Restaurants...

Himilayan on Lake?

Yea, that’s the one! Do they have multiple locations?

No, I was confusing with Peninsula. I will have to check Himalayan out.

I’ll never understand the Raising Caines craze… the line in Apple Valley is always a minimum of 10 deep and tonight it’s over 20 vehicles. Their chicken is good just is it worth waiting in line behind 20 cars good?!?!?!

That’s it? Go to Maple Grove and it’s regularly 50 cars

I still remember going to Krispy Kreme in Denver about a month after they opened. I was dumb enough to sit in the drive thru line for 2 hours on a Tuesday night at 11:00pm

Though the one in Mpls on Lake St and Snelling maybe has 3 cars in line.

50 cars? Yikes. Maybe it says something about the demographics of MG. Young families that are too lazy to cook or something but also in a place where eating "higher end" fast food all the time is not a financial worry at all.

Caine’s in Blaine is always wrapped around the parking lot. It really isn’t all that good. I don’t eat chicken tenders, other than Serum’s, but if I did Culver’s tenders are better for fast food.

I don’t get the Caine’s obsession.

I think Popeyes chicken and Chick-fil-A nuggets are better than Caines. The best thing at Caines is their toast. Almost as good as DQ’s toast.

Yeah, you’re not driving by at busy times. It’s usually all the way around the building and down the frontage road, I bet we’ve seen 50 cars there on a weekend easy.

Ate there once on our way home one Thursday night when there were only about four cars in line (and it was still faster to go inside). It was good, but nothing I would wait an hour for.

Never, and I mean never, go to a place for toast…... Unless that place is Sweet Taste of Italy.

I have said this many times for years. Family members have been close to cutting ties with me over my indifference to Canes. Sure, it's decent but Chik-Fil-A is right down the block in Apple Valley. Plus they have way better lemonade. Cane's lemonade is not good at all and no clue why you need to pay extra for it.

Mr. Paul's Supper Club in Edina.

Went to their special event called Balloon Emporium. Has a Willy Wonka theme. Outrageously expensive for a ticket, but they really go all out. But I guess it's not too much more than a top notch meal with drinks at Manny's or Murray's. It was incredible. Amazing food and plenty of way out there cocktails. They pumped different scents in the air to match the theme and turned on the black lights because several things including the cocktails lit up like crazy. I think it was 7 small courses and a cocktail paired with each one. Food highlight was caviar served with salt and vinegar chips, and we got a small plates of lobster and Kobe beef.

I’ve never had Canes. Never had Chik-Fil-A. But I refuse to believe anyone can make better chicken then my grandma! Crisco was the (not so secret) ingredient. If you aren’t frying that chicken in lard you’re wasting my time.

For cooked chicken (rotisserie) we just pick one up from Costco. Still a true loss-leader for them, while a true bargain for the customer, at just $4.99.

Nothing bad to say about Test Kitchen, in the former Campus Pizza spot. Could have polished a second steak and cheese sandwich pregame.

Is it a Philly cheesesteak?

Or a "steak and cheese" sandwich that is somehow different than a philly cheesesteak.

Similar but different kind of bun and I'd say less greasy than a typical cheesesteak. Picture here (which I know looks greasy despite what I just said)

https://www.thetestkitchenmn.com/

I agree. I'm not a "sauce" guy, so Canes is super boring for me. Their chicken is the most bland fried chicken of any restaurant. The lines of cars waiting for drive-thru is insane.

Chik-fil-A has better flavor and doesn't need sauce. I think KFC chicken has the best flavor, but unfortunately they are really hard to find and their quality/cleanliness really went downhill.

As others have said the Costco and Sam's Club rotisserie chickens are great too and a great value.

*clears throat*

Crisco isn't lard.

#busdrivingfoodscientist

Also, Bertogliat is correct about Sweet Taste.

Also, also: what the hell's with all this Raising Cane's slander? Philistines, the lot of you.

Lol, I should have clarified, she used a mix. A can of Crisco, a dish of bacon fat and lard were always on her counter She didn’t waste bacon fat on chicken though. That was cooking gold!

Went to Big Bore BBQ in Hanover for dinner tonight. We got there at 4:45 and it was already an hour wait.

The food though was really worth the wait. The pulled pork was excellent and the ribs were very good. The best BBQ I’ve had in/around the Cities.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

Good to know I'm not alone out there. :good2:

Agreed too but rotisserie chicken is a bit boring and I get way more excited about CFA than those.

I'm in dire need of a new go-to store bought salsa. My current is Frontera Chipotle "Hot", which is like a 6.5 on the heat scale. I'd like something around that 6.5-7.5 range. What I don't like about the frontera is the plentiful chunks of onion. Yuck. What I do like is that tomato is not the first ingredient (tomatillo instead). Not big on chunky either.

Got Minnesalsa Medium once at Target and it is DISGUSTING. Like eating marinara. Didn't give a chance to their Hot after that.

Double Take was good but not quite what I'm looking for.

We've been getting Mrs Renfro's for a bit now and love it. It is tomatoes, though, and I'm not sure how hot the hot is. We usually get medium. They have a ton of options using reapers and ghost and such as well, so I'm betting they've got something hot enough for you. As tastes obviously vary wildly, I can't be certain you'll enjoy it as much as we do.

Have to brainstorm or try to find their business card. I found some of the best salsa at the Mpls. Farmer's Market. Though haven't been to the market in a couple years. And I know they sell outside the market cause of their business card.

Here’s your new food vendors and items at Target Field:

https://www.startribune.com/going-to-a-minnesota-twins-game-here-are-the-new-foods-at-target-field/600162410/

Love that the Turkey Sandwich is back :dup:

(at least I hope it will be.. the avian flu epidemic may make that more difficult...)

Curt's Special Recipe. It's really good.

Have you tried anything from Mrs. Renfro's salsas? They have a great ghost pepper salsa. Obviously that would be a bit hotter than you want but it's good.

Renfro's is good.

Yeah that’s prob the best store brand salsa I can think of.

Thanks!

Great Value Black Bean Salsa!

I joke, not a salsa fan, more of a sauce and if anyone has ever had Village Hot Sauce, it is the best there is IMO.

It’s hard to find any better store salsa than Frontera

Newman's Own has some good options, but I like almost any salsa. I learned to make salsa last summer and that's the way to go if you can grow the ingredients.

I agree about making your own. I'm like a goat and will eat anything but I now make and can my own salsa. Using fresh ingredients makes all the difference in the world. Like opening a can of August in March. I now can my own corn, baked beans, Spaghetti sauce, green beans and a couple different sauces.

Aldi has a tomato and tomatillo salsa that’s pretty good and only like $2.70 a jar

You have to ask for it to be extra wet. When they scope the turkey have them not drain the juices. Just scope and put it on the bun!!!

First time at Old World Pizza in IGH since pre Covid... just not the same.

You have to elaborate on this one.

The pizzas don't taste the same. And the variety is not the same. Use to be several different pizzas on the buffet line. Not it's like 4 of the same. Curious if they have a new ownership cause I didn't recognize the main staff that I use to see all the time.

We went back to Big Bore BBQ (we've only been once prior to tonight) because my daughter wanted to go there for her birthday dinner.   She really only wanted to go for the the chocolate cookie dough bundt cake but I wasn't about to say no.  The other time the food was good but the only thing that really caught my attention was the Pulled Pork.  The Brisket and Ribs were both good but nothing special in part because I thought they were both a bit overdone.

I got the ribs tonight again they sounded good and it was totally different.   They weren't overdone and they were incredible.  Now I know why people love them so much and why you're lucky if you only have an hour wait on weekends.

While the shrimp basket might be above avg. at Culver’s. The tartar sauce might be the best tartar sauce I’ve ever had. And the cocktail sauce isn’t that bad as well.

Update on Grizzly's in Plymouth. I guess they ARE doing full-kitchen service during the remodel, although only the patio will be open for seating. I am not sure what made that change, but that is good news. It will be a mix of the old/new menus, pretty much phasing out the food supply of Grizzly's orig menu, and shifting over to the new menu, whatever that entails. This all starts May 8th.

That will be interesting given that patio seats about 9 people

That will be interesting given that patio seats about 9 people

It's bigger than that, c'mon. 😛
Limited, yes, but at least they are still "open"