Granite City

Linda’s Take

So one night I wanted to go someplace local but with a menu that we haven’t eaten for awhile.

Don’t get me wrong, you’re going to see more sushi restaurant reviews posted later on, but it’s nice to switch it up once in a while.

So we picked Granite City; they are a chain restaurant, but there are not so many around. That’s because they also brew their own beer right at the restaurant! I thought that was inspiring because they also cook with the beer they brew.

The drinks we had were good, I really liked the one I ordered, I don’t remember the name of it other than it had the word “Monkey” in the name, but it was sweet and fruity, and it gave me a good buzz! That works for me!

I also tried French Onion Soup for the first time, I really liked how they made it, flavorful but not to rich. The appetizer we had really filled me up and it was full of flavor!

For my main dish I ordered the London Broiled steak, it was really tender and good, but not much seasoning with it. However I was so full already I wasn’t sure how many bites I could even take.

All and all this was a place that fit the budget to go out to eat, with better quality food an other chain restaurants.
I would go here again.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Granite City is a restaurant and micro-brewery. It is a chain, but not a large chain, and it’s a
local chain.

Given the fact that it’s a microbrewery, they have a biased sense of how great their beer is, and
charge accordingly. It’s not outragious, but the beer isn’t cheap.

We started with the shrimp appetizer, which came with a slaw and was really good.

Next, we had the French Onion soup, because linda had never tried it before and onions are a sharedexperience on a date. You should never let just one person on a date have onions. It was good,but not good enough to knock my pants off.

I had burger X for my main course, which was also good-but-not-great.

For dessert, we had the apple tort-thing. It was an insanely dry puff pastry filled with applefilling that just wasn’t great. Pass on this.

I give it 3 pants off.

Total Score

3 out of 5 Pants Off

Mainstreet Bar & Grill

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

Mainstreet Bar & Grill

So my best friend’s husband was going to celebrate his birthday at Mainstreet’s. I had been to Mainstreet’s many times before but this time, since both Jason and I were going to go, why not write a review!

I like this bar, it is one of the few bars that is great at keeping your drink glass full and just looks like a regular bar, plus they have live music every weekend.

There are some drawbacks to the place.

The food is okay; it’s your typical bar food and nothing I would brag about.
There is a dance floor, however it is on the smaller size so it can fill up quickly. Most of the time the bands are good, they do have some popular regular bands, however the night we both went there the guy sucked!
I guess the biggest drawback is when the band plays you can’t hear anyone that is trying to talk to you. So to wrap it up, great place to go and drink and have fun! Not so good if you want to catch up and talk with friends.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

We went to Mainstreet’s Bar in downtown Hopkins for a friend’s birthday party.

We’ve been there before, but have never taken the time to review it.

The place is a dive bar, pure and simple. The food is totally on par with what you’d expect from a dive bar. It’s greasy and really only good when you’ve been drinking. The drinks are cheap and the staff is friendly.

They’ve got live music nearly every night and a decent-but-not-large dance floor.

It doesn’t feel like a meat market, but judging by the number of people I know who’ve gotten lucky by going to Mainstreet’s, it’s not a bad place to go if you’re feeling lonely.

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score:

3 Out of 5 Pants Off

Rodizio

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

For my son’s 15th birthday I suggested to go to Rodizio Grill. My son loves meat and it was a great place for my girls to try some new foods. Jason and I love the meat there as well. We also let my son bring 2 friends, and one of the Dads came and joined us because he is Jason’s best friend, but I think his mouth was watering when we said where we were going.

Originally, Jason and I were going to go here for our wedding anniversary, but one of the girls got really sick and I would have just felt horrible leaving her at home when she wanted mommy to cuddle with her and make her feel better.

I had looked on Groupon and found a deal for Rodizio Grill for dinner for two plus a bottle of wine for $65.00. Not a bad deal since dinner for one is $35.00. I must say that my son was pleased to go there. His favorite type of restaurant is anything that is all you can eat, and he loved the all you can eat meat!

The salad bar there is good, nothing that I think that really screams “OMG, you have to try this!”, but everything is tasty. All of the meat is mouthwatering! I think the biggest hit was the bacon wrapped turkey, and the grilled pineapple. I believe that one of my daughters had 4 helpings of this!

Also it was “Wild Game” month for October. One of the meats to try was going to be rattle snake, however they were out. The manager did come and talk with us and understood that we really wanted to try this, so he was so kind that he gave us a card for a free order of the rattlesnake meat when they get it in, and gave our kids free deserts! Now that is really wanting some happy costumers!

By the way, the deserts were so yummy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my youngest daughter shovel down chocolate cake that fast ever, and I could have eaten what Jason got for a whole month and not get tired of it! Plus for one of their deserts, anyone who orders it, all proceeds go to help for breast cancer research since this month is breast cancer awareness month.

I will be going here again!

5 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

I’ve been to Rodizio a few time. Good meat, in unlimited quantities. Who wouldn’t like it?

Except for vegetarians, of course. They’ll hate this place.

Our default plan for birthday celebrations is to let the kid in question pick a restaurant and invite a friend. It’s generally cheaper than a party, and always cheaper than an event-type party.

This year, we let the boy invite two friends, and one of the friend’s dad is one of my closest friends, so I asked him to join us. That made eight of us.

When you get there, you have two options. You can enjoy the full experience, or just get the salad bar, which is the cheaper option, but who goes to a Brazilian steakhouse for salad? Silly stuff.

They’ll put a little hourglass-looking thing on the table. If the green side is up, guys with meat on skewers come to the table and offer to carve off a piece for you. If the red side is up, they let you take a break. If you knock it over, the waitress will bring over the dessert tray. Simple and elegant.

I strongly recommend you eat the parmesan-encrusted pork and the bacon-wrapped turkey. The red meats are, surprisingly, not my favorites.

Never, ever turn down the grilled pineapple. Holy cow, it’s good! The sugars carmelize on the outside and it tastes like candy.

For dessert, I had the pudim de leite, which is a creamy caramal flan. I have no idea what flan is, but it felt and tasted like a very light cheesecake covered in an orgasmic caramel sauce.

Did I really just use “orgasmic” to describe a sauce? Musta been good.

It’s a great restaurant, but the real question is whether it compares well with Fogo de Ciao.

Rodizio is cheaper and more convenient than going downtown. Fogo crowds in the tables to pack the place, but has a slightly better selection of meat and a much bigger salad bar(yes, I always visit the salad bar, just not heavily).

So yes, it does compare favorably. I’m there more than I’m at Fogo. Fogo has a better meat selection, so I can’t give it 5 pants off.

I give Rodizio 4 pants off out of 5.

Total Score 4.5 Pants Off

Streetz American Grill

By Jason 1 Comment

Jason’s Take

Streetz American Grill is on the way to our dancing lessons, so we saw the place being built and drove past for a few months after they opened. From the outside, it looked slightly upscale, so we decided to try it without doing any research. Walking up the sidewalk, we looked in through the window, and thought it was Burger King. We almost turned around and left. Date night dinners aren’t about fast food. Just as we were turning around, a couple who had overheard our conversation told us it was good food and that they came once a week. Apparently, for some, date night dinners are about fast food.

We went in. After all, what kind of fast food place serves beer?

There’s a counter to place your order, then you get a number to put on your table. I wanted to try a variety of stuff, so we ordered more food that we were planning to eat. Between the two of us, we got a cheeseburger, a gyro, poutine, chipotle & salsa fries, and the Philly cheesesteak salad with chicken.

The burger could have been served in any school cafeteria in the country. It wasn’t bad, exactly, but it clearly came frozen after being pressed from the least favorable parts of a very bland cow. The pita for the gyro had more in common with cardboard than flatbread. It was actually stiff and crumbly. The gyro meat was pretty good, though. The poutine–never get poutine at a fast food joint–tasted like nothing but salt. Seriously, it’s fries smothered in gravy, bacon, and cheese curds. How can you get that wrong? Answer: make a dish full of awesome taste like salt. The salsa for the chipotle & salsa fries was sour cream floating in salsa water and the the chipotle seasoning on the fries was red salt, which was ok, because the industrial yellow goo they called cheese sauce was really just a clever way to liquify more salt.

The salad was good, though. If you go there, totally get the salad.

I give it 1 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

On our way out to our dance lesson I noticed a new place in Bloomington called Streetz and it looked like a place to get a good burger.

We decided to try it.

From the outside it looks like a sit down restaurant, but when you go in, it’s kinda like a 50’s dinner / street vendor place. They have a interesting variety of street vendor food as well. It reminded me of Fuddruckers but with a different menu items.

We got a few things to try. I loved salad that I got and the gyro was okay, however all of the fries were just too greasy. I think that this place is a great to take the family out for a better than fast food dinner, but it’s not too far off of fast food. I would not go again for a date night.

I give it 2 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

1.5 Pants Off

Cooper Irish Pub

By Jason Leave a Comment

Jason’s Take

On date night last week, we were going to go to the Yardhouse, but found out you really should get a reservation if you’re going there on a Friday night. So we went to Cooper Irish Pub instead.

Cooper’s is a slight upscale Irish bar. They serve a variety of beer, and the food’s always good. We walked in right as a lull hit, because we got seated immediately, but they were crowded 15 minutes later. Yay, us!

They make a perfect Old Fashioned, if you want to pretend to be a Mad Men hipster. I did, so they did. It was good.

We started out with Reuben Rolls, which are reuben guts wrapped in a spring roll and deep fried. I’ve only recently been able to bring myself to eat sauerkraut, and then only at good restaurants. This certainly wasn’t a restaurant that made me regret eating kraut.

We followed the rolls with a chicken and hummus wrap with mashed potatoes for me and a vegetarian wild rice burger for Linda. Both were good. Cooper’s knocks the mashed potatoes and gravy out of the park. I like ordering simple things at new restaurants because it’s hard for the chef to hide behind the fancy crap. It’s a good way to judge the overall quality of a place. Cooper’s delivers.

For dessert, we had their three-dessert sampler thingy. I don’t remember what they call it. We got the deconstructed cheesecake(yum), the bread pudding(yum), and the salted caramel ice cream. Oh my golly gee, this was good ice cream. One bite, and I was ready to smoke a cigarette and roll over to fall asleep. I’ve had sex worse than this ice cream. Damn.

5 out of 5 pants off, for sure. Cooper’s is worth visiting.

Linda’s Take

So this evening we were going to try out the Yardhouse, but with over an hour wait we thought there are plenty of other restaurants over at the West End Shops we can try. The closest was Cooper’s. They got us in right away; the place was busy but not over busy.

They had a good selection of beers on tap, and the menu was pleasing. I loved the look of the place, tons to look at.

We tried an appetizer that had I really liked, Ruben egg-roles I would get those again in a heartbeat. I ordered a veggie burger, and it really tasted good however it fell a part too easy, my sweet potato fries were some of the best I have ever eaten, plus the choices of dipping sauces that I got with it made them 10 times yummier!

The best part of the meal was the desserts, we had a 3 treat trio, and by far for both of us we loved the salted caramel ice cream, however I found out the hard way that ice cream and a few beers don’t sit to well in my tummy. Needless to say that cut or evening a little shorter that what we wanted. So never again will I have the 2 together! Sorry for crashing our date honey, but you are awesome company!

4 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

4.5 Pants Off!

Crave

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

So, one night, we didn’t know what kind of food we were in the mood for. But we wanted to stay close to Toby Keith’s to get some good dancing in and have drinks.

Jason suggested Crave; it has hearty food and light food. Kind of an American/Asian twist on everything. I thought it was a superb idea!

I really love the atmosphere in this place. It is high scale business feel, but warm and inviting. I don’t know if that makes sense to you, but that is what ran through my head.

Our waiter was really nice, he even gave me a wine to try for free because Jason ordered an Old Fashioned and the bartender hadn’t muddled the fruit in the drink. I said something politely to the waiter because I know it makes a difference in the way the drink tastes. Jason agreed with me when he got his corrected drink and I could tell by the look on his face that he was satisfied! (Almost like that after-sex look men get!) I asked the waiter for suggestions on food, and the way he was describing some of his favorites sounds as if they would be the perfect choice for me.

I ordered a beet salad and I really enjoyed it, fresh and crisp. Also I ordered a “Godzilla” sushi roll. Oh my god, this was huge. Packed full, about twice the size of regular shushi rolls, and I couldn’t even finish it. However, I do want to go back and get one again. Delightful and delish!

This is a great place to take someone out for a date. Really great food, more pricey than a place like Applebees, however not over the top pricey. Also they have a couple of other locations around the Twin Cities.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off!

Jason’s Take

We’ve slowly been working our way through all of the restaurants in St. Louis Park’s West End district. We’d eaten at Crave before, but not at all recently. Definitely not recently enough to review it accurately.

So off we went.

We ordered drinks. I ordered an Old Fashioned, because I’m a geek and a Mad Men fan. You can only get good Old Fashioneds at good restaurants, and I thought Crave fit the bill. I was wrong. With an Old Fashioned, you have to muddle the fruit and the bitters into the sugar or it doesn’t work. Hell, they even know that at Applebee’s. Without doing that, you’re basically drinking a glass of Rye.

Thankfully, the waiter understood and got a replacement quickly. I watched and the bartender didn’t spit in my glass. Yay!

We started with the beet salad and walleye cakes. I can’t stand beets, so I only tried a bite, then graciously let Linda have the rest, cuz I’m awesome like that. The walleye cakes, however, were right on the edge of really freaking awesome.

After that, I had the baked mac & cheese, which always looks so damn good on the menu, but never–at any of the restaurants I’ve been to–lives up to my hopes. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, especially with the chicken-apple sausage, but it didn’t wow me.

The bill ran $78.90 after tax. That’s two appetizers, two entrees, and a round of drinks.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 4.5 Pants Off.

Bonefish Grill

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

Bonefish Grill just opened up in the West End and, judging by the website, the menu looked awesome!

I really wanted to go here. Jason said it looked like a great place to try, so we made reservations one night after our dancing lesson.

I really liked how the inside of the restaurant looked. The staff was really nice and was helpful at suggesting things to try.

I absolutely loved the appetizer that we tried, Bang Bang Shrimp; it’s breaded shrimp with a yummy sauce over a bed of shredded lettuce.

I ordered a filet of trout and they cooked the fish really well. I also ordered some corn chowder soup and that was really yummy.

This place isn’t the best for signature drinks, but if you want a really good place to have seafood, go here. Oh, I almost forgot to say the bread was die for!

I would go back there to just eat the bread, the shrimp appetizer, and the corn chowder soup.

By the way, they forgot to bring out my soup with my meal, so they decided not to even charge us for it. I thought that was a really nice touch.

I will say that this place is on the fancy side, so if you want to impress someone without breaking your budget, this is the place to go.

I give this place 5 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Linda and I spend a lot of time in the West End development in St. Louis Park, so we were excited to see a new restaurant opening up there.

Bonefish Grill looks a bit on the fancy side, but doesn’t get all the way over into pretentious, which is nice. All told, we spent $93, which included four drinks.

We started out with the Bang Bang Shrimp on the waitress’s suggestion, and it was oh-my-god good.

I followed that up with the Ahi Tuna Steak, with mango salsa, which was good. I really like mangoes.

The bread was phenomenal. I’d go there just to eat Bang Bang Shrimp and bread.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Raku Sushi & Lounge

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

There is a nice quiet sushi place to go in the West Metro called Raku Sushi & Lounge. I liked the decor, the staff is ready to help, and the lunch prices are good.

Jason and I wanted to get some lunch and I wanted to spend time with him before he was going to go deer hunting for the weekend. I didn’t want to do all you can eat sushi, so I looked online and Raku looked like a good spot to go. We really like the West End area and it is so convenient for us.

This place has been there since the West End shops have opened and they seem to be having repeat costumers. I overheard another couple say they come there for lunch often.

The food was really good and pleasing to the eye! This is a place I would go to for lunch with friends or by myself again.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

I was leaving town and wanted to have lunch with my beautiful wife first. We were in the mood for sushi, so off we went. Linda looked up Raku and it seemed like a good place.

They’ve got little, sit-on-the-floor tables by the door, but traditional booths and tables beyond that and pretty decorative fish hanging all over the ceiling.

The place is affordable. We got the lunch special–3 rolls and a bowl of soup–and spent about $30 after tip. More important: the sushi is good. Cheap, bad sushi isn’t worth paying for.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 4 out of 5 pants off

Burger Jones

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

So Jason was helping out with my job in the morning and we thought we would grab a bite to eat for lunch. He said he heard about this burger place near Lake Calhoun.

So we went there, it’s called Burger Jones and it’s located in Calhoun Village right on the end of the strip mall.

Let me tell you, if you’re watching calories don’t go here! Everything is gonna be on the greasy side. However, I have to admit that the cheese curds that we ordered were melt in your mouth yummy.

I ordered a buffalo burger and it was really good. Jason got a burger called “White Trash” and it really looked like it, but it tasted really good. However I thought it looked like a heart attack on a bun!

I have to admit that their fries sampler with 3 dips to choose from was really delish! Especially the sweet potato fries!

I would go back, but I would like to come with the kids in the summer and just get some fries and try one of their malts. They had some interesting flavors on the menu.

I give it 2 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Thanks to my current tour of unemployment, Linda and I have been able to enjoy lunch together far more often than normal.

A recent trip was to Burger Jones in Calhoun Village. They clearly focus on serving burgers and do a good job at that.

We started with some cheese curds, which were sitting in a pool of grease that soaked through the butcher paper they were served on. Regardless of the presentation, they were damn good and literally melted in your mouth. Almost no chewing or swallowing was required.

I got the White Trash Burger, which was kind of insane. It’s chicken-fried bacon, fried cheese curds, and Velveeta on a burger. It looked horrible, but the combination actually worked well. It was good, but I’ll never order it again. It’s not good enough for a coronary bypass.

Linda got the “Tiny Tummy Tatanka” burger, which is buffalo meat on flatbread. I stole a bite and enjoyed it.

We split their fries sampler which gave us a huge pile of Parmesan waffle fries, maple-bacon sweet potato fries, and regular french fries, with our choice of three sauces. We got the chipotle aioli(good), the seasoned sour cream(good), and the avocado mayo(boring). The sweet potato fries were easily the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever had. By comparison, every other fried stick-like object made from sweet potatoes should get a new name. I recommend “Why bother fries”.

So, two burgers, an appetizer, and a giant bowl of fries for $52.66. Not a cheap place to go, but very not bad. And after you’re done, you can head to Rustica a few doors down and get some still-warm fresh-baked bread. Holy yum, Batman!

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 3 out of 5 pants off.

Wok In The Park

By Jason Leave a Comment

Linda’s Take

Sometimes we don’t have time to do a full date night so if the schedule allows it a yummy lunch is a good idea.

My husband loves Wok In The Park! They have really good Chinese food and the service is always friendly.

I really like there lunch menu. It’s a 1-2-3 step and you can’t go wrong with anything you choose. Also there pho soup is amazing!

Only thing is, you gotta get there right away at 11am, or after 1pm. They get busy fast!

Or, you can place in an order for carry-out!

I give this place 4 out of 5 pants off.

Jason’s Take

I’ve said it before: Chinese restaurants usually have a predictable cycle. They open, they’re awesome, they start to suck, they close.

When my last favorite Chinese place did that, I was sad. Somehow, they haven’t hit the close-the-doors step, yet, but it’s only a matter of time.

Since I was sad, I went hunting for a replacement.

And I found it.

Wok In The Park was born out of a feud with Than Do across the street. Or something. I don’t know all of the details.

What I do know is that WITP freaking rocks. The egg rolls are awesome and the cream cheese wontons are the best I’ve had, and I’ve had a lot of cream cheese wontons.

The lunch special is sweet. Pick a soup, an appetizer, and a main course(a bit smaller than the regular menu) for $10. Good food cheap.

Beats the heck out of anything else in the area, hands down, but try not to show up between 11:30 and 12:30 or you may not get seated. It’s not a huge place and they are popular.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

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Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score 4.5 Pants Off

Jason’s Take

Linda’s Take

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Jason’s Take

Linda’s Take

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Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score: 4.5 Pants Off.

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score: 4 out of 5 pants off

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score: 3 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

Jason’s Take

Total Score: 4.5 out of 5 pants off