Dalles House Restaurant and Lounge – St. Croix Falls, WI

 

D and I were up near Interstate State Park and found this fun looking restaurant – she’s quite good at picking places, so I knew I was in for a treat. It’s got that old school Wisconsin lounge feel from the outside and we were even more happy when we went and saw how fun the inside was! It’s like a magical tiki land behind the bar and there’s a huge outdoor space that would probably be fun in the summer months! There is a fancier dining room, but the bar was definitely more our speed. The bar is the kind of place where you throw some wood on top of the pool table and call it a table (I’m serious).

 

We sat at the bar so we could take in the whole tiki grotto and see what was happening around us. When in Wisconsin, you order a brandy old fashioned. State law, I think. D bucked the trend and got a margarita. 

 

The menu is pretty much Americana through and through, but there are still some really good sounding items on it. We ended up splitting some raspberry chipotle wings and a honey smoked salmon salad. It all came out pretty quickly so we dove in.

The chicken wings were really good. I know it’s hard to do wings in a way that sets them apart, but we’ve also had plenty of wings that were straight trash. These were delicious and meaty and the raspberry chipotle sauce on them was really great. Great way to kick off a meal.

 

The salmon salad was much bigger than we expected. Aside from lettuce, it had candied pecans, blue cheese, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes. This all had a Caesar dressing mixed in, which ruled. We were both expecting a piece of salmon on top but this shredded version was actually much easier to deal with. The salmon had a great sweet honey taste and you could get some with every bite of salad. And despite the tomatoes being sort of out of season, all the veggies were really fresh. We had to fight over who got the buttery garlic toast, but splitting it worked just fine.

 

We liked this place probably more than normal people would, but it’s got that fun kitsch that we’re always looking for. Super friendly servers and good food and drinks just makes it all the more enjoyable. Looking forward to our next trip to the Dalles House!

Hazelwood Food & Drink - St. Louis Park, MN

 

Full disclosure: I wanted to show readers that I don’t ALWAYS eat garbage food or culinary atrocities – that’s what this review is. I met Trash and M.Giant for lunch in St. Louis Park since we had many things to get caught up on. Hazelwood is a slightly upscale and modern restaurant with just-short-of-tweezery dishes. Lots of instagramable decoration and plating. I think I had something going on that afternoon and didn’t want to fill up, so I ordered one of their healthy bowls with chicken. Of course, Trash asked me if I was ok or had some ailment that I was about to explain to them during lunch. But, really, I just love quinoa.

 

I’ll be honest, I did find it a little weird that all of the bowls have the exact same thing in them and you just pick what’s on top. But thankfully, everything in the list of ingredients sounded great and I just went along with it. Don’t most places have different flavors with different proteins? Just seemed a little simple for a place like this. Not complaining, just pointing out that I found it odd.

 

The bowl they brought out was picture perfect, as you can see. Green beans, baby greens, edamame, toasted pepitas, cucumbers, tomatoes, quinoa, lemongrass sauce, and plum sauce. The chicken had a roasted poblano sauce on it, as well, which was quite good. Everything was fresh and tasty and there was plenty of it, as well. The quinoa actually had flavor, which sometimes, it’s just a boring grain, so Hazelwood definitely knew how to cook it properly. The lemongrass sauce wasn’t too overpowering, either. This dish, for as simple as it is, has a lot of things that could take over the dish, but that didn’t happen. So, well done, Hazelwood. 

 

The menu has a couple of things that sound interesting, but I think what Hazelwood does well is take normal food and make it much prettier. They’re doing great at it, too. No complaints on my end.

Melt Pizza - Hudson, WI

 

Melt Pizza is sort of a pop-up Detroit-style pizza restaurant that shows up at various places we have been to. We finally showed up hungry to Oliphant Brewing and Melt Pizza was there slinging pizzas from the back room. We were with friends, so we ordered two things: Melt Sticks and also the Dream Team. 

 

We were drinking plenty of beer, so we have no idea how long it took, but it didn’t seem unreasonable, nor did it matter. These pizzas were fantastic. Detroit style, for those that aren’t familiar, is pizza cooked in a pan with toppings pushed against the side so they get all caramelized and crispy. 

 

The Melt Sticks are cheesy and garlicy slices with no sauce underneath. But these do come with a couple dipping sauces, but the only I remember is the vodka red sauce. I think the other two were their house made red sauce. But the flavor of these cheese strips was truly great. Crusty pieces of cheese on each slice where it got burned up against the pan. Just awesome.

 

The Dream Team has red sauce, three-cheese coverage, pepperoni, ricotta, hot honey, and basil. Again, the caramelized cheese against the edges is what makes this, but the hot honey and ricotta really made this pizza pop, as well. So glad we got this one, despite the one we had originally tried to order being sold out right before we got there. 

 

If you see Melt Pizza show up at any of your favorite drinking establishments, you should go there and order a couple of these. They know what they’re doing in the pizza world and I’ll definitely keep an eye on them.