Restaurants...

Renfro’s is good.

Picked up their Habanero Salsa today. I'm a fan of the texture and the heat is a decent level in that medium range, but there is an overarching sweetness/tanginess I can't get over. Guessing it's from the vinegar. I'd give it a 7.5/10. Good but won't buy again. The Frontera gets it with its smokiness for sure.

Going up past Duluth this weekend for 3 days for our anniversary.  My wife and I really like eating and especially the pies at the 'Rustic Inn' in Castle Danger.  We'll have lunch or dinner and have pie, followed by each of us taking piece back to where we staying for late night snack.  We did stop in at Betty's Pies in Two Harbors last year once and was very disappointed with the food and their pies where highly overrated.

Rustic Inn >>> Betty's Pies

The New London Cafe on East Superior Street (near 47th Ave) is a wonderful breakfast spot.

https://www.newlondoncafeduluth.com/

Found the Duluth Grill to be pretty good for breakfast.  Though I'm not a big breakfast person and I'm find with the continental breakfast at the hotel.  Though we found Clyde Iron Works in Duluth to be an excellent place for dinner. It's near the newer ice arena, the Duluth Heritage Sports Center.

It's very hard to excel at breakfast. The foods are pretty simple. With that in mind, yes, a decent breakfast at a hotel is usually fine.

Unfortunately, a lot of breakfasts at hotels went to trash during covid.

You people are heathens.  Breakfast is the best meal and a good breakfast place is hard to find and should be safeguarded.

Hotel breakfasts are never acceptable, unless you are staying at a higher end place and ordering off a menu.  The free buffets in the lobby, with their steamed, crumbly eggs and refrigerated Danishes, should be avoided at all costs.

Last time in Duluth (early March) we found a hole in the wall greasy spoon called Uncle Loui's Cafe (spelled correctly).  It's worth a try.

The last great breakfast I can remember is a calentado in Florida (chorizo, arepa con queso, reheated beans and rice, eggs) with real lulo juice. Other than that none stick with me including Duluth Grill.

Smith in EP used to be good but has gone way downhill since the remodel.

I love a good breakfast as well. On vacation though I will say that the breakfast at the hotel is just something to fuel the belly before heading out for the day. We do try to make it to a breakfast joint at least one morning though. In Duluth I have enjoyed Duluth Grill, having the option for a morning drink is nice. I will have to try Uncle Loui's next time we're up there, looking at their menu it's looks good. I'll admit it...I am a sucker for country fried steak and eggs!

The last great breakfast I can remember is a calentado in Florida (chorizo, arepa con queso, reheated beans and rice, eggs) with real lulo juice. Other than that none stick with me including Duluth Grill. Smith in EP used to be good but has gone way downhill since the remodel.

Wander over to Hell's Kitchen and Key's Cafe.  I recommend you try both.  At key's make sure to split a caramel roll with someone and don't miss out on the bacon.  At Hell's Kitchen, make sure you try the Rosti potatoes.  Hell's Kitchen has some unusual twists, but if you like mexican breakfasts, I think they will have something you like.

Hope Breakfast Bar in St. Paul is AMAZING!  Interesting twists on traditional breakfast fare.

I am not a big breakfast guy (at least not in the morning) but Uncle Loui's is amazing and Hell's Kitchen has a great menu!  Key's I think is overrated but it has been quite a while since I ate there so maybe I will try again one day.

Hope Breakfast Bar in St. Paul is AMAZING! Interesting twists on traditional breakfast fare.

Wow.  I will try it.

I'll have to make several stops to work through the drink list.

You people are heathens. Breakfast is the best meal and a good breakfast place is hard to find and should be safeguarded. Hotel breakfasts are never acceptable, unless you are staying at a higher end place and ordering off a menu. The free buffets in the lobby, with their steamed, crumbly eggs and refrigerated Danishes, should be avoided at all costs. Last time in Duluth (early March) we found a hole in the wall greasy spoon called Uncle Loui’s Cafe (spelled correctly). It’s worth a try.

The breakfast buffet at the Arrabelle in Vail is pretty good for a hotel breakfast (we were there in the summer and for some reason they even comped us the breakfast...not sure why, it's not normally free).  Some of the Disney resorts have very good breakfasts but they are very expensive.

Breakfast at Sedona Real was good, too. It's literally a grandma/grandpa cooking everything up each morning. Feels like being at home.

Hope Breakfast Bar in St. Paul is AMAZING! Interesting twists on traditional breakfast fare.

Have to seek out this and Uncle Loui’s. Thanks for the tips. The oldest son and I are big breakfast fans. My wife likes breakfast also, but is not as adventurous. A couple of our favorites are Buttered Tin in St. Paul (biscuits and gravy and the breakfast burrito are my favorites) and The Kitchen Table down in Prescott.

You people are heathens. Breakfast is the best meal and a good breakfast place is hard to find and should be safeguarded. Hotel breakfasts are never acceptable, unless you are staying at a higher end place and ordering off a menu. The free buffets in the lobby, with their steamed, crumbly eggs and refrigerated Danishes, should be avoided at all costs. Last time in Duluth (early March) we found a hole in the wall greasy spoon called Uncle Loui’s Cafe (spelled correctly). It’s worth a try.

I'm not against finding a good breakfast.  Just I'm fine with a bowl of cereal, a hard boiled egg and some packages of peanut butter at the hotel. Though I agree on some of the options at at a hotel continental is very sketchy.

Zwak wrote:

Hope Breakfast Bar in St. Paul is AMAZING! Interesting twists on traditional breakfast fare.

Have to seek out this and Uncle Loui’s. Thanks for the tips. The oldest son and I are big breakfast fans. My wife likes breakfast also, but is not as adventurous. A couple of our favorites are Buttered Tin in St. Paul (biscuits and gravy and the breakfast burrito are my favorites) and The Kitchen Table down in Prescott.

Might have to check out Uncle Loui's on our way home Sunday!!!

One time I was on the road consulting on this case, and the hotel we were staying at had a continental breakfast. Since we didn't have much time in the mornings, I hit this up every day, although strangely no one else on the team did. Skipped breakfast I suppose. The place had the little boxes of cereal, so I'd also take about 8 boxes with me and eat them throughout the day. I think the others thought I was undignified, but what did they expect? It was me.

The hotel breakfast isn’t there to provide you with free snacks for the day.  So yeah, you WERE undignified and your coworkers saw the proof.

I once watched one guy at a breakfast buffet load up his plate with about 20 strips of bacon, leaving nothing for anyone else.  Thanks jackass, free food turns people into pigs at a picnic.

The hotel breakfast isn’t there to provide you with free snacks for the day. So yeah, you WERE undignified and your coworkers saw the proof. I once watched one guy at a breakfast buffet load up his plate with about 20 strips of bacon, leaving nothing for anyone else. Thanks jackass, free food turns people into pigs at a picnic.

I don't think you've read many of Lars Sauve's previous emails....

The hotel breakfast isn’t there to provide you with free snacks for the day. So yeah, you WERE undignified and your coworkers saw the proof. I once watched one guy at a breakfast buffet load up his plate with about 20 strips of bacon, leaving nothing for anyone else. Thanks jackass, free food turns people into pigs at a picnic.

Agree... Over the years I've seen some disturbing acts at any type of buffet. And the amounts a wasteful food is another thing that's disturbing.

Breakfast buffets in German Hotels are Sehr Gut. They put anything in American hotels to shame.

So true!  Most of Europe in fact, hotel breakfasts are spectacular.  I went crazy at one place that had a JUICER! Carrots, apples, oranges, piles of greens, lemon wedges, the Germans treated it like but of course.  I was more Holy Hannah, this juice would be $10 at Jamba.

Going up past Duluth this weekend for 3 days for our anniversary. My wife and I really like eating and especially the pies at the ‘Rustic Inn’ in Castle Danger. We’ll have lunch or dinner and have pie, followed by each of us taking piece back to where we staying for late night snack. We did stop in at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors last year once and was very disappointed with the food and their pies where highly overrated.

Rustic Inn >>> Betty’s Pies

YEARS ago my wife, the kids and I were going up a resort near Duluth for a long weekend. We had heard much chatter about Betty's Pies and decided to stop there for lunch on the way up. The meal itself was okay, but the pie was incredibly underwhelming. I had a piece of coconut cream that tasted like one of those "thaw & serve" pies that I may have gotten at Red Owl or Applebaum's as a kid in West St. Paul. Tammy and the kids felt exactly the same way. Completely blah.

Betty's Pies is like Sweet Martha's Cookies at the fair.

I think it must be a hit and miss place because I've been to Betty's twice and one time I had a top 3 pie ever and the other time it was just fine. I wish I could recall what pies I got because maybe they just do some varieties really well and others are meh.

The original Betty sold out in 1984. I can’t speak from experience, but have been told by several people that the current regime is a shadow of it’s former self.

You people are heathens. Breakfast is the best meal and a good breakfast place is hard to find and should be safeguarded. Hotel breakfasts are never acceptable, unless you are staying at a higher end place and ordering off a menu. The free buffets in the lobby, with their steamed, crumbly eggs and refrigerated Danishes, should be avoided at all costs. Last time in Duluth (early March) we found a hole in the wall greasy spoon called Uncle Loui’s Cafe (spelled correctly). It’s worth a try.

I think I've been there, and if I have, yes, damn good place.

Gave it a second try  and tried Old World Pizza again today... and the same. Just not the same as it use to be.  I did ask and they are under new management for almost a year now.

Fogo de Chao… bring on the meat sweats and meat coma!!!

Fogo de Chao… bring on the meat sweats and meat coma!!!

Bullvino's in St. Paul is a similar place.  Just as good.  If I recall it was a little cheaper but not that much.

Yes most Brazilians choose the cheaper churrascos and say they are better, too. It used to be just the one in MG. Not sure how prices have evolved and how the STP one compares but I imagine it is on the more expensive side.

Yes most Brazilians choose the cheaper churrascos and say they are better, too. It used to be just the one in MG. Not sure how prices have evolved and how the STP one compares but I imagine it is on the more expensive side.

Are you talking about Rodizio Grill in MG?  It's good but not as good as Fogo.  Only slightly cheaper.  Fogo is worth the extra money in my opinion.

There is another Brazilian place in Maple Grove called Grill Hall that I would like to try.

One opened up several weeks ago in Woodbury in the Valley Creek area.  Tried to go there but they didn't really have it together yet.  As we were waiting people came by and told us we shouldn't stay.  Food wasn't coming out, short staffed, all the typical start up issues to the extreme.  Not sure how they are doing now.

Twice this past weekend for breakfast at the Cove Point Lodge (Beaver Bay) I had the Scandinavian Breakfast.  Pickled herring, beets, cucumber salad, a hard boiled egg, hard salami, a selection of cheeses and a baguette...

That's nasty.

That’s nasty.

The first 3 items sound like a Dwight Schrute breakfast.

Is it possible to mute Gator in just this thread?

Twice this past weekend for breakfast at the Cove Point Lodge (Beaver Bay) I had the Scandinavian Breakfast. Pickled herring, beets, cucumber salad, a hard boiled egg, hard salami, a selection of cheeses and a baguette…

That sounds like a 4AM “breakfast” before you pass out

Note to self:  NEVER order the Scandinavian breakfast.

*shrug* Sounds good to me.

Note to self: NEVER order the Scandinavian breakfast.

So "NO" to the liver and onions at Mickey's Diner in downtown St. Paul?!?!?!

Btw, Mickey's has been temporary closed for several months due to the pandemic, but does have plans to open this spring.

Hard no to liver and onions lol

Hard no to liver and onions lol

So a hard "NO" to lutefisk at a Norwegian dinner?!?!?!

Bonin21 wrote:

Hard no to liver and onions lol

So a hard “NO” to lutefisk at a Norwegian dinner?!?!?!

For those of us with properly functioning taste-buds, that is correct.

Bonin21 wrote:

Hard no to liver and onions lol

So a hard “NO” to lutefisk at a Norwegian dinner?!?!?!

absolutely.  Snot on a plate.  My dad makes it every year.   ?

Even I'm not ordering/eating lutefisk. The other stuff I'm a fan of.

Take your age and subtract 25 and that is the percentage chance you will like the foods being thrown out in here lol.

Even I’m not ordering/eating lutefisk. The other stuff I’m a fan of.

  See?  Even KARLSSON avoids Lutefisk like the plague that it is.  😉

Take your age and subtract 25 and that is the percentage chance you will like the foods being thrown out in here lol.

That still massively overstates the chance I'd like any of it.

Take your age and subtract 25 and that is the percentage chance you will like the foods being thrown out in here lol.

So roughly 25% going on 26%... I eat pickled herring and lutefisk (with lots of butter).  Liver and onions (with A1 steak sause) is like a once every 5-10 years for me.