The Deets

If you’re into Nascar, pull tabs, beer, and puffed cheese balls, I’m sure you’d like the Cedar Inn at Cedar & 42nd in South Minneapolis.

The cheese balls are free. And, after a few beers, are they’re good enough to eat even after being dropped on the floor by people who aren’t good at catching them in their mouth. Although the thrower should share some of the blame.

I haven’t tried their burgers yet, but I get the impression that they’re pretty good (and Weezie’s meatloaf sounds good too).

The Lake Inn was where Buster’s on 28th is located. I never made it there pre-Buster’s, but the burger must have been worth saving since it has found a new home a few blocks West at the Cedar Inn.

One of Minneapolis’ top breakfast spots, Birchwood Cafe, has long caused one minor (some would say major) gripe among coffee junkie breakfast enthusiasts: they charged for coffee refills.

Their coffee is delicious and is bike delivered from Peace Coffee, so it’s probably not the cheapest thing to brew. However, the complaint isn’t as much about the price as the pain of getting up, waiting, and ordering extra caffeine hits.

But all that recently changed, as Camacho Watcho reports:

We hadn’t been to the Birchwood for a while, but we could feel something was different as we sat down. Looking around us, we discovered that people had small, silver carafes of coffee at their tables and they were pouring their own refills while they ate. That was it; that was the difference. Kyle and I were just glancing down into our mugs of disappearing coffee, wishing we had known about this when we ordered, when a waitress appeared with a carafe of coffee and poured us refills. Fantastic!

That pretty much locks them in as the #1 breakfast spot among my coffee-junkie breakfast-loving friends.

I haven’t helped myself to any of that “old country” flavor in years, so I guess I’m partly responsible for this:

Economy taking a toll on restaurants, too

Among the first to feel the impact, analysts say, are restaurants that cater to lower to middle income customers. Just this week, Eagan-based Buffets Inc. filed for bankruptcy.

Virgillio has no plans to close the doors of any of his three restaurants anytime soon. On the contrary, he plans to keep customers, he says, with excellent food, good value and ambiance from the old country.

Is this a case of people going out to eat less? Or, are people going to OCB as much as ever but doubling down on the marshmallow laced Jello while they’re there?

Bonus: Old Country Buffet’s website includes instructions on How to Buffet. The verbification of America.

I couldn’t agree more with Amadeus’ assessment of what you can expect to find on the brunch menus of “fancy restaurants”:

I think there are strict rules when it comes to what can be offered. According to “The Fancy Restaurant Brunch Gestapo”, there will be the following items:

1) French toast with some sort of flair (like a banana compote)
2) Eggs Benedict with or without flair (spinach or some such thing)
3) Omelet(s) with flair (fancy cheese, strange veggie)
4) Some sort of baked eggy flairy thing (like eggs en cocotte)
5) Scrambled eggs with flair (often not actually called scrambled)
6) Fruit and granola

One thing that is often not included in the “Fancy Restaurant Brunch” is any form of the standard American breakfast of two eggs, meat, toast, and potatoes.

One I’d add: If there is a buffet, expect to find smoked salmon.

This past summer, Carly and I went up to Grand Marais for a weekend with Kyle and Katie Cannon and visited the excellent Angry Trout Cafe for dinner. For those not familiar with the Angry Trout, it’s an eco-friendly, sustainable-focused restaurant that uses locally grown vegetables, Lake Superior fish, and no multi-national pop.

They not only live it, they also evangelist their sustainable values through a book where they explain why they make the choices they do about food, place settings, and decor.

One choice they’ve made stood out to us on out visit: their napkins. They’re made of unbleached cloth, and are much smaller than what you’d typically receive at a restaurant. Apparently, this is the most sustainable way to make a napkin.

The Angry Trout describes their napkins as “Provocatively Small.” What people are provoked to do isn’t entirely clear. Write blog posts, perhaps? I’m feeling provoked right now.

I couldn’t find a picture among my photos from that trip, but I found this shot of three provocatively small napkins on Flickr:

And here’s a close up of one next to a provocative plate:

Personally, I’m starting have some doubts about whether The Angry Trout’s napkins are really all that provocative. For example, I couldn’t find a single photo from the Angry Trout where the napkin was the subject. There is this shot of a napkin, but it doesn’t highlight the napkin’s provocatively small size.

Perhaps you need to go large to provoke? Now HERE is a provocative napkin held up by Kyle at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina:

Another perspective:

And here’s one from another Buenos Aires restaurant:

Argentina doesn’t have to go big to provoke. They can play the small game too, as Carly shows:

And Kyle cleaning up post-croissant:

Upon returning from Buenos Aires, Kyle and Katie stopped by the Longfellow Grill for an American breakfast. But before they had a chance to eat, they were provoked by the napkins:

The Longfellow Grill’s napkins are made out of a provocative terry cloth like a hand towel. I’m not sure why this is done. Perhaps their clientèle is prone to large spills?

Notice the beach towel’s worth of hand towels / provocative napkins on the table behind Kyle.

Have you been provoked by a napkin? If so, where and why? Or, what would you do to provoke people with your napkins if you ran a restaurant?

The Channel 4000 blog points out that many local restaurant groups are offering incentives on gift certificates. They seem to be ranging from $20-25 in bonus cash on $100 in gift certificate purchased.

Give And Receive

A bunch of restaurants around the area are offering promos of “Buy $100 in gift cards, get one for yourself.” Hmmm… so you give a gift and get something nice for you? Sweet.

Even better, these aren’t your regular Applebee’s, Friday’s, Ruby Tuesday type places.

I threw down on some Parasole Restaurant Holding bucks. They’re good at Manny’s, Figlio, Chino Latino, Good Earth, Muffaletta, Salut, and Pittsburgh Blue. They also happen to be the only local site I’ve found that offers online ordering of gift certificates. In the end, it costs $102.95 (after shipping) for $125 worth of gift certificates.

Following up on yesterday’s post about Buster’s on 28th’s mystery location, the new restaurant was found on 28th Ave S in South Minneapolis.

The local blogosphere was abuzz yesterday about the launch of Buster’s, so I had to get in on the action too. I found a Juicy Lucy on the menu on the website, so I knew what I was after.

And here’s what showed up:

I consider myself to be a bit of a Juicy Lucy (and Jucy Lucy) aficionado, so I immediately recognized an obvious problem with this particular Lucy. In fact, it probably doesn’t take a trained eye to pick out the issue here: The cheese was on the outside of the burger. Some restaurants would refer to this as a cheeseburger.

Of course, it could be some form of double-cheese Lucy where there is cheese both outside and inside the burger, so I dug in:

But could not locate tell-tale signs of a proper Lucy classification: burned tongue, molten lava-like oozing cheese, burning wrist and forearm from Lucy blow-out, etc.

Other than the fact that this wasn’t a Lucy, it was a delicious burger. They just need to find a new name for it on the menu.

Since Aaron beat me to the punch by posting last night about last night, I’m trying to one-up him with this little highlight reel:

As Aaron pointed out, Buster’s is a “sister” or the Happy Gnome in St. Paul, although I question whether the term “sister” is an appropriate gender for either establishment.

Max started a post regarding opening night restaurant blogging over on MNSpeak, which turned into a bit of a bitch-fest about how stupid amateur restaurant blogging is. Basically, if you’ve read this far, you’re stupid in the opinion of anonymous commenters. I hope that doesn’t ruin your day.

You’ll just have to a few more weeks for a professional review without photos, videos, comments, and links to other reviews.

Darn East side of South Minneapolis and its numbered streets in all directions. The problems you cause!

For example, Taylor is all fired up about going to Buster’s on 28th with Aaron.

But it’s not clear which 28th Buster’s on 28th is actually on. In fact, Buster’s doesn’t seem to know for sure. The logo on their site says 28th Street:

Which would put it near Brackett Park.

But the address in the footer of their site lists 28th Ave as the address.

I assume this is 28th Ave S, which would put it a few blocks to the West of the LRT at the corner of 28th Ave S & 42nd St E.

Will Taylor and Aaron find Buster’s?

Will they drive separately and end up at different corners of South Minneapolis?

Will Buster’s change their logo or the address in their footer?

I hope someone finds this place and reports on their Juicy Lucy.

If you’re looking for some good spots to check out in Minneapolis, look no further than this thread on ChowHound where a user named, The Dairy Queen, lays down a long series of great recommendations.

More info on this food writer can be found on her (actually, not sure it’s a her) profile page.

I turned 33 1/3 today, and decided it’s a good time to reflect back on the first
33 years and four months of my life and what I’ve learned. This was a quick
brainstorm, so I may have missed a few things.

1. There are a lot of idiots in the world, but the most dangerous idiots are the
ones who fake their competence. It’s much easier to work with people who know
their strengths and limitations.

2. While chicken wings go well with beer in the evening, they add up to few
hundred calories you don’t really need.

3. Home owners care more about their communities and neighbors than renters.

4. If given a choice, choose Laguardia when flying to NYC.

5. Try as many sports as you can when you’re young. They’re easier to pick up
and you’ll avoid looking like an idiot by running on a pop-fly later in life.

6. When cross country ski racing, hit the uphills hard, then find a pace where
you don’t go anaerobic for the remainder of the hill. When you crest the hill,
ramp up your speed.

7. If you’re not an uber-geek, seek out the advice of someone more technical
than yourself before buying electronics. You’ll be much more satisfied with your
purchase, maybe save a few bucks, and won’t be mocked when you have to call your
uber-geek friend for advice on how to fix the product you didn’t ask for advice
on before buying.

8. If you know more about the characters on your favorite TV show than you do
about your real-life friends, it’s time to kill your TV. If you have more TV
friends that real life friends, get help.

9. It’s great to workout with a different person each day of the week, but if
you’re drinking with a different person every day of the week, you have a
problem. If you’re drinking with the same person every day of the week, make
sure you’re working out together first.

10. Many big decisions are not as big as you may assume. Things like buying a
home or whether to take a new job are not lifetime decisions, so save some
stress by taking this into consideration.

11. Some of the most optimistic people you’ll ever see are at REI.

12. I have never, in my entire life, heard someone say, “I’ve been hanging out
with my friends too much lately.” but the opposite is often true.

13. Hitchhiking works.

14. Spend more money than you think you should on a camera, but less than you
want on a car.

15. If a restaurant puts their name on something on the menu, it’s probably the
correct order at that establishment.

16. Don’t give people unsolicited relationship advice unless you’re absolutely
sure it’s the right thing to so. Even then, don’t expect a good reaction.

17. Try to be the best at something. It makes for interesting stories and a good
narrative.

18. Run on windy days and bike on calm days.

19. Learn how to use a search engine. It’s not about what you know, but what you
can find out in a few keystrokes that matters these days.

20. Order creme brulee at restaurants because it’s too much work to make at
home.

21. Have your drink order figured out before the server arrives at your table for the first time. That’s what they’re there for.

22. The best Jucy Lucy hamburger is at The Nook in St. Paul across from Cretin
High School.

23. Your network administrator knows more about you that you really want to
know, but most of them are not abusing that information.

24. There is not a direct correlation between intelligence and income.

25. Don’t drink strong beers on hot days.

26. Don’t expect to see Mt. McKinley on a 1-day visit to Denali National Park.

27. Synthetic running clothes are worth the money.

28. Anyone can built a website these days, and most are total ghost towns.

29. Splitting entrees saves money and helps justify getting desert.

30. Get your own domain name so you have the flexibility to change Internet
service providers without changing email. Gmail is a close second based on this
justification.

31. Visiting countries recovering from wars is a good way to avoid tourists.

32. Minnesota sports fans are not as irrationally attached to their sports teams
at many Green Bay or Chicago fans, and that’s a good thing.

33. Golf has more players who are passionate about their sport - yet do nothing
to improve their game - than any other sport. Buying new equipment does not
quality as doing something to improve their game.

33 1/3. The SuperAmerica speedy reward card helps you earn points toward free
gas and hot dogs.