A closer look at flyover land

Friday food

Of course, when one has traveled and spent the day in Lanesboro, one should have a bite to eat. No problem.

This place always looks fun to me, even though I've not yet eaten there. The Old Village Hall resides in the former, well, village hall, built in 1886. It bills itself as "fine dining in a casual setting." The dinner menu changes seasonally, using locally sourced foods when possible, and definitely has an upscale feel to it, even if you're allowed to dress casually (as is the case for all Lanesboro dining spots).

Riverside on the Root and Dirty Martini Lounge boasts a beautiful outdoor patio that seats 100 and was, the day I was there, packed with happy bicyclists enjoying happy hour. The lunch menu includes the requisite salads, appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and pizza, also offered at dinner along with pasta, steak, and seafood entrees.

When it's done--and it's not clear when that will be, maybe this summer--the Spud Boy diner looks like it'll be a fun choice. Especially with the friendly dog greeting you at the entrance.

Just outside of Lanesboro is a small town called Whalan. If you're taking a bike excursion along the Root River Trail, you can easily stop at the Aroma Pie Shop, open Thurs.-Mon. in season, serving lunch items and--of course--pie, freshly baked on the premises. Do I even need to mention how disappointed I was to be in the area on a Wednesday??

Speaking of disappointment, learn from my mistake: I had it in my mind to try a brat or sausage at Das Wurst Haus in Lanesboro, thinking it'd be a quick end to my day there, before heading back home. But having not actually checked the cafe's hours, I missed out--they're open only for lunch, which is sad-making at 5:15 p.m. when you're starving and tired. Here's what I considered as my next option:

Kari's, next to the Commonweal Theatre. Kari's has limited dinner availability, sometimes closed for private events, and they also do private group lunches when booked ahead. It was open for dinner the night I was there, and I was tempted--the menu looked tasty and intriguing, definitely a Scandinavian theme with gravlax and herring and lingonberries and smorrebrod. But even though it looked to be a casual spot with an upscale menu, I felt pretty grubby from a long day of exploring in the sun, and thought I should do them the honor of at least having showered before dining there.

So I ended up here.

Pedal Pushers Cafe. Like so many of the other dining spots, including Kari's, Pedal Pushers advertises its commitment to locally sourced foods. In fact, I overheard the server telling another customer that the cook that night actually works days on a farm that supplies the cafe's meat. That's pretty local.

It's a cozy diner spot.

A basic burgers-and-ice cream spot, with pie as well (which I didn't try, feeling a bit sour-grapesy about the Aroma being closed). But my burger and fries were very tasty indeed.

The Johnny B. Goode, with bacon, cheddar, and homemade ranch dressing, with fresh-cut French fries. It hit the spot and got me re-energized for the drive home.

Although I still wonder what the brat at Das Wurst Haus would have been like.

Next time.   

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.