Restaurants…

Broadway Bar was on Broadway Ave right around Fremont or Emerson. Eddie Peck was then the owner.

They have repurposed (I.E. Doolittle’s on Hwy 10 in CR) other buildings and appear to me to still being a viable local pizza place. I think the Champps in MG has also had that happen.

I spent a few hours on the original build for both thosr places.

Disappointing to see long standing businesses closing through out Mpls and StP for over priced developments.

If a development gets sold at a mutually agreed-to price it can’t be because it was over-priced.

I believe the point is that the new stuff in that development is typically way overpriced for the vast majority of people, not that the long standing business didn’t get a good deal on the property, just that most people won’t be able to afford anything in the replacement.

I patronize businesses in new retail developments all the time. I’m not rich but I can afford Jersey Mike’s and Starbucks…

If you count Pub 819 and Grizzly’s “chains” which they kind of are, but not really, sorta, then I eat at chains. I prefer local non-chains.

I patronize businesses in new retail developments all the time. I’m not rich but I can afford Jersey Mike’s and Starbucks…

If you count Pub 819 and Grizzly’s “chains” which they kind of are, but not really, sorta, then I eat at chains. I prefer local non-chains.

My point was that new retail developments don’t make their products unaffordablely expensive, more that the high rents make it difficult to sustain a business long term.

FYI: The dingy Broadway attached to the Eagles Nest in Robbinsdale still uses the old Eddie Peck recipe. I love it. Otherwise yeah, I only like a few locations. Fridley and Blaine I remember being good. Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, and Champlin, not so much. Haven’t been to others in a very long time. Saint Louis Park is in a Broadway Pizza hole, so we’ve been hitting up the Parkway a few blocks down the street. Very Broadway-esque so I enjoy it.

The Plymouth Broadway is pretty solid.

FYI: The dingy Broadway attached to the Eagles Nest in Robbinsdale still uses the old Eddie Peck recipe. I love it. Otherwise yeah, I only like a few locations. Fridley and Blaine I remember being good. Coon Rapids, Maple Grove, and Champlin, not so much. Haven’t been to others in a very long time. Saint Louis Park is in a Broadway Pizza hole, so we’ve been hitting up the Parkway a few blocks down the street. Very Broadway-esque so I enjoy it.

I live near the location in Blaine and won’t eat it. I will definitely try the Robbinsdale location. If they use the original recipe it is worth the drive to me. I miss it very much.

Bummer to hear about Blaine. Haven’t been there in a long time. Haven’t been to Fridley in years, either. Only the one being shut down and Robbinsdale for a while now. I really miss the old Coon Rapids location, which is now The Well. Lots of great memories going there and the Ole Piper Inn after hockey games my dad refereed. Another common stop was that old Pasquales in the Northtown Mall.

I feel I should add a disclaimer about the Robbinsdale location. The menu claims they use the original recipe, I have not done the research to verify it. I do know it tastes different than other locations, though, and is in my opinion better.

Last night we went to the Market at Malcolm Yards over in the Prospect Park neighborhood. It’s basically a 2-3 block walk from Surly to get over there and they have about 10 different food vendors plus a place to get beer, wine, and spirits.

I ended up trying some sushi and sashimi while my wife got a lobster roll from another place. The food was just ‘meh’ and frankly I thought it was a bit overpriced even before trying the food. The only thing we agreed that we really liked was the ice cream from Bebe Zito.

It’s an interesting concept but I won’t be in a hurry to go back there.

OMG, I love Bebe Zito!! I didn’t know they had a truck, I’ve only ever been to the shop. Their vanilla is one of the very best I’ve ever tasted but they have too many fab flavors to just do vanilla :biggrin2:

They have a peanut butter one with a sour plum jam swirled in. It’s addictive.

Went there pre-gaming with a couple friends several weeks ago. Really good selection, and the “run your credit card, here’s your use for the night card, including self-pours on the taps” worked nicely for me.

If I’m going to self-pour, I’m staying home. Honestly. The new brewery in Hopkins (Bear Cave) is going to be self-pour, and unless the beer is mind-blowing (I will try it once), I won’t be there. Horrible concept.

If I was going there for the beer/cider/wine, then sure, I’m just staying home. Pre-game with a couple friends over dinner, it works.

If I’m going to self-pour, I’m staying home. Honestly. The new brewery in Hopkins (Bear Cave) is going to be self-pour, and unless the beer is mind-blowing (I will try it once), I won’t be there. Horrible concept.

If I was going there for the beer/cider/wine, then sure, I’m just staying home. Pre-game with a couple friends over dinner, it works.

This self pour gimmick has been around many years. I’m was a 50/50 fan of it when I was drinking. Though like Steve said, it does work with friends sitting around a table.

I KNOW!! Especially the banh xeo, one of my all time favorite dishes. I first had this in Vietnam and fell in love with the crispy pancake and the fillings.

If this isn’t reason enough to venture over to Grand I don’t know what is.

Bona near Mariucci has bahn xeo too, but I’ve been mighty disappointed in it. It’s usually soggy, which is just a sin.

Keeping my tastebuds crossed for ‘Em Que Viet.

I have not tried Bahn Xeo before, next time. Mrs. GE and I often go to Bona before games, I have always been a fan and love their egg rolls and just about everything else I’ve had there. IIRC the first time I went there I was a student at Lakewood (now Century) CC and my International Communications prof had a class event there.

https://www.startribune.com/que-viet-is-bringing-its-famous-egg-rolls-to-grand-avenue/600137702/

Que Viet, the beloved Vietnamese restaurant known for its giant egg rolls at the Minnesota State Fair, will open a St. Paul location this spring.

Em Que Viet — “em” is the Vietnamese word for little brother or sister — is part of the Que Viet family of restaurants descending from what they say is Minnesota’s longest-running Vietnamese restaurant. The new location (1332 Grand Av., St. Paul) will serve some of the restaurant’s classic dishes, including the popular egg rolls and the beef and potatoes. Unique to this location, owned by Maria Nguyen and Brianna Le, will be dishes that are more traditionally Vietnamese, such as banh xeo, a crispy savory crêpe stuffed with meat and fresh herbs. Other dishes will take some creative modern liberties, like nachos topped with braised pork belly served on crunchy rice paper crackers.

:dance:

I drive from Blaine to Que Viet in Brooklyn Center on occasion and only get the egg rolls. They are the best egg rolls I have ever had and it’s not close.

I once waited in the lobby for 5 minutes and saw 3 customers come in and only order eggrolls.

The only better egg rolls I’ve had are at our local Parish festival.

St Columba (in St. Paul) is primary a Vietnamese parish and the array and quality of the food at their annual festival (usually July) rivals that of hawker food in Singapore.

Interesting side note about St. Columba, YE went to school there from Pre-K through 4th grade. In his first pre-K year I began to notice the 7th-8th grade basketball and baseball teams never lost a game. Ever. Turns out they had this one particular kid who seemed to really stand out and this kid went on to have a pretty nice career for the Twins.

I’m looking for Pho in the east metro/Woodbury area, any suggestions? Looks like the Thai place on Woodbury drive has it?

I live near to Que Viet on Johnson in NE. I will come in there to buy egg rolls and then take it home to accompany whatever else I’m making at home.

My folks love that place… When I was living downtown Mpls. and my parents would come over to help me with projects around the apt. complex. We would go to the Home Depot in the Quarry to buy what I needed and lunch at Que Viet.

Not really restaurant related but food/beverage related.

I’m a huge fan of zero sugar pop like Coke Zero, Cherry Coke Zero, etc.

Today I tried a new Coke flavor. Coke Starlight Zero Sugar. It is billed as “space flavored”. I’m not sure what that means it supposed to taste like but I can tell you it was awful.

Here’s an article about it.

https://thetakeout.com/coca-cola-starlight-new-coke-product-review-1848576165/amp

Not really restaurant related but food/beverage related.

I’m a huge fan of zero sugar pop like Coke Zero, Cherry Coke Zero, etc.

Today I tried a new Coke flavor. Coke Starlight Zero Sugar. It is billed as “space flavored”. I’m not sure what that means it supposed to taste like but I can tell you it was awful.

Here’s an article about it.

https://thetakeout.com/coca-cola-starlight-new-coke-product-review-1848576165/amp

Space flavored – probably had random bits of metal and other space junk in it. 🤷‍♀️

Sorry this is off the topic of food and completely random but thought it was funny I brought up space junk today and then there’s a story about some space junk about to hit the moon. :mrgreen:

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/space-junk-5800-mph-collision-course-moon-rcna18249

Last night we went to the Market at Malcolm Yards over in the Prospect Park neighborhood. It’s basically a 2-3 block walk from Surly to get over there and they have about 10 different food vendors plus a place to get beer, wine, and spirits.

I ended up trying some sushi and sashimi while my wife got a lobster roll from another place. The food was just ‘meh’ and frankly I thought it was a bit overpriced even before trying the food. The only thing we agreed that we really liked was the ice cream from Bebe Zito.

It’s an interesting concept but I won’t be in a hurry to go back there.

We tried Malcom Yards before last Saturday’s hockey game. Interesting concept, but I don’t think I’d ever go back if it’s at a crowded time (like a Friday or Saturday night). We walked back and forth looking for a table for 10 minutes and finally had to settle for our group of 4 sharing a spot for one person on a bar rail seating area. So while the concept was cool, until they add some more seating I wouldn’t go back at a busy time again.

Keg and Case must have had similar complaints. When the main restaurant on the first floor closed they converted it to just seating.

I liked the food there and cool concept, but hate the self pour walls. No one knows how to pour a beer and seems like a waste to pay for a glass of foam. Also, the food was good, but seemed a bit overpriced.

Yeah them and Ghorka’s are my favorite so far.

The Himilayan in Minneapolis is really, really good. If you like Nepali/Indian food it is a must try. I had the Lamb Tikka Masala (which I always get) and it is delicious with garlic naan.

Oooo, the momos! Get the momos.

When I was working at Abbott Northwestern in the late 90’s one of my coworkers from Tibet would bring in homemade momos… so good!!!

The Himilayan in Minneapolis is really, really good. If you like Nepali/Indian food it is a must try. I had the Lamb Tikka Masala (which I always get) and it is delicious with garlic naan.

Himilayan on Lake?

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

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?!?!?!

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’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?!?!?!

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.

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?!?!?!

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.

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.

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

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’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.

*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.