12/8/2017 The Howe Daily Kitchen & Bar

 A great way to end the day

After a relatively sad food day Friday, with chunks of veggie skins in my food and bad coffee at a classic St. Paul restaurant, we set out for a late dinner somewhere....anywhere.

We started in St. Paul and then crossed the river to see if Minneapolis could bring us out of our food funk.  We landed on Minnehaha quite a few blocks south of Lake Street.  We passed The Howe Daily Kitchen & Bar.   John drove about a block more and we decided to circle the block and see if we could find a parking spot.  Yup, our decision had come down to 'where can we find a place to park'.

Not 1 but 2 parking places emerged.  Okay...decision made.

We wandered in and even though there was quite a full house, were seated immediately (I think the restaurant seating gods were on our side...a couple moved from a table to a booth they'd been waiting for....so we lucked out and were seated at their table).

Instantly, glasses of water appeared at our table, along with food and drink menus - even though we were the geezers in the room (we'll say more about that in some future post--let's just say, at least geezers know how to use a fork and napkin ; o

Yes, a menu with some real non-bar food choices.   Even several tasty vegan options.   We selected an appetizer of two kinds of hummus with several kinds of veggies and pita bread.   Then we decided to split the Korean BBQ short rib made with short rib from the Herbivorous Butcher.  Then I threw in a small salad with honey mustard dressing to compensate for two days in a row of eating loaded hash browns (my liver applauded!).

The food arrived within just a couple of minutes.  Beautiful.

The hummus plate had hummus and curry hummus with veggies and pita arranged beautifully.  This was a great opener.  The small salad was standard baby greens, but they had clearly taken a giant red onion and sliced it into the finest tiny rings I've ever seen.  You could cut it into tiny pieces so that you could add just enough onion to each bite.  The honey mustard dressing was delightful.

John and I split the Korean BBQ short rib sandwich (and let me just say, split doesn't mean half and half!).  The bites I was able to acquire were fabulous.  (we were comparing to our disappointing visit to J Selby...they also use 'meat' from the Herbivorous Butcher...but their presentation was a hot mess (actually a lukewarm mess).  So this was a good comparison.   The 'meat' was tasty with great texture.  The chipotle sauce added just enough 'kick' to balance the sweetness of the slaw topping.   I'm always disappointed in the factory white bread buns (this one kinda disintegrated quickly, too) but the ingredients in the sandwich made it easy to overlook the flawed bun.   We included a side of fries.....coated for a nice crisp finish...tasty enough to make you eat a few too many.

This was a very positive way to finish the day.  Our server was efficient and we spent a few minutes talking about other food places...sharing recommendations.   She also asked us if we might be coming back in the future, and gave us a frequent diner card that gives a 5% discount most of the time and 10% on Thursday.   The Howe is in the restaurant group that includes Stanley's NE Party Room across from our regular favorite place---the Marina Grill and Deli on Lowry and University in Northeast (don't confuse this with the Big Marina Grill and Deli; that's another story).

So, did I enjoy our visit to The Howe......and how!!!

August 7, 2017 J. Selby's on Selby in St. Paul

We were finally able to get a table at J Selby @ 8 tonight.

They seem to still be struggling to have food. When they start by telling you they're out of 5 menu items (& they have 2 hours of service left), it's disappointing.

The facility is beautiful (when we had a retail store at Grand & Victoria, we often drove past this bldg which was poorly used for years). It's nice to see it's getting a new lease on life.

The food was average (hard to say that when there's not much to compare it to). But the fries were bad, my sandwich was a mess (& gee, it's a vegan place---could I get a whole slice of tomato?), John's spicy slaw was red cabbage with chipotle mayo & they left off 1/2 of his ingredients.

I get the sense that they are still having trouble prepping adequate amounts of food for their dinner service--so they left some stuff off our plates.

I think we'll try then earlier in the day next time - like maybe weekend breakfast - and report back on their progress.

They have big crowds. Hopefully that will bode well for their future.

 

August 17, 2017 El Burrito Mercado

Oh yeah---pupusa night at El Burrito Mercado; John has the huarache platter....time to dig in!!

Pajarito--West Seventh ST (AKA Post Road)

Visited Pajarito last week ...

Good beer selection


High level of 'noisy' in a fun decor....but really, we've already spent a lot of time with the Catrina-like decor at Catrina's (pajarito a little more sophisticated version, of course).
Food...1.5 to 2 stars 

Rick Bayless introduced me to green chorizo.  Love it, love it, love it.  It's pretty hard to beat the green chorizo from El Burrito Mercado in my childhood stomping grounds on St. Paul's West Side.   Maybe you've tried our green chorizo stew at Marianne's---it has the herby, earthy, out of this world flavor from the tons of fresh herbs in high quality sausage.  That's what I was hoping for......a comparison to other great green chorizo.

Sadly, at Pajarito, not green, not chorizo-y.  Queso fundido with green chorizo = grainy cheese dish lacking any hint of green chorizo served with little tortillas tasting of undercooked flour. 


Chilequiles-----beef with a little bit of mushroom (which had no flavor) in a sauce that might have been good except for the bitterness at the end of the bite.  The opportunity for greatness.....but falling short of its potential.

Conclusion:  Pajarito---go there for a beer with friends (don't try for conversation).  Skip the food.

Pajarito

Visited Pajarito last week ...

Good beer selection


High level of 'noisy' in a fun decor....but really, we've already spent a lot of time with the Catrina-like decor at Catrina's (pajarito a little more sophisticated version, of course).
Food...1.5 to 2 stars 


Rick Bayless introduced me to green chorizo.  Love it, love it, love it.  It's pretty hard to beat the green chorizo from El Burrito Mercado in my childhood stomping grounds on St. Paul's West Side.   Maybe you've tried our green chorizo stew at Marianne's---it has the herby, earthy, out of this world flavor from the tons of fresh herbs in high quality sausage.  That's what I was hoping for......a comparison to other great green chorizo.

Sadly, at Pajarito, not green, not chorizo-y.  Queso fundido with green chorizo = grainy cheese dish lacking any hint of green chorizo served with little tortillas tasting of undercooked flour. 


Chilequiles-----beef with a little bit of mushroom (which had no flavor) in a sauce that might have been good except for the bitterness at the end of the bite.  The opportunity for greatness.....but falling short of its potential.


Conclusion:  Pajarito---go there for a beer with friends (don't try for conversation).  Skip the food.

Up Coffee Roasters

High expectations for Up Coffee Roasters...after all, they roast coffee there...lots and lots of coffee, so the coffee should be the best part.  Really nice ambiance.  Food menu looked great.  We chose a breakfast biscuit and a lunch sandwich.  Execution was lacking.

Coffee served in a great mug.....room temperature.

Enough said.

This hard flat brown thing is their signature biscuit. The contents were good after we chiseled our way in.

Chick-Fil-A Redux

Chick-Fil-A 

You may have noticed...I'm pretty interested in food.  Being in Marian's kitchen as a kid was completely fascinating.....brewing root beer (or dandelion wine), frying onion rings, making jam.....food, food, excellent local (from the garden in the backyard) food.

Container 3"x1" Deep

So, I check out every food place I can.

It seemed like this month had a lot of disappointments.  But, in reality, the insights have been much better than the food.

Tonight we ventured to the Chick Fil A.  We haven't been in one since I was working in Tennessee..we hit one in Charlotte NC on the way from the airport to TN along a scenic route.  

I've been greatly impressed with the physical structures of several chains this month.  I really like the interior at the new Starbucks on 96 and Centerville Rd.  The Tavern Grill was REALLY an expensive building (and that doesn't even count the months of land remediation we watched as the lot was constantly under water) and it's beautiful in that old boys club leathery kind of way (although kind of large and echo-y).  The Chick Fil A in West St. Paul is a palace......almost a cathedral....not to God, but to pretty marginal corporate food offerings.

Maybe that's the trend.  Who cares about what you're serving, as long as the place is a show-stopper?

Chick Fil A had high-end finishes, tile, general 'we spent a lot of money on this place' appearance.  Ditto Tavern Grill.

They have a lot in common.

But the real common denominator for me was.......waffle fries.   Now I'm not a big indulger in the fried cancer sticks or fried cancer waffles.  I'm kinda enjoying my life on earth not being riddled with cancer.  Why would I eat carcinogenic potatoes at either of these overpriced places?

Both of these places could build palaces....literal palaces with expensive everything in the interiors and exteriors.....based on the sales of 38 cents worth of potatoes in the form of waffle fries and something 'meh' to accompany them.  At one place, for $14 you can get a giant, heaping plate of 'waffles' with a 'meh' sandwich.  At the other you can get a scrap of chicken...plain so you can see how tiny it is or covered with breading to make it look like you're getting something for your money.....with a heap of 'waffles' for about $7 or $8 with a drink that they parcel out to you (another corporate cost-misering method).  One place uses a plate.  The other uses the biggest pile of disposable waste I've seen at a fast food meal in a long time (you know, when you finish the meal, what's on the table in plastic is just as big as when you started).  But both places make their profit off 38 cents worth of potatoes fried into 'waffles' (that's the large portion) to fill your plate or tray and make you feel like you're getting a 'value' for your dollar.

Kale 2" x 1.5"

Obviously, from the flow of cash that enables these places to build such luxury palaces, selling people 38 cents worth of potatoes in the shape of cute little waffles is, indeed, a highly profitable endeavor.

Okay, I'm gonna go look for some food now....I'm really hungry....and I spent all my money enjoying the 'palaces', but I didn't really get any food (I guess I should call that 'superfood' portion of kale at Chick Fil A food).  I think I'll go to that dumpy little soup and sandwich shop on the corner and have some pineapple slaw or mango chipotle salad, turkey on a sun dried tomato roll with some real cheese and fresh lettuce not from a bag....and see if anyone left a cookie crumb in the case at the end of the day : )