Tom Reid’s Hockey City Pub (Poutine Crawl) – St. Paul, MN

A bunch of roller derby people in the Twin Cities got the bright idea to do a Poutine Crawl. Not a one-night event, but basically go around the area trying every variety of poutine available. I stumbled across this group on facebook during its planning stages and half thought, “It’s too good to be true.” Alas, it WAS true!

The group set their first meeting date at Tom Reid’s Hockey Bar in St. Paul. Poutine originated in Montreal and if there’s one thing Canadian’s know (I’m not saying there IS one thing they know), it’s poutine. Doing some sort of metric math conversion, you’ll end up with Canadian hockey players love poutine. Tom Reid’s should have the best, right?

If you don’t know what poutine is, it’s simple (pronounced POO-Teen). French fries (probably called frittes in Montreal), cheese curds, and gravy. Sounds interesting, you have to admit. I’ve been a long time poutine lover and have found a few of my favorite in the area already. But if some cool people want to go and check them ALL out, then I can get on board with that. It’s brilliant!

There were eleven of us at this first gathering. The waitress cracked up when we all ordered poutine (and a LOT of adult beverages - we found out they have 2-for-1's the night we went!). We chatted a bit about which places were on the list and it turns out there are quite a few. Citypages had recently published a poutine guide in the twin cities, so we would start there.

Enough talk. Our poutine arrived. Most of them – Tom Reid wasn’t really expecting this many orders of poutine, so they came out in two shifts. Hilarious.

Here’s my take. The fries were better than average for a bar, so no complaints there. Nothing seasoned about them, or anything, just simple and good fries. The cheese curds weren’t deep fried, just straight up, not that there’s anything wrong with that. In fact, I think that’s the traditional way. However, the cheese was melted into pools underneath the fries and wasn’t very “curd-like”, and was not the most stand-out cheese. It got lost in the mix visually, and flavor-wise. Finally, the gravy – a beef-ish gravy – was a little bit bland for most of us. Could have used some jazzing up with salt, pepper, and maybe some sri racha (I don’t think hockey bars believe in this mythical rooster sauce). Apparently, when people heated their left overs up the next day and doctored the gravy up a bit, it helped. There was also a considerable amount of parsley shrapnel on the top of the whole pile. It didn’t add anything, unless by seeing green on top, you can pretend it’s a healthy hillock of food... (In which case, kudos to you, Tom Reid!)

I will also point out that it’s a pile of potatoes, basically. Which means it fills you up extremely quickly. So, mad props go out to Killsbury Doughboy for finishing his entire plate.

The rest of the group didn’t even come close, coughcough A-Wow coughough…

(D.Rough and I split a plate between us and it was the perfect amount. No point in OVER-clogging your veins this early in the crawl!)

Despite the fact that none of us were particularly enamored with this first run of the Poutine Crawl, we all decided poutine is a bit like pizza. Even bad poutine is still relatively delicious. I don’t think anyone complained during this thing, but we all know we’ve got some life-altering poutine still on the list! Looking forward to this year-long poutine crawl!!

It’s difficult to do a Top 5 list for one item, so I’ll forego this for the poutine crawl posts. I hope you understand.

Here are a few comments from the group:

Sam: Well that was a pretty good start. I'm excited for the next round! My take on Tom Reid's Poutine: The fries were excellent. Golden brown, light and fluffy inside, just lightly crispy outside. The curds were ok, but not fantastic, and were too melty to truly recognize as curds. The gravy was bland, referred to by one attendee as "too close to KFC." Overall: Good bar food, but we can do better.

Jessie: I agree. This was a good starting point. And I can relive the experience with the poutine that's still left in my fridge. I look forward to next time at Rye Delicatessen.

Pete: One of the indicators of a real cheese curd is it squeaks when you bite into it, hence why it's sometimes referred to as "squeaky cheese". Either the cheese at Tom Reid's was too melted to discern its curdiness, or they don't use actual cheese curds (probably the latter as real cheese curds can be expensive). The fries were very good, but I feel there's better poutine possibilities out there.

Elise: I believe only fresh curds squeak and I think once you heat them up you'll lose all squeakiness fresh or not. Jessie, be sure to report on the re-heating success of the left overs, that's always a good thing to know!

Doug: The great thing about poutine is you can`t really miss. Tom Reid`s was good but there is better on the horizon. The bad thing about poutine is the mini-strokes you have after eating too much of it. Also, it made me take a giant poo this morning. 2 flushes!!

A-Wow: It held up relatively well to reheating, and the addition of some garlic and pepper did improve the flavor. But I agree that we will find much better poutine in the future. The chest pains are already subsiding...

tomreidshockeycitypub.com

Forepaugh’s (Poutine Crawl) – St. Paul, MN

It had been a while since our Poutine Crawl group had congregated, so I just threw one together. Thankfully, a bunch of people said they were in, once I said we were going to Forepaugh’s for some upscale poutine. (For the record, Canadians hate our upscale poutine – it’s meant to be trashy bar food, not classy culinary kitsch in a bar. Those Canadians… all drunk and metric.)

I also accidentally booked our group reservations during Restaurant Week in the Twin Cities. This means there is a special menu available so people can taste a variety of unique one-week-only dishes at a greatly reduced price. Forepaugh’s is pricey, so this is everyone’s chance to pay a much less exorbitant cost and get some amazing food.

Everyone there was going to be getting (or splitting) poutine. I had already warned the kitchen staff when I made the recommendations. Forepaugh’s has two different kinds. The regular version and the “Ultimate Truffle & Foie Gras Poutine”. I told you this place is fancy. I have had the regular poutine and absolutely love it. In fact, it’s one of my favorite in the world. This time, I was getting the baller poutine.

D.Rough and I also had starved ourselves, so we could have the restaurant week tasting menu. I was looking forward to it, in fact. You get to choose one from the appetizer, entrée and dessert sections for each person doing the tasting. We got the Chinese Scallion Flatbread and the Malaysian Chicken Samosas. We got the Forepaugh’s Ultimate Opus Burger and the Pan-Seared Walleye. And for dessert, we got the Deconstructed Banana Cream Pie and the Peanut Butter Crunch Bar. Let the awesome begin!

The Chinese Scallion Flatbread was actually pretty awesome. It was toasted sesame seed puree, fire-roasted chilies, scallions, goat cheese, olives, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. The flatbread had a great cracker crunch to it and the goat cheese was magical on this thing. Really quite wonderful.

The Malaysian Chicken Samosas were probably my favorite thing this trip. They came with a mango dipping sauce and pickled Fresno chilies. These wonderfully fried pillows made my mouth happy. They weren’t greasy tasting, but were packed full of delicious seasoned chicken. And when you added a chili to the bite, it just made the world a perfect place. Order these when you go here.

The truffle and foie gras poutine was good. Quite good, in fact. Not stark raving incredible, but really good. The fries were really crispy and clearly fried the way fries should be fried. Mario, in our group, commented, “You don’t NEED to fry cheese curds for poutine, but if you’re going to, you’d better do them like this.” The foie gras fingers (which slays me to say) were almost lost in the mix of flavors, but it was taste-able when you least expected it. It contained a few chilies to spice things up, but the best part was the red-win pan sauce used instead of gravy. Holy balls, was this fantastic. I’m not sure if it’s a $20 poutine flavor, but it’s $20 poutine ingredients, so maybe it’s worth it.

The Pan-Seared Walleye was a solid dish. It was in a coconut curry with fingerling potatoes, zucchini, hearts of palm, Chinese long-beans, shitake mushrooms, Thai herbs and Fresno chilies. Clearly, it had plenty of fun flavors happening. The super light breading on it was better than most batter’s I’ve tasted on walleye and the additional things they threw into the dish gave it flavors that stood out above any other walleye I’ve had. It wasn’t fish-fry walleye, it was fancy walleye (or as fancy as walleye gets, anyway).

The Ultimate Opus Burger is a serious thing. It also comes with fries, which, after the poutine, I didn’t really need. But the burger was good – two angus patties gruyere, braised short-rib sauce, truffled eggs, greens, tomato raisins, lardon, and bacon vinaigrette. The flavor on the inside was top-notch and worthy of another try at this. The bun, however, was the downfall. It was a onion bun, but it was toasted so much it was almost a giant crouton. So, you weren’t able to crush this thing down enough to stuff it into your face. Bummer and it hurt my jaw opening my mouth and then cut up the insides like Cap’n Crunch when chewing. It also made the rest of it seem dry, until I used up all my sauces trying to lubricate it. Again, this was a top-shelf burger, but I might order it differently the next time – it’s also the priciest burger I’ve seen on a menu – thank you, restaurant week!

The Peanut Butter Crunch Bar was what D.Rough had been waiting for. She’s a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate. This was almost a cheesecake in its presentation and included a Guinness and white chocolate ice cream layer, ginger Chantilly cream, pretzel meringue, and salted caramel. Sound rich? It is. But it’s really good, as well. She was happy with her dessert decision.

The deconstructed banana cream pie I thought was pretty darn good. Chocolate-hazelnut praline, underneath caramelized bananas, vanilla custard, and agave nectar, and two dollops of homemade vanilla bean whipped cream. I’m not even a fan of banana cream pie, but this might make me change my mind. It was delicious. The crust on the bananas was very delicate and the whipped cream was like biting into a fluffy kitten (you know what I mean). A great finish to a seriously stuffing meal.

I think people were pretty happy with their poutine choices. We drank a lot and spent a LOT of money here, but overall, the sentiment was that Forepaugh’s does a fine job at offending Canadians everywhere with their upscale poutine. Looking forward to our next poutine crawl night!

Top 5 things about Forepaugh’s
1. Malaysian Chicken Samosas 2.
Deconstructed banana cream pie
3. Pan-Seared Walleye
4. Ultimate Truffle & Foie Gras Poutine
5. Peanut Butter Crunch Bar

Bottom 5 things
1. Super toasted bun on the Opus Burger
2. This place is pricey, but you’re paying for great chefery and an awesome atmosphere. I'm not kidding about that.
3. Didn’t get to go upstairs and see the haunted third floor
4. I see they have a rooftop patio over the entrance of the restaurant. I would have asked for that if I had known. Next time!!
5. Now, I want to go back for happy hour every day…

www.forepaughs.com

Potato Champion – Portland, OR

As you know (if you’ve been reading this blog for even a few days), I’m part of a poutine crawl – a group of us in the Twin cities like to try all the poutine in the area as a large group and then chat about it like faux-foodies. We even seek out poutine while we’re out of town. One of my favorite poutine places in the country is in Portland – the Potato Champion. It’s a food truck (even though I don’t think it moves) sort of poutine housed in a small circle of food trucks with a central picnic table area – actually these tiny food truck villages are really common in Portland. Get wise to it, Twin Cities!!!

This place has an incredible respect for the dish, as well as taking some liberties with it. Delicious liberties. They have traditional poutine, but they also have some variations of it, including satay poutine, pulled pork fries, PB&J fries, chili cheese fries, and beer battered cheese curds.

They also do some home-made sauces you can add to your dish. Pesto mayo, rosemary truffle ketchup, curry ketchup, chipotle mayo, bourbon honey mustard, harder mustard, veganaise, terragon anchovy mayo, and standards like ketchup and mustard. They were already sold out of a bunch of the sauces they usually have, since they carry about 20 different sauces.

Seriously, this place knows their business and there are so many combinations, that you’ll never get sick of eating here.

I was with Coach and Babo, so I didn’t want to blow their minds with anything too wacky. Besides we had been drinking a few beers – some of us more than others – and we needed late-night no-frills poutine to soak up some of the adult contents of those beverages. I went with the standard poutine. And a large, since there were three of us sharing. It’s a pretty generous helping that I’d be hard pressed to finish on my own. I’m glad I didn’t try.

The curds were some of the best I’ve ever had. I’m not sure where the curds come from, but they’re delicious. They hold their shape, but they’re soft and have a nice tang to them. The gravy is a meat gravy, probably beef, but it was dark and blurry outside. Hahahaha. The fries were crispy but moist on the inside – they’re double fried, if I’m not mistaken, which makes them extra crispy and amazing. This, in my opinion, is perfect poutine. This is how I judge all other poutines and have since I ate here the first time with ChickenLittle a few years back. It’s a great price, as well!

Do yourself a favor and hit this place up after a night of fun in Portland. It’s a great place to show people what real poutine is, but keep in mind, they’ll be ruined for all other poutine from here on out. Enjoy!

Potato Champion
1207 Se Hawthorne Blvd

Portland, OR 97214

Rye Deli (Poutine Crawl) – Minneapolis, MN

As I mentioned some time back, I’m part of a Twin Cities Poutine Crawl. Our group doesn’t hit up all of the poutine restaurants in the area in one night, but we pick one and set a date and head there en masse to enjoy and discuss what we liked and would have changed. I missed the night when the group went to Rye Deli and Lowry’s (the restaurants are a block apart, so why WOULDN’T you hit them both?). So, A-Wow and I decided to do a make-up session on our own to get caught up.

I had driven by Rye a bunch of times - it’s in the Lowry Hill area in north Uptown. I say I’ve driven by because due to the traffic configuration, there isn’t a lot of parking near the building, despite it being on a main thoroughfare (Hennepin Ave.). You’ve got to be a bike person, a walking person, or get creative if you’re driving.

The inside of the place has a variety of seating and ordering options. You can choose counter service and order off the large menu boards behind the counter, or if you sit down, the lovely staff come over and take your order and chat you up. Very casual, but also very fast turnaround on everything. We saw quite a few people coming through the doors to order and grab food and none of them waited very long at the counter for their food. Others would come in and sidle up to the full bar or grab a table and were eating within minutes. There’s also a nice outdoor patio with lots of seating if that’s your thing. It was a bit hot outside for a long-haired guy, so we ate inside at a table.

The news articles mention Rye is not a New York-style deli, but a Montreal-style deli. What does that mean, you ask? They have some specialties made with a version of pastrami they call “smoked meat”. It’s more of what they refer to as a “fast-casual” restaurant. Very comfortable places to sit and relax, or grab food quickly and keep walking to wherever you’re going. While it doesn’t advertise itself as a Jewish deli, they have all the delicious standards we love at our delis. A-Wow may or may not have referred to it as a fun Jewish deli for hipsters. Believe me that’s a compliment.

A-Wow and I knew what we wanted – Poutine, obviously. But fortunately for us, Rye’s happy hour goes until 7pm – SCORE. That means a bunch of food (including poutine) was extra cheap, as were beer, wine, and cocktails (they’ve got a full bar and have a lot of fancy craft brews I’ve heard my beer snob friends discussing). We ordered the poutine, with smoked meat, of course. We also ordered Fried Kreplach – little crisp wonton skins fried with brisket inside and served with a seasoned sour cream. We were heading to Lowry’s immediately after eating here, so we didn’t want to fill up.

The food came out really quickly and we dug into the poutine first. We could easily tell the kreplach was going to molten on the inside since they just came out of the fryer. The poutine had small cubes of the smoked meat through the dish. It was delicious. I was worried it was going to have the consistency of Spam (not that I don’t love Spam, but Spam ISN’T pastrami), but it was more firm, smoky, and pastrami flavored. Quite good. The cheese looked like melty curds unlike the cheese we had at Tom Reids on our last trip. The curds had a really mild flavor to them and I expected them to taste more like cheese. Fortunately, they had a great texture to them and you knew you were eating cheese – your brain can fill in the gaps. The fries themselves were better than average. Some still had bits of the skin on them, which I really like, and they were fried crispy enough to hold some crunch for the first part of the dish. They obviously get a little mushy towards the end, but that’s part of the allure of poutine. That’s how the scientists in Canada intended it to be made.

There was about the perfect amount of gravy on the dish – enough that you had some on each bite, but not enough that the fries were swimming in it. I only wish the gravy had a bit more flavor, however. I assumed it was beef gravy (mainly due to the coloring), but honestly couldn’t taste any beef flavor that I recognized. The salt level was about right (for me), but I wish the gravy was a tad more flavorful. As it stood, the poutine was pretty darn good. Head and shoulders above Tom Reid's (I don’t think we’re really comparing or ranking all of these different poutines, but how can you not do that?). The portion was about right for two people to share as an appetizer, or one person to get decently filled with starchy goodness. It appears small in the serving dish, but a little poutine goes a long was, as some of the group found out the first event we had.

The Kreplach was actually much better than I expected. The brisket on the inside had a great flavor and seasoning. It was almost ground up, but still had a firm texture. A-Wow and I both thought the meat could have been a tad more moist, but that was only us looking for something to complain about – there wasn’t anything. I really could have eaten a bucketful of these things. I keep finding all these delicious finger foods that I want buckets full of. This is pretty close to the top of the list right now. I’m going to pretend this is the deli version of pizza rolls. You know you shouldn’t like them as much as you do, but you’ll absolutely eat every one of them in sight, given the chance. So good.

I would order the poutine every time, especially if that every time includes happy hour prices. It was a solid showing. And all of the other food we saw them serving to people looked delicious, as well. I was intrigued by some of the breakfast offerings, so I might have to invent some random reason to make it over here for breakfast sometime.

Really a good restaurant that sounds like it’s doing well in Minneapolis. I’m glad to hear it. I’m looking forward to going back!

www.ryedeli.com

The Strip Club (Poutine Crawl) – St. Paul, MN

If you’ve spent any time at all with me, you’ve probably heard me talk about The Strip Club - it’s one of my top 5 favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. So you can imagine how excited I was when the Poutine Crawl group I’m part of picked The Strip Club as the next stop on the crawl. I love the name of this place, since how often do you get to take your parents/boss/in-laws to a place called The Strip Club. On top of this, the food there is out of this world good, made with love, and served by some really awesome staff who seem to love their jobs.

And of course, TSC is known for their amazing cocktails. Tim hand makes all kinds of infusions and bitters and comes up with fun cocktail combinations that people rave about. I can’t get past the whiskey sour he makes there. Homemade simple syrup with lime flavoring and good whiskey – I may have had a few of these…

I’ve had TSCs poutine before, but this restaurant is one of those that changes their menu regularly. So the poutine changes, as well. The last time I had it, it was stellar – all covered in mushroom-wine gravy and filled with pork belly. Brilliant. I had no idea what to expect this time.

When our group finally all arrived, we put in orders for 11 poutines and assorted accoutrements for a few people. The poutine, this time around named Poutine Polpettine, had a distinctly Italian feel to it. Fries, homemade marinara, meatballs, chilies, and parmagiano cheese. It was fantastic.

It’s a one-person sized portion, which is nice (it’s on the small plate section of the menu, so basically an appetizer). The red sauce was quite tasty with a bit of spice to it form the chilies. The meatballs were top notch as well. A little crisp on the outside with excellent flavor of meat on the inside.

The only bad things I heard was that the lack of curds made it not poutine-like enough. People thought the dish was delicious, but it didn’t feel like Canadian food – unless there’s a Italy-town in the back alleys of Montreal that we haven’t heard about – which, now I wonder if that’s the case.

Our poutine crawlers weren’t ones to pass up dessert, either. So while people munched on four-less chocolate cake and peach crumble, I ordered a Scotch Egg (a hardboiled egg, covered in sausage and breading, and then deep fried). I’m not much of a dessert person, but I do love fried and sausage. This scotch egg was awesome. It had a runny yolk (which I thought went well, especially with the tasty garnishes on the plate), so be ready for that, and the fried sausage casing was perfect.

I can’t rave enough about The Strip Club. It continues to be one of my favorite places in the Twin Cities. And I’m looking forward to seeing what the next adaptation of poutine will be when the menu changes in September/October. The other folks on the crawl also said they’d LOVE to do another run here.

Thanks again, Tim and JD! Amazing, as usual.

www.domeats.com

Groveland Tap (Poutine Crawl) – St. Paul, MN

A bunch of fun people I know do a Poutine Crawl in the Twin Cities. Not all in one night, but this was the next stop on the list. We’ve been to a bunch of places and everyone has different opinions, so there’s no reason to rank any of them. But this one had HIGH acclaim from Rocky. He raved about it and swears it’s the best in the Twin Cities. Of course, it was our goal to shoot Rocky down.

There’s a lot of good food items at the Groveland Tap. They’re part of a restaurant group that also does good food, so it just stands to reason they would also have good food. I forget that sometimes.

D.Rough and I decided to split an order of poutine and an order of Fish Tacos. We were sure that would have been enough.

The poutine comes out in a small cast iron skillet. The server warns you not to touch the metal because it’s hot. Yes, we touched it. Yes, it IS hot. The crinkle fries alarmed some of us at first, but our minds were quickly changed. The crinkles held the gravy. The delicious delicious dark brown beef gravy. Lots of gravy. I can’t explain why it is so good, but it truly is. The curds were also the right temperature for being melty, but not dissolving. You knew when you had a curd, and then you were thrilled with how well it went with the fries and gravy.

Alright, Rocky, if it isn’t the top in the Twin Cities, it’s at least in the top 3. Kudos to you on your poutine-ranking skills, my friend!

The fish tacos were also fantastic. Plenty of crispy battered and fried fish in them and the toppings were fresh. A great flavor complement to the poutine.

Then when late people showed up to join us and also get poutine, it was incredibly difficult for all of us not to order a second round of poutine. It was THAT good.

Go for the cheap drinks, stay for the poutine. This place went straight to the Top 3 list of poutines in the area in MY personal book.

www.grovelandtap.com

The Lowry (Poutine Crawl) – Minneapolis, MN

Again, this was a make-up visit of the Twin Cities Poutine Crawl I’m involved in. I missed the actual night the group went, but I wanted to get caught up. A-Wow and I walked over from Rye Deli, since it’s a block away and prepared for our second course of poutine for the night.

The staff here are really friendly. Some of the best in the Twin Cities, as far as I can tell. Someone, whom I can only assume is the owner, is a character (in a good way)(I like my restaurants with characters) who goes around to the tables hobnobbing and cracking wise and making sure if people aren’t having a good time, finding out what he can do to make sure that gets turned around. What I’m saying is don’t go here to break up with a girlfriend or anything.

A-Wow described this poutine as a pot-roast-style poutine. I needed to find out what this meant. So we ordered it, and we also decided to have something more substantial, since we had basically eaten a bunch of appetizers. We decided on the steak and pierogies, which the waiter offered to split up for us evenly on two plates. To maintain the waiter’s idea that A-Wow and I ordered some girly drinks from the cocktail menu and hoped for the best. I got a Battle Cat (really, there are some He-Man themed drinks, including a Snarf) and A-Wow got a Moon Bear.

The drinks came out quickly. Mine (The Battle Cat) was a girly drink on the bottom and a beer on top – really. Vodka, orange curacao, lemon juice, cranberry juice, simple syrup ,and then Summit EPA on the top. Actually, it was delicious. I even drank them separately just because I was up to the challenge. A-Wow’s Moon Bear was a bit more manly even for a girly drink – rum, lime juice, orange curacao, orange syrup, bitters, and Laphroaig, with a fancy cinnamon stick sitting in it. It was a little rough for me, but I’m not a Laphroaig fan nor a bitters fan. A-Wow seemed to polish it off pretty quickly, so I’m guessing he thought it was good.

The poutine arrived first and looked stunning. When A-Wow said it was pot-roast-style, he meant there’s actually shredded pot roast IN it. Like a generous helping of it. IT also had carrots, celery, onions in it – just like mom’s pot roast. The meat was extremely flavorful, which I Was thrilled about. There were actual cheese curds in the dish and you could taste them! The fries were better than average and held up really well, mainly because of the lack of identifiable gravy in the dish. There really wasn’t any to speak of, at all. I was disappointed by this fact, but to be honest, it didn’t NEED any gravy. It was an awesome dish – it just may ruffles poutine purists’ feathers to call it poutine when there isn’t any gravy present. They have a point, but I’m guessing they’d get over it really quickly if they tasted how delicious this almost-poutine is. I loved it. Again, the dish is technically an appetizer, so it appears small, but it’s the perfect size for sharing, especially if two of you have ordered an entrée… which we had.

The steak was marinated and finished in some sort of teriyaki sauce which was absolutely fantastic. There were about 6 or 7 slices of perfectly cooked medium slices of steak. The cooks split our steaks and pierogies, so we both got equal portions. I can’t talk this steak up enough – it was really quite excellent. The pierogies were delicious, but I’m not a fan of horseradish which was what the dip was made from. So I ate them without the dipping sauce. The pierogies were made with onion and cheddar and covered with a handful of fried shallots. The pillow-like puffballs filled with cheese were decent and I probably would have eaten a bunch of them, even though they weren’t the best in the Twin Cities. They were good though, don’t get me wrong.

Lowry’s boasts a really good meal and I’d be happy to come back here again. While we were waiting for our food and chatting, we kept hearing people talk about the breakfasts Lowry’s makes. They all sounded delicious and looked even more delicious when the servers started bringing them out. Dang, I should have gotten breakfast. Next time, especially since they have chilaquiles – one of my favorites! Lowry’s has an interesting upscale bar atmosphere that is backed up by really delicious food and fun people working. You’re going to have fun and get full at this place. What more do you want?

www.thelowryuptown.com

Rabbit Hole (Poutine Crawl) – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough and I had wanted to try the Rabbit Hole for some time. I had read about this amazing burger that was rated highly in the Twin Cities and she had heard equally good things about some of the other dishes they have there. It’s a bit of a Korean restaurant with some upscale flair, so that would likely flavor all of the meals there. Tonight, however was the next iteration of our little group’s Poutine Crawl. We go all over the Twin Cities eating poutine and comparing it like classy wine (not all in the same night – we space it out over months).

The restaurant is just outside the Midtown Global Market – it’s a sort of indoor world bazaar of international food and shops in Midtown Minneapolis. The inside of the restaurant is pretty dimly lit – that adds to the classiness of a place, as we all know. It’s sort of an Alice In Wonderland theme, so there are all sort of fun tidbits on the walls. Make sure you look around this place. The menu has some pretty unique sounding items on it. You’ll just have to see for yourself. It’s very creative, however, and I think you’re going to find something you’d like to eat, even if it’s out of curiosity. To get the server to come to your table, you have to push this buzzer thing that is sitting on your table. Just be ready for that or no one will show up and you’ll end up thinking the service is slow – it ISN’T slow.

Tonight, many of us got the H&K Poutine (which is Korean inspired) and I somehow managed to talk D.Rough into splitting that top-ranked burger with me – the Appa Burger. But of course we ordered a couple of adult beverages while we waited for the food to come out. They’ve got a great beer selection, both tap and bottles, so they know their way to Minneapolis’ heart.

The dishes came out within a reasonable time of ordering them so don’t expect to sit around forever waiting for food. The poutine looked pretty fantastic to me. Again, it’s Asian inspired, so the poutine purists at our table already had issues with it. But for those of us who enjoy a little creativity, we were in for a treat. It’s got crispy and thick-cut fries mixed with onions, kimchi, parmesan, and cheddar, covered with a pork curry gravy, and then topped with a soft poached egg and a drizzle of kimchi aioli. Ridiculous? Yes. Delicious? Absolutely! The parmesan got lost a little bit in the mix, but every once in a while, you’d get a nice salty bit of parmesan flavor that was awesome. The kimchi wasn’t the scary kind you’ve seen in documentaries; it is the kind that’s like a vinegary slaw, so it was great with the other flavors. The poached egg was a wonderful touch, as well. The pork curry gravy was amazing and I don’t think I ‘ve had anything like that before. I’ll for sure have it again. Even the purists gave it a thumbs up, but they gave it the caveat, “If I was looking for REAL poutine, this isn’t spot on. But if I was looking for an amazing dish of tasty unique food, THIS is what I’d order.” From these guys, that’s high praise, indeed. Well done, Rabbit Hole!

The Appa Burger was next on the chopping block. It’s kind of got a little of everything on it, and if there’s one thing I lie on my burger, it’s lots of stuff. This 6 oz patty has smoked bacon, bleu cheese, gruyere, bourbon onions, arugula, tomato jam, kimchi aioli, and topped with a fried egg. It’s really difficult to see in the picture and it doesn’t do it justice. It’s a monster of a burger. The meat is super flavorful – something I pay attention to wherever I get a burger from – and the cheese worked really well together. I’ll admit this burger was a mess to eat (egg yolk everywhere hahaha), but I didn’t mind it. All the flavors that I wanted were there and it held up most of the meal. This won a Twin Cities Burger Award for a reason. It was fantastic.

Great work on many unique dishes, Rabbit Hole. I’m looking forward to my next visit, without question.

Top 5 things at The Rabbit Hole

1. Appa Burger

2. H&K Poutine

3. Great beer selection

4. Alice in Wonderland theme

5. Really unique things on the menu

Bottom 5 Things

1. The poutine isn’t purely Canadian here – it’s too fancy for a purist’s palate

2. I want to try everything on the menu

3. The buzzer thing for the server was weird at first, but we got the hang of it

4. I’ll admit, I was hoping to see rabbit on the menu

5. N/A (I had to try really hard to find the above “bottom” items. This place rules.)

www.eatdrinkrabbit.com

Triple Rock Social Club – Minneapolis, MN

Some of the kickball people get together on Wednesday nights, even though kickball season is over. Tonight’s get-together was at the Triple Rock Social Club, due to the fact that every Wednesday night is free bacon night!!! All you can eat bacon, brought to your table upon request starting at 9pm. What else do you need? The answer is nothing.

I walked down the street to the Triple Rock since I was 3 blocks away at class. I found my people who had already filled up a booth. I grabbed a bar stool and a menu and set to deciding. The menu actually has tons of things on it. Tons of vegetarian and vegan options, which I know people really like. I didn’t realize they had as much food as they do. I ordered a girly drink, which I of course got mocked for, and asked the waitress whether I wanted a “Big Ass Meat Sandwich” (yes, that’s what it’s called) (it’s a bacon sandwich with a slice of ham and covered in cheese) or the Poutine. She told me the Poutine is pretty good. I also love saying the word Poutine over and over in public. It makes me giggle.

They brought the first basket of bacon. I’m guessing there are like 10-12 slices of bacon in each basket. I reached for my camera to take a photo of it, and this is what I got.


The scavenging bastards ate the entire thing in under 10 seconds. Which is why we had to get like 5 more baskets. I will tell you I ate FAR more bacon than I should have. HotGirlsBrother is right, the earlier bacon is crispier and more done. The subsequent bacon is, however, exactly how I like it. Throw it in the grease, turn it over and serve it. I like it hot, fatty, and floppy (like my ladies – Wait. What?) It was awesome.

The poutine came out and no one had ever heard of it, oddly (except for LowVee, which isn’t odd at all, actually). I assumed people were familiar with it, especially this close to Canada. It’s a Canadian staple, from what I understand. I even said, “What, you guys haven’t heard aboot this stuff?” just to make it official. It’s simply French fries covered in cheese curds and gravy. Sounds gross, but everyone at the table who tried it loved it. Why? Because it’s delicious.

The fries were crispy and the cheese curds were all melty. It was awesome.
Just do yourself a favor and go to the Triple Rock on Wednesday nights. Get there early to secure a table. Sure you’ll need a roll of paper towels to wipe the grease off your person when you leave, but it’s totally worth it. Just don’t go on bacon night anytime before you’re getting your cholesterol or triglycerides checked or anything…

Top 5 things about the Triple Rock Social Club
1. Unlimited bacon (this should be every one of the top 5 things)
2. Poutine was great
3. They make girly drinks without too much mocking from staff
4. Seriously diverse menu with vegetarian and vegan options as well as carnivorous delights
5. There was a random with a “BOBO” patch on his jacket. I took a photo of it for Coach, since he’s trying to bring the phrase back into the English vernacular.

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd loved poutine, and would have reminded me of when we were in Portland with Chicken Little puking his guts out next to me eating poutine. Those were the days…
2. I totally missed out on the first round of bacon because of the vultures
3. I eat bacon until it’s gone (as a general rule), and they just keep bringing more – this is a bad combo for my guts
4. I was on a tall barstool while towering over everyone at the booth – I commented “this is what TheDoctor feels like all the time”
5. I need to go back and order about 15 other things on the menu, including for a Saturday or Sunday brunch.

triplerocksocialclub.com

Burger Jones – Minneapolis, MN (Poutine Crawl)

When you’re on a year-long poutine crawl, you need to hit up at least one poutine restaurant per month to keep on track. This month it was Burger Jones. Our people descended on this place late one Tuesday evening after people finished with work, derby practice, and yelling at the television for having soooo much pink being shown on the NFL during October. I won’t mention any names…

We did our usual thing where we order enough poutine at our table to cause the cooks to panic. Thankfully, they’re a big operation, so they were able to handle our orders without any problem. We also got a lot of drinks. Sometimes that happens at the poutine crawl.

A few people ordered burgers, as well as their poutines, but I played it cautious. I had seen how large their portions were at previous visits to Burger Jones, so I decided I’d see how hungry I was after I finished the ‘tine and then order a burger if I needed to (I didn’t).

The poutine here looks pretty delicious. A serious mound of crispy fries on a platter with a pretty good gravy, a nice helping of bacon, and a few curds. Here were our issues: we thought there needed to be more gravy – the flavor was decent (no complaints from the peanut gallery), but we wished there were enough to have some on every bite. The plates cleaned up pretty well, which unfortunately mean there isn’t enough gravy to coat everything. Secondly, there was a discussion about the curd ratio. Some thought it needed more curds, some thought the amount was right, but it needed to be in smaller pieces. I, for example, had an enormous curd (which I cut into 7 or 8 smaller pieces – literally) and then two additional curds. That sounds like 3 curds, until you factor in the cutting process. Other people just wanted more cheese altogether. I vote for BOTH!!!! The curds held their shape and texture (and a little squeak) through the baking process, which was nice. We don’t like it when they melt into nothingness. And the bacon was delicious and most thought the appropriate amount. Enough to give it flavor, but not so much as to be overwhelming.

It’s a pretty good showing of poutine. I’d give it some sort of ranking, but everyone at the table had a different opinion on where it ranked. Id’ put it about three-quarters of the way to the top. It was good, but not the best, in my opinion. I’ll eat it again, though. That was never a question.

www.burgerjones.com