BBQ Boys - Eagan, MN

 

A new BBQ place opened up fairly near my house, so of course I had to check it out. It’s not your normal ribs and brisket kind of place, though. It’s much more unique and I went in not only with an open mind, but genuine curiosity and anticipation that this was going to rule. Hard. It’s referred to as “globally-inspired BBQ” – meaning they take all their knowledge of smoking and grilling meats and then combine it with other cuisines from around the world. I overheard a conversation at the counter and someone said they plan to change their menu periodically, which is both good and bad. Good for trying new things, but bad for going back and getting something you really liked over and over again. Hahaha. It’s a small price to pay.

This current menu is curry-centric. Lots of very interesting combinations that include spices and seasonings from India and Southeast Asia. What’s awesome is that if you can’t decide or you don’t know what a certain word/ingredient is, you can ask and the counter folks will explain it to you in simple terms. They were really great. 

 

D and I ordered a paneer pizza, some smoked wings (half with coconut-tamarind glaze and half Tandoori dry rub), and a crispy seared pork belly bowl. There were a couple of sides that we had our eyes on, but we knew this order was already going to be way too much food, so we hit the pause button. 

The paneer pizza is extremely unique. Paneer is a soft fresh cheese (meaning not aged), that melts pretty well, and it’s really mild. The pizza has a shahi sauce on it, which I believe is a tomato-based sauce, additional melty cheese, and also finished with a kachumbar sauce (diced tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers – think of it like an Indian pico de gallo). It’s also got some hints of cardamom throughout, which is a unique flavor for most of the pizzas I’ve eaten in my life. The pizza is personal-sized and has a good crust on it. It doesn’t quite get crisp all the way to the middle, since it’s got so many watery vegetables on it, but it’s still got really awesome flavor. No regrets on this one – it was great.

 

The smoked wings were really great, too. The coconut tamarind glaze was very mild, but the flavor was great – I just wanted more of it. Great pieces of meat and cooked perfectly. The tandoori rubbed wings were also fantastic, even better than the coconut tamarind ones. We ended up dipping these tandoori wings into the togarashi-soy sauce that came with my pork belly bowl. And, it was awesome! Speaking of pork belly…

 

The cirispy seared smoked pork belly bowl was probably my favorite thing. But I’m biased and love me some smoked pork belly. To be fair, the pork belly wasn’t as crispy and seared as I would have liked, but the flavor, both the smoke and the meat, was perfect. Just the right amount of fat and not gristle. So great. It was a really generous portion, as well. It was on a bed of basmati rice and some red cabbage, and served with a chili-infused pear chutney that tasted like a delicious Indian version of apple pie filling. It came with a togarashi soy sauce (sort of a better teriyaki sauce if you had to refer to something more common), and we ended up using that sauce for just about everything. Just an awesome overall dish.

 

While we were eating one of our fellow diners came up to the counter and said he had to order two orders of the smoked curry creamed corn and also a slice of cheesecake, which comes with either mango chutney or something else – all I heard was mango. He said he had never had anything like that creamed corn and just had to have more of it. When D and I finished our dinner, I went up and ordered that smoked curry creamed corn and that cheesecake. I also go the crispy three-chili potatoes. They were just calling to me. We got those to go, and then went home and ate them. Hahaha.

 

The guy was right – that smoked curry creamed corn was delicious. I could eat it with a fork, or a spoon, or as a dip for some chips. Just awesome and I’m glad I caved. Sadly, I ate them b before I took a pic.

The potatoes were like a smashed potato fried crispy and with some awesome sauce on top that had a little zing to it – still not spicy, but just great. 

And the cheesecake was also great – really, the cheesecake was good, but the chutney was great. Seriously, these guys know their way around a chutney. Also, no pic of that, either.

                                                

Also, so people know, the curries used in these dishes were top-notch. They aren’t spicy (I know Minnesotans get a little nervous around unusual flavors), so just get in there and try it out. I know they’re going to change their menu focus soon, so try to get there to check these dishes out and I’ll anxiously be awaiting the newest menu announcement. So worth the trip!

Top 5 things about BBQ Boys

1.     Crispy seared smoked pork belly bowl
2.     Paneer pizza
3.     Smoked curry creamed corn
4.     Smoked wings – tandoori rub
5.     Smoked wings – coconut-tamarind glaze

http://www.bbqboysmn.com

Hoban Korean – Eagan, MN

D.Rough and I had both heard really amazing things about this place from a number of articles claiming it was the best in the Twin Cities. I hadn’t heard any friends talk about it, but it was in a further suburb, so I suppose I should have factored that in. We also heard they have karaoke attached to the restaurant, so we thought we’d better go check that out.

 

We went and checked out the Karaoke rooms while we waited for our table to be ready. They have four rooms of different size and they will bring you drinks and appetizers to your room, which sounds awesome. Looks like this could be a potential evening activity with some of our ridiculous friends…

The restaurant seated us in the large dining room, which was full. We scanned the menu and tried to figure out if we should go adventurous or play it safe. We decided on a safe appetizer and adventurous entrees. We got some spicy chicken wings to start. Then we got Meat Jun (sort of like a fried meat/bulgogi pancake), and also Hot and Spicy Octopus.

The chicken wings were really pretty darn good. Even better than I suspected they would be, since sometimes, Asian restaurants like to overcook the chicken and hope the sauce covers it up. These had a lot of meat on them and the sauce was really tasty and not very spicy. Just a little bit, but for Minnesota, that’s a lot. We both really liked these wings. 

The Hot and Spicy Octopus was next. We both love octopus, especially fried and grilled. I know Minnesota doesn’t have a huge bumper crop of octopus usually, so it was a gamble, but we were both up for it. It looked really pretty on the plate, so we were excited to check this dish out. D.Rough took the first bite to test it out. It was a small piece and I could tell by her face she wasn’t thrilled with it. Then I could tell, when she wasn’t through chewing it 5 minutes later, that it might not be the best-cooked octopus we’ve ever had. It clearly wasn’t. I’ve never actually had octopus this chewy before and I was really surprised how long it took for each piece to break down. The sauce itself and the vegetables were delicious, but the octopus was basically inedible. It was like eternally chewing on pieces of rubber and eventually, both of our jaws hurt from chewing and we gave up on it. I’d suggest a different dish to my friends who end up going there.

The Meat Jun sounded delicious. It arrived and looked a little drab. It was a sort of gray-ish-brown color that didn’t look all that appealing (especially compared to the awesome photos on the website). We were hoping to get over the texture of the octopus by eating this – but that wasn’t going to happen. The texture of this was possibly even worse. The meat was extremely chewey, and whatever breading they used on the outside was basically uncooked flour, yet super greasy. We tried a couple different pieces to make sure we didn’t just get one piece of non-perfect beef. But the whole thing was like this. We just kept chewing and chewing. The flour-y breading made the whole thing worse, so we just ended up stopping.

We figured we might as well drink, just to help recover from this. We ordered a small pitcher of Soju. Actually, we ordered three or four different kinds of flavored soju and they would come back and tell me they were out, so we finally ended up with the mango soju. Which, frankly, was DAMN delicious. Yes, we loved the awesome little ice-filled pitcher that it arrived in at the table, but the flavor was perfect. We know we can’t pour our own soju, so we kept filling each other’s glasses. We’re both givers. And yes, it did help us a little bit forget how bad the meal was. A LITTLE.

We got our large amount of uneaten food boxed up, so it didn’t look like we hated everything, and left. We immediately threw away the food when we got home. I apologize to the people that enjoy this restaurant. We simply had a bad experience here, which significantly pales in comparison to many other Korean restaurants we’ve eaten at. We may go back for the karaoke, appetizers, and drinks, but I don’t know that we’re going to order much off the main menu next time. We really wanted to like this place, but it just wasn’t up to our expectations nor past experience. Bummer

Top 5 things about Hoban Korean
1. The Mango soju (not even our first choice and it was great!)
2. Spicy Chicken Wings
3. Karaoke rooms looked awesome and the kid giving us the tour was really nice
4. Great menu photos for every dish
5. All the dishes come with many small accompanying dishes of various radishes, vegetables, and kimchee
 
Bottom 5 things
1. Meat Jun
2. Hot and Spicy Octopus
3. Out of all the best flavors of soju
4. The service was noticeably slow – we weren’t in a hurry, but geeeez
5. I don’t like writing bad reviews – it always makes me feel bad

www.hobanrestaurant.com

Junior’s Café and Grille – Eagan, MN

It’s been far too long since I’ve had a lunch date with EnyaFace!, but after many postponements, we made it happen. She works in Eagan, so she suggested Junior’s. I had never heard of it, but she said the food is pretty outstanding. Apparently, there are two locations (one in Burnsville), but we obviously chose the closer location.

The inside is like an old 50s diner. Lots of checkerboard patterns, photos of old gas stations and movie stars, lots of diamond plate, and red sparkly tables. The menu is much more expansive than I would have suspected plus they serve breakfast all day, so that was tempting. It took me a really long time to figure out what I wanted, but I finally decided on the Handyman Burger. It’s two hamburger patties, thick cut peppered pork belly, cheddar, swiss, and all the fixin’s. EnyaFace! got the fish n chips blue plate special, which I also had my eye on.

The place gets really packed at lunch, so you either need to plan ahead for that, or show up early/late. Just warning you in advance. Thankfully, the food was awesome. The burger is immense – double patties always make it larger, but it was still large, despite that. Lots of juice, without being greasy and the burger meat tasted good – I always check this to make sure they’re not masking inferior meat with a bunch of toppings. This place had high quality everything. I had to cut this one in half to make sure it fit in my face better. Seriously a great burger.

EnyaFace! was really happy with her fish n chips. She liked the fish flavor a lot, but the breading, she said she’d had better, but was still pretty happy with it.

Overall, I Think everyone was quite happy with the decision to eat here. I have a feeling I’ll be back here pretty soon. There are a ton of burgers and breakfast items I’d still like to try!

Not enough for a top 5, but obviously the Handyman Burger would be on there!

www.juniorssports.com

Magic Thai – Eagan, MN

I have friends that are scared to recommend places to me for fear that I won’t like the restaurant and they’ll forever be heckled on the internet by my review of their favorite places. Rug wasn’t scared though – he just layed it out there: his favorite lunchtime Thai restaurant is Magic Thai in Eagan. He even told me what he usually orders.

I went to check it out since Wednesday Food Truck day got cancelled. It’s in a strip mall next to a Montessori school, and really easy to find, just off 35E. I read online that they had a buffet, so I thought I’d check that out, even though Rug recommended something specific. I like to get a feel for a lot of things on the menu without having to take a gamble on one meal. I took a look at the buffet to make sure I would like at least one thing on it and decided to go for it.

The inside is sparsely decorated with some Thai wall hangings and there are more seats than I assumed from the front of the building. The buffet is really small. It’s got 4 or 5 entrees on it, fried and white rice, cream cheese wontons and fried egg rolls, and sweet and sour chicken. There’s a small table with Thai chicken salad against one wall, and another small buffet area with cookies, honeydew, and a crock of chicken noodle (this changes daily) soup. Not a huge amount to choose from, but I wasn’t’ going to starve or anything. In fact, I could eat anything on the buffet – and I did.

Here’s what I got for round 1

The cream cheese wontons were shaped more like a square pocket than a puff. They were really flat and didn’t look like they contained much cream cheese. The amount that was in there was about the bottom limit of what many would consider appropriate. But how much do you really need in there? It’s an appetizer, right? There just seemed to be a high fried-wrapper to cream cheese ratio. All I tasted was “fried” – which thankfully I’m alright with. I know people that would have issues with it. It was fried to the point of chewy in a lot of places, but I still thought they were acceptable.

The fried egg rolls were really good. Surprisingly so. They’re skinny, but they seem to have plenty of glass noodles and cabbage in them. I’m pretty sure these were vegetarian as well (didn’t ask). I really liked the crunch on these and they weren’t greasy at all, which was nice.

The chicken drummy was gristly, but had a super good fry on it. The flavor part was good, the crunch part was good, but there was some part of bone or cartilage that I didn’t recognize. Good flavor, bad texture.

The Red Curry Pork was the winner of the day. Absolutely delicious flavor and plenty of heat with it. I’m bummed that it didn’t have more than 2 small pieces of pork in it, the rest was bamboo shoots and mostly onions. But the flavor was so good, I kept getting more just so I could have the curry liquid with my rice. Delicious!

The Beef and Broccoli was also really quite good. More spicy than I’ve ever had it before, especially on a buffet. Again, very few pieces of meat in the dish, but when one of four bites did get meat, it was delicious. Very good quality ingredients and the veggies seemed fresh.

One of the different things on the menu than what I’m used to was something called Pad Gratium Prig Thai Chicken – chicken and garlic with black pepper and steamed vegetables. This was spicy as well, but so flavorful, even after I picked out most of the onions. I really liked this one, as well. Again, it could have used more pieces of chicken, but the flavor kept me coming back for more.

The veggie lomein was even better than the average stuff. I wasn’t expecting much from it, but the veggies were good and fresh. I originally took it as filler to go along side my fried rice (which was also good), but it really does stand on its own as a dish, despite the lots of onions (sense a pattern here?).

On the table by itself was something labeled Thai Chicken Salad. I took a trial sized portion of it, not knowing what flavors to expect. I went back for more. It was cold, which I wasn’t expecting. It was also very bright and vibrant, like the inside of a fresh spring roll. Cucumbers, mint, cabbage, and of course, onions.

I went back for more of everything!

And then a third time!

Each time I finished a plate, I had a huge portion of onions left on my plate. Enough to cover the entire bottom of the plate. There are soooo many onions. Thankfully, they’re all large enough pieces I can pick them out. I don’t mind the flavor of onions, but they don’t agree with my insides, so I have to seriously limit the amount I eat. This amount probably would have killed me before I made it out to the car.

The owner of the place, a really nice short fun lady, ran around and made sure people had their orders and full water glasses. She remembered everyone that came in there, what they usually order, where they sat the last time, everything. She’s quite impressive and takes pride in her restaurant. The cook in the back was a fully made-up and fancy pretty Asian lady, even though she was slaving away over stoves and grills! I was impressed.

I think vegetarians might have a tough time here. Even though there was VERY little meat in the dishes, most of them were cooked with meat (except the veggie lomein). If you’re the kind of vegetarian who can pick meat out and still be alright, you’ll do just fine here. Especially if you like onions.

The price is right, as well. $8.45 for the buffet ($9.05 with tax). I know Rug told me to get the #35 – the Prik Pow with Basil, but I’ll consider getting it next time. That is, if I don’t order the Red Curry Pork. That’s going to be a tough call. It isn't my favorite Thai place in the Twin Cities, but it is definitely on the higher end of the scale. I’ll be back here for sure. Thanks for the recommendation, Rug!

Top 5 things about Magic Thai
1. Red Curry Pork
2. Awesome spice/heat level – absolutely perfect
3. Pad Gratium Prig Thai Chicken
4. Fried Spring Rolls
5. Thai Chicken Salad

Bottom 5 things
1. Serious overabundance of onions in almost everything
2. Small buffet selection
3. Lack of meat in dishes
4. Super flat cream cheese wontons
5. Gristly chicken drumstick

www.magicthaicafe.com

Doolittle's - Eagan, MN

Top 5 Positive Things
1. Meat
2. Aroma
3. Variety of dishes on the menu
4. Great salads
5. Hot Voyeur Rotisserie Action

Top 5 Negative Things
1. Prices can be slightly high
2. Our waitress thought Chao was a girl (actually this was funny because she felt terrible)
3. Lamb
4. If you get a burger the garnish makes the bun soggy
5. Location (only because I don't live in Eagan)

Great Place for: business lunch, TV sports spectators, family outings, dates

Doolittle's is one of those places where you step out of your car and your hunger level is multiplied by 6 because you can smell the meat cooking. Even if you don't like meat. Its science. When you are brought to your table you are walked by a giant rotisserie with glass so you can see the meat spin inside on the skewers. I love watching rotating meat but it leaves me with many questions. Such as, how often is the meat removed? When we are there and the restaurant is closing in an hour, why is there still so much meat being cooked? Who is this meat for? Is it used the next day and if so, is that alright? Next time I am totally asking and will update with what I find out.

We have been to Doolittle's a few times and have gotten a variety of different things on the menu. It is one of those places where you can get salads, sandwiches, burgers, or expensive steaks and other entrees. I have had the Beef Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce and the Hickory Burger. Both were fabulous. Chao had the Rotisserie Lamb Focaccia on our second trip which he wasn't too excited about but he also had the Asian Salad which he liked. I have had both the Caesar Salad and the Bacon and Spinach Salad and I highly recommend both.

Definitely stick with meat. Get a salad. Avoid the lamb.

http://www.doolittlesaircafe.com/