B&B Grocery, Meat, and Deli – Des Moines, IA

D.Rough and I tried to go to this highly-acclaimed deli in Des Moines the last time we were in town, but showed up right after they closed. When I was in town this past weekend, I decided to check it out. I’m glad I did. Totally worth the trip!

The inside of this place is part grocery store with all kinds of things, part deli/meat counter, and part restaurant. B&B has a lot of people going through it, but every one of the workers is happy and friendly and you don’t really wait in line at all. It’s pretty awesome. If you look confused enough, someone behind the meat counter will ask if it’s your first time and then start making recommendations. Not pushy or anything, they just want you to know about their specials and what’s good (besides everything). Be prepared to read a lot of signage, since they have a lot of things behind that counter. I'd suggest going past the longer deli case past the bulk meats and go to the skinnier deli case where there are more sandwich signs. Just a hint.

I had a tough time deciding between the breaded pork tenderloin and the Zach’s Killer sandwich. I LOVE tenderloins, but Italian meats were calling me this day and the Zach’s Killer has ALL of them. Mortadella, Salami, Italian beef, others I can’t even pronounce, provolone, banana peppers, giardiniera, and a bunch of other things. I had waited about one minute to get helped and then another three or four minutes to get my sandwich. I was in and out of there in five minutes on a Saturday at noon. That’s pretty impressive. And the prices are even more impressive. Ridiculously inexpensive sandwiches.

I’m also impressed with Iowa’s passion for creating sandwiches that will kill you. In this case, it’s the Killossal Sandwich. It’s basically four sandwiches piled into one. If you had a family of 6, this might be the route to go.

Also, they have corn dogs.

And now that I’m looking at their menu, they have everything you can think of. Sausages, corned beef, pastrami, catfish, roast beef, cheesesteak, cod filet, meatballs, liver cheese, chicken/ham salad, shrimp, chorizo, tacos, poppers, deviled eggs, chicken strips, and probably a whole bunch more you wouldn't even know about unless you ask.

The sandwich was pretty exquisite, in all honesty. I know it’s been voted Iowa’s best sandwich and now I know why. They don’t’ skimp on anything. The meat is absolutely delicious, the seasoning they sprinkle on is wonderful, and despite some vinegar and oil, the bread doesn’t get soggy. It’s an awesome sandwich and I’m looking forward to the next time I can go. I’ll make sure to bring D.Rough with me next time, however. She’s a sandwich connoisseur.

www.bbgrocerymeatdeli.com

Glorioso’s Italian Market – Milwaukee, WI

D.Rough and I had finished up all of the roller derby activities in the city for the weekend and wanted to grab a late lunch/early dinner. I wanted to take her to Glorioso’s Italian Market for some time, so we headed over there to see what sort of goodies we could get at the deli/bakery.

They’ve recently moved across the street and upgraded their atmosphere. It’s pretty classy now. There’s a couple of shelves of shelf-stable and dried/canned foods, a refrigerated cabinet, a nice wine and beer area, a dessert care with cookies, cakes, and gelato, a meat and cheese counter, a deli counter, some fresh produce, and a grocery area in the center of the store. It’s a ice layout and flow, so well played on the new location!

We checked out a few things, but got caught up at the deli counter and were in need of some sandwich-type things to eat out in the sun (they have a nice outdoor patio eating area in front of the building). We went with a fig & prosciutto flatbread and also a Villa Sub #1 (meatballs, pepperoni, pepperoncini, provolone). They told us it would be a few minutes so we walked around and checked out the rest of the store. They have a ton of stuff from Italy, including cheeses and snacks and olives, and other delicious things.

Our name got called over the loudspeaker and we retrieved our sandwiches and a couple of other items we picked up while browsing. We paid and went outside to see what we had gotten.

The Villa Sub was a good meatball sandwich. We got the small one, but they had cut it in helf for us so we could share. A very nice sesame seed roll with good flavor. The pepperoni really added some zip to the sandwich and I was pretty happy with this choice.

The fig & prosciutto flatbread was a small pizza sliced up for us to eat. The ingredients were fresh and the prosciutto was cooked enough that when you bit into it, you didn’t drag the whole slice off on to your shirt. The flavor was good, and the balsamic reduction they had on top of the pizza was a really good accompaniment to the sweet figs that were also on top. Nice craker-thin crust rubbed with some garlic before baking. It's a nice pizza! (sorry. Flatbread.)

It was a good lunch – not the best in the world, but a really appropriately sized snack before hitting the road for 6+ hours to drive back home.

Top 5 things about Glorioso’s Italian Market
1. Well defined sections for different foods
2. Fig & Prosciutto Flatbread
3. Great beer/wine section
4. Villa Sub #1
5. Lots of things to look at and they will offer you samples of things if you need them

Bottom 5 things
1. I expected bigger and classier than the middle-of-the-road atmosphere we got – maybe we’re spoiled by the Cosetta’s renovation in St. Paul
2. A lot of the desserts (including cheese cakes) came from outside giant chains like Cheesecake Factory
3. It’s pricey, but not off the charts, especially for a very unique deli
4. The website isn’t the most user friendly in the world
5. They have my favorite olives in the world – Castelvetranos – and I didn’t get any – my fault

www.gloriosos.com

Hmong Village – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough sent me the newspaper article for the grand opening of this Asian mall back in October of last year and we’ve been meaning to go ever since. The place has gotten great write-ups in the paper and on various food blogs, so we rearranged our schedule to make this happen. We are glad we did.

The first thing the articles warn you about is the parking. And frankly, the parking isn’t’ atrocious. It’s just packed and insanely busy. The parking lot is enormous and there are TONS of spots. However, ALL of the spots are taken. It is seriously that busy at this place. Just drive around and circle the lot for a bit, you’ll find something. The traffic flows fairly well, so you won’t get too trapped or anything. Just be patient.

We went in one of the many lettered-entrance (door D, I think), and found ourselves in what looks like a mini-storage unit facility. Seriously. I think it is. If it is, it’s probably the best use of a storage facility ever created. There are over a hundred small booths and shops set up in small spaces. Stores are selling everything from DVDs, clothing, custom made clothing, bubble tea, food, jewelry, herbal bust enhancers and stimulants, to hats, sunglasses, ice cream, swords, toys, lingerie, and insurance. It’s an overwhelming hodge-podge of consumables in an indoor market atmosphere. There’s even a large refrigerated fresh fruit area that has huge amounts of fruits and vegetables.

We roamed the aisles for a while – the vendors were very friendly without being pushy. If you stopped to look, they asked if they could help and then left you alone. No hard selling or hawking of items. On one side of the building, we found an entire row of food stalls. Some of them are smaller booth-versions of larger established restaurants and some are just stand-alone booths. Many of them have some of the same items, but most of them have some sort of specialty items they’re known for. D.Rough and I cruised the entire area before deciding on a place. We kept seeing signs for papaya salad (which neither of us had ever had) and we knew we wanted that. Fortunately, most of the booths made it fresh right there in front of you (you can select what goes in it and how spicy you want it). There’s also all sorts of fried meats and tons of wraps and rolls.

We decided to eat at Moon's Kitchen – the food looked delicious and the line was moving quickly. I ordered fried crispy pork and fried rice. And we got a papaya salad, of course. The counter lady (who turns out is the owner’s wife and does much of the cooking) asked me how hot I wanted it and what I wanted and she cut it all up fresh and threw it all in the salad for me. Delicious. Her husband came out and chatted me up for a while – SUPER nice guy and hilarious. She cut up the crispy pork and put it in a to-go container with some very dark fried rice and handed everything over. It was extremely inexpensive – see for yourself on this one.

D.Rough and I hadn’t had any of these things before, so we were anxious to try it out. I loved the pork most of all. It was like extra thick cut bacon mixed with ham and the deep fried. I’m sure it was pork belly – which is exactly what ham and bacon combined is. There were a couple of fatty pieces that D.Rough steered clear of, but those were the ones I went for first, so we made a great team. It had a delicious spicy dipping sauce that went extremely well with the cooked meat! The rice was a very dark color and ended up being like sticky rice. I didn’t know if it would have an odd flavor, but it really didn’t. It just tasted really good. It wasn’t plain rice, but it wasn’t soy or hoisin or anything else we could figure out. It was just delicious.It is a little weird upon first seeing it, but I assure you, it IS delicious.

I think we are officially undecided on the papaya salad. It’s a cold salad, but it’s got cut up peppers in it along with papaya slices and tomatoes and these green things that I have no idea what they are. The flavor changes from weird to delicious to spicy to weird to a little off and then back to delicious and then weird. Overall, I think I liked it, but D.Rough currently is down the middle on this. We will both change our minds the next time we talk about it. I think it takes getting used to, but you could tell it was fresh – even if I hadn’t seen her cut it up in front of me. That’s what made us happy. A Fantastic meal from Moon's Kitchen!

We walked towards the door where we were parked and got sidetracked by Blueberry – a bubble tea stand that has more than bubble tea. They have bajillions of flavors and the guy working the counter was very friendly and helpful. D.Rough asked if the cupcake flavor tasted like cupcakes and the man working assured us it did. He had us pair it with another flavor (coconut) and we got a shake of some sort with lychee jellies in it. I really don’t like bubble tea, so I had low expectations for this. It blew me away. I was really mad I didn’t get one for myself. It actually tasted like some freaky liquid cupcake. It was awesome. Go to this place.

All in all, we had a super successful day at the Hmong Village. I didn’t buy any martial arts DVDs, as my willpower was particularly high. We will go back to this place many times. People there were friendly and some asked if we’d been there before and if we were having a good day. It is a very friendly place. Don’t be intimidated if you aren’t of Asian descent. It’s perfectly fine and you won’t be black listed. Simply ask what certain things are if you don’t know and maybe try something new. You’ll be glad you did.


1001 Johnson Parkway
St. Paul, MN

Cosetta’s – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough grew up coming to Cosetta’s for all kinds of occasions. It’s an Italian place that has a very odd/confusing/interesting set up and flow. It starts in the parking lot. You can pull into the entrance and wait for a parking attendant to give you a ticket. Or you can pull into one of four spots and make a dash for the door to pick up something fast.

Then once inside, you can choose between three different lines for food. There’s a pizza line, a pasta and salad line, and then there’s a FULL deli and store line. We’ve popped into the deli and grabbed some meatballs before and we’ve gotten some pizza as well. Everything here is delicious. So when you walk in, it will look like there are hundreds of people in line (and there ARE), but they’re actually in various lines, so there are actually only 30 people in front of you – yeah, it’s THAT busy all the time.

Tonight we wanted some pasta, so I found the final line. I saw the specials listed and knew I wanted the Manicotti. D.Rough got the Mostaccioli and a meatball. They put it right on your plate right there and send you to the cashier. I believe it was the right choice, even though I couldn’t decide on the mostaccioli or the manicotti. The reason I say it was the right choice is because the manicotti comes with a side of mostaccioli – ch-ching!!!!

Everything is absolutely amazing here. The mostaccioli is perfectly cooked and the red sauce they use is really one of the best.

I LOVED the manicotti and the white cream sauce they put on it was even better than the red sauce. There was a fantastic amount of cheese on the inside that completed the whole thing. I would eat this every day if I could avoid my doctor for the next 20 years. Hahaha.

Everything at Cosetta’s is delicious. It has a very “family-feel” to it and they do a VERY good business. Lots of people in and out of this place. Don’t let the line scare you. You won’t wait long, and the food is worth it. There is an upstairs dining room too, so don’t miss out on that.

Top 5 things about Cosetta’s
1. Manicotti
2. Meatballs
3. Mostaccioli
4. Pizza
5. Amazing Deli

Bottom 5 things
1. Weird flow and various lines without good signage
2. People are allowed to cut in line if the people in front of you are taking too long at one particular area - weird
3. Parking situation is weird, but you get used to it
4. I always want to eat 43 things when I come here
5. It’s a pretty loud place, especially on event nights at the Xcel Energy Center

www.cossettaeventi.com

Uptown Market (again – I can’t help it) – Minneapolis, MN

I try not to review the same place too many times, but when I find different things or have people and places I like a lot, I make exceptions. I try to go to the Uptown Market as often as I can. There are tons of people that I know there and I always get fantastic food.

D.Rough and I stopped by the Ballentine VFW to meet some friends for eyeopeners – who doesn’t love a.m. drinking for cheap?!?!?! Losers, that’s who. We trekked over to the Magic Bus Café for an appetizer hot dog for me. I’ll rave about this place every time I come here, if I have to. The people here are awesome and the food here is equally awesome. They are pretty adventurous with their hot dog toppings. (This is me, SB, and CarpetKing ordering at the Magic Bus Cafe.)

This time around, I got another half-and-half dog. One side of the dog was the Buffalo Springfield (I LOVED it last time I got it and couldn’t talk myself out of it this time). It’s a hot dog with buffalo sauce, blue cheese diced celery, and sour cream. The other side of the dog was the Meet Me in the Morning Dog – scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese! Seriously, it sounds bizarre, but is delicious. I’m super tempted to try some sort of 6-dog sampler next time and get 12 different dogs. I may have to sweet talk the ladies there, but I can work some magic if I have to for delicious hot dog toppings. Thanks, Magic Bus Café!!

We walked around the market and taste tested some of the salsas there. We found some super tasty ones at the SalsaLady booth and I scored a half pint of the medium strength salsa verde there. It was fantastic. It was a little pricier than I had realized, but I think it is worth it. D.Rough and I also found out that the half pint container is a single serving - hahaha. Yeah, we liked it a lot.

The previous week we were there, we got a bottle of Sadia’s East African Hot Sauce from Sadia herself! We sampled all three varieties and loved the HOT version the best. I almost bought all three kinds, since Sadia is a really good saleswoman – she has a knack for the business and really knows her stuff.

D.Rough is a mastermind in the kitchen (and I’m sure she’ll tell you other places, as well) and has been coming up with some creative uses for this sauce. She came up with an awesome Steak Salad idea with the African hot sauce as the dressing. Well played, D.Rough. It was perfect.

D.Rough threw some greens on a plate, and then counted out individual mozzarella balls to make sure no one had a cheese advantage (I’m going to get punched for mentioning that), and then some cherry tomatoes. I grilled out a couple of steaks for the three of us and we cut those into strips and put them on the salad. Then we poured some of the sauce all over the salad. This sauce has some serious build to it. It doesn't seem that hot at first, and then once you stop eating for a second - something I try to limit as much as possible - it kicks in something fierce. Awesome, Sadia! The salads were fantastic. All three of us loved it!

I’ll quit raving about the awesome-iosity of the Uptown Market, but only for a week or two…

Uptown Market – Minneapolis, MN

For those of you who didn’t make it to the Uptown Market last year, you need to at least check it out. Last year, the inaugural year for the market, the market was held one Sunday a month. This year, it’s every Sunday in the Lake/Lyndale area (behind the Ballentine VFW hall and Herkimer) on West 29th Street. I could go on and on about how awesome it is, but since I have friends who are big-shots on the Uptown Market board, I’m a little biased.

You can get all kinds of fresh farm-grown produce from the vendors there, as well as a handful of art/merchandise/craft booths, and some of the most amazing street food ever. I’ll throw out a couple of food items I tried today, just to whet your appetites.

I knew I was hungry, so I started with what I like to call an “appetizer brat”, just to get my digestive juices flowing. I headed to the Chef Shack van and had to decide between a duck egg hash or a bacon beer brat. I think we all know which one I went with: The Bacon Beer Brat. I wasn’t even sure what to expect with this one. I was actually hoping for a brat entirely wrapped in bacon, but instead got a brat with bacon pieces inside it. They also have bacon-infused ketchup for you to put on it as a condiment – brilliant!!! The brat was really good, as you’d expect such a thing to be.

I walked the length of the market and checked out the other food booths. I was hoping to find the booth that sells almonds coated in different flavored magic dust of some sort. I was told the almond people would be back later in the summer, but they had a few other obligations with other street fairs – keep an eye out for them. They’re super good.

I also stopped at the Magic Bus Café, which is a big purple school bus converted into a mobile food vendor with two booths for eating on the bus. The people that run the thing are really nice and when I couldn’t decide between two different amazing-sounding hot dogs, they offered to do a half and half dog for me with both things. The special dog was a “Buffalo Springfield” – a hot dog with buffalo sauce, blue cheese diced celery, and sour cream. The other dog was a Pig Pen. I ate the special dog half first. The blue cheese and buffalo sauce were a fantastic combination on the hot dog. The Pig Pen side of the dog had pulled pork and psychedelic relish on it – an odd but super tasty combo. The place has a bunch of different hot dogs and small items that I intend to check out. You won’t be disappointed with this café, no matter what you get.

I was tempted to stop at Foxy Falafel or the Ethiopian place, but I didn’t want to press my luck with my intestines. A friend mentioned I should stick with one theme (in this case buns and casing) for today’s lunch and next week maybe mix it up a bit with the different ethnicities. Excellent idea.

If you get a chance, go support local farmers, artists, and musicians. It’s a good time and they’re good people there. Uptown Market is every Sunday from 11-5. See you there.

www.uptownmarket.org

Greek Grill & Fry Co. – Eden Prairie, MN

I had never heard of this place before this afternoon. In fact, I was driving to a different restaurant when I saw the name on the awning across the parking lot – hidden behind the building I intended to eat at. Gyros sounded way better than Chinese food, so I thought I’d drop in. When I pulled up, I realized there were gas pumps outside and it’s a gas station and mini-mart as well. I’m coming to the realization that this is not EVER a bad sign.

Once inside, it was pretty obvious where to go for the food. There’s a small seating area (like 6 or 7 tables) and a counter with a large menu board above it. I scanned the menu for a brief minute or two and placed my order with the guy that does all the cooking too – he’s a little difficult to understand as he’s actually Greek, but we got our various messages communicated eventually. I went with a Spicy Gyro, without onions. A bunch of gyro meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and spicy tzaziki sauce. I also got some fries for some reason – it just felt right. I got a little mixed up on where you pay, but you actually go get your drink and then pay at the gas station counter. Figured I’d better tell you so you didn’t get lost and confused like I did.

The cool thing about the place being in a mini-mart is you have your choice of whatever beverage you could imagine. So I scored a Cherry Crush and say down to read some articles for school. Three minutes later, the guy called me up to get my food.

It looked pretty good, actually. The fries were covered in some sort of cayenne or magic spicy dust and the gyro was slathered in spicy tzaziki sauce. It looked like there was plenty of meat as well, so I was all set. I started with the fries – they were about half crispy and half floppy, but the spicy dust on them made them so much better. With some consistency, they would have been great. The gyro itself was great as well. I had to eat some of the toppings off with a fork before I could pick the thing up and eat the pita like a sandwich, which is never a problem for me. The meat was done, and even though I usually like my edges a little crispy and burnt, it was still great. No complaints at all. The spicy sauce was really good, even though I suspect it is regular tzaziki sauce with that magic dust from the fries sprinkled in.

The gas station concept was novel, except for the fact that whenever a customer opened the door (which is all the time, because it’s a gas station), a buzzer would go off to let the counter people know someone was coming in. So the whole time you’re eating, you’ve got a loud buzz in your head – though you can tune it out after a little bit, I guess.

I sat next to this table of 30-something d-bag salesmen. And they were typical slimy salesmen, too. It was ALMOST endearing the way they were having a heart-to-heart with each other about their girlfriends, but only in the way that only d-bags can do. They simply complained about their women and whether they should LET their women move in with them and mess up their ideal situation. “It’s not like banging a bunch of chicks like we used to do – that’s work, but that’s fun, right Braah?” “Well marriage is work – well actually, just the kids and the in-laws and the house part – the other part is easy. High Five.” The best part about it is they brought up Tiger woods and then all three adamantly did NOT condone what he did – that was wrong. His wife should leave him and get half since he messed up so bad. Really? Who are you people? Once a d-bag, always a d-bag, I guess.

Anyway, the restaurant part seemed to do a pretty good business during lunch. I was happy to see that. I’ll be back to this place. It’s super close to my work and the food was excellent and filling. Thanks, Greek Grill.

Top 5 things about the Greek Grill & Fry Co.
1. Spicy Gyro
2. Any drink you could ever want
3. Menu is expansive and well explained
4. Magic spicy dust on the fries
5. You can have skittles with your meal if you want (mini-marts rule)

Bottom 5 things
1. Buzzer thing in your ear when people come in
2. You might have to sit next to d-bags
3. A little confusing on how to pay, unless you’ve been there before
4. I now reek of gyro meat – I’m guessing wolves will be tracking me out to my car
5. Now that I know this place is here, I’ll be putting on my 2010 Sumer weight. hahahaha

www.greekgrillandfry.com

Kafe 421 – Minneapolis, MN (Dinkytown)

GingerVitus had more hilarious stories to tell me before I started my new job, so we decided to meet for lunch again near her work. She chose Kafe 421 and fortunately, I had never been there before – I’m always up for trying new restaurants. This place is kind of a mash of different styles and is borderline upscale, maybe a high-mid-scale environment. Not snooty, but definitely classier than Buffalo Wild Wings.

The place seems kind of small and narrow inside, but it looks like the dining area goes back further into the restaurant than I would have imagined. The menu isn’t terribly large, but is reasonable for a lunch offering. I found a couple of things I wanted to try. There’s a lot of sandwiches, salads, and pastas on the menu. I got it narrowed down to 5 things, then down to three, then finally decided on the Pork Tenderloin Sandwich – roasted pork tenderloin, swiss cheese, thick cut bacon (dur…), spinach, avocado, and scallion may on whole grain bread. I asked for the mayo on the side, since I’m weird about my sauces. It comes with salad or fries and I went with the Caesar salad this time around.


The food arrived quickly, and I was pretty happy to see my sandwich and salad looking delicious. It was now that I realized I had forgotten my camera in the car and politely asked GingerVitus if I could borrow her camera phone to take a photo and e-mail it to myself. Thankfully, she only gave me the briefest of hard times about forgetting things like this, and eventually took out her phone. Thanks GV! The salad was a pretty standard Caesar salad. Nothing to write insane amounts about, but it was very good.

The sandwich was pretty awesome though. I was really happy with it. The meat was really good and the cheese and avocado seemed perfect for this thing. I even started using the weird mayo with the sandwich and it made it better – hooray! The bread was one of my favorite kinds (the kind with all the stuff on the outside of the bread – you know – the seeds and weird bits of stuff) and was lightly toasted. Not like Quizno’s blood-inducing toasted, but just enough to give it some texture. The bacon was delicious as it’s very difficult to screw up and the veggies on the sandwich were very fresh and tasty.

There were enough things on the menu that look appetizing that I’ll likely be back soon. Even GingerVitus’s Spinach Salad looked delicious – strawberries, spinach, pears, gorgonzola, cranberries, walnuts, and orange-sesame dressing – yeah, really. It looked awesome.

Top 5 things about Kafe 421
1. Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
2. Spinach Salad (according to GingerVitus)
3. Really diverse menu with a lot of styles
4. GingerVitus has the most hilarious stories. Everytime.
5. Upscale without being snooty


Bottom 5 things
1. It’s slightly pricey – not outlandish, but not cheap
2. Some of the wait staff looked REALLY surly, enough to comment on
3. There really isn’t anything else bad
4.
5.

www.kafe421.com

Pairings Food and Wine – Minnetonka, MN

I originally intended to go to another restaurant, only to find out it’s been closed. However, I drove past this place called Pairings, and it looked interesting, so I drove back to it. It’s part wine shop, part, fancy cheese and deli market, and part restaurant – all upscale-style.

I hopped in line to look at the menu boards and looked around at the people. The queue to order food was a bit confusing as there was a line for salads and a line for entrees. And to boot, people would cut in line in the salad line if they too good to wait in line. I saw this twice in the time I was standing in line waiting to order my food. And I waited in line over 10 minutes. I’m no flow management person, but I think this place needs some redesigning.

The menu looked to be pretty comprehensive, with some really unique offerings. Lots of pasta, pizza, soups, and hot and cold sandwiches. And of course, a separate line for salads (build your own or made to order).

I decided on the Coconut Curry with Chicken – broccoli, baby spinach, orange and red bell peppers, basil, flat rice noodles, curry sauce, and a piece of flat bread. I also was enamored with the white bean, bacon, and sun dried tomato soup, so I got a cup of that as well. It was a tad pricey for lunch, but judging by the quality and appearance of the dishes I saw people around me eating, I thought it would be worth it.

I grabbed a table out on the patio since the inside was full. I didn’t get an umbrella or anything, so I sat outside and worked on my sun burn. The waiter brought my two items out and said the curry coconut dish was his favorite and I chose wisely.

He was totally right, the pasta dish was amazing. Really fresh ingredients and really good curry sauce. No complaints at all. It was one of the best curry dishes I’ve had. Almost borderline salad-ish with all of the greens in there. I’d highly recommend this to anyone. The bean soup was also really amazing. The bacon flavor came through (it’s really difficult to overdose me on bacon), and the sun dried tomatoes were a really good addition to the dish. Very very good.

I would consider this an upscale lunch place. It’s not super spendy, but you do get quality food. I’m not sure how much stuff they sell out of the deli case – I didn’t see anyone looking at that (mostly because it totally ruins the flow and you’d never actually get in line) – but the wine shop had a good flow of people in and out of it. I’m bummed that I didn’t actually get to try any of the “pairings”, but my work frowns upon coming in all loaded. Lame.

The clientele is also a bit upscale with some uppity snooty people and a lot of khaki-wearing d-bags. The wait staff seemed super helpful, though I did see a waiter kick the handicap door button to open it when he had his hands full with dishes. Not sure how sanitary that is, but I don’t work for OSHA or anything.

Just go to this place. And if you have a lunch meeting, it’s a pretty nice place to take a client (if you don’t mind waiting in line for a short stint).

Top 5 things about Pairings
1. Curry Coconut with Chicken
2. White Bean, bacon, and sun dried tomato soup
3. Super friendly staff
4. Really diverse menu
5. Might have to take some time in the wine shop – bonus!

Bottom 5 things
1. Bad flow, confusing and had to wait in line forever
2. Unsure of the purpose behind the market portion (maybe it’s better served NOT during lunch hours)
3. D-bag clientele
4. Had to sit outside and redden my fair Viking complexion
5. The waiter who kicked the handicap button to open the door

http://www.pairingsfoodandwine.com

Midtown Global Market - Minneapolis, MN

The Midtown Global Market is basically an indoor international food mall. There are a couple of full-service restaurants inside, food court-type eateries, and various international groceries, food stands, and other miscellaneous items for sale. I took Chao here as a surprise after getting a recommendation for authentic Mexican food from a coworker. We arrived and entered the building and I was surprised by how much stuff was there. The market spaces for each vendor were fairly open and scattered throughout a large warehouse space. Some of the vendor spaces were nicely arranged and some were fairly unorganized and looked a bit messy. The place had interesting character though.

We headed towards the center of the market to find the Mexican place I was searching for. It is called, “Taquería Los Ocampo.” We ordered something small to split at the counter there and then while we were waiting for our food we were offered samples from the guy working at Safari Express. The samples were out of this world so we ordered some food there to split as well.

At Safari Express we ordered Beef Solan and Chicken Curry which came with fantastic rice. Safari Express features East African fast food. It was set up sort of like a Panda Express with the entrees in trays behind a counter. The Beef Solan was a bit spicy for me so Chao ate most of that and I had the Chicken Curry. Both dishes were full of spice but not overly hot as one would experience eating chili peppers. Both dishes were sort of a stir fry with vegetables and sauce and the rice it was served with was red and super awesome. Really, I don’t know what we ate but I would definitely eat it again!

At Los Ocampo, we had ordered a huarache with steak. This is an oval shaped flatbread made with corn masa and topped with steak, tomatoes, onions, sour cream, avocado, and maybe some other stuff that I can’t remember. It was served with salsa and some type of runny guacamole. It was REALLY GOOD. Chao thought it was sort of bland but I didn’t think it was, although we did eat this after having the Safari Express food which was a bit spicier. We both agreed that it was probably the most authentic Mexican food we have had since moving to Minnesota.

We were going to venture further through our culinary tour of the market, but were getting full so we walked through and checked out some of the other places but didn’t eat anymore. We will definitely be heading back for Round 2 soon!

http://www.safariexpresstogo.com/

http://www.midtownglobalmarket.org/

Top 5:
1. It is a fun place to go to try new things.
2. Safari Express rules.
3. Authentic Mexican food.
4. The food is affordable.
5. Lots of parking in the ramp across the street.

Bottom 5:
1. Location is okay, but I wouldn't go here at night alone.
2. Atmosphere was strange but this might've been because it was later and some of the vendors were closed giving it a slightly creepy feel.
3. There is little to no bland food here so don't go if you are picky.
4. We got too full to try everything we wanted to.
5. No drive through window. :)