Sunday Brunch with the Jensens – Liquor Lyle’s – Minneapolis, MN

I’ve driven by Liquor Lyle’s hundreds of times, but just thought it was a dive bar – which it is, but it’s a fun dive bar that serves food as well. The regular brunch crowd decided to go to Liquor Lyle’s, and when I got there I figured out why – two-for-one specials.

Since I slept too late to go to pre-drinking at the VFW, I got to Liquor Lyle’s before everyone else. So I sidled up to the bar and prepared to get caught up with the others before they got there. I didn’t realize how quickly I’d be getting caught up until I saw the bar tender was making me two drinks. Two really strong, like 75%-liquor-strong, drinks. When he charged me for just the one, I caught on why this place was chosen for brunch.

I overheard someone ask about a table for the Jensens and spun around to see people I knew. I followed them to our large group of tables in back and grabbed a spot on the red vinyl bench. Red vinyl seems like a brilliant idea, until your back sticks to it from the sweat accumulating from lack of air circulation. Then you realize, your sweat is mingling with other people’s sweat from before you and you need a stiff drink to help you forget. Luckily, Liquor Lyle’s has plenty of that.

We needed to get food when everyone showed up, so menus got passed. The menu was much larger than I expected it to be – they had actual good breakfast food on it, including a “messy bennnie” – eggs benedict chopped up and served like a big slop pile. Go LLs! I went with a bacon, sausage, and pepperjack omelet with some tater tots. Low and behold, the breakfast specials come with a free drink!!! This place may be my working its way to the top of my breakfast place list. Some people didn’t realize the included drink or the two-for-ones, so when their food came out with three drinks, they were kind of scared a little. Light-weights.

The omelet was good, and the sausage was not breakfast sausage, so it had a unique (but awesome) quality to it. Add in the pepperjack for a little zing, and you’ve got the makings of a quality breakfast. The tots just added to the ensemble, and even though there were some tot-thieves at my table, I managed to eat most of them myself.

I’ll definitely go back to this place. I’m sorry I didn’t go try the restroom for photos though. Bar restrooms generally make for great photo ops. I ate for cheap and had a couple of free drinks. What’s not to like about this place (except the mingling back-sweat of course)?

Top 5 things about Liquor Lyle’s
1. Two-for-ones
2. Free drink with meal
3. Sausage, bacon, and pepperjack omelet
4. Hilarious conversations about drinking games
5. Lots of red vinyl and mirrors

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd would have loved this place – she liked weird ambiance combined with good food
2. Parking lot has 10 spaces (you shouldn’t be driving anyway)
3. Weird front door/door back thing (TWSS) and the bouncer jumps up to card people who use the non-standard entrance
4. Red vinyl seems like a good idea, but I don’t like sticking to it
5. Really eclectic mix of jukebox songs on random

Sunday Brunch with the Jensens - CC Club – Minneapolis, MN

A group of Gerd and I’s friends get together some Sundays to have brunch at various places around the Twin Cities and we’ve never gotten to go. Well, I actually went this time, just to shock them all. The place was the CC Club, which is kind of a dive bar that serves some decent breakfast and lunch bar food.

I was actually the first one there, which I should have anticipated. Eventually, about 20 of their/our friends showed up, and we had a great time. Add in a couple of screwdrivers or bloody mar’s and you’ve got yourself a real breakfast.

The breakfast I got was awesome. The meat omelets was filled with sausages and ham and bacon, and the American fries were perfectly seasoned – in fact three other people ate most of my potatoes. I know most breakfast places are difficult to differentiate, but this was pretty good bar food. Not too much, not too little, and very flavorful. What else can you ask? (aside from a couple of high octane drinks..)

I’d recommend this place, but realize you’re going to get bar food breakfast. Quality bar food, but it’s still eggs, bacon, and toast. Also, I’ll be hanging with these guys more. For not being librarians like Gerd and I, they sure read a lot of books and hang out with book clubs.

Top 5 things about the CC Club
1. American fries and their awesome seasoning
2. Screwdrivers for breakfast (even though it was after noon)
3. Super meaty omelet
4. They have room for 20 people in a group
5. Super awesome jukebox full of metal

Bottom 5 things
1. Still bar food in a dive bar
2. They seemed to have taken a lot of the appetizers off the menu (poppers, cheese sticks)
3. I heard the restrooms were scary
4. There is a water/coffee server, and also a drinks/food server. They don’t do things the other one does
5. I wish I knew what “CC” stands for

http://www.myspace.com/theccclub

Jake’s – Eden Prairie, MN

I love Jake’s – I’ll just come right out and say it. I’ve been to this place a couple of times and have always had good luck there. Gerd decided we need to go there, so she could watch football on Sunday. Being in Viking country doesn’t lend itself to viewing the Bears on television every Sunday. While Jake’s isn’t technically a sports bar, we knew they had tvs and showed a bunch of games on Sundays.

We planned to sit at the bar, order some drinks and appetizers and park ourselves for a couple of hours. When we got there, we remembered they had a Sunday brunch. And it looked mighty tasty… We totally caved and went with the brunch.

This thing had fruits, cinnamon and caramel rolls, eggs, juevos, eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, salmon, cheesy hashbrowns, beef brisket, gravy, fried chicken, gravy, garlic mashed taters, and omelets made to order. Really, you’d be a moron NOT to get this if you’re there on a Sunday morning. We now had the opportunity to eat as much as we wanted and still watch the game.

The best thing about Jake’s is the girly drink menu. It’s one of the best I’ve come across. I’ve probably had 12-15 different drinks there and most of them are quite tasty and unique. Lots of fruity and pink drinks with fruit and flags in them – wurd. The best one is the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini – it’s brilliant. I will soon begin making pitchers of these at my house. I usually have the barkeep put my martinis in a normal glass to preserve SOME aspect of my heterosexuality.

We had to reposition ourselves in front of the correct TV to watch the Bears, but we eventually found it. We were facing, across the bar, Vikings fans that were quite amusing. And across the room, the Packer fans congregated like one big happy dysfunctional family gathering. It was fun. I’ve never gone to a sports bar for football, but I know why people do it now. It truly was fun. I also know far more about football than I ever have before. I still don’t care about the drama between teams, but I like the game all the same.

Bottom line – go to Jake’s for Sunday football, or for seriously good food. They have great drinks and great appetizers as well if you’re looking for a fun place after work.

Top 5 things about Jake’s
1. Girly drinks!
2. Sunday brunch
3. All the appetizers
4. Great atmosphere/decor
5. Staff are all great

Bottom 5 things
1. Bears were not shown on a large screen, angering Gerd
2. Too cold for the awesome patio Jake’s has during warmer months
3. If you sit in the wrong spot, you’ll be watching the guy’s head next to you at the bar
4. I did not get to see Gerd’s “monkey arms” when she yells “Bears” at opposing football drunks
5. After 4 girly drinks, I needed a nap

http://www.jakescitygrille.com

Uptown Bar and Cafe – Minneapolis, MN

Coach and Toach came up to visit for the weekend. We had planned it around one fun event, but we knew we had to take them to some of our favorite local haunts. We’ve been to the Uptown like 100 times, but it’s always awesome. There’s always waaaay too much food and you can get screwdrivers and blood marys at 8am. Wurd.

If you get there early enough you won’t have to wait around for a table (usually 10 is the latest you can get there and not wait). We did, thankfully. We got a booth and ordered some drinks – some of us ordered a screwdriver and got mocked for it. Whatever, I got a(nother) Uptown bar glass out of the deal.

I ended up getting the gyro omelet; Gerd got a #5, eggs, bacon, and toast on a giant bed of hash browns. And Coach and Toach got the same thing – a meat and cheese omelets. Coach was shocked at how much sausage was inside this four-egg omelet. It was like 46 sausage links. He claims he’s never eaten that much sausage, which made me laugh. Toach commented on how awesome the bacon was, and they both got plenty full. Gerd’s eggs came with cheese on them and were really good. Gerd also was mui full. My gyro omelet was the best thing on the menu in my opinion. Just the right amount of stuff in this thing. Gyro meat, cheese, and hasbrowns wrapped in an omelet. Perfection.

This is one of our staple places for breakfast, so if you come visit us, we’ll take you here for sure. Just go here.

Top 5 things about the Uptown
1. Gyro omelets
2. Super thick cut bacon
3. Alcoholic beverages for breakfast - wurd
4. They have bands play at night – good independent bands
5. The no-smoking law in MN makes this place much more fun

Bottom 5 things
1. Bar-side booths are too small
2. Have to wait if you get there after 10am
3. Some of the tables on the “stage” are card tables and are a tad unstable
4. You can’t ever finish your meal – I guess that’s not all bad
5. Easy to confuse with the Uptown diner (on the same road) (which is also good)

http://www.uptownbarandcafe.com