Based on MSPD’s suggestion and review over at chow.com, I knew I had to get over to the House of Coates for some burgers. Knowing that both Kim and Josh are burger fans, I asked if they were up for it and after some answers in the affirmative, we were off. We took CR-46 all the way over to US-52, crossed the highway while watching the rain fall to the north.

We pulled into the nearly full lot and walked into the restaurant. It was quite a bit nicer than I could have envisioned by the outside and my generalizations of any of the businesses in the immediate area. It looked like any bar in Western WI or Northern MN. Definitely, as MSPD said, the quintessential snowmobiler bar.

We sat down at a table in the bar side and were quickly served by a friendly waitress who wasn’t as concerned that the ‘U’ in the “House of Coates” sign on the front of the restaurant was turned backwards as Josh seemed to be. Based on MSPD’s suggestion, Kim ordered their beer battered onion rings and we ordered two Big Canada Jacks and Swanee Burger. The Big Canada Jack sandwich comes with Canadian bacon and pepper jack cheese. The Swanee Burger included bacon, American cheese and the option of bleu cheese dressing but Kim decided against that tonight. Remembering that the waitresses might not give a flying rat’s ass how you want your burger cooked, I asked if they would cook it to order and the waitress said they would. I asked for it medium-rare and just got a quick head nod. Nice.

The burgers are touted as 1/2 pound hand pressed monsters. As we were waiting for our meals to arrive I watched as numerous tables (the restaurant was almost entirely full tonight) received what appeared to be large piles of cooked beef with buns. Right up our alley!

It took a bit for our burgers but the order of onion rings arrived first. Kim is a big rings fan but couldn’t find anything special about these. They were big, obviously homemade and not frozen, and full of grease. While I thought they were fine, Kim remained unimpressed. They had quite a list of appetizers and I was interested in their hot wings but didn’t end up ordering them.

After waiting quite a bit of time our burgers arrived simply enough. They come with nothing except a pickle slice but are absolutely fucking huge. I honestly can’t remember ever having a burger this fucking big. I added some ketchup to mine (they come with no toppings other than what is listed on the menu) but Josh nabbed some mayo on the side. I took some photos and we dug in.

My burger was almost rare. These people know what medium-rare really means. I was really impressed and that’s tough to do when it comes to proper cooking in Minnesota! The burger itself was pretty fucking good but I couldn’t taste the Canadian bacon or the cheese at all. While the meat was fantastic, I just wasn’t impressed with the toppings. Next time I would just order it plain. Kim’s burger was pretty fucking good too. The bacon was big and plentiful and had some great flavor but I couldn’t taste the cheese on that one either. I finished the entire burger (Kim did too but Josh only ate half) but I could have seriously used something else with the burger tonight. Kim suggested that they at least include chips with the burger to give it a bit more. While I am not sure what it needed (lettuce, tomato and onion) I definitely agree with Kim’s assessment.

When it was all said and done, including the two tiny ass tap beers I ordered, our bill came to $30.29 before tip. Not bad for the size of the burgers. I will definitely return some day to try out another burger and possibly the wings. There are plenty of other burger places that I want to try including another Dakota County restaurant (King’s Place in Miesville).

While both MSPD and I have eaten there, I would like to know what anyone else thinks of this place. Comment on!

Address:
House of Coates
16300 Clayton Ave E
Rosemount, MN 55068

Phone:
651-437-2232

Check out all the pictures on Flickr here.

According to this article over at the Star Trib, it would appear that Kramer Mining will finally get around the Minnesota DNR’s restriction of dumping four billion gallons of discharge into the Minnesota river by helping Burnsville and Savage add to their water supply.

So, instead of covering all of the costs for being able to pump even more water out of the quarry and get around the DNR’s restriction, they were able to convince the local and state governments to help them cover the costs of an alternative plan which allows them to make more money at the expense of all taxpayers. Awesome.

The article is a bit confusing. Burnsville Mayor Elizabeth Kautz says, “taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill for costly new well-drilling.” But then, right there two paragraphs later, the article goes on to say:

The Minnesota Legislature gave $5.5 million in grants, and the two cities will split the remaining cost of $4.5 million.

Uhh, so, while we might not have to drill a well but not only are Burnsville and Savage taxpayers helping to pay for this, so are all Minnesota taxpayers. I understand that Kautz gets a little confused about where money comes from, like in her fucking stupid pet project over there at the Burnsville Heart of the City, but this one takes the cake for me.

I’m all about adding to the water supply that we could very possibly use up in short order, especially with a company that has been dumping four billion gallons of it yearly into the river nearby, but I think that the taxpayers shouldn’t be footing any of the bill to make Kramer Mining’s business run better.

What do you think, should Kramer have been required to pony up more of the dough to avoid the DNR’s restrictions or was Kautz correct in saying that this was a win-win for everyone involved?

Mr. Jackson’s right eye originally uploaded by AMagill

While usually just forged checks, the South Metro has seen quite a few counterfeiting schemes over the last few months. In yesterday’s Pioneer Press South Metro Police Calls, I saw that there were reports of counterfeit bills being passed at two different SuperAmerica stores in Eagan.

Wondering how often someone gets caught when passing counterfeit money, I took a look back at the Dakota County Criminal Complaints that I have been compiling since January of 2008. The listing is a text archive of the PDF’s available here and is quite useful for mass searching like this. I did a quick grep for “counterfeit” and came up with the following criminal complaints that cover this topic:

6230, 6304, 6332, 6354, 6411, 6417, 6419, 6453, 6502, 6509, 6512, 6525, 6568, 6569, 6570, 6730, 6949, 7088, 7092

While I haven’t checked them all out, I believe 6304 is the only one where someone tried to pass a bill rather than a check. I suppose the added work on the front end of counterfeiting bills makes it easier to get away with than passing bad or counterfeit checks.

While I definitely believe that there has to be more important crimes to follow up on, in a time where money is extraordinarily tight and gas prices are through the roof, I have a feeling the South Metro is going to start to see a lot more of this happening. I hope the cops that are sitting on the side of the street near the corner of 157th St W and Garret Dr catching those that are going a few miles over the speed limit trying to catch the bus to work (I haven’t been pulled over there as I take Garret and not 157th) are ready to spend as much time working on various types of theft by counterfeiting instead.