Some people that Kim works with decided it would be fun to have a Thursday night happy-hour get together every other week this summer and because I work next door she figured she’d ask if I wanted to come along. This week they decided to head down to the 8th Street Grill and Bar which has happy-hour specials between 3PM and 7PM.

Kim and I usually work until around 4 but since I was busy working on something a little past my usual quitting time, I didn’t even get out of my office until 4:15 and after some futzing around with our bags, we headed down to street level at around 4:30. We walked in the open-air bar at around 4:40 and being that it wasn’t quite yet prime happy hour time the place was almost deserted except for the crowded patio area. We sat down at the bar even though there were plenty of tables open in the rest of the place. The bartender came over and asked if we wanted to see a beer list but I was so close I could read the taps myself. They had a nice selection (similar to Panino Brothers’ setup) with about 30 or so tap beers along one wall and another 4 or 5 around the corner. I decided on their Flat Earth Porter (apparently their “seasonal” tap although I’m not quite sure why a porter would be in as a summer seasonal) and Kim ordered a Stevens Point Root Beer. There was a list of their daily happy hour specials hanging above the bar and Thursday read $3 St Paul beers. Their tap beers are normally $3.50 at happy hour so I decided to stick with the St Paul beers today.

The waitress let us know that in addition to the reduced price on the taps that they also offered $2 off appetizers. After just having our drinks for a bit, while the waitress scurried around helping others, we asked for a menu and eventually we ordered their Roasted Red Pepper Hummus as well as an order of onion rings. Kim has been craving onion rings lately I guess and I have always enjoyed red pepper hummus — especially when I was on my diet not so long ago…

The service was friendly but it took a bit to get served even when prompted by the bartender asking if I wanted another. I ordered a Summit Hefeweizen and as soon as I did the bartender ripped the St Paul specials sign down off the overhead sign. I was a bit perturbed and then concerned that she was going to try and charge me $3.50 a tap. I had the photo evidence to prove my case but I ended up paying $3.11/beer (taxes?). I figured the Hefeweizen would be a nice summery drink and while I don’t jump up and down over Summit’s heavy clove taste, I made it through ok ;)

Right after I got done asking Kim, “how fucking long does it take to make onion rings and a batch of hummus up,” they both appeared in the hands of another server. Kim just shook her head at me in disbelief and told me I was being a grumpy bastard… The roasted red pepper hummus was tasty, a tiny bit spicy in the back and looked like it was not straight from the plastic container. It had a nice orange color and might have passed for raw pumpkin if I hadn’t tasted it. Even though there were plenty of warm and soft pita slices to dip with I ended up using them all, with hefty doses of hummus, before the hummus itself was gone. I used the spoon to get the rest — yes, I actually enjoyed it that much. Kim’s onion rings were large and looked nice and golden but had a slight fishy taste from what I imagine could only be oil cross contamination. Kim asked for a side of ranch and the container that came out was entirely too small for the size of the onion rings. She was disappointed that she had to finish off her three or four remaining rings with inferior ketchup — I would have been fine taking over for her but next thing I knew they were gone; so much for that idea.

Overall, eh. The food was ok for appetizers (mine was great but the fishy onion rings brought it all down to the “ok” level) but I certainly wouldn’t rush back again with so many other choices in town. While the beer selection is good you’re probably better off at The Depot for their happy hour specials at $2.50… It was far less crowded over there, the service was more prompt because of it, and the menu was more restaurant-like rather than bar foodish. Guess it depends on your mood and your location.

When it was all said and done we ended up paying $23.99 before tip for two appetizers, two beers and two root beers. Not bad but nothing to get all atwitter over. We probably won’t be back anytime soon. We are planning on hitting happy hour once or twice a month this summer and should have a steady stream of reviews for all of you working downtown — keep checking back or subscribe for updates.

See all the pictures from today on Flickr here (camera).

Address:
8th Street Grill and Bar
800 Marquette Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Phone:
612-349-5717

I was half expecting to see a body on the next landing up but no such luck. Think I’ve been reading too much Sandford?

Last night, Kim and I attended the 25th anniversary of The Advocates for Human Rights 2008 Awards Dinner which included a keynote from Ishmael Beah author of a book I read earlier this year entitled, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Solider.

The event was held at The Depot in downtown Minneapolis and it started at 5 PM with a reception and silent auction and moved on to dinner at 6:30. Chris and Laura were kind enough to take Buddy in for the day so that he could spend time with his best male dog friend, Tucker and he wouldn’t have to hold his pee for 15.5 hours or make us drive back to Apple Valley and then back to Minneapolis.

Trying to get there without being drenched, even with my Century College branded umbrella, Kim and I unsuccessfully navigated the skyways the three blocks near to the event. We originally planned to escape the system at the Courthouse and walk across the street but with intersections completely flooded and Kim looking gorgeous. We headed back for the cover of the skyway and took the roundabout way even closer to the event. We crossed the street, after walking halfway down the next block to avoid a river of splashing water, and entered the hotel where we stayed for the next 4.5 hours.

We first hit the silent auction and looked at the nice donated items. Some of them were really neat like a Nepalese tea set and some dinner packages for 6 to 8 people where someone would go and cook for you and your friends. If only we had the money for those! After we wandered at the auction we had some time to kill so we walked around the first floor of the hotel and looked at the Hiawatha memorabilia and posters they had on display. I was shocked to find out that on the first run of the line it reached speeds over 112 mph! I was really blown away by the posters as it reminded me of the artwork I used to have on display in my old office (when I had a real wall) and if they were for sale I probably would have went broke, 10x over, attempting to buy one. After all of that we sat down at the bar and enjoyed their happy hour specials. I had a Kalamazoo Stout for less than $3! YUM. They also had several scotches for sale and because their computer was only setup for one price I got the 18 year old Glenlivet for the 12’s price. Glad I only got a single because it looked like a quadruple, mmm.

Dinner was at 6:30 and consisted of a glazed chicken breast, baby asparagus and carrots on a bed of wild rice. When serving ~800 people it’s tough to make good food but this was surprisingly decent. They served wine with our dinner and we had a salad and mousse as well. We sat with other people from Kim’s company and enjoyed chatting with those that were within earshot.

I got my hands on Beah’s book through Andy from my previous job as part of the Century College Common Book Project which selects a book for all students to read with hooks into various courses they are taking during the year. While I thought the story was compelling, although filled with too many details to be 100% true/accurate as the author claims several times throughout the book, it was poorly written and I’m glad it wasn’t chosen as a book for college students to read. On a related note, they ended up choosing Field Notes from a Catastrophe which sucked and is also a poor choice for college-level readers in my opinion.

After the dinner we took a cab back to Kim’s office, picked up our bags, and then took the train back to 28th Ave, got the car and went to pick up Buddy. Chris and Laura share our CSA box from Harmony Valley Farm with us and today was one of our pickup days. Harmony Valley Farm makes it really easy to swap pickup locations in advance and this week Chris and Laura picked it up in Bloomington. I’m looking forward to taking even more pictures of what they picked up for us although it will have to wait till this weekend as we didn’t get to their place until after 10:30 and there was no real sense in swapping anything at that point.

There were plenty of excellent speeches, although one in particular with political undertones which could have been left at the door, and overall I really enjoyed myself last night with my wife. It was nice to get out to do something fun and get all dressed up after work.

See all the pictures from tonight’s Human Rights Awards Dinner on Flickr here (mobile — because I left my SD card in the reader, boo).