620 Club – St. Paul, MN

Keenan’s Bar or Keenan’s 620 Club has been a staple on West 7^th in St. Paul for many years. The owners retired, but some new folks decided to give it a go and re-opened it, after some remodeling. It popped up on my radar because of this and my wife reminded me about it, so we thought we’d better go check it out.

The menu is surprisingly robust considering it’s thought of as a dive bar. It isn’t a dirty skeevy dive bar, just a homey-but-clean kind of place with a pool table and TouchTunes and really good vibe. There’s also a board with daily specials on it, so don’t miss that one, either. Plenty of local Minnesota beers on tap and a full bar, for those of you that enjoy a fun cocktail.

We ordered some drinks, a fried chicken sandwich, and a Cowboy Killer burger right from the bartender and we didn’t have to wait long for our order, despite the place being full.

The Cowboy Killer burger had cheese, BBQ sauce, bacon and an onion ring on it. One of the juicier burgers I’ve had, as well. Super flavorful and just the right amount of messy. It comes with a delicious toasted bun and the thing wasn’t small at all. Lots of crispy crinkle-fries, as well.

The fried chicken sandwich was one of the better ones I’ve had. Really a thick chicken breast and served with lettuce, tomato, and Old Bay mayo – a delicious touch. Also, plenty of crinkle-fries to go around.

The light isn’t the best in the 620 Club, so the photos turned out a tad bit drearier than I had hoped, sorry. We would tell anyone to go here. While it might not be a destination to drive 6 hours to from another state, it’s definitely going to serve you up some great food if you’re anywhere in the Twin Cities. We’ll be back, for sure.

620 Club

Clyde's Drive-In - Manistique, MI

D.Rough found this cute little drive-in on our spontaneous trip to the UP, and we figured it was worth checking out. It does have a small dining room, but the beauty of this place is they have servers come out to your car, take your order, and then bring you your food in a basket that hangs on the driver’s or passenger’s window. 

It’s got a large hand-painted menu on the front of the building, so you can decide what you want, or you can walk up to the building and open a weather-proof box and grab a menu. We also found out they have a gluten-free menu, as well, if you need that. 

It’s tough to decide here, since everything sounds good and the menu is deep. I went out of the norm and got an olive burger (with ketchup) with garlic -parmesan fries. D.Rough got a mushroom and swiss burger with onion rings. The food came out pretty quick and was exactly what we needed. 

The olive burger was better than I expected, basically because it was a great way to add salt (olives) and salt (ketchup) so a salted meat patty. There’s just something about a burger cooked on a flat top grill basting in its own juices that I love. Really good diner burger, and not crazy expensive and elevated – just solid. 

The garlic-parmesan fries were weird, but still delicious. It tasted like fries with Caesar dressing on them, even though it was very clearly parmesan and a garlic sauce. I’d probably get these again, since they were pretty filing and again, salty. 

D's mushroom and swiss burger was even better than my olive burger. Even more flavors and juice in hers, so I was a little jealous afterwards. And the onion rings were solid performers, but not the best I’ve had. Just good. 

While we were there, we got to see a couple of old timey cars from a nearby auto show, which of course made the whole thing more old-school-drive-in, as well. The food was good and the sun was out and the cars/people-watching were on point – this was a great visit!

 

https://www.facebook.com/clydesdriveinmanistique

 

Bump's Burgers - Iron River, MI

 

D and I hopped in the car and made an impromptu trip to Michigan. Pretty much spontaneous and last-minute. We needed some cabin/non-people time and also we wanted to surprise our friend Chef Greg who opened up a sort of second-shift family restaurant in Iron River, Michigan. Chef Greg is a wizard in the kitchen and we knew his place was going to be top-notch. People think that the Upper Peninsula (UP) or Michigan is super far away, but it's really only about 5 hours to Bump's!

 

Boy, was he surprised when we walked back to the window that looks into the kitchen!!

 

Chef Greg took an interesting approach to opening up his place. There were already good pizza places in town, and already good breakfast places in town, and a handful of other good spots for food and drink during normal hours. He saw that Iron River needed a burger place with a little “extra” and also thought the town needed something open different hours than the rest of the establishments. Bump’s Burgers is right downtown and open Thursday through Saturday from 4pm until midnight. Absolutely NAILED IT with the time slot!

 

I won’t go into ALL the details of the menu at Bump’s Burgers, but it’s really more than just burgers. In fact, there’s only one burger on the menu, but it has a ton of topping options, so you can customize it however you want. But there’s a bunch of other sandwiches that you need to try. We went a little overboard and ordered a cheeseburger, a chopped & cheese beef sandwich, and the BBQ pulled pork sammie. The sides are also super creative and elevated way beyond any food you deserve to eat, but we ordered the firecracker corn, grandma’s casserole, and the corn bread with honey butter. And because we’re insane, we also ordered the oreo pudding dessert supreme and the golden caramel pudding surprise. 

[Note: Bump's doesn't have fries. But the number of people that ask about it is really impressive. The staff at Bump's are masters of recommending the right side for you, though, so don't be alarmed. You're going to get a side that's even better than fries. Promise.]

Cheeseburger - I mean you pretty much HAVE to get this when you're here. It's so juicy and delicious. I knew it would be good, but I didn't know it would be this good. And the bacon always helps, too. 

 

BBQ Pulled Pork Sammie – killer flavor and plenty of meat. The bun is nice and moist and stands up to the sauce. We got it with some pickles and extra sauce, as well. Perfection.

 

The Chopped & Cheese Beef Sandwich – one of the best sandwiches I can remember. I got a little gluttonous on this one and ordered it with a fried egg and some roasted peppers. And some garlic aioli, as well. This thing is loaded with meat and covered in a nice layer of cheese. I was bummed when this one ended. 

 

Grandma’s casserole was like a delicious potato-ey cream of something concoction that sticks to your ribs and not too salty or peppery. Just right. It's like a nod to tater tot hot dish, but sort of a soup/stew.

The firecracker corn is sort of like elotes (Mexican street corn), but has some seasoning in it that makes it taste good, but won’t blow you away with heat.

The cornbread is a super solid showing – and my family is from the south, so we’re crazy picky about it. 

 

The desserts were in the surprisingly-simple-but-perfectly-executed category. Both are pudding based and both are just what the doctor ordered. Sort of a cookie surprise built into a pudding structure with whipped cream. Not crazy sweet, but just what you need to fill in any cracks left in your stomach when you’re done with the mains and sides. 

 
We got leftovers and might have accidentally gotten some Jambalaya to take back to our place if we got hungry in the night. hahaha. No pictures of that, though. But it was equally incredible, if that helps.

I know that we’re a little bit biased, but we love this guy and think he deserves all kinds of gold medals. He helps his community, he helps his friends, he helps his family, and is truly one amazing human. He can cook the pants and shirt off of anyone that’s hungry and makes you feel like family. There aren’t a ton of places I’d drive out of my way to go to for food, but Bump’s Burgers is definitely one of those places. It’s a small town with a ton of heart. And now they’ve got some delicious homemade sandwiches to warm that heart. 

 

Cheers, brother! You continue to make magic wherever you go. We’ll be back!

 

www.bumpsburgers.com

Bump’s Burgers

119 Genesee St.

Iron River, Michigan. 49935

Dalles House Restaurant and Lounge – St. Croix Falls, WI

 

D and I were up near Interstate State Park and found this fun looking restaurant – she’s quite good at picking places, so I knew I was in for a treat. It’s got that old school Wisconsin lounge feel from the outside and we were even more happy when we went and saw how fun the inside was! It’s like a magical tiki land behind the bar and there’s a huge outdoor space that would probably be fun in the summer months! There is a fancier dining room, but the bar was definitely more our speed. The bar is the kind of place where you throw some wood on top of the pool table and call it a table (I’m serious).

 

We sat at the bar so we could take in the whole tiki grotto and see what was happening around us. When in Wisconsin, you order a brandy old fashioned. State law, I think. D bucked the trend and got a margarita. 

 

The menu is pretty much Americana through and through, but there are still some really good sounding items on it. We ended up splitting some raspberry chipotle wings and a honey smoked salmon salad. It all came out pretty quickly so we dove in.

The chicken wings were really good. I know it’s hard to do wings in a way that sets them apart, but we’ve also had plenty of wings that were straight trash. These were delicious and meaty and the raspberry chipotle sauce on them was really great. Great way to kick off a meal.

 

The salmon salad was much bigger than we expected. Aside from lettuce, it had candied pecans, blue cheese, bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes. This all had a Caesar dressing mixed in, which ruled. We were both expecting a piece of salmon on top but this shredded version was actually much easier to deal with. The salmon had a great sweet honey taste and you could get some with every bite of salad. And despite the tomatoes being sort of out of season, all the veggies were really fresh. We had to fight over who got the buttery garlic toast, but splitting it worked just fine.

 

We liked this place probably more than normal people would, but it’s got that fun kitsch that we’re always looking for. Super friendly servers and good food and drinks just makes it all the more enjoyable. Looking forward to our next trip to the Dalles House!

Barker's Bar & Grill - Hudson, WI

 

D had stopped into this place with a friend a couple weeks back and said we needed to go here and eat some of the stuff that she has tried. It’s a really fun little bar and grill in downtown Hudson. We were spending the night nearby, so it seemed to work out perfectly for us. 

 

The menu has a lot of things on it, and I always ask the server what the place is known for when I go to a new place. She said the wings were one of the best sellers – and also why D wanted to come back here. So there it was, I guess we’re getting the wings! Now to decide which of the many sauce options we were in the mood for. We went with Bree’s Knees Wings – sweet, tangy, and spicy with honey, lemon, and Nashville hot chicken flavors. It’s really hard to go wrong with that kind of profile. 

 

We also decided to split the Casino el Camino Burger – Louisiana hot sauce, cayenne pepper, crumbled blue cheese, caramelized onions, chopped celery, lettuce and tomato. All of those things were going to work out nicely for us. 

 

The wings were actually pretty damn good – definitely noteworthy. Lots of meat on them, but the flavors in the sauce were pretty killer. You could definitely taste everything on the list and it was the perfect mix of sweet and spicy. Very much like D, I would absolutely go back here again and get an order or seven of these Bree’s Knees Wings.

 

The Casino el Camino burger was a good burger. Not life changing, and maybe I had my hopes set too high, but it needed something to make it pop a little. Again, not a flop or anything, but if they can make killer wing sauce, they’ll be able to figure out how to make this burger stand out above the rest. I’m not sorry I ordered it, but the next time I go back to Barker’s, I’ll try a different burger or sandwich and know that it’ll be better than average bar and grill food. 

 

The server was super helpful and friendly and made sure we had everything we needed. Really made it a fun night for us.

 

Looking forward to our next trip back to Barker’s!

Lolo American Kitchen - Hudson, WI

We had taken a trip to one of our favorite breweries in Wisconsin – Oliphant – and needed to get some dinner before we headed home. We always love driving through Hudson and had passed by Lolo enough times to know they were always busy, so we had to check it out. 

The place is upscale, but not quite fancy. The prices aren’t outlandish and the food is much better than average, so you should probably check this place out. They’ve got fancy cocktails, too. We got some!

I got a “That’s a Bold Move Cotton” – cachaça, passion fruit, mango, and lime, and D got the mango passionfruit margarita. Both were extremely tasty (so tasty, we forgot to take photos of D's!).

We started with some Spicy Ahi Poke tasters, with sriracha, sesame, tamari, lemongrass, and nori crisp. Delicious bite-sized snacks that we always want a bucket of, but we know they’re just to get our taste buds going. But, we STILL want a bucket of these things.

We also got the charred asparagus with lemon, parmesan, and guanciale. This was a really stellar dish with so many good flavors. They don’t hold back on this dish, and we were very happy to accept their generosity of flavors.

We got a burger to split a Jamz Burger, which is a really delicious and flavorful burger patty covered in bacon jam, gorgonzola, and lettuce, served with fries. Happy to split this one!

We also got the coconut curry chicken soup, which is always a gamble at a non-Thai restaurant. But, they did a really good job with this. Tons of flavor and just a bit of heat. Glad we ordered this one.

Since you’re really not done until you get dessert, D ordered the flourless chocolate torte, which comes with dulce de leche, hazelnuts, and caramel ice cream – right up her alley.

And, I got the Butterscotch Budino in a tiny mason jar. Perfect ending to the night.

 

Top 5 things about Lolo

1. Coconut curry chicken soup

2. Jamz burger

3. Charred asparagus

4. Spicy Ahi Poke

5. Really comprehensive menu

 

Bottom 5 things

1. There may be a wait

2. It’s pretty loud inside

3. It might be too fancy for some people, but they truly do serve everyone – it’s Wisconsin, so that just means it’s a good mix of people to watch!

4. Nothing else

5. N/A

 

www.loloamericankitchen.com

Burger Dive @ Bay Street – St. Paul, MN

I’m not going to try to explain Burger Dive’s business model in detail, but I’ll explain it as well as I can. There’s a couple of guys that love burgers and they’ve set up some sort of burger operation in the kitchens of multiple dive bars. They’ve got one in Potluck in the Rosedale Mall and they’ve got another in Bay Street in St. Paul. I don’t know the ins and outs, but I do know they know their way around a burger. 

D and SalsaSandwich were having a sister day, so they invited me to come along and have a burger with them, since SalsaSandwich loves a monumental burger. The choices on the menu were challenging, so some decisions had to be made. To buy us some time, we ordered some jalapeno cheese curds, which ended up being the right call. Plenty of jalapenos on top, and potentially inside the curds, as well. Hard to tell since it was dark in the dive bar that is the lovely Bay Street Bar. These folks clearly know their way around a deep fryer, as well, so we had high hopes for the burgers.

 

Once I had decided, the server came back and told me about the special of the month – a grilled cheese burger. Well that ruined everything since now all I could think about was the burger he described to me. I caved and had to go with the special, mainly because any of the other burgers, I could just come back and get them whenever I wanted to. I made my decision and had to stick with it.

 

The grilled cheese burger is two smashed patties on buttered toast with American cheese, cheddar cheese, cheddar aioli, and sliced tomato. All of this served with a little cup of tomato soup to dip it in. This thing was killer. Crispy edges on the burger patties and the right amount of cheese – not even a sloppy amount – just nailed it. The soup was really quite delicious to dip the burger into and the whole thing really came together even better than I expected it to. If they ever offer this burger again, I’ll be the first in line to get one. Super good. 

My apologies for not taking any other pics of burgers, since as soon as they hit the table, they were smashed directly into faces (we were a little hungry this particular day). But the fact that SalsaSandwich ate absolutely every bite of burger and every french fry and didn’t bring anything home was a testament to how good these monstrous burgers were. We’ll be back!

Top 5 things about Burger Dive at Bay Street

1. Grilled Cheese Burger

2. Very robust menu

3. Jalapeno Cheese Curds

4. They have pull tabs!

5. Outside seating area for the warmer days

 

Bottom 5 things

1. It’s hard to explain that it’s a restaurant inside a dive bar, that’s called something different

2. It’s a dive bar, so set your expectations accordingly (it’s perfectly safe to go there, I promise)

3. There’s really not anything bad about this place, honestly

4. 

5.

 

www.burgerdivemn.com

Travail Basement Bar – Robbinsdale, MN

D.Rough and I continued celebrating my birthday week with a visit to Travail’s newest offering – an upscale basement lounge experience with upscale food and very crafty cocktails. I understand it’s a challenge to get reservations here, and that they have three different “time slots” available, so if you’re interested, get on the website and reserve your spot! Totally worth it.

Like Travail’s other establishments, it’s sort of European-style seating – you WILL be seated at a table with other diners. I like to let people know this so they aren’t alarmed. It’s as fun as you make it – you may end up best friends at the end of the night or you might exchange a few questions about the food or drinks that the other people ordered – you get to decide. Pro Tip: Show up early for your reservation and you may get to decide where you sit, before the space gets filled and you’re stuck with whatever is left open.

The hostess, servers, bar tenders, and food delivery folks are all professionals. They want you to have a good time and enjoy yourself, and they are very gracious and helpful.

We started with a few cocktails, which is really what this place is known for. If you look around the rooms, they have most of the cocktails presented in little nooks, and deconstructed so you can see the ingredients. Bottles of booze and also some of the flavors you’ll be tasting – very interesting concept. Classy and informative (something I’ve never been accused of being). D.Rough got the house tiki-style drink – the Many Faced God (vodka, macadamia nut liqueur, pineapple, coconut, and damiania). I got the Ronaldo Burgundy (Bacardi heritage white rum, pomegranate, pineapple hibiscus milk punch). I'll apologize in advance for the photo quality - the dim lighting wasn't doing my camera any favors - but you'll get the general idea.

D.Rough’s tiki drink was REALLY good. Not too much macadamia and the pineapple and coconut were magical. Fantastic. 

My rum-forward drink was also incredible. It came with a smoky bubble on top AND in a bat-painted tea cup (on a bat painted saucer). A little bit fruity and plenty of rum flavor – I loved this drink!

We ordered a couple of food items to tide us over for the night. The Broadway Burger, the poutine, Salt & Peppa Shrimp, and the lobster egg. The kitchen sends out the folks who prepare this stuff and they explain what’s in some of the dishes and answer any questions – very top-notch.

The lobster egg is a soft boiled egg with lobster, truffles, brown butter, and tarragon, all served in an egg cup. Beautiful presentation and it tasted great too. It’s nice when you can recognize the flavors of each of the ingredient and none of them are overpowering. This is a well-put-together dish.

The Salt & Peppa Shrimp are deep-fried shrimp with garlic butter and jalapeno slices. A relatively simple dish but the garlic butter and jalapeno elevated it a lot. I considered ordering a second round of these, they were that good.

The poutine was fantastic – perfectly fried fries and a rich gravy that clearly was not an afterthought. There weren’t curds, but the gruyere foam was a fun change that I approve highly of. Great job!

The Broadway Burger was not just a restaurant burger. It had a lot of pickled things going on and some mustard situations, but it was a VERY juicy burger. Not sloppy, just really moist and juicy. I loved this thing.

I needed another cocktail and the Travail Basement Bar is not short on them. In fact, they’ve got a few different kind of drinks. They’ve got some small cocktails, for if you’re feeling like you just want a little bit or if you’re toasting someone (very fun idea). And, they’ve got a handful of fancy non-alcoholic drinks, as well. I politely asked the server if they could just add a bunch of rum to the pina colada-style non-alcoholic drink they had on the menu – The Bird C.R.E.A.M.  He assured me it wouldn’t be a problem at all to do so. And since he was already there, I also ordered the Potato Pavé – a thick stack of super-thinly-sliced potato covered with gruyere and cheddar sauce and serrano ham.

The drink was as good as I had hoped it would be – I actually liked it more than the Many Faced God, but only because it was rum, not vodka, and not nutty, otherwise, they were pretty similar. Delicious! And the Potato Pavé was fantastic. Cut-able with a fork and lots of cheese flavor. I’m glad I got to try this one.

Additionally, since my wife’s family is Italian and literally do not believe something is a celebration until there’s cake, we ordered a slice of chocolate cake. Not just any cake – a serious cake, with chocolate mousse layers and a chocolate ganache outer layer. It even comes with a bit of edible gold foil on top – see? Super classy! And, amazingly moist and tasty.

Overall, zero things to complain about at this new restaurant. The staff are all very “interchangeable” and everyone can help you with any request you have. They’re all there to make sure you enjoy yourselves and return to the basement. We even joked with our server that in the basement, everyone looks tan! We will definitely return here and enjoy some additional menu items. We understand this will be an ever-changing menu, so we’re excited to see what new cocktails and food items are available the next time we go there!

www.travailkitchen.com/basementbar

Lazy Moose Grille and Coffee House – Moose Lake, MN

We’re always up for an adventure when we head up to northern Minnesota, and we came across reviews for this small-town diner called the Lazy Moose. We knew we needed to check it out. The staff was absolutely lovely when we walked in and made sure we were taken care of. There’s a lot of younger staff working there, but someone had trained them well, or they were just genuinely nice people – kudos to you, either way.

It was lunch time and I was in need of a burger. I went with a Sriracha Ranch Burger, and D.Rough went with a Patty Melt. I also up-charged and went with the onion rings – I don’t mess around. We didn’t wait long before the food came out and it looked impressive. 

The burgers here are half-pounders. That’s big for a restaurant. Also, they had a perfect sear on the outside of them that was really impressive. My burger had melted blue cheese on it, a tomato, and sriracha ranch sauce. It was fantastic. The burger itself was extremely juicy, but crispy on the outside and the toppings were generous without making the whole thing a sloppy mess. The housemade pickles were exceptionally good, as well. And, I’m an onion ring snob, but these were some of the best I’ve had. The seasoning in the breading was excellent and they were nice and big slices onion. Great work on this!

D.Rough was pretty pleased with her patty melt, as well. It was the same half-pound burger and had lots of onions on it. It had cheddar and swiss on it, as well. And the rye flavor of the bread really came through on this thing. Pro-tip: get the wild rice soup here. It's sooooo good. Another winner!

We’re glad we stopped here. The reviews check out and, if anything, they don’t do this place justice. It’s a cute little restaurant in a small town, but they’re knocking it out of the park here. 

www.lazygrills.com