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South Metro Restaurant News/Upcoming Reviews
Back in the middle of November I had a post about the places I was planning to review in the coming weeks and I have done almost all of those listed including Everest on Grand, Taste of Thaiyai, and Applewood Rustic Grille but there are still a couple that we just haven’t gotten around to yet. Well, in between then and now we have added two additional places to the list (one which has been longstanding but I just didn’t have the right time to go) which we will be hitting up in the next 10 days.
The first is I Nonni in Lilydale. Kim and I have back-to-back birthdays and have friends (Laura and Josh) who also have birthdays around ours. So we’re meeting up with them on Friday for a nice dinner, which has come recommended by local foodie god MSPD himself. I’ve been told that their braised meats are excellent and unless something changes my mind at the last minute, I’ll probably be trying one of those. Being that I Nonni has been awarded Mpls/St Paul Mag’s award for “Best Italian Dining” every single year since 2002, I can only hope that it will not disappoint.
The second is Ansari’s Grill which just opened up in Eagan. They are an offshoot of the Mediterranean Cruise Cafe which is moving to Burnsville’s Heart of the City. I’m meeting a couple of friends there on the 30th and should have something good to report back following that. If you’re interested, there were a couple of coupons available in last week’s Thisweek newspaper including $5 off a $25 order and $10 off a $50 order (one coupon per table).
In other news, Jensen’s Supper Club received water damage due to the sprinkler system freezing and dumping water everywhere. According to that blog post, they hope to be back up and running by Friday. If I hear anything, I’ll keep you posted.
Ronin Sushi Cafe has a coupon out which nets you a free bottle of wine if you show up and have a table of four all order entrees between Monday and Wednesday. The selection of wines is limited but it sounds like a nice night out if you’re looking for something to do. I’m going there with Josh on Saturday and would love it if someone wanted to get together with Kim and I to split that free bottle of wine some other day ;-)
Have you heard any other South Metro restaurant news? Openings, closings, etc? If so, please feel free to post them below. We’re always looking to get to new places to review and update listings of existing locations which may have closed down. So comment on and let us know what’s up!
Questions Meme Courtesy of “After These Messages”
One of our readers, I’ll let you guess who, recently restarted blogging at After These Messages and I immediately started following along. This person participated in one of those famous Internet memes where you answer questions and put them on your site starting a violent chain of blogging death. I usually just respond to those in the comments because they generally don’t fit the goal of this site but this blogger decided that he/she would tailor the questions to fit in with the general content of the site. After reading, and answering them, I must admit they did a fine job.
So after you read through the questions, I’d like to know what you think about how I chose to respond. Perhaps these bring up other questions in your mind about my opinions on the South Metro and this site. Feel free to post them below and if I get enough, I’ll answer them all in one long comment. Hopefully we’ll see some more great questions from the readers!
On to the questions:
1. Which south metro city do you think is run the best, and why? (For these purposes, let’s say Dakota County) Would you prefer to live in this city or a different one given the chance?
Ouch! This one is difficult to answer because I’m always so absorbed in the little minute details which I find terribly troubling about the communities surrounding my own. I suppose since you’ve asked and I agreed to answer, I’d have to say Farmington.
Farmington isn’t doing everything well but they are doing some interesting things to try and revitalize their downtown which exists more or less in its original form. This is in stark contrast to those cities, like Apple Valley and Lakeville which are basically ignoring the real downtowns in their communities to focus time, effort and monies in creating a whole new one. Check out this article from the Star Tribune which talks about how Farmington is offering grants stemming from federal community development monies which are looking to improve job opportunities for low and middle income residents. This grant helped one business pay their lease for a year, something which is important when most businesses close up shop after 4 months of operation because they spent 4 to 6 remodeling before they even opened their doors.
Unfortunately, even though Farmington is doing some good, it suffers from many of the same problems we see in other communities and it’s not a place I’d prefer to live. As I mentioned in the article about this site in the Pioneer Press a few weeks ago, my ideal location to live would be in St Paul but that’s only a selfish desire as the schools aren’t that great and the cost of living is higher. Based on quality schooling similar to what both my wife and I experienced growing up, she has developed a very limited set of areas where we would most likely live and those happen to be in Eagan. When we checked out homes in that very small section we found the homes to be overpriced, poorly kept, and basically uninhabitable. It’s truly a sad state of affairs.
2. Name one redeeming quality of each of the following cities/towns: Apple Valley, Farmington, Lakeville and even Burnsville.
I have already managed to eek one out for Farmington so I’m going to let them slide if that’s all right and get to the others you have listed.
- Apple Valley: The residents approved a $14.5 million park bonding referendum which will increase the options available for people of all ages. The two biggest uses are for improving the water park and building a new senior center. While the approval of this referendum has very little to do with the leadership in Apple Valley, it is nice that they brought it to the voters and they in turn decided to approve it.
- Burnsville: The big rock hovering over the intersection of CR-11 and East Burnsville Parkway in Terrace Oaks Park. This is a great place to check out the sunset or to vandalize nature if you’re a member of the current graduating class of Burnsville high school. Seriously, the park is a joy to wander through with varying terrain and some gorgeous colors in the fall.
- Lakeville: Ronin Sushi Café, ‘nuff said. If you haven’t gotten there yet, do so right the fuck now and tell them Bill sent you. Seriously, stop reading this and go, now. Thank you.
3. How did you meet your wife?
We both swam together in college at BGSU. What’s funny about this is that absolutely no one believes that she is the one that came after me and I, at first, really wanted little to do with her. She kept hounding me, especially when my guard was down, and she eventually won out.
The worst part? Eight years later, she’s still hounding me ;-)
4. Which restaurant that has “been forced” to close south of the river do you wish was still open? Why?
This one is easy… Bucky’s Diner in Apple Valley. Why? Well, for the simple reason that they offered cheap diner breakfast and cheap huge burgers. That and my wife loved going there.
I really miss the fact that we could get the same thing that we could get anywhere else in Apple Valley cheaper and better. The burgers, while not MSPD’s favorite, were definitely great and I didn’t have to drive to Miesville to get them. My wife is a huge breakfast fan and they offered options for us to eat that we would have probably ended up at IHOP to eat instead.
We were really sad when it closed and to this day I keep staring at their papered windows thinking of the good food and comfortable service we had there. It never ceases to amaze me that a fucking MSG serving shithole like Raising Cane’s can continue to operate just behind where Bucky’s once stood while a place that really cared about their customers failed. It’s absolutely fucking atrocious.
5. What do you have against Chili’s? :)
Please note that I wrote this as if I was speaking about any chain. No offense to Chili’s itself:
If we take a look at Chili’s as a single, stand-alone restaurant I would find absolutely nothing wrong with it. They serve consistent meals to a large number of people every single day and they do it well and if you’re into food that’s called “Southwest” just because they add guacamole and salsa to their deep fried fat balls, then that’s certainly a good thing. Unfortunately, when you look at it as a whole you realize that they’re serving consistently mediocre and overpriced meals to tons of people daily and squeezing out space, raising prices, and creating shitty competition with local restaurants that service less people, do it much better, and offer excellent meals for the price.
But, I’m happy to concede that if we had an Apple Valley’s Chili’s that it would probably survive and survive quite well because of Mrs. Marcos’ visits alone.
Johnny’s Chicago Style Beef & Dogs: Apple Valley, MN
Following the heads up from readers littleben and ryno below (BTW, I have moved the comments from the old post here for historical purposes), Kim, Kevin and I headed over to Johnny’s Chicago Style Beef and Dogs in Apple Valley, MN for lunch.
I was glad to know ahead of time that their credit card machine wasn’t in, much like what happened at Ronin Sushi Cafe in Lakeville when it first opened, but a handwritten, cardboard sign on the door also notifies you of this before you even walk in the door. littleben said that he was told it would arrive “soon” so YMMV.
We walked in and found the place to be nearly immaculate. Aside from the kitschy shit all over the wall and a gigantic life-sized statue of a Vienna hot dog man in the corner, it looked like a typical diner/hot dog eatery. They had plenty of little things related to Chicago to try and make you feel like you weren’t in a suburban strip mall and were instead in downtown Chicago but it wasn’t doing it for me today.
The menu is sparse and done old-school style, which I liked. After a moment of looking at it confusingly, one of those guys working behind the counter offered a Xeroxed copy of their menu which had subtitles to give you a little more information about what you could order. They have your normal selection of Chicago-style eatery options including hot dogs, hot beef sandwiches (which we later heard a GameStop employee next door say, “I’ve had *a lot* of hot beef sandwiches in my day!” To which I responded by bursting out laughing), fries, soup, random appetizers, and Italian ice. Most of the items were in the $3 to $6.50 range with the majority running under $4.
Kim decided on their Chicago Dog (onions, neon relish, tomato, pickle, sport peppers, celery salt and mustard on a steamed poppy seed bun) which was the most inexpensive main option at a fairly reasonable $2.85. I was surprised by her pick and would have thought she would have picked the Cheese Dog ($3.45) but she shook her head and went what I would consider the “adventurous option” for her. She also picked up a side of cheese fries which are only $2 instead of $2.65 when you order them with something else. I finally settled on the Italian Sausage which the menu claims is great with sweet peppers which set me back $4.25. I figured we’d try the Pizza Puff which is listed as “Johnny’s Favorite! You gotta try it!” and will set you back just under $3. Hey, they said I just had to try it, right? Our total bill came to around $14.50 with only water to drink. Not exactly cheap but definitely reasonable for the amount we ordered.
We went and sat down and I started taking photos and looking around. Plenty of people were streaming in and out of the place and during our visit we saw at least 8 to 10 people come and go with most taking their food out the door with them. They currently don’t offer delivery but they do say on their menu that you can call ahead and they’ll get it all ready for you to pickup (check the hours and telephone number below if you want to go that route). In the meantime Kevin placed his order, quite annoyed that they didn’t have chili especially after they’ve occupied the space since August and knew when they’d be opening.
We all sat down near the front of the restaurant and I found that there was no condiments nearby. They were all down by the cash register which Kim later mentioned to me needed to be moved near the lower counter near the front door. Because of how the line is setup and where the majority of the seating is, it would definitely make sense to rearrange things that way. Kevin was looking for some hot sauce for his hot beef and sausage sandwich that he ordered because they didn’t have chili but they didn’t have any.
Our meals came out and while they forgot our second water, they got everything else correct. Kim really enjoyed her hot dog and Her Three Words (TM) are, “I like it.” She later told me that she could definitely see us returning in the future. Kevin, who spent most of the time while we were waiting for our food saying that he knew exactly what to expect coming here, seemed to also enjoy his meal. Me? Well, I thought the sweet peppers were great and the sausage was fine but the bun was fucking nasty. It was dry and broke apart into a million pieces as I ate. I tried to wet the bun down with a ton of mustard but that did nothing to help the situation. Next time I’ll stick with the Italian Beef sandwiches and probably end up a lot better off. But aside from the bun (which were Vienna’s and stored in a freezer behind the counter), I thought the meal was fine.
Our sides were lame. The cheese fries were soggy and nasty. Both Kevin and I have seen these crispier and I would have expected when they’re going to put chili or cheese on them that that’s exactly what they would have done but alas, not in this case. The Pizza Puff (remember a Johnny’s favorite) was not something I’d order again. It tasted mostly like pizza sauce and I couldn’t see any cheese and it was stuffed with some sort of meat or sausage and as you may know, I do not particularly care for meat on my pizza. If you’re a vegetarian and looking for another option aside from cheese fries, you’ll want to steer clear of this one too.
As I said above, we’ll be returning but it’s not something I’m looking to run right back out the door to try. As it currently stands, if the number of people they had coming through the door today continue, this may end up a successful business. What both Kim and I didn’t really understand is why they had three young kids working today with no obvious owners on site. In this market, at least for the opening few days/weeks, owners should be there daily, working to ensure quality control and to greet customers to try and keep and everlasting impression which will keep their regulars coming back again and again.
Update (1/16/2009):
Kim and I went back today and was much happier with what I received. The bun wasn’t crumbling, the chili was available, and the french fries have improved and are a bit more crispy. They still don’t have hot sauce but I overheard the owner? tell a customer that she was getting that and sauerkraut. She also said she never uses the frozen buns that are in the freezer that will at some point be filled with Italian ice.
As my comment below states, we will be back. again.
—
Have you been to Johnny’s Chicago Style Beef and Dogs in Apple Valley? If so, what did you think about it? Comment on, we’d love to hear what you have to say!
Address:
Johnny’s Chicago Style Beef and Dogs
15465 Cedar Ave
Apple Valley, MN 55124
Phone:
952-236-8475
Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Friday – Saturday: 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM
Sunday: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
See all the pictures from Johnny’s Chicago Style Beef and Dogs on Flickr here.
2008′s LazyLightning Top Tens
Top Ten Commenters:
| Mrs Marcos | 178 | |||
| Chad | 146 | |||
| MSPD | 141 | |||
| dawnmarie | 102 | |||
| Sank | 86 | |||
| Tim | 69 | |||
| sornie | 69 | |||
| Dave | 53 | |||
| Andy | 38 | |||
| Tearitup | 37 |
I realize that the above table is far from perfect as I don’t have login/password accounts and this is solely based on preferred username (some people use multiple e-mail addresses and username choices, so take this list with a huge grain of salt).
Top Ten Pages Viewed by Minnesotans:
| Kami Japanese Steakhouse |
| Osaka |
| La Luz |
| Rockin’ Ribfest on Harriet Island |
| Panino Brothers |
| McHugh’s Bar and Grille |
| Two Guys From Italy |
| UMore Park/Gopher Ordnance Ruins |
| Rudys Redeye Grill |
| Enjoy! |
Please note that 9 of the 10 posts above are about food and 8 of the 10 are about restaurants (all of which are South Metro based). Pretty crazy to know that so many people are interested in Kami (which is more or less failing), Osaka (which could be partially due to the fact that there is an Osaka in Eden Prairie too) who has terrible music, and two of the places are closed — one of which opened and closed all within 2008.
Top Ten Most Commented Posts:
Yesterday we had our first 300+ comment month ever (not including my posts, since I’m a comment whore) and while I have covered that particular topic before, I never gave credit where credit is due. Thanks go out to *ALL* of my regular readers and contributers. This site wouldn’t be the same without your thoughts, ideas, and on-going jokes (yes, we need more Chili’s, we know ;-))
Keep on coming back, I promise to continue to deliver high-quality, thought-provoking, and completely assholish commentary on all that is going on in the South Metro.
Happy New Year everyone.
Magic Thai Cafe: Eagan, MN
Kim called me from 28th Ave’s LRT station in Bloomington and asked me to pick a place for dinner tonight. We have been out of town for a few days and need to go grocery shopping so we had to do something tonight beforehand. I looked on Google and came up with two choices in Eagan, one of which was Magic Thai Cafe. They had a Chinese and Thai menu and after Kim saw both Chicken Satay and Crab Rangoon on the menu, we were out the door heading up 35E to get dinner.
We walked in to an empty restaurant just after 7. There was one other table seated when we arrived and by the end of the night there were only about five total. Two people waited a long time for their takeout orders and our waitress fielded numerous phone orders which was monopolizing her time to spend on us as she was the only person working the front. Aside from the inattentive service, she was very friendly and was happy to offer various suggestions to me on what I should try based on what I told her I was looking for.
As I said before, Kim was there for two things, Chicken Satay and Crab Rangoon, both of which she ordered. Both appetizers had 5 pieces and were priced in the $5 range. She also went with their Pad Thai with chicken for $7.95 and I went with one of the waitress’ suggestions and ordered their vegetable heavy Pad Pak with tofu which was $7.75. They have various extras options including pork, shrimp, chicken, and tofu as well as a combination of the pork, shrimp and chicken for a bit more going up to around $10.95.
The first to come out was the Crab Rangoon and while it didn’t look as pretty as some places like to make it (little stars) it was packed with cream cheese and what was apparently very little imitation crab meat. They were ok and the sauce was your typical sweet/sour (possibly mass produced) but I’d skip them in the future.
Kim’s Chicken Satay came out next and they were overcooked for me and over spiced for Kim. She said the meat was better than other places she’s been (like Satay 2 Go) but she didn’t like the treatment of it. The peanut sauce wasn’t as good as many places I’ve tried and Kim didn’t much care for it at all. I think it tasted similar to soap for some reason. Kim didn’t seem to agree with me when I said that but what does she know? I did like that they were a bit spicy but of course they weren’t anything near hot enough for me ;)
They had a container of pepper oil on the table, much like what’s offered at Ronin Sushi Cafe but the container was sticky and kinda gross. I asked how fresh it was and our server thought for a second before replying that the make it fresh weekly.
Kim’s Pad Thai came out and looked fairly straight forward and tasted like most Pad Thai I’ve had. The chicken looked a bit sparse but Kim had absolutely no problems polishing it off. She asked if Ronin had it and I replied that it did and that I liked their version better but I may not be entirely partial ;) I also let her know that they serve it at Satay 2 Go and Spice Thai in Savage as well as Noodles and Company. She’ll definitely be ordering it elsewhere — yay a dish she likes!
My Pad Pak came out after Kim was already 1/4 of the way through her meal. I’m not sure if it was because it was that much later or because she was plowing through it with the reckless abandon of a woman possessed with a new and exciting Thai dish ;) At first I wasn’t impressed with the spice level even though they did try very hard to make it hot. It was definitely spicier than any of the Thai place I have been to straight out of the kitchen but it wasn’t my favorite to look at or eat. The vegetables were plentiful and the rice was nice and sticky but I just wasn’t all that impressed compared to other local places. By the end of the dish, after add some of the pepper oil, I wasn’t sweating but I was certainly in possession of a very spicy tongue. I went through an carafe of water and several extra napkins but I wasn’t sweating. Weird.
Kim really enjoyed her meal but she’s never had Pad Thai before. We do have different tastes but I think that she’ll see once she starts trying the dish elsewhere in the future. Perhaps after she does she’ll prove me wrong and maybe she’ll post a comment below to own me. While I wasn’t all that impressed I would return but only if I was in the area. I wouldn’t make a special trip to come out here again when we have Satay 2 Go and Ronin Sushi Cafe right in our backyard.
We ended up paying $28.40 before tip which is pretty damn cheap when you think of how much we ordered tonight. I would recommend them if you’re in Eagan and looking for a decent and inexpensive meal with friendly service but if you’re looking to get some kick ass Thai, there are better places out there if you’re willing to drive.
Have you eaten at Magic Thai Cafe? Well, post below and let us know what you think!
Address:
Magic Thai Cafe
1258 Lone Oak Rd
Eagan, MN 55121
Phone:
651-405-6617
Hours:
Monday – Saturday 11 AM – 9 PM
Closed Sunday
See all the pictures from Magic Thai Cafe on Flickr here.
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