Tumbled Rock Brewery and Kitchen – Baraboo, WI

D and I did a little road trip to get out of town and on our way back, we popped by Tumbled Rock Brewery & Kitchen. It’s a relatively new place near Wisconsin Dells that’s really pretty impressive. The place is very unique – one building houses the restaurant and brewery, and the other is a separate taproom/taphouse that can be opened independently from the full restaurant. Both buildings are separated by a really nice outdoor patio with multiple seating options, firepits, a stage for bands, landscaping, and even outdoor carpet. This place is likely to do some killer outdoor business.

The beer menu is pretty diverse, so I went with a flight, just to get a good sampling. A brown ale, a kolsch, a Scotch ale, a black IPA, and a white stout. All of them were solid performers, but my favorite was Scotty’s Scotch Ale (if you’re asking). The flight comes in a muffin tin with some snack mix, which is a fantastic and inexpensive idea.

 

We were starving, so we got a couple things to share. The Sheet Pan Birria Nachos and the Bison Sliders. 

The Bison Sliders were good, which I’ve had some mixed experience with. Sometimes people cook their bison too long and since it doesn’t have a ton of fat in it, it dries out quickly. Tumbled Rock didn’t have this problem. They were nice and juicy, had great toppings on them, and are served on pretzel buns.

The Sheet Pan Birria Nachos were really awesome though. Good coverage of toppings – black beans, pico, jalapenos, cheese, olives, sour cream, and avocado – though I always want more cheese no matter what. The birria beef was really well seasoned and flavorful. I’d get these again – keep in mind it’s really difficult for me to turn down nachos of any sort.

 

This place is a really fun pit stop if you’re passing near the Wisconsin Dells or playing disc golf at the nearby course. I have a feeling we’ll be there again soon!

www.tumbledrock.com

Poor Richard’s Commonhouse – Bloomington, MN

My friend D.Sales and I decided to meet up for lunch, so we picked a place near both of us. I’ve never been to Poor Richard’s, but I’ve driven by it a bunch of times and wondered what it was like. I read that it was a former Major’s restaurant location, so I had an idea of what it used to be, but not what it was now. The website wasn’t entirely functional, so I didn’t get any help there.


The inside is actually enormous. I was surprised how spacious it was inside. Huge bar in the middle of a large room and then smaller dining rooms off to the sides. It is decorated in a sort of modern colonial theme. Picture a Majors or Champps but then, theme it with Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross – literally. And it isn’t in a bad way, it just is like nothing I’ve ever really witnessed. And I guess to keep it jolly old England style, they had soccer on the flat screens, which was a bonus (Columbus Crew vs FC Dallas).

The menu has some unique things on it, mainly involving Bison. I’m guessing a lot of Native American people don’t eat at Poor Richard’s – that’s kind of shoving it in their face, don’t you think? Bison chili, Bison sliders, Bison pasta, etc. I had my food decision all picked out and then I thought to ask the server about the specials. She said they had a fire and ice burger – burger with cream cheese and sliced jalapenos on it. Dang it, now I wanted THAT. I also got stuck with lemonade since they have Coke products. Sigh.


We didn’t wait long for our food, which I was kind of surprised about. That worked out well though. The burger looked plenty large and filling and the fries were especially crispy looking. I think I heard people talk about double frying French fries to make them super crispy while watching a cooking show on food network. I think that’s the secret to doing this. And if I’m full of crap and don’t know what I’m talking about, sue me. I’ll eat those fries no matter how their cooked.

The burger was a perfect medium .Just the right amount of pink on the inside. The toppings weren’t overdone and seemed to be a great mix of flavors for the amount of meat there was. The jalapenos weren’t particularly spicy, but then again, when is jalapeno season? I don’t know either. The meal came with coleslaw (a very small ramekin of coleslaw to be exact), which I ate. I’ll assure you that is noteworthy, since I’m NOT a fan of coleslaw. But I always try it just to make sure I don’t like it. This one was much better – less mayo or something. This was a really good burger that I would either order here again, or make a bunch of at home…

D.Sales had ordered soup and it arrived without a spoon, then the server disappeared for a bit, so he had to wait for a spoon. But he ended up eating his soup while it was still hot. His melty ham and cheese sandwich looked delicious and he said positive things about it. I didn’t ask him for a bite though – we’re not at THAT level in our relationship…

At the end of the meal, she brought us our bill and we handed over credit cards to split the meal. She returned with one credit card and then asked if we had paid with one card. She remembered picking up two cards. I’m glad she remembered that because apparently she now realized she had lost my credit card. Wonderful. After lots of searching and some considerable waiting on our part, she found my credit card and after she returned it, came back to refund the money put on D.Sales’ credit card so he didn’t get stuck with the whole bill.

It wasn’t a cheap lunch, but I’ve paid way more for burgers before. It was a great restaurant-priced burger. It isn’t fast food after all. I think I’ll head back to this place for lunch in the future. I got in and out of there pretty quickly, it’s close, and the menu had lots of things I’d like to try on it. Despite some pretty harsh reviews online, I think this place is pretty good.

Top 5 things about Poor Richard’s Commonhouse
1. Fire and Ice Burger
2. Super crispy fries
3. Really large menu
4. Friendly waitress and quick service
5. Coleslaw was pretty good

Bottom 5 things
1. Lost my credit card temporarily
2. Small coleslaw portion
3. Forgot the soup spoon and you can’t eat soup with a fork
4. It’s a little on the pricey side for a lunch (expect about $15)
5. It’s a little hard to navigate to from 494, despite the fact you can see it from the road

www.poorrichardscommonhouse.com

Good Earth – Edina, MN

Gerd and I went to the fancy mall (The Galleria) for some window shopping. We have walked by the Good Earth restaurant a few times in the past and it’s always looked really good. I know its some sort of dirty hippie vegetarian restaurant, but it’s a fancy version where the customers shower. And it’s in Edina where the equivalent of hippie is anyone who makes less than $150K per year.

We got seated and then proceeded to wait about 15 minutes to get acknowledged. Not a good start, but I’m patient and willing to let the food speak for itself. In actuality, the long wait time allowed me ample time to really investigate the menu – which I did numerous times. And by doing so, I changed my mind like 41 times. They have REALLY amazing sounding items on the menu and they’re not all vegetarian (the ones that aren’t have meat that was treated kindly before slaughtering - Ha ha ha). They have all kinds of Asian, Mexican, Italian, and American dishes. And ALL of them looked really good.

We got waited on and had orders taken and they brought out a yardsale of bread for us. All kinds of things. Flat breads, fluffy breads, breads with seeds and other bits, salty breads, healthy breads… you get the point. There was some sort of pink hummus they brought out for putting on the breads and that was good too. Not sure what made it pink, but that’s not the point.

Gerd decided on some Acorn Squash soup (sounds pretty hippie-ish doesn’t it?). It was a simple looking dish wish a couple of sunflower seeds thrown on the top. One of the best soups she’s ever had, she commented. And it was great – I would get it again in a heart beat. Gerd ordered the tuna melt for her meal, which was a tiny piece of bread (she actually said they could have used a bigger slice of bread), with some tuna on the bread, and then smothered in cheese. Gerd loved every bite of it (despite complaining about the tiny bread).

I went with the nachos with chicken (free range and coddled, of course). I should have gone with the original plan which was the spicy thai chicken noodles or the thai wrap or the black beans and rice. I always forget when you go to a “healthy” restaurant, you’re going to get the “nice” version of whatever you order. I’m used to straight up bar nachos with a Wisconsin portion of cheese, handfuls of meat, and other random unidentifiable bits you just power through. This had a nice sprinkling of cheese, a small layer of black beans, some guacamole, and a bit of salsa in a cup. Oh yes, and huge chunks of chicken. Honestly, the nachos were delicious, but they weren’t filling at all. I left about 25 chips on the plate which hadn’t been violated with toppings. Seriously a bunch of plain chips were left over. Governor’s in Moline IL would never have considered such a thing. Again, don’t get me wrong, they were good, but they were as close to healthy as you can get when you order nachos.

We’ll probably go back here, based no the variety of the menu items alone. But I won’t get the nachos. And if they have the squash soup, I may just ask for a bucket of that and be happy.

Top 5 things about The Good Earth
1. Acorn Squash soup
2. Bread basket was awesome
3. Tuna melt was ultra cheesy
4. Great wine list
5. They have a take-away portion which faces the mall – great idea

Bottom 5 things
1. Waited a long time to get helped
2. Nachos were missing toppings and bad-for-you stuff
3. A LOT of snooty people patronize this place
4. Tiny bread on the tuna melt
5. They’re big into drinking wheat grass – I don’t even know what that is

http://www.goodearthmn.com

Busters on 28th - Minneapolis, MN

Gerd and I got invited (in a roundabout way) to an engagement party/librarian get-together at Busters on 28th. One of those friend-of-a-friend kind of things. We knew the engagees, so it wasn’t completely random. We arrived, saw their table was completely full, and got our own table. Then we went over to harass the group that was already stationed at a table in the middle of the place.

We had lively conversations, mainly surrounding the fact that 90% of the people at the table were librarians and 50% of those people had the same name. Weird that so many people are named Gerd – ha ha ha...

Gerd got a Caesar salad and some cheesy things and I got a spicy Italian panini (still not sure why, since I’m not a fan of paninis). Gerd went with the waitress’s recommendation of the Spaten Oktoberfest amber and I went with the Strongbows. Gerd’s salad was like a log of romaine lettuce that had been grilled (literally charred – though I thought chard was a different leafy vegetable). And only one side of the lettuce log was covered in the dressing, so some bites were not great. Otherwise, the good parts were really good (I had a couple of bites, just to verify). Decent croutons as well. Her cheesy thing was pieces of mozzarella with some green stuff and drizzled with vinaigrette reduction (sounds fancy, and it was). It was also really good. She liked the Spaten very much.

The spicy Italian panini was decent, but it wasn’t spicy at all. I think they left some ingredients off (mainly the peppers – which oddly, makes things spicy). It was basically a grilled salami sandwich with cheese. And I’m just not a fan of grilled chewy sandwiches – can’t say I didn’t give it the old college try though. Granted, it was good, but it wasn’t what I expected. I would probably go with a burger next time (either bison or lamb) and probably the onion rings, which looked amazing when we saw them being carried to other tables. There were some issues with breaking down our portion of the check as well, but that might have bee our fault since we switched tables and waitresses midstream. Still, it didn’t seem that hard to pay for our portion. We eventually just left a handful of cash on our group table and left.

Top 5 things about Busters on 28th
1. Awesome place to hang out with friends
2. Cheesy things with green stuff (sorry for all the fancy technical terms)
3. Extensive beer list
4. The homecut fries were very good
5. Onion rings – visually only though – can’t vouch for the flavor

Bottom 5 things
1. Gets really cramped when full
2. Inaccurate spicy Italian panini
3. Charred romaine lettuce log with minimal coverage dressing
4. Can be very loud when full (like a lot of bars, so take that with a grain of salt)
5. Paying for food got to be a hassle

http://www.busterson28th.com/

Hell's Kitchen - Duluth, MN

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to going to a touristy place for a meal in Duluth, especially so near Grandma’s compound. All of the touristy magazines and brochures recommend this place for its fun (but evil) atmosphere. We heard you needed to get reservations for the Sunday brunch if you wanted to get in, so we called and set something up, with the thought of canceling if we got a better offer.

I’m glad we didn’t. The place was fun. Apparently on Sunday mornings, the wait staff are allowed to come in their pajamas, which I thought would be hokey, but was simply amusing. We checked out the menu the day before and there were enough fun and awesome looking things on the menu that we lowered our “scared” quotient. I’ve generally found any place that serves bison is a place worth trying. We got there way early, canceled our later reservation and got seated right away.

I ended up with juevos rancheros which came on a tortilla with hasbrowns and black beans. Probably one of the top three juevos breakfasts I’ve ever had. I also ordered a side of thick cut bacon. The waiter actually asked me if I wanted them crispy, and I assured him I didn’t – this is the first time I’ve EVER been asked this. Major props to our waiter.

Gerd decided just to mix and match breakfast side dishes, so she ended up with bison sausage, baguettes with various toppings, weird potatoes, and pit ham. The meal ended up being REALLY good, minus the bison sausage which we had high hopes for. It ended up being kind of strong on the sage and onion portion. Also, don’t believe the hype on their homemade peanut butter.

The atmosphere is kind of hokey/creepy with black drapes and scary stuff and people with border-line costumes and makeup on, but there were enough white-bread tourists in there to lame it up enough that it’s not obnoxious. Check this place out if you get the chance. I understand there’s one in Minneapolis as well, if you’re not up for the drive.

Top 5 good things
1. The juevos were top-notch
2. The wait staff was really fun and responsive – big tips for these guys
3. Great menu, not just for breakfast or lunch
4. Wait staff in pajamas
5. Very generous portions

Bottom 5 things
1. Attracts a pretty vanilla crowd
2. Bread spreads were communal (ie, they came from other tables)
3. Really busy, so we saw some people waiting a long time
4. Wasn’t “hell-y” enough to be evil
5. Bison sausage fell waaay short of expectations

http://www.hellskitcheninc.com