La La Homemade Ice Cream – Minneapolis, MN

Who doesn’t love ice cream? Idiots, I guess. Everyone has strong feelings about their favorite ice cream place and we’ve had some friends recommend various places in the Twin Cities (and abroad, really). Oddly, none of our friends have mentioned La La, and it’s been around for a little while (like 1993, according to the website). We were in Uptown and figured we’d better stop by.

D got a couple of scoops in a cone and I really wasn’t impressed by any of the ice cream flavors – weird for me. I ended up going with a strawberry soda. We didn’t take any photos, so I apologize. Both of the scoops of ice cream were near-flavorless. I tried a couple of bites of each flavor and couldn’t tell them apart. Disappointed. My soda had less flavor than a La Croix sparkling water, and I’m not really a fan of those. Again, disappointed.

This is probably why none of our friends are really talking about this place. I hate to give negative reviews, but sometimes, you’ve got to call it like you see it. (That being said, the place is pretty adorable on the inside and the staff working there were SUPER nice, for what it’s worth.)

www.lalahomemadeicecream.com

Cecil’s Deli – St. Paul, MN

It had been a long time since I was at Cecil’s, so when D.Rough and I drove through the neighborhood the other day, we decided to stop in. It was just after lunch, so we were hoping we wouldn’t find a huge line of people waiting to eat. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait.

We ate in the dining room, so we got to see the menu. If you order at the counter, you’d better either know the name of the sandwich you want, or what you want on your sandwich, so you don’t waste their time deciding.

I ordered a strawberry phosphate (because I’m an old man) and a sandwich called the Sasha (I think – if it isn’t, it’s the other one right next to the Sasha that also starts with an “s”) and a side of sweet and sour cole slaw. D.Rough ordered the Spicy Roast Beef sandwich and a side of potato salad. The sides come with all the sandwiches, so we had to pick something, right? I had to fight really hard NOT to order the matza ball soup, but I persevered and didn’t get it.

We didn’t wait long at all for our food. It arrived looking delicious and super filling.

My sandwich had brisket and a bunch of cheese with a fried egg on top and also a layer of what Cecil’s calls Bird Sauce – I don’t even care what that is, it’s delicious. Then they grilled the bread like a kick in the face grilled cheese sandwich. This was amazing sandwich. It was only a little bit drippy, and somehow the whole thing managed to stay together for the entire meal. I can’t figure out how it wasn’t falling to pieces, but it didn’t. It was a solid sandwich. I can’t rave enough about the sweet and sour cole slaw. I’m not a huge may fan and this is the reason why I am now spreading the word about this slaw. Seriously killer – some vinegar and some sugar ad green and red peppers mixed in with the slaw with some celery seed (perhaps). Brilliant and I might be swinging by Cecil’s every day after work now…

D.Rough’s sandwich was also awesome. It was a roast beef sandwich with lots of giardiniera on it. I was curious if the meat itself was spicy or if it was just the peppers. D.Rough assures me it was just the peppers. It didn’t matter, it was great. We kept trading bites of sandwiches so each other could sample it. That’s the way to eat at Cecil’s (but only if you really know the person you’re eating with – although now I want to have a business lunch and snag a bite of my boss’ sandwich there. Hahahaha). D.Rough’s potato salad was good. The yellow coloring comes from the egg yolks they used rather than using mustard, so I was glad about that. It had plenty of chunks of potato in it, and I thought it was one of the better potato salads I’ve eaten (which honestly, isn’t that many).

I love going to Cecil’s and really need to get there more than I do.


www.cecilsdeli.com

Convention Grill – Minneapolis, MN

You could step back in time if you knew Christopher Lloyd and go to an old soda fountain, or you could go to the Convention Grill. It’s a great short order place that we like to eat at when we’re hungry for quality burgers and fries.

We took my nephew to the Convention Grill for a quick lunch. The atmosphere is old timey and the servers all wear white (pet peeve of mine but we won’t get into that). The malts are to die for as are the phosphates – for those of you who know what those are.

I got a cheeseburger and Gerd got some sort of bacon-y lettuce sandwich. It was kind of like a BLT, but not quite. We ended up splitting ours in half. However, I got the waaay better end of the deal because the burger was phenomenal. Muenster cheese is the best on a burger and CG didn’t disappoint. We got a basket of fries (normally a half-basket is enough for two – just so you know) for the three of us. The fries are really amazing. I’m not even a fry guy usually, but I make exceptions from time to time. This time, we ended up with some of the bottom of the barrel tiny bits of fries, rather than the usual super awesome lengthy fries they have, but whatever. All that means is that you get your fingers all salty scraping them off the bottom of the paper. And of course, we didn’t finish the fries between the three of us so we took them home.

Truly, this is one of the better burger places in the Twin Cities. I’m not sure if it’s worth a 6 hour road trip or anything, n but if you’re in the neighborhood, you really can’t go wrong at this place. It’s not greasy, it’s juicy – get it right.

Top 5 things about the Convention Grill
1. Burger with Muenster cheese
2. Super awesome tasting fries
3. Old timey atmosphere
4. Bacon-y sandwich was really good
5. It’s super close to our house – wurd

Bottom 5 things
1. It makes me miss the Maid-Rites of IL/IA :(
2. They don’t have onion rings – but should
3. Bummer on the tiny fries
4. We always see people too impatient to wait – it’s a busy place
5. A place like this should have a “Green River” soda, but they don’t


http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=3137