Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Hyland Ski Hill (Morty’s) – Bloomington, MN

A group of our work people decided to go out for lunch. DawgMan has been talking about this hidden lunch spot for a few months now and we thought we’d let him take us there (even after we found out he wasn’t paying for the whole lot of us). This place is in the ski lodge of the Hyland ski slope and ski jump in Bloomington. It’s basically the snack bar, but the guy is rumored to be a fantastic chef – or so says DawgMan.

We roll in and find about two tables full and a lot of tables empty. This could be good or bad. Bad if the food sucks and no one goes here. Good if the food is good and no one knows about it. It’s a bit confusing how to order and I’m glad DawgMan had been here before. You go into the “inner circle” of what looks like a cafeteria area and read off the menu board as to what the specials for the day are. Then you tell a lady what you want, she hand you a copy of the slip she just filled out and gives the other half to the cooks. Then you go get your drinks and then finally pay. A bit confusing, but I’ll be fine when I go next time.

The menu board had a bunch of really interesting sandwiches and burgers on it. I mean REALLY interesting. There’s one called the Johnny Tall Boy which sounds awesome, but DawgMan and I both went with the Thai Burger. It looked just interesting enough that I had to try it. A couple of other people got taco salads, which I thought was boring until they came out. We grabbed a big table outside so we could heckle people on the driving range and disc golf course.

The salads came out first and were the most colorful and delicious-looking salads I’ve ever seen. I mean my mouth actually started watering like a dog. It looked incredible (and the people that were eating them in front of DawgMan and I rubbed it in how delicious they were – jerks). The burgers took a tad longer, but it was 100% worth the wait. The thai burgers were a beef patty with pepperjack cheese on it and for the toppings, it was basically a thai peanut noodle mixture with cabbage and carrots and peanuts. I would put this in the top 10 burgers I’ve ever eaten – and Gerd and I have eaten a LOT of burgers that have been on people’s “lists.” The meat was good and the cheese had some zip to it, but the combination of the peanuts and cabbage and carrots was incredible. Now that I’ve had peanuts on a burger, I’m beginning to see why the Jiffy Burger at the Blue Door Pub (the one with a layer of peanut butter on it) would be good. The fries were also seasoned and pretty good. I’m not a fry person, but they were better than most places.

Seriously, I’m glad DawgMan showed us this lunch place. DawgMan is still batting a thousand. He’s only brought me and suggested great places. This is a must visit, especially because it’s the lodge for a driving range as well as a challenging disc golf course as well. Anybody up for a round of disc golf? I’ll be happy to show up early and grab a delicious burger…

Top 5 things about Morty’s
1. Thai Burger
2. Seasoned fries were decent
3. Taco salad and I didn’t even have a bite – just visually amazing
4. Super close to work
5. Disc golf course attached

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd loved a good burger, especially if it was unique
2. Confusing layout for first timers
3. Need more signage to get into the place externally then navigationally once inside
4. No time for a round of disc golf (since I was with my boss)
5. Plenty of khaki pant golf d-bags

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Last year's Surly Disc Golf Open was there and they fed us, but it was just a standard burger bar and chips. I'll have to remember this the next time I play there.

Chao said...

Heck, next time you're out there, shoot me a message. I'll meet you for a round. I don't get out as much as I used to, but I think I could play and not embarass myself...

Unknown said...

I'll do that. I've only played Hyland a couple times, so it's not like I'm out there a lot.

Anonymous said...

Looks great! Tell DawgMan I feel completely dissed.

EnYa Face!