Twin Cities

Archived Posts from this Category

February 23, 2012

St Paul Restaurant: Rusty Taco

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

Voltaire is rumored to have once quipped that if Rusty Taco did not exist, then it would be necessary to invent him. The name is funny, conjuring images of Tom and me giggling over Van Halen double entendres. Cheap tacos are a necessity. A place to have a laid back assortment of different meats surrounded by a tortilla. Sometimes cheese. Often salsa. Never lettuce.

Even in Minnesota there are seven Mexican joints for each person. There aren’t but that’s what I see when swimming around the cities. Many I have tried. Few I have returned to. I will return to Rusty Taco.

There is a parking situation. You have been warned. Many people spend a lot of review space on this issue. It is an issue, but the food fan will deal. Rusty Taco is worth the hassle.

Foursquare tips are nearly useless and this place demonstrates that lesson. There are 12 taco options and I saw a recommendation for each of them. I rolled with 7, 8 and 9. The Swede took down a 2 and a 9. Neither of us liked the 9. The pork was bland and the pineapple was too sweet. Carnitas tacos are a hard sell for us, because the pork needs to be crisped and then cooked instead of just cooked. Barrio has ruined our ability to appreciate carnitas from any other place, and sometimes even from Barrio.

I really enjoyed the 7. The fish was well seasoned. It could use some heat. The Crazy Hot Habanero Sauce was neither crazy nor hot. It does have some heat, but if the metaphor is calling 911, then this rates a take the flaming pan off the stove. For the fish the salsa verde is a better fit than the Crazy Hot and it too needs more heat. Regardless, the 7 is my pick for the best and that is with green sauce on it. I am willing to pay for it again.

The 8, crispy shrimp, was good. That’s about all I can say. Fried shrimp with some sauce on it is easy to do and hard to muck. It struck me as average. I plan on returning to try out some other options and it will be hard to not order the 7 just to guarantee that I have something I really enjoy.

Being able to have a tapped Dos Equis is always a plus. Having it with tacos is gravy. Chips and salsa are a staple, but most places disappoint. The chips are average but the salsa is actually good. It could be hotter, but the usual failings (too much tomato, too little cilantro, too much sweetness) were not there. Grab a seat at the bar and watch the rough guy (hickeys, bruises from a fight, lots of ink) make the tacos. Your mouth will water, hence the chips and salsa. It’s a fun place.

The decor is not special. The place is much cleaner than expected, not at all the dive I expect from the menu with the name Rusty Taco. Because of its location I expected it to be more suburban, but it could easily fit into a south Minneapolis neighborhood without making you fear for your health or safety.

Compared to other taco joints I would rather visit Barrio, but I don’t see them in competition. Barrio will have better carnitas and sangria (no sangria at Rusty) and will cost me more money. Barrio also lets me hob-knob with new money whereas Rusty lets me enjoy my tacos without fear of being judged for not wearing Bruno Maglis (hyperbole yes, but it’s still instructive).

 

January 15, 2012

To new years and clean slates

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

image via euphoriasmoothies.com

I was worried when I left for Florida and then Texas that the snow would be old when I returned. The snow yellows and blacks. By April it will be disgusting. I flew in and there was only a slight layer of snow on the ground, but on Saturday it snowed. Not enough to pose a threat to people driving but just enough to make everything look beautiful and clean.

It’s two weeks into the new year, but for me it is just starting. I am now home after three weeks away. The few days I have been home have been busy. But today brings the promise that only leisure can bring. There is nothing that must be done, which is another way of saying that I have not yet fucked something up. The year is the fresh snow on the ground. A promise of things to come and the beauty of tracks as I do those things well.

I try not to make resolutions, but I do have some things I want to focus on and the clean year makes me optimistic about them. I will write more. I will not follow Fitzgerald’s path of hemming without the hawing. I will share more. I have notebooks upon notebooks, think of the notebooks in Se7en (David Fincher: Fight Club), of thoughts and essays and short stories that need to be shared. This pristine Sunday in St Paul makes me optimisitic about those writings.

I also need to convert my office into a digital office. The Swede and I are planning to move to St Thomas in September and taking my library and office would be too difficult and too expensive to move. Never mind the additional paper I am always adding to the office. It will be hard, but I have no choice. The issue is not if I convert but when I convert.

That’s enough for now. Look for me to begin posting my daily writing exercises. I will also be better about the monthly playlists, the search for perfect huevos rancheros and general nonsense going on in the world.

My best wishes to you.

P.S. This was written on the last of the Adderall in my possession, so do not plan on the euphoric tone to persist.

 

May 1, 2011

Huevos Rancheros: Keys Cafe

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

Keys Cafe used to be a local mom and pop diner, but these days they’ve expanded into a mini-empire around the Twin Cities. It’s an okay place. I’m not a fan of how they prep their hash and what they’re best known for is the huge cinnamon rolls, which I don’t eat. After the 10K on Saturday, The Swede, the Swede’s family and I went out for some breakfast.

Huevos Rancheros is not on the menu, but it was on the specials board so I had to order it. It was perfect. The best huevos in the TC and probably the best I’ve ever had. One note about it though, it is not vegetarian friendly. There is a huge sausage patty on the plate and I suspect the beans are pureed with some meat in them.

The sausage patty was like breakfast sausage but spicier. Normally the breakfast sausage has either too much fennel or too much grease. Somehow they struck a good balance and I am intrigued to do some research and figure how they did it — speaking on interesting finds, the machine that cuts the spirals into a spiral-cut ham (I am craving some spiral cut ham) is called a T2000, scary, no machine whose main purpose is to cut meat that supposedly resembles human flesh should have a Terminator like name.

Beans. The beans were superb. I’ve been very vocal that huevos need to be served with black beans instead of refried, but I have been corrected. These beans were smooth, why I suspect there was some puree involved and the mix probably included some meat. The beans were a little creamy and they were served with peppers, chilis and jalapenos on top. Overly fantastic.

Tortillas. I’ve never before had soemone serve the tortillas grilled and buttered. How can that not be fantastic?

Eggs. Here’s where the inventiveness shined through. The eggs were a great scramble and mixed within were green chilis. It’s hard to find a good use of green chilis in the TC, and these were well done. I felt like I might be in Albequerque, they were so plentiful and well done.

I wish I had had the forseight to take a picture. The plate had the most different look of any plate of huevos I’ve ever been served. One thing that makes me sad is that each Keys Cafe has a different menu, and the specials item is not likely to make it onto the menu. That meal may have truly been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

My new rankings of huevos rancheros in TC:

1. Keys Cafe

2. Sunny Side Up Cafe

3. Hell’s Kitchen

4. St. Clair Broiler

 

April 21, 2011

Food: Blue Door Pub

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

The Blue Door is a sweet place. It always has a good beer selection and the burgers are off the hook. “Off the hook” is what the kids are saying these days, n’est pas? Maybe some day I will post about the Juicy Lucy (I have some thoughts), which is a Twin Cities staple variant of the cheeseburger. The Blue Door specializes in types of Juicy Lucys.

I ordered the newest burger on the lineup, the Ballpark Blucy. It’s a burger stuffed with cheddar, mozerella and white onion. Between the meat and the bun the burger is topped with a jalapeno and pickle relish, mustard, tomato and celery salt. It’s a Chicago Dog’s toppings on top of a Juicy Lucy. The whole time I was eating it I kept thinking baout how it would be better on a Tubed Cancer (hotdog). There was not enough relish, it was easily overpowered by the mustard. One bite yielded little mustard and in the relish I tasted no jalapeno. And I love the taste of jalapeno.

My grandmother tells me a story that as soon as I was old enough to eat solid foods my father would feed me jalapenos slices, which were a staple of his diet. My grandmother hates my father and little does she know that this story endeared him to me, the opposite of her intention. All of that is to explain just how much I enjoy not only the heat of but also the taste of jalapenos. Sadly, the relish was all pickle. The celery salt was a nice touch.

The burger was good, but given the importance of opportunity cost in all of my thinking I can only give this burger a decent grade. There are many places and many burgers that are better. I will not be ordering it again and will not be sad to see it go when the next burger of the month appears.

Of course, it was still a good trip. The Blue Door is always a good visit. The Swede and I were at the bar and the Surly Furious was fresh and yummy. A mid-20s man in a suit paid for his tab, reaching over my shoulder, with his brand new credit card featuring James and the Giant Peach. He made a show of the design and I couldn’t help myself.

“Let me ask you a question.”

“Okay.”

“What kind of guy your age has a James and the Giant Peach credit card?”

“Ummm. I liked it as a kid.”

“And does your husband have a Goodnight Moon credit card?”

He laughed it off. His friends did not. For a brief moment I thought things might escalate, but they quickly deescalated. All in all it was a disappointing performance. Not many places in the Twin Cities would defuse so quickly, and not many places in the Twin Cities are as white as The Blue Door. It’s a nice place but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a person of color in there. Although I’ve never been so attentive as I was tonight. Tonight’s crowd could have easily been a crowd in Texas or a white power crowd. As if they are different things.

 

February 18, 2011

Food: Kieran’s ham and cheese sandwich

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

Let’s talk about wasted opportunities. This morning’s coffee shop visit lasted much longer than normal. I ordered a pot of tea, instead of the usual two mugs, for the first time. Despite the over-hydration, I was still unable to finish the daily short story and essay (it was a special David Foster Wallace issue of The New Yorker.) I started the day much later than I am accustomed, and once it begins askew…

Yesterday’s sandwich, my inaugural review of Minnesota Monthly’s 17 Best Sandwiches of the Twin Cities, from the Real Meal Deli did not go so well. But, at least there was a sandwich yesterday.

I am meeting The Swede tonight at Brasa, St Paul, where I will try the most exciting of the 17 sandwiches, so I decided to hit up another downtown MIll City joint. I’ve been to the new Kieran’s location a few times and I like it. I like its centrality. I like that the place is no longer swimming in attorneys. I like that the place is swimming in Jimmy John’s (next door) workers.

The picture is of a ham and cheese sandwich. The cheese is appropriately running over. The bread is gorgeously brown and buttered. Even now looking at the picture I am salivating and I know the truth of the picture.

I deposited myself at the bar, ordered a Finnegan’s and scoured the menu for the sandwich. It was not there. I can forgive some upscale places as the menu is constantly changing. Not only is Kieran’s not that sort of place but the menu was familiar and threadbare.

I had worked myself into a slather for this sandwich, so I decided an Irish pub must excel at a Reuben. Not so much. It is a Reuben so the sandwich is good, and probably better than most other items on the menu. Trying to hold this Reuben against the Reuben standard, though, and the sandwich is average.

The corned beef is fantastic. It’s some of the best beef I’ve had on a Reuben. Chunky and not stringy. Flavorful and not at all diminutive. The sauerkraut, though, was very deferential. It added texture, but other than the feel of it I would not have known it was on the sandwich. There was slightly too much mustard, but that overpowered sense could have been a symptom of the sauerkraut problem. The cheese was good. Hard to mess that up. Where the sandwich really fell apart was the bread.

Literally fell apart. The bread is thin. The Reuben is a greasy mess and the bread needs to be thick enough to withstand the grease. The bread also needs texture to create friction holding in the greasy beef, greasy cheese, and the slippery mustarded sauerkraut. The standard bread is a rye, which has the frictionable texture needed. Rye also provides a nice malted beginning to each bite. Kieran’s, however, experiments. Their bread is a hybrid of rye and white, so the bread lacks the strong malted flavor. The grease also penetrates the seams between the differing types of bread and tears it apart from the inside. Watching the sandwich deteriorate was akin to watching the roads in the Twin Cities slowly disintegrate over the course of a winter; ice breaks apart the blacktop from the inside.

If I am ranking this Reuben to other Reubens I would grade it a C. Graded against other sandwiches I will give it a B, it is, after all, a Reuben.

An average Reuben. A missing ham and cheese. A missed opportunity. So far, I am fairly disappointed in Minnesota Monthly.

 

February 17, 2011

Food Critic Criticism: Sirloin sandwich

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , |
[2] Comments 

I’ve allowed myself to return to meating (neologism to avoid “carnivorously”) so I could measure the newest recommendations from Minnesota Monthly. If I limit myself to recommended items only, then I will not be eating much eat. Maybe then I can finally kill these cravings that are overwhelming my ability to be strong, especially on road trips to Indiana.

The newest issue of Minnesota Monthly has a feature about the best sandwiches in the Twin Cities. While the list is not ordered, the first entry (with the largest picture, BTW) is for the blue cheese sirloin sandwich at Real Meal Deli.

RMD has two locations, both in the skywalks of the two cities. I went to the store in Minneapolis and maybe that was my problem, but I doubt it. I ordered the sandwich without tomatoes and maybe that was my problem, but I doubt it.

I like the store. The signage was clean and simple, with the modern chic look of a place that has spent a lot of money on designers. It is a fine line between self-assurance and trying too hard, and RMD manages to stay on the better side of that line. Reader be warned though, this is a simple storefront with no seating. The IDS Center with its waterfall fountain and free benches is only a block away, so the lack of seating was not an issue.

The sandwich is served cold. The sirloin is cold. The blue cheese (a sauce, not actual crumbles) is cold. The bread isn’t cold but by the time you make it to the IDS Center the bread will become cold. Yes, the IDS Center is only a block away, the cold components are that cold. Sirloin ought to be hot, at least warm, and maybe that was MY problem. I doubt it.

The best parts of the sandwich were the blue cheese sauce and the bacon bits. The bacon bits struck me as Bac-O-Bits, the stuff you buy in the jar at the local Cub Groceries. I cannot imagine any other dish those would comprise the best part of, but the sodium within (that’s a lot of sodium) was necessary on this sandwich.

This was an okay sandwich. My disappointment comes from two sources. First, it is not a good enough sandwich to make the best of the best for Minnesota Monthly. This sandwich was so average I now have to wonder about the magazine’s taste level. Maybe they called ahead and RMD made a different sandwich than the one I was served. Maybe the problem is the RMD store I went to (doubtful) or maybe the problem is that I went to the store on a Thursday after the lunch rush. I understand food service has bad moments, but those moments ought to disqualify the store from hosting a “best of” meal.

The second source of my disappointment is that I could taste the potential in this sandwich. Aside from the sirloin the ingredients were very tasty. The sirloin might have been tasty if it was warm, but I do trust my abilities to discriminate more than that. In any case, I hold out hope. I held out hope and was sadly rebuffed.

Although, maybe the problem is I am too demanding of my food recommendations. Although the wi-fi is free (sweet) the IPA at Town Hall is not the best in town (boo to Bad Santa and to DCH).

 

November 12, 2010

The Uptowner

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , , , , , |
Leave a Comment 

Wednesday morning The Swede had an appointment to follow up on the broken leg.

We had time to eat breakfast so we opted for a new joint, The Uptowner.

There was not the option of huevos rancheros, which made me very sad.  Hanging on the walls were t-shirts for sale (white ones, ugh) that read “birthplace of the cajun breakfast.”  How could I not give it a go?  The Cajun Breakfast is hashbrowns grilled with mushrooms, onions and green peppers covered with two over easy eggs, cheddar, hollandaise sauce and cajun spices served with wheat or sourdough bread.  There is an option to throw some andouille sausage on top.  I declined the meat.

I should have requested the sausage.  The meal was not bland, but unexciting.  Given all the delicious ingredients I was surprised by how uninteresting it was.  The Swede ordered a Denver omelette.  It was vanilla.  For a vanilla order.  I never understand that order.  It’s so bland and uninspired.  At least give me some heat, some spice, some thing different.  In her defense, she does have dietary needs that are difficult to meet (Celiac Disease).

The Uptowner itself was kind of a neat little greasy spoon.  They serve breakfast and lunch all day long, which is great and probably enough to draw in my business for at least another go.  It’s an old place with one of the griddles like a Waffle House, so you can watch all the ingredients take shape right on the other side of the counter.  The artwork along the main wall is really great.  There are many pieces of paper where people have drawn images about how great The Uptowner is.  Most are not done by children, which is why it appeals to me.  There is some really creative and interesting stuff up there.

The back room is a turret.  It is old and not terribly clean.  Which is a city-fied way of saying the place has charm.  The art in that room is a series of prints showing architectural highlights of Minneapolis melting as if it were during the Texas summers of my childhood.

I recommend trying this place out.  It’s good enough and with enough history in the area to deserve a visit.  A lot of people really like it.  Maybe you won’t return but at least you can join in the conversation with that cute girl at the party about favorite breakfast joints in the TC.

 

November 11, 2010

Strange Sights: Central Library

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , |
Leave a Comment 

I was just in the bathroom and the guy washing his hands at the next sink had a bullet hole in the tops of his shoe.  There was blood, but it was dried.

 

September 11, 2009

Minneapolis Love

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities
Leave a Comment 

While I enjoy my summers away, it is always great to come back home.  But yesterday I found this in the lake near my place.  How can I not love the place?  There are artists clever and cool enough to do this and a city cool enough to allow it.  I was hoping my bike ride this morning would find dogs freaking out about it, but sadly the morning activity was as peaceful and calm as ever.

 

April 21, 2009

Why the Twin Cities rock!

Posted by stoopidnoodle under Twin Cities | Tags: , , |
Leave a Comment 
City of Saint Paul
Image via Wikipedia

Art crawls, the first one of the year kicks off this weekend and my friends Jess and Penelope will have exhibits.

The St. Paul Art Collective / Saint Paul Art Crawl
Hundreds of artists and galleries. Thousands of visitors.
In Lowertown and throughout Saint Paul.
Saint Paul Art Crawl
Spring 2009
April 24 – Friday evening, 6-10 pm.
April 25 – Saturday afternoon, noon-8 pm.
April 26 – Sunday, noon-5 pm.
Beat the Recession – The Art Crawl is Free!
Where else can you see art by over 370 resident, guest and gallery artists? And, in such beautiful
and historic buildings?

More info including some pictures of stuff to see at their website.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]