Wok In The Park

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.

Total Score: 4.5 out of 5 pants off

Eating Raoul

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Linda’s Take

A friend of mine said she was going to be in this play Eating Raoul performed by the Minneapolis Musical Theatre. We’ve seen them before a couple of years ago perform Evil Dead: The Musical. I tell you, that play was done so well and was so funny my sides hurt by the end of the performance.

Jason was able to find some discounted tickets, so we picked a Saturday night to go. Unfortunately, the same night the Zombie Pub Crawl was also going on in Downtown Minneapolis. Parking sucked, but it was cool to see a lot of zombies!

The play was funny and interesting. Not as good as Evil Dead: The Musical, but still done really well. Plus there was a guy running around in their underwear, women wearing leather, and a lot of talk about sex. And you can buy drinks there.

The play is about a really bland married couple who are trying to get enough money to open a small restaurant in California. He loses his job and she was rejected for a loan, so they come up with an idea to have swingers come to their home for a night of fun then kill them and steal all their cash.

Its a mouthwatering musical of murder and mayhem!

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off

Jason’s Take

Linda told me a friend of hers was going to be in a play. We’ve seen the same theater company do something awesome with Evil Dead: The Musical, so we thought this would be pretty sweet.

I went looking for a discount and found tickets on Goldstar for $12.50 each. Done.

The play is about a boring couple who decides to fund a restaurant by luring swingers into their apartment and kill them. They took lessons from a dominatrix and made a public access television commercial. The next thing you know, every fetish and fantasy is being played out on stage, from cheerleaders to angry nuns giving spankings. Hitler even made a brief appearance.

It’s full of dirty jokes and half-dressed people. That’s a win.

The downsides:

This was the night the Zombie Pub Crawl decided to set a world record of 25,000 zombies at one event. Yes, a zombie invasion almost made us miss the play because there was very little parking and some of the streets in downtown Minneapolis were closed.
New Century Theater is small. I’d guess it could hold 150 people. And the seats weren’t exactly awesome.
New Century Theater is hard to find. The address on the door is behind a pillar. If you’re going, the theater is right damn next door to Fogo de Ciao. 20 feet to the left. If I would have known that, I would have let the Fogo valets park my car for me for $10.

The upsides:

Live theater means culture, right? Even if the live theater is chicks (and a surprisingly attractive man!) in corsets singing about bondage.
They serve booze that isn’t overpriced.
The building is easy to get to and has ample garage parking 364 nights a year.
Did I mention women in lingerie making dirty jokes?

They did a great job, especially for a small theater troupe in a small theater. I totally recommend it.

4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 pants off

Ciao Bella

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Jason’s Take

This week, it was my turn to pick a restaurant for date night. Don’t tell Linda, but I only made our reservations to Ciao Bella about 20 minutes before we left for our dance lesson. Love Yelp and OpenTable for finding a restaurant and making reservations.

Love. It.

So Ciao Bella is a nice Italian restaurant that happens to have some sushi options, which is weird. But, being an Italian joint, you’ll find lots of the expected pizza, pasta, and seafood.

As you walk in, you definitely notice the smell of fish, but that fades as soon as you get past the bar area. Once into the restaurant proper, it starts smelling good. They’ve got an open–and sprawling–floor plan, so the place is noisy. It’s not great for quiet, intimate conversations.

The drinks were reasonably priced, but not cheap. My cocktails ran $7.75 each, while Linda’s wine cost $10 per glass.

The food was good. The unlimited stream of bread that’s the staple of Italian restaurants everywhere in the Midwest was excellent.

We followed that up with seared wasabi scallops. Totally reccomend. I could have left happy after filling up on scallops and bread.

For our main course, I had the seafood linguini, which was done very well. Good food. Linda had the halibut special. Her fish was kind of dry, but was an otherwise excellent dish.

Dessert was the budino, which is a molten chocolate cake with vanilla gelato. It’s good, but very rich. We didn’t finish it.

All in all, a good place to get a bite, especially if you want to impress a date without worrying about making up deep conversation.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

I had no idea where we were going to go to dinner this evening. I asked Jason to surprise me and pick a place, while I tried to look very nice for him. We walked into Ciao Bella, it looked really fancy. I was pleased with Jason’s choice.

I tried a wine that I liked (Moscato). I’m not a wine drinker at all, but thought what the hell. Not bad but a little pricey at $10.00 a glass. But then again, I don’t know what a good price is for wine.

We ordered some wasabi scallops, they were oh-so-good.

Jason ordered a sea food pasta, and I tried halibut for the first time. Kind of a dry dish, but I guess it’s supposed to be. Still tasted great.

This was a really nice place, the staff is really kind, and they always fill your water glass prompt and give you really good fresh bread.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off

Total Score: 4 out of 5 pants off!

Joke Joint Comedy Club

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Linda’s Take

I looked at the weather report because I live in Minnesota and that just makes sense. Weekend forecast for Friday night was blustery and I didn’t want to be outside more than I would have to. Plus I just got a new black dress and wanted to look good for Jason. (editor: She succeeded!)

I thought of going to the comedy club at the Mall of America, but they were all booked. Jason was awesome and located another comedy club close to our dance lesson. Plus he said they have a bar and serve food.

When we got there and I sat down I realized that I was way over dressed for the place; I kinda felt silly wearing a dress cause this is a jeans and t-shirt place, or tight tank top works too(ed: #Winning!).

They are able to fit a lot of people in the space provided, but the stage is really small; I guess comics don’t need a lot of room.

The food isn’t much too really talk about, it’s all deep fried stuff. Onion rings, fries, cheese curds, poppers, and mini sliders. They have a few more options, but I didn’t pay that much attention. But the drinks are really good! They make them strong and well. I only had 2 tropical drinks and I was feeling it, then I got a 3rd and lets say I was gone.

I do have to say that since this is a comedy club, the comedy was awesome! I smiled and laughed until my face hurt, then I laugh some more! They do deliver in the laugh your pants off department! I wouldn’t mind going back a few times, only this time I’ll be ready for laughs and drinks and dress a little bit warmer!

I give it 3 out of 5 pants off!

Jason’s Take

Friday night, we wanted to focus more on an activity and less on food. Linda wanted to go to the comedy club at the Mall of America, but they were booked, so I looked around and found the Joke Joint in Lilydale, which is a dinky little city squished between Mendota Heights and the Mississippi river. The town barely has its own zip code. Seriously, it could be Eagan or St. Paul, easily, and I’ve seen the address listed as each of those.

We booked tickets online, which is listed as cheaper than at the door, but the “convenience” fee makes the prices the same. We also paid for the premium seats, but that was a waste. It’s a small venue. It’s not possible to have bad seats. The front row is using the stage as a footrest.

First, the food. It was all fried bar food. There was nothing worth talking about, but the beer was just $4 for a tall domestic.

Now, the comedy. You don’t go to a comedy club for the food.

We saw two acts, plus a 5 minute opener: Nate Abshire and Paul Hooper.

Abshire was funny as hell. His riff on the 5 daily minutes to make a relationship last forever if you’re a woman had me rolling…and Linda scowling. Sorry, honey, but it’s funny AND true. I’d pay to just see him on stage. Plus he sold Bill & Ted inspired posters in the lobby after the show. That’s a pure win. Wild Stallyns!

Hooper was funny. His good bits beat Abshire’s, but his depressing bits definitely knocked the average into Abshire’s favor.

But they were both good. I’d go back.

4 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score: 3.5 of 5 pants off.

Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill

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Jason’s Take

Linda and I are taking dancing lessons, which means we are also always interested in finding places to dance.

Enter’s Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill. They’ve got live music at least 4 nights a week, and the biggest dance floor I’ve seen in the western suburbs.

It’s gimmicky, it’s country, and the giant guitar-shaped bar can be irritating to walk around, but it’s fun.

The food…sucks. I’ve never been happy eating there. I’ll occasionally get an appetizer, but I try to avoid it. It’s all greasy and not worth getting.

The music, however is good. It’s almost all some blend of country and rock, which makes for fun music to dance to.

If you’re going to dance, I recommend getting there about 9. That’s when the music usually starts, and by 10:30, there are so many obnoxious drunks standing around the dance floor that dancing is almost impossible.

I know some people are offended by waitresses dressed slutty, but it’s not that bad. It’s a bunch of attractive women in shorts and tank tops that don’t leave a lot to the imagination, but they fade in to the scenery pretty fast. By your third visit, you hardly notice. I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

So I’m a country girl at heart, even though I grew up in a city suburb; put me on a horse and I’m in heaven.

So naturally, I like country music…really anything with a good beat is alright with me, but I mostly listen to country. So ever since Jason and I started taking our dance lessons, it only made sense to use what we are learning on a regular basis, right? Toby Keith’s Bar and Grill is really close to us, so, duh, it makes sense to shake our groove thing there!

We had been there a couple of times before to eat, but I don’t think I’ll ever order food there again. It seems to be just one step up from fast food for twice the price, however it’s an awesome place to go to and listen to live country music and, with a bigger dance floor than most places, this works for us really well!

But only if people that just stand on the dance floor and hold drinks and don’t dance taking up space on the dance floor get OFF the dance floor! (editor’s note: Or just die!) Oh gosh, that’s so annoying!

We found out that you don’t need to know how to line dance to be able to dance there, however, I wouldn’t mind learning some of that, just not the Achey Breaky that I was thought back in Jr. High School. Swing dancing works well with just about any up-beat song! Get a bunch of turns going and you look like a pro! And don’t worry if you fall on your ass, we have seen that a few times out there!

There is almost a live band every night, and most are really good. Also it’s only a $5.00 cover on Friday and Saturday nights, and there is no cover for Sunday – Thursday. Great way to practice dancing and have a few drinks, or just to have some country fun.

3 out of 5 pants off

Total Score: 3.5 out of 5 Pants Off

Minnesota Renaissance Festival

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Linda’s Take

Jason and I love going out to the Minnesota Renn Fest and the family likes going out there as well. We took the kids and a friend and his son there one weekend. We wanted to have the kids see a few shows that you can only see there. Anything with fire is always going to be a hit! We also watched a belly dancing show and the kids got to enjoy music and food that is different from your everyday life. Also our kids love to watch the joust: horses, armor, and sword fighting….what’s not to love about it!?!?

A few weeks later Jason and I went out there, just the two of us. I was so happy to wear my red leather(editor’s note: sexy!) that we bought there about 10 years ago. It’s a place were leather is encouraged, and I must admit I like to wear leather. Shopping in all the shops is always fun there, whether its spending money or just window shopping. I got some jewelry and some more leather, a leather pouch this time, not clothes, and Jason got some weapons! I must admit that he will look super sexy if he learns to use them right, guys who know how to use swords and axes are always hot! Oh, and I tried alligator for the first time! Pretty good too!

I always give this place 5 out of 5 pants off!!!!!

Jason’s Take

Renn Fest is awesome, though this is the first year we’ve gone three different time.

The first time, we brought the kids, because belly and fire dancers are an important part of growing up.

The other two times, we had Punk #1 watch Punks 2 & 3 so we could have some adult time.

Not like that, get your mind out of the gutter. Mostly.

The show are good. We caught a fire show, a belly dancing show, several juggling acts, and a few others. If there’s a show that can happen in a 1500s world, you can see it out there and have a good time doing so.

Most of the food is nothing spectacular. It’s a lot of easy-to-serve fried stuff. I love the chicken wild rice breadbowl soup, while Linda totally dug the frozen chocolate covered banana. Eating that while wearing red, low-cut leather is a sure way to get attention. The gyros and gator are good. The bloomin’ onion is not. The gelato is worth eating.

If you’re into kink, there are straps, collars, cuffs, and blindfolds galore. If you’re into steampunk or random anachronistic costumes, you’re set. If you like old-looking weapons or decorations, you can scratch that itch. If you dig watching women walk around in clothes they’d be too embarrassed to leave the house in any other time of the year, you’ll leave happy. There’s a lot of leather, lace, and silk at Renn Fest, both in the stores and on the visitors.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Total Score

Forever Yogurt

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Jason’s Take

A few nights ago, Linda had to work, and I had to come up with something to entertain the kids.

My solution: frozen yogurt from Forever Yogurt in the West End development. They’ve got 16 flavors of frozen yogurt, 50 different toppings to put on them to make the frozen yogurt as far from a healthy alternative to ice cream as possible, and they are immediately next to the most deserted part of the parking ramp complex over there.

They charge about 60 cents an ounce, so it stays affordable. It cost $23 to take three kids out, and they all love being able to get exactly what they want.

I strongly recommend limiting them to 3 or four toppings, or young brats will turn it into a horribly, sugary abomination that even they won’t eat.

Been there, done that.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

The Yardhouse

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Jason’s Take

The Yardhouse came to St. Louis Park a few months back, and we wanted to try it. The last time we went there, they had a 60-90 minute wait, so we went elsewhere. This time, we took advantage of their call-ahead seating option and called as soon as we left our dancing lesson. When we got there, we only had a 10 minute wait to get seated. Yay, us!

The Yardhouse has an impressive beer selection; over 150 beers on tap. Our waitress had a pretty good handle on the beers, so we told what kind of beer we like and she came back with good choices. The pear cider and apricot ale are good if you like things sweet. The double chocolote thing tastes like a milkshake, but without a hint of sweetness. The Delirium Tremens clocks in at 10% alcohol and tastes good. It’s a great way to catch a quick buzz without having to buy a bunch of beer.

I’ve read reviews that say the place is too noisy, but I disagree. They keep the music loud enough to drown out surrounding conversations, but not so loud you can’t easily hear the people at your table. The music provides privacy, which is great in a joint with an open floor plan.

Now, the food:

When we first looked into the place, I saw a giant menu that didn’t hit any particular niche. You can get tacos, sushi, steak, or pizza. How can a restaurant make good food when there’s a thousand* items on the menu and no theme?

I don’t know the answer to that, but they managed.

We started with the spicy deviled eggs and mu shu egg rolls. Both were great. I can eat a pile of deviled eggs, so I’m happy there were only 3 on the plate. Appetizers were excellent.

For the second course, we got the chicken tortilla soup, which comes with an avocado slice on top. I could have gotten a bowl of that and gone home happy. Holy crap, that was good.

My entree was the taco plate with garlic fries. The fries were phenomenal. Easily ranking in the top 5 french fries I’ve had in my life. The tacos were okay, but not mind-blowing. I had a baja taco and a carnitas taco. Good, not great.

For dessert, I really wanted to get the salted caramel butterscotch pudding, but did you read the list of food we did get? There was no room for more.

Totally worth going. We got some great beer and food, and spent $93 including the tip. I will be going back.

I give it 5 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

We finally got a chance to go to this place over at the West End Shops. If you even want to get in, you can call ahead and have your name added to the wait list, they will tell you how long the wait it is for a table and you can head there closer to the wait time.

They don’t take reservations.

OMG, the list of beers on tap, if you want it, they will have it! And the neat thing you can do is sample up to 2 different beers at a time to find out what you like.

I think one thing I didn’t like about this place is that there is so much on the menu that it takes a while for you to figure out what you want to eat. I do like that for everything on the menu, they have at the end of description they will indicate if it’s a vegetarian and/or under 600 calorie dish. That way I don’t have to pick the waitress’s brain.

They have an awesome list of appetizers to choose from, not your regular listing of appetizers. I liked what Jason chose, both were yummy. I ordered a chipotle lime grilled shrimp; the shrimp tasted awesome, however I didn’t like the sides that came with it. We both tried the chicken tortilla soup and that was awesome!

I would just go back for beer and soup!
Overall, 4 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

4.5 Pants Off!

*Slight exaggeration

Fred Astaire Dance Studio

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Jason’s Take

When we got married half a lifetime ago, we decided to take dancing lessons for the reception. And we rocked it.

A few months ago, Linda found a Groupon for the same studio (Fred Astaire in Eagan), so she signed us up, and we’ve been going every week since.

And we’re still rocking it.

Chad and Beth are our instructors and they are good at what they do. Once you get past the beginner stage, you’ll pick four dances to focus on. Their theory is that it’s as easy to learn 4 dances as it is to learn two, because so many of the steps are similar. We learning the Waltz, Rumba, Swing, and Tango. Just like Gomez and Morticia.

Some guys are going to read this and think they can’t take dance lessons because it’s too girly. All I can say to that is that dancing is foreplay. There ain’t nothing un-manly about foreplay.

And seriously, if you go there, tell them Jason and Linda sent you. You’ll get a discount and we’ll get a free lesson.

5 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

A few months back, Jason and I were looking to going out on dates to connect with each other. I looked on Groupon and found a beginner group dance class at Fred Astaire Dance Studio. I found some more information about the place and found out that this was where we took dance lessons at before we got married, now in a new location.

I kept this as a total surprise to Jason, not giving any hints as to what we were going to do. When we got there I saw the biggest smile on his face and he was super happy to do this with me again. I felt like I did something right and was also super happy.

After we did our Groupon special–an unlimited month’s worth of beginner group lessons for only $69.00–we decided that we should make this a hobby to get better at. So we signed up for a beginner package deal. Plus, if we had friends to join up for any classes we would get a free class and friends would get a discount on their package classes.

Ballroom dancing is something that you both have to work at, just like a relationship. You have to work together to sync up, and when you do, magic happens!

I have to admit that when we go out dancing at local places, I love being the girl that others girls look at while I’m dancing with Jason and they are thinking, “I wish my boyfriend would learn how to dance with me like that!” Actually Jason is the one who pointed that out to me, when we are dancing I’m totally focusing on him.

5 out of 5 pants off!!!

Total Score

Ninja Japanese Steakhouse

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Jason’s Take

I took the family on a trip out to work’s HQ a couple of weeks ago. One night, we went out to dinner at Ninja Japanese Steakhouse, a sushi and hibachi restaurant in West Bend, Wisconsin.

We got seated quickly, and served well. The kids and I all hit the hibachi, while Linda ordered sushi. The hibachi meals are filling. You get soup, vegetables, rice, and your protein. That was all good. Since my girls can’t seem to finish a meal, I got to try the shrimp and the chicken. Definitely worth eating. I’ve had the sushi here other times and it was great.

And the drinks are reasonably priced, which makes cramming three kids in a hotel room for the evening easier to bear.

I think we got the rookie hibachi chef. The dude dropped a spatula and just wasn’t as impressive as other hibachi chefs we’ve seen. When you go for teppanyaki, you’re going for the show as much as the food. He did cook with lots of fire though, which was fun for the whole family.

I give it 4 out of 5 pants off.

Linda’s Take

We had the whole family with because we all wanted to see the main office of Daddy’s work and to get a chance to meet friends and coworkers at the office.

Jason thought we should give the kids a show for dinner and I wanted sushi. West Bend, WI is not a super big place so there was only really one place to go. Since Jason had been there before with coworkers, he knew the kids would like it, and he was right; the kids loved seeing the show in front of them of their food getting cooked. Especially seeing fire!

My sushi tasted good too! Not the best that I have had, but really not bad at all. However our waitress was not the brightest bulb in the lighting system, she must have been new, or god for bid I hope she was. If the whole family goes out to West Bend, WI again I’m sure we will go back there!

3 out of 5 pants off

Total Score

3.5 Pants Off!