it was time for another round of --

Burger Quest!

  

And not just any burger, but our first go-round at a local legend known as the Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy, depending where you're eating). We decided, pretty much on a whim, to check out the 5-8 Club in Minneapolis. Supposedly Matt's is the be-all and end-all of Jucy Lucys, but I've heard rumblings from people who think 5-8 is better.

For those of you who don't know what a Ju(i)cy Lucy is, let me show you:

 

It's basically two hamburger patties, a bunch of cheese in between, smushed together and grilled or fried or whatever. People rave about them.

That is, people who are not me.

I guess I don't get it. Or maybe I have to try Matt's. Not that I thought it was bad--but it just left me in an "eh" state of mind. The place was doing a booming business during a weekday lunch, and the service was friendly, if a bit slow (to be fair, they seemed a bit understaffed), and I saw several other Lucys being consumed with joy.

But to me, it's an OK cheeseburger with a slightly novel assembly.

So--those who have had Juicy Lucys elsewhere, is it just me? Or is it the 5-8 Club? Speak up.

Friday food

Gosh--it's Friday already? I guess you'll have to wait until next week for the rest of the historical sites on the Teen's extra credit trip to Minneapolis. Sorry!

But at least I can tell you about lunch. It was another Burger Quest, this time at a venerable University of Minnesota institution.

  

Annie's Parlour in Dinkytown. I don't know how long Annie's has been there, but it's got to be decades. I started at the U in 1980, and it was old then. Yes, it's upstairs over the Kitty Cat Club. 

Nothing much has changed since I first visited Annie's nearly 30 years ago.

  

Including, happily, the menu.

Now here's a question for you. The menu is very (VERY) similar to the one at the Convention Grill. I've heard they have the same owners, which would make sense; otherwise, someone is ripping off someone else's menu concepts.

But if that's the case, then why does the plaza burger (dark bun, sour cream, chives) taste so much better at Annie's than it does at Convention Grill?

 

The Convention Grill's burger was dry; Annie's was not. Very flavorful, fresh bun. And oh, the fries.

 

With a side of sour cream, of course.

It's hard to screw up ice cream, and both Convention Grill and Annie's have stellar sundaes and malts. But I'm still puzzled by the difference in quality, especially since Minnesota Monthly listed Convention Grill as one of the top burgers in the state and ignored Annie's Parlour.

Perhaps a rematch is in order.

Friday food

I'm really sad that I was having camera issues last weekend when we went to Austin and Owatonna, because we had a dandy lunch, but only some of the photos turned out.

Not only did we have a dandy lunch, but it was a burger quest! It was our first out-of-town "best burger in Minnesota."

To check this one out, we visited downtown Austin.

 

The Tender Maid. This is your quintessential small-town diner. The inside is basically a long U-shaped counter, lined with stools, and in the middle is a big food station, with a heated bin of ground beef and various chopped condiments, like pickles, onions, bacon, etc.

The key here is that the burgers are what's called loose meat: it's kind of like crossing a sloppy joe with a hamburger. Maid-Rite enthusiasts will know what I'm talking about. It's the only burger I've ever had that was served with a spoon. The Teens didn't believe me at first when I said the spoon was for the burger; they'd ordered malts and assumed the spoon was destined for ice cream. But no, I said, look, I got a spoon too, and I didn't get a malt.

I was quickly proven to be correct.

In my case, I got the bacon ranch burger with all the extras. What that meant is that a toasty-warm bun was slathered with ranch dressing, a slice of American cheese, heaping spoonfuls of chopped bacon and onion, and then covered with the hot loose meat. The burger was quickly and tightly wrapped in the cheery paper, and by the time I opened it, the cheese had melted all over the other ingredients.

Say--like I said, this was dandy. Darned good. Teen 1 wasn't as impressed--I think he prefers his burgers in the normal solid mode--but Teen 2 and I were both two thumbs up. And quite a bargain--the burgers were sizable, and our family ordered three of them, plus two bags of chips and two malts, and it came to about $20. Granted, these are not Twin Cities prices. But Tender Maid was doing a brisk business while we were there, with stools barely left untouched and a steady stream of takeout.

It's good to see the little guys doing well.

Friday food

But first, a sad note in Twin Cities culinary history: Goodbye, Mama D.

And now for something I haven't done in a long, long time: Burger Quest!

Courtesy of last summer's Best Burgers article in Minnesota Monthly, we've been doing our own research. Remember when I was surprised to find a great burger at a German restaurant? Well, we've gone ethnic again, this time French.

 

A rather jolly place called Salut Bar Americain. They have locations at 50th and France in Edina and on Grand Ave. in St. Paul. We went to Edina. As you can see, it's very cheerful. They even have this wonderful quote stenciled on one wall: "I like the French. They taste like chicken." (Hannibal Lecter) Caveat: it wasn't busy when we were there, at opening time on a Saturday, but as it filled up, the noise level got quite high. But if you can shrug that off, you will start your meal (even if it's burgers) with some very nice French bread and delightful butter to enjoy while you're waiting.

 

I was already predisposed to like the place. Especially with the ketchup:

 

The regular burgers seemed pricey, and I figured--correctly, as it turned out--that they'd be huge. So the Teens ordered regular burgers, and DH and I ordered one of their "small size" burgers: the Leetle Beeg Mac. Really. That's what it's called.

The regular burger, with huge slabs of bacon:

 

The Teens both gave it two thumbs up, although once again claiming that it wasn't quite as good as Lions Tap. But darn close, they said. A close second.

It turns out that even a Leetle Beeg Mac can have good presentation:

 

Very cute! And those fries? I think they're the best I've had yet. Absolutely delicious, crispy--and really good when dipped in the house Bearnaise sauce:

 

The Leetle Beeg Mac is quite divine:

 

Bad picture, I know. But there you have it: two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions...oh, wait. There's no sesame seed bun. That's OK. Doesn't matter. Because this was one tasty burger. The word "leetle" is relative--this was plenty huge, juicy, perfectly cooked. As for the regular burgers, Teen 2 couldn't finish his, and since he's usually a black hole for food, that should give you some idea how huge it was. They're expensive, but you could easily split one with someone, thus making them reasonable. And they do come with those killer fries.

We were all too stuffed to try dessert, even though the menu looked mighty tempting. I guess there's no help for it; we'll just have to go back.

So--for those still keeping score--the kids ranked this #2 so far, and the grownups would put it at #1.

(spoiler: I have had a burger elsewhere that I liked better, but not with the family on an official Burger Quest. You'll just have to stay tuned.)

Friday food

Or, Burger Quest part ad infinitum.

Being October, it seemed reasonable to check out the burger that MN Monthly raved about in the unlikely setting of a local German institution: the Black Forest Inn.

We're a little late for Oktoberfest, but that's OK. After all, we weren't (sadly) here for the Schnitzel, but for the burger. Which, despite having Hamburg in the name, isn't strictly a German dish, more like an American evolutionary development of a German pounded steak dish.

The Black Forest has been around since 1965, and the interior is small and charming and highly decorative.

The ceiling, shown above, is bright and festive, and the walls full of murals. Even some of the furniture is painted.

 

The menu got the better of me. I really could not go to a German restaurant and order a burger. So the kids ordered burgers, and I ordered this:

The bratwurst lunch. Handmade brats, rye bread, homemade mustard, and hot German potato salad. It was scrumptious. The brats are perfectly spiced, the mustard is sweet and tangy, and the potato salad has a wonderful vinegary finish.

The burgers resulted in split opinions.

Youngest Son thought it was excellent, although still not quite as good as Lions Tap. Oldest Son did not like it at all. He thought it had an aftertaste. So I traded my brats to him (being a good and sacrificial mother) and ate part of the burger. I thought it was good, very dense, as if the beef had been heavily pressed; I didn't detect an aftertaste. Was it the best burger I've had? No. Better than Lions Tap and definitely ahead of the burger at the Monte Carlo, but not the best.

But it made me wonder--why a burger at a German restaurant? For kids who won't try German foods? Because you know what? The German foods at the Black Forest? Yum. I want to go back again, soon, and have more German food. Not a burger. Hmmm...maybe the sauerbraten...or the Alsatian casserole...

Note: in the summer, the Black Forest has a gem of a beer garden tucked behind the restaurant. It's small and cozy, and lovely and quiet.