Magic Bus Café (Take 32, hahaha) – Minneapolis, MN

Chris and the ladies at the Magic Bus Café have done it again. I always stop by here when I hit up the Uptown Market at Lake and Lyndale. This amazing glorified hot dog stand always has the best stuff. You can get tofu dogs if you want to, but I recommend the real McCoy. They’re always working up new creations and combinations of toppings. Here’s what I got this last trip:

Half and half dog with ½ Mexicali Dog (spicy relish, jalapeno, and cojack cheese) and ½ Magic Chili Dog (cojack cheese and chili – I skipped the onion). This thing is delicious. I still need to plan on eating one of everything and working up to what the ladies now want to call the “6-Shooter” (one of every topping on a half dog, totaling 6 amazing hot dogs. I need to do this soon before the Uptown Market shuts down for the season. I think I have a couple more weeks…

Just go here and tell these ladies hi! They will get you set up however you like your hot dogs.

Patrick McGovern’s Pub – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough has been talking about the Turkey Dinners they have at this place for some time. We actually popped by one afternoon to find out they only served breakfast and a super small lunch menu until about 2. So we took a picture of the waterfall on the patio, had a drink of lemonade, and then walked next door to Cosetta’s for lunch. But we seriously came back the next day AFTER 2 to try out these famed Turkey dishes.

The patio of this place is really nice. Lots of tables on different levels, a nice waterfall, an inside-bar on either side of you with clean restrooms, and very attentive wait staff. The actual for-real menu is REALLY large and has tons of stuff. As usual, in these situations, it’s terribly difficult to decide what to eat. But since the Turkey Dinner was talked up so much, by D.Rough, I thought I’d better go with that. D.Rough got the Turkey Melt, which is kind of an old stand-by for her – she knows it’s delicious. I got a vodka lemonade with Chambord in it and D.Rough got something summery and boozy as well.

The drinks arrived quickly and were just ok. Not life-changing or anything. They were good, especially in the summer. I couldn’t taste much Chambord and D.Rough’s tasted a little watery. But whatever, we weren’t there to get loaded – we were there to hang out and eat. For some reason, my drinks always look much larger than D.Rough's. Weird.

The food came out a short while later and I was pretty impressed. D.Rough’s sammich looked really good, but my dinner was waaay larger than I expected. Multiple large slabs of turkey on top of some bread, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and then everything was covered in gravy. I dug right in and was pleasantly surprised. Everything was perfect – even the stuffing, which I’m not usually a fan of. I questioned whether I was going to finish it all, but I came through with a second burst of hunger towards the end. The meat was very juicy and the gravy wasn’t boring and flavorless, like brown gravy sometimes is. VERY well done, McGovern’s. I loved it.

I had a bite of D.Rough’s sammich and it was pretty delicious as well. A little more compact and hand-held, which is nice at a bar, but I think I’d go with the full Hot Turkey Dinner when I come here. However, there’s a bunch of other things on the menu I need to try as well. We’ll see if I can pull myself away from the Hot Turkey next time.

Top 5 things about Patrick McGovern’s Pub
1. Hot Turkey Dinner
2. Turkey Melt Sammich
3. Outdoor Patio
4. Open last with multiple happy hours
5. Giant menu with lots of tasty looking things

Bottom 5 things
1. Small menu until 2pm
2. Cocktails weren’t very special
3. I think it’s going to be really difficult NOT to get the Hot Turkey Diner every time I go there
4. Wish we had gotten the timing right the first time – either earlier for breakfast or later for full menu action
5. There was some sort of whore birthday party event on the patio while we were there and it got loud and whore-y

www.patmcgoverns.com

The Nook – St .Paul

In the Twin Cities, there is a never-ending battle over who was the originator of the Jucy Lucy and who has the best Jucy Lucy. In fact, it doesn’t matter. You can get these a lot of places and everyone likes a different spot. I personally like The Nook, but I also have had equally delicious Jucy Lucys at the 5-8 Club, Matt’s, Groveland Tap, Blue Door Pub, and a couple of other places. Some people stick with one and then get all militant and douche-baggy about their place being the best. I recommend eating Jucy Lucys everywhere you go and trying as many as possible. D.Rough and I had a hankerin’ for The Nook.

At The Nook, if the place is full (which it WILL be) you give your name to the bartender and they write it on a dry-erase board. When they get to your name, they call out your name and seat you. We got seated pretty quick this time. As usual, we took far too long to figure out what we wanted. Everything is good here. Normally, I get a Paul Molitor Burger (which is a Jucy Lucy packed with pepperjack cheese). Today, I was extra hungry. I needed a Nookie Supreme Burger. I knew this was going to be large, but I didn’t realize how large. I skipped the fries in favor of onion rings this time around. I also scored a 1919 Rootbeer – one of the best rootbeers ever made. D.Rough went with the tried-and-true Jucy Lucy (called a Jucy Nookie here).

The food comes out pretty quick here, even on busy nights. The food comes out fast and it comes out hot. Most veteran Jucy Lucy eaters will tell you, you always eat your fries, tots, or rings before jumping into a Jucy Lucy. Otherwise you will scald your face and risk permanent facial damage when the molten lava cheese spills out onto your chin (or chins). I pounded most of my onion rings right away. They were great. Nothing really special, but they were cooked perfectly. I moved onto the giant burger I had ordered. I was slightly disappointed that I didn’t read the menu closely enough and got a burger instead of a Jucy Lucy. For some reason, external cheese is never as tasty as internal cheese.

This burger is REALLY big. In the photo, it’s hard to tell, but it’s actually three buns and two patties with cheese. When you realize that, it will give you an indication as to how large this burger is. The Supreme was cooked to perfection. I love really juicy burgers that aren’t sloppy. This is one of the best. I had to eat it in pieces since I seriously couldn’t fit my face around all three pieces of bread. Apparently, if you eat two of these things, you win a shirt or prize or something. I don’t think I’ll ever even come close. Not worried though. I only need one of these bad boys.

D.Rough’s Jucy Nookie was a fantastic meat and cheese experience and she had no complaints. It isn’t worth writing up past saying it was awesome.

Top 5 things about The Nook
1. Jucy Nookie/Lucy
2. Paul Molitor Burger
3. Nookie Supreme Burger
4. 1919 Rootbeer
5. Onion Rings

Bottom 5 things
1. You will always have to wait to be seated here
2. It gets really loud on Twins’ game nights
3. The menu has about 300 things on it, and not all of them are food. It’s like they just like to talk and people with a menu in their hand are a captive audience
4. I feel bad, but I haven’t tried any of the other awesome looking food no the menu. Maybe I’ll go Lucy-Free until the end of the year and only get non-cheese-injected foods…
5. People are still going to argue with you that Matt’s or 5-8 Club is better. Just shut it, people – it doesn’t matter. Just eat them.

www.rcnook.com

Mort’s Delicatessen – Golden Valley, MN

TheDoctor and I were fixin’ to brew some high-octane cider after work, and little did I know that the actual gathering of ingredients and preparation for said brewing takes exponentially longer than the actual mixing and brewing process. One reason for this is the trip to the liquor store to acquire beverages to consume during the brewing process. Another reason for this is to go to the home-brewing store and pick up a bunch of chemistry set things and magic juj-ju powders. Yet another reason it takes so long is stopping for some dinner. TheDoctor suggested Mort’s Delicatessen as a possibility since neither of us had been there. It proved to be an excellent choice.

The front of this place has a deli counter where you can get all kinds of sliced meats and sandwiches and desserts from a glass case. Or you can sit in back and get the full experience. You can grab a table or booth, or you can sit at the counter like old guys – that’s what TheDoctor and I did.

The menu is pretty serious. All kinds of meaty deliciousness ad full dinners. It was extremely difficult to choose. When in doubt, I choose what I think is the most dirty-sounding thing on the menu. In this case, it was “Mike’s Kentucky Hot Brown” Yes, that’s the name of it. If someone ever asked me if I wanted a Kentucky Hot Brown, even if his name weren’t Mike, I think I’d be oooged out just a little bit. And since I was able to stick with a theme – something I like to do from time to time, I also ordered a Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda. If only I worked for UPS. TheDoctor decided on the Rueben which happened to be on special today. Cha-ching!

We didn’t wait long for the food to come out. I wasn’t even sure what I was getting, so imagine my surprise when this heaping pile of brown came out (see how dirty it sounds!?!?!?!).

The Kentucky Hot Brown is fresh rotisserie turkey (one of Mort’s specialties) sitting on what tastes like challah bread french toast (yes, really) covered with grilled tomatoes and bacon and then slathered in homemade parmesan cheese sauce. Heavy? Yes. Delicious? Yes. I had just had a turkey dinner at another restaurant so I didn’t know it was going to be a similar type of thing when I ordered it. However, this one proved to be much better than the previous night (and that was delicious, as well!!!) The meat was very juicy and the tomatoes and bacon added some really interesting flavor in my mouth. Adding the parmesan sauce just made the whole thing that much more awesome. Add in the homemade potato chips and you’ve got yourself a serious meal.

I’m going to have a difficult time NOT ordering Kentucky Hot Brown whenever I see if on any menu from here on out. And yes, I’ll giggle like I’m 12 when I say it. Mort’s appears to have awesome everything TheDoctor thought his Rueben was really quite good (as was the homemade rootbeer they had). This place will work it’s way back into the rotation sooner, rather than later. I really liked it.

Then we went home and poured a bunch of apple juice and magic dust into our newly built chemistry set to make hard cider. Now we have to sit and wait for 6 weeks to drink it… Sigh…




Top 5 things about Mort’s
1. Mike’s Kentucky Hot Brown
2. Super nice wait staff
3. Tons of things on the menu
4. It’s across the parking lot from the liquor sto. Bonus!
5. Would be a good place to grab a quick sammich after work

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s slightly pricey, but not for the amount of food you get. Plus the daily specials are a great deal. It saved TheDoctor like $5
2. Too many delicious things to choose from - alright, that’s not technically a bad thing
3. They don’t have Fox Sports Network, so you can’t watch the Twins play – do I really care? Nope
4. I wish I had known about this place for breakfast – it looks like they have some great options
5. I still can’t say Kentucky Hot Brown without giggling

www.morts-deli.com

LivingSocial.com – Twin Cities

Since we can never get enough deals on food and fun things to do in the Twin Cities, I’m posting a link to one of those awesome coupon sites where you get a ridiculous amount of money off places you would normally go anyway! It works like most of the other ones – you sign up to get one e-mail per day with an offer and then you either buy it or ignore it. And like most of the other ones, they have them for a bunch of larger cities and metro areas (including for my London friends).

I’ve already bought some and will be using them to review more places in the Twin Cities (SUPER looking forward to a Hot Dago at the Dari-ette with my lady friend). So, I figured it would be alright if I posted it here and spread the word – no they’re not paying me (well, not YET anyway, hahahahaha). And if you get three of your friends to buy the same thing you bought, you get yours free, so that’s pretty slick, eh?

Most of you know how these things work, and if you don’t, you SHOULD. Go and sign up. I haven’t gotten anything shifty in my e-mail, so you don’t have to worry about that. If you get something shady, tell me and I’ll pull this post, but I think it’s only good stuff that will come from this, unless you think a larger pants size is NOT good… haha

www.livingsocial.com

Jimmy Jack’s Rib Shack – Iowa City, IA

I was driving back through Iowa City and called up Coach to see if he and his lady wanted to grab some Whitey’s Ice Cream with me – that’s ice cream, not honkeys, so you’re not confused. We met at the Coralridge mall and Toach said she’d always wanted me to try Jimmy Jack’s since she knows I love ribs and BBQ. We scrapped the Whitey’s idea and drove over to Jimmy Jack’s.


I walked inside since I beat them there and it was about 80% full. A good sign. You order at the counter, but I was pretty sure I knew what I’d be having. My usual at rib places. A half slab of ribs, a couple sides, and cornbread if they have it. They DID have cornbread and it came with the dinner portion, so I got it. I also got baked beans and fries. And because Jimmy Jack doesn’t play around, he serves Sprecher products, so I got a bottle of the best cream soda in the world.



We grabbed a table in the dining room. There’s lots of room, but there are these backless little wooden stools to sit on. I know some people complain about that (mostly old people), so I thought I’d note it, but I really don’t care either way. I’ve stood and eaten ribs before – it just doesn’t matter to me as long as most of the food hits my mouth-al area.

They have a sauce bar for all kinds of condiments and BBQ sauces. There are our different kinds. Original, Cowboy, Four Alarm, and Some spicy Mustard stuff that I steered clear of. I loaded up on those so I could try a couple different ones.

The food comes out really fast. I had sat down for about 2 minutes when my food came out. Perfect. The ribs themselves were really good. Not amazing or mind blowing, but they were tender, came off the bone with only a little bit of work, and there wasn’t a ton of gristle. There was a lot of meat on the bones, so I got good and full with these and didn’t have any problem going through each of the sauces I got. I liked the Four Alarm sauce the best, followed by the original and then the Cowboy. I don’t do mustard, so that’s automatically a fourth.

The fries were seasoned well and crispy and were home cut fries, not skinny pre-made ones. I really liked these. The baked beans had a lot of bits in them – some meaty bits, some vegetable-y bits. All were delicious. There was a little bit of spice in them, without being overpowering. I like Jimmy’s beans a LOT.

Thanks for taking me here, Toach. I will likely be back. I love the scenic drive through downtown Iowa City. It reminds me of when I went to school there (which was hell, by the way).

And of course, there’s always room for Whitey’s on the way home!!!!...


Top 5 things about Jimmy Jack’s Rib Shack
1. Ribs
2. Baked beans
3. Fries
4. Four Alarm BBQ Sauce
5. They have Sprecher Cream Soda!

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s still no Lee and Dee’s
2. It’s a 5+ hour drive from my house
3. You can’t get the Little Jimmy (kid’s sammich) without buying a side and a drink
4. No descriptions of sauce flavors on the condiment bar
5. No backs on the wooden stools you sit on

www.jimmyjacksribshack.com

Tracy’s – Minneapolis, MN (Seward district)

When I get to class early, I like to go for a bite to eat before sitting through a 3.5 hour lecture. Today, there was almost no traffic to speak of and I wanted to try someplace I hadn’t been. I had been told Tracy’s had decent bar food and also a great Sunday brunch, so I popped in and checked it out.

It’s a pretty slick bar with a good sized seating area in one half of the room. There were a couple of tables filled with college kids drinking beers and eating burgers (and some studying – nerds). I grabbed a seat at the bar and got a menu from the trainee waitress. I skimmed it pretty quickly, but I was in the mood for a burger, so it wasn’t long before I found the one I wanted – the Augsburger (named so due to the restaurant’s proximity to Augsburg College). It was a pretty significant sounding burger and I was up for the challenge.

There were actually a whole bunch of things on the menu that sounded good to me. They have a brilliant appetizer called Totchos – basically nachos but on tater tots instead of chips… The Pork & Chicken Platter (bacon wrapped chicken and ham terrine with a Kramarczuk’s polish dog, pickled egg and other stuff; or Summit-battered things (which they refer to as Midwest-tempura). There are also larger entrée-style meals and some salad-y things – Red Curry & Lemon Rice or Wild Boar Shepherd’s Pie. The menu is bigger than you might imagine. I went with the Augsburger – as planned – and then replaced the fries with tots, since the tatchos had put the idea in my head. I also ordered a Strongbow, which I don’t normally do before class, but it sounded right.

I waited a reasonable amount of time (getting worried about missing class made it more harrowing than it probably was) and the food came out. I was right, this buirger was substantial. Really substantial. I knew the burger would be difficult to eat, so I tackled most of the tots first. They had some sort of awesome seasoning on them that made them extra delicious. I like a little seasoning on my tots and these were some of the better ones. Really happy with them. The burger was also amazing.

The burger has two beef patties on it, two slices of cheese, BBQ sauce, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Like I said, it’s serious. It’s also delicious. The meat itself was a tad dry, but the amazing toppings made up for it. I won’t complain at all about the dryness if it tastes this good. Not in the top 5 burgers of all time, but maybe in the top 5 most filling. I was stuffed and it didn’t help that I was wolfing it down to make it to class on time. Which wasn’t even that important since I slept through most of the first half of class – mmmm…… food coma……

Top 5 things about Stacy’s Saloon
1. Tots
2. Augsburger
3. Super nice staff (and great job, trainee girl with librarian glasses!)
4. Strongbow should always be in the top 5 of every list
5. It’s not a divey bar, but just super comfortable and homey

Bottom 5 things
1. Meat patties were a tiny bit dry
2. Some shifty activity happening in the parking lot out back
3. I really wanted to try like 10 things on the menu (probably not a bad thing, huh?)
4. Not super fast – for those of us who have to rush to get some book learnin’
5. I didn’t notice the dessert menu until I looked up the menu online: Cookies & Cream, Real Ice Cream Malts, Chocolate Brownies, Smores, & Floats. And apparently, this isn’t the FULL dessert menu! (Class could have waited just a bit longer for me, I think…)

www.tracyssaloon.com

Taco Bell’s Cantina Taco

I like to review all the new products Taco Bell launches. Despite the severely limiting factor that this new Cantina Taco contains ZERO bacon, I tried it anyway. For those that don’t know, I’m biased – I LOVE Taco Bell. Additionally, I think the people in the product development department do wonderful things in the test kitchens. I am rarely disappointed with the new things they try (especially the things with bacon on/in them…), so keep that in mind.

I hadn’t seen a ton of advertising for this new taco, but I got the impression it was an attempt at simple bar/street tacos like you get in Mexico. Nothing fancy. I wasn’t expecting much, to be honest with you. Two warm corn tortillas with Carnitas (pork), grilled chicken, or steak. Then topped with lettuce, cilantro, and chopped onions. It comes with a sliced lime to squeeze on your taco and everything comes wrapped in foil, like you’d get from a street vendor. It didn’t sound very lively to me, but it was worth a shot.

I was proven wrong. These things are very simple, but very good. You can taste each of the flavors and it’s not TOO much, like some of their other items. I’m sure they’re not considered light or healthy, but they’re pretty delicious. I’d get these again. And they have a three-taco-sample-pack (which sounds dirty when you say it out loud).

It also has to be noted that while eating these tacos in the car during my lunch break, the car parked next to mine had a Tears for Fears CD on the seat. Not in the back seat in a pile of old music from the bottom of the closet. But in the front seat like it was being coddled and fondled and studied and buckled in for safety reasons. Scary. And hilarious.

NickNamer and Pul-Chevy, I can’t wait to hear your reviews of this new Cantina Taco.

Sea Salt - Minneapolis, MN

TheDoctor likes to send me txt messages at 12:30 asking me if I’m available for lunch immediately. Generally, I’ve eaten or have some sort of meeting at work and am unable to make it. Once he figured out this strategy had him eating lunch at home with his dog, he began to book me in advance. This is how I got to go to lunch with the best lunchmates ever. TheDoctor said he and Smallz were planning a lunch outing at Sea Salt, since they had heard amazing things about it. The real reason, as I found out later, was that Surly Brewery was holding a new product launch for its new “Hell” beer this day. I had also heard good things about Sea Salt, but not being a seafood guy, I ignored all of those recommendations. However, not one to ignore a challenge, I agreed to met them and invited D.Rough as well. Sure, there’s something I can eat that’s not seafood-related, right?

[This is where you start to ignore everything I say about Sea Salt, since I don’t like seafood. However, skim down the review a little bit where D.Rough, TheDoctor, and Taco give a real perspective of the food. Smallz ended up not going, so his opinion doesn’t matter.]

Sea salt is what one can safely describe as an upscale seafood-snack shack in the middle of Minnehaha Park, right next to the Minnehaha Falls. It’s in the refectory building, which is basically a large covered pavilion with an open seating area for picnic benches and events. You’ll notice the line of people before you notice anything else. This place packs people in. In fact, we waited in line 35 minutes (seriously – I was timing it since I was NOT on a long lunch break, or so I thought). So it packs them in, it just doesn’t move them along.

There aren’t a lot of options for non-seafood eaters. In fact, there is one option: Red Beans and Rice. Which is what I got. I also have had decent luck with crab cakes at many places. I mean, they’re fried, right? So I got a crab cake basket as well as the RB&R – I ordered double fruit since I’m also not a cole slaw guy. It was the Surly Hell launch party, but I’m not a beer drinker, so I stuck with a lemonade. So yes, you’ve got that right, I don’t like seafood and I don’t like beer. Why am I at a seafood restaurant that’s hosting a beer product launch again? Hahahaha.

We waited another 35 minutes for our food to arrive. Again, I’m not joking. I had read reviews stating the place was worth the wait – I was about to find out, since I was likely to have a LOT of free time on my hands when I got back from my three-hour-lunch and was told not to come back tomorrow. My food looked quite good, though. A large crab cake in a basket with two half slices of honeydew – I guess that’s the “double” fruit I ordered. It also has a nice light corn salad/salsa as a garnish for the crab cake.

The crab cake was good. One of the better ones I’ve had in fact. It was, in MY opinion, a little fishy compared to some I’ve had. But when I shared bites around the table, everyone raved about it and then berated me for saying it was just “pretty good”. So listen to my asshole friends, not me. It did taste much better when paired with the corn salad, so hooray for the chef that paired that together. The honeydew was fine, but difficult to bite due to it being cut thick/wide and having the rind still on it. The red beans & rice looked really good. I said LOOKED really good, but are not able to be eaten easily when presented like a sno-cone/sundae. You try to get the rice with the beans and it ends up all over the plate. It’s a pain really. There isn’t a way around this unless you serve it in a larger bowl - which it then looks like you didn’t get very much. It’s a no-win for the restaurant that serves rb&r, truly. And the rb&r were just ok. In fact, I’ve had better at most places I’ve gone – and yes, I mean at Popeyes Chicken. They were fine and edible, but I probably wouldn’t order them here again, especially since they’re pretty pricey for what they are.

When I looked at the clock to see what time it was, I figured I was already going to be fired, so I might as well enjoy a nice stroll with D.Rough down by the falls. I’ve always wanted to go see them, and since I was already well past the two-hour mark on lunch, now was as good a time as any. We headed down the long staircase to the bottom of the falls and were pleasantly surprised how awesome they were. Right here in the middle of the metro area is a really nice serene waterfall. The temperature was hot enough outside that we really were tempted to both call in to work and kick off our shoes and get in the water. It is beautiful.



So beautiful that I didn’t want to go back to work and stay until 8pm… Ouch.

I will probably be back to Sea Salt sometime. Despite not liking seafood, D.Rough’s Crawfish Po’Boy was much tastier than mine and it would probably impress people who know about my non-seafood-eating habits. It’s worth going to, but I still don’t think it’s worth the wait time or the price. Yikes to both.

---

Now for people’s opinions who matter – seafood lovers!

D.Rough’s Review
After looking at the menu online, I had come to no conclusion on what I wanted to eat at Sea Salt, since almost everything sounded delicious. I'm a huge fan of Coastal Seafoods and that's where they get all their fish. While waiting in line, Dan said that Rocky and someone else (I can't remember) were raving about the crawfish Po' Boy. With that, I decided to stop thinking and go with the Po' Boy. To accompany my sandwich, I got the new Surly Hell. I was not disappointed with either of my selections. The crawfish was piled high on a fresh hoagie, so much so that it was difficult to close and eat. It was crispy and flavored with just the right amount of what had to have been Creole seasoning. The tomatoes and lettuce were fresh and you could just taste the mayo, but it wasn't globby or overused. A thin line of hotsauce ran through the whole thing, making it just spicy enough. Similar to a Chipotle burrito, I didn't want to set it down for fear of ruining the structure of the sandwich. With each bite, a mischievous crawfish would pop out, but not go to waste (they give you a fork for this, but fingers work just fine). To keep it all together, I hand fed bites to Dan and Chad. I think even the non fish-lover enjoyed it. The Surly washed it all down nicely. Sometimes Surly beers are a little too strong for me, but this new one is good for those who aren't huge fans of the bitterness of Coffee Bender or Furious, perfect for a summer day overlooking the falls.

TheDoctor’s Review:
After hearing many, many recommendations from Smallz and Rocky, I found the perfect reason to finally go to Sea Salt. The Surly Hell release was going to be held there. Sea Salt is delicious. The corn tortillas created the perfect base for some Tilapia, Cilantro, Salsa and little else. It really puts the emphasis on the individual ingredients. The Tilapia was fresh but a little undercooked and that's a tough hurdle to overcome. I probably preferred D.Rough's Crawfish Po'Boy to my fish tacos and definitely prefer Tin Fish's Mahi tacos to Sea Salt's. The Surly Hell was a great beer to pair with lighter fish-fare, for the record. I'll go back when I'm in the neighborhood, but will probably get either the aforementioned Crawfish Po'Boy or try the Catfish Po'Boy. If I want fish tacos, I'll probably just go somewhere else.

Taco’s Review:
If you’re going to the Sea Salt Eatery, I strongly recommend having your friends order for you and showing up 15 minutes late. First, this is probably the most efficient way to handle the crowd. I have never been to Sea Salt on a nice day when the line hasn’t extended out the door, and, on days with poor weather, there’s hardly a reason to want to spend time hanging out at Minnehaha Park. Second, this then means you’re having lunch with friends outside near the Falls, which is impossible to not enjoy (unless you’re broken inside).

This time around, I kept it simple (in part due to literally phoning in my order) and had the grilled tilapia tacos. Also ordered by my group was one of the po’ boys, which are always overflowing their bun, and the crab cakes. My tacos were simple and delicious; a nice tortilla, some salsa, and tilapia grilled perfectly. If there was one lesson I could ask of the cook at Sea Salt, it’d be on grilling fish. All of this said, as a forethought, the menu is a bit overpriced. But with good food and good company, it’s hard to find complaint except in thorough retrospective.

Lastly, Sea Salt is supposedly known for its oysters. These are one thing I have yet to try, but I look forward to it someday. This will probably be around the time teleportation is invented, because if anything I eat should be ridiculously fresh, it’s oysters, and until Scotty can beam me a half dozen straight out of Buckley Bay, nature did not intend good oysters to be in the Midwest.

Top 5 things about Sea Salt – from a non-seafood-lover listening to other people’s opinions
1. Crawfish Po’Boy
2. Crab Cake (with the corn salsa)
3. Very nice atmosphere in the middle of a serene park
4. They host Surly product launches
5. This place serves serious other beer and wine

Bottom 5 things
1. Long wait in line to order
2. Long wait to get your food
3. Really pricey for a snack shack
4. Red Beans & Rice
5. Undercooked Tilapia in the fish tacos

seasalteatery.wordpress.com