Queen’s Arms – London, UK

Many people don’t know that D.Rough spent a semester in London while she was in college and we’ve talked about coming back together and sharing some of our favorite places with each other. Since she couldn’t come with on this trip, she advised me on few places I needed to check out in her old neighborhood. The Queen’s Arms in Kensington was one of those places.

The inside of this pub is lively – some might say loud, but I say lively. Lots of small and medium sized groups sitting at tables or standing near the bar. Everyone’s food looks great, so I’m looking forward to this. I took these photos when I first got to the place and shortly after, it was standing room only and a fire marshall's nightmare.

They’ve got an extensive beer and cider menu, as well as some good food, so I knew I’d be taken care of for a few hours, anyway. As in many places in the UK, you order at the bar – food and drinks, both. I checked out the menu and made my decisions – not the easiest thing to do with so many good things available. I started with an Addlestones Cloudy Cider. Good and full-bodied, exactly what I wanted. I ordered a Meat Board – which is like a sampler, and I also felt like I needed some mac & cheese.

The Meat Board is just awesome. Slices of hand crafted cured deli meats. A pepperoni, maybe a mortadella, and something else that was made from pigs. Delicious. There were scotched quail eggs. If you don’t know what a scotch egg is, you’re missing out – it’s a hardboiled egg wrapped in sausage and then deep-fried. Killer. These were particularly fennel-y and I loved them. A whole batch of olives and garlic, and some tasty bread and olive oil. The olives weren’t the jarred kind from the US, either. They were the good ones. Sure it was meant to be shared, but I was really hungry and ate the whole thing. Duh.

The mac & cheese was really good, as well. It was baked in a little crock and they don’t use the kinds of cheese that we do in the US. This made it even better. It also wasn’t swimming in cheese like they do in the US – I thought I’d complain about that, but the flavor of the cheese was good enough that I didn’t even notice until I looked at the photo. I really liked this stuff.

I had to get another cider, so I went with the Aspall Suffolk cider. It was a lighter color and a little sweeter but still full flavored. Liked this one a lot. The most, in fact.

I eventually finished the Aspall and went back and asked for a recommendation for a really full-bodied cider. They gave me an Orchard Pig Truffler, a dry sparkling cider. It was heavy. Very heavy, and lots of flavor. Almost overpowering. That will teach me to ask for a really full bodied cider where they invented cider. Good, and I’m glad I tried it, but it was massive.

While finishing off my last cider, I looked around at other people’s plates. The fish and chips looked fantastic. I’m not upset at all with what I ordered, but I know what I would get the next time. The Queen’s Arms is a very active pub and the bartender reminded me of my friend Justin, from back home in Illinois (he’d be offended that I said that, since he’s technically from Texas). The server and all the bartenders were extremely nice and laid back. Also, watching weave-y people drunkenly rub their faces really hard makes me laugh. This place would absolutely be my local hang out if I lived near here. Thanks for recommending it, DRough.

[Note: In the UK, it is very unusual to go to a pub alone. In the US, you can sit sadly on a barstool not talking to anyone for hours, but I don’t think that happens here. It IS amusing however, that it’s perfectly alright if you’re alone to come in to a pub and POUND A PINT OF BEER and then immediately walk out. I love fun cultural differences!]

Top 5 things about The Queen’s Arms pub
1. Meat Board, especially the Scotched Quail Eggs
2. Aspall Suffolk
3. Mac and Cheese
4. Addlestone’s Cloudy Cider
5. The staff general seemed happy to be there and wanted to help make everyone comfortable

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s very tucked away and you have to MEAN to find it, if you’re not from there
2. It gets very very packed inside
3. You sort of have to stake your claim on a bench or table if you want to sit, otherwise, you stand at the bar
4. I REALLY wanted to order the fish and chips after eating the meat board, but I’m glad I didn’t
5. I had to sit next to two people who were trying to get each other to leave their respective spouses and sleep with each other. Very weird

The Queen’s Arms
30 Queens Gate Mews
Kensington
London, SW7 5QL

www.thequeensarmskensington.co.uk

2013 Scotch Pong World Championships - West St. Paul, MN

Last November, our friend Dantigravity came up with a concept for something that had potential to be life-altering – Scotch Pong. It’s like Beer Pong, but much classier. Dantigravity thought D.Rough and I should host this event, since we have the room to pull off a party of this magnitude.

If you’re unfamiliar with Beer Pong, I’ll give you the basics: You set up a triangle of red solo cups at each end of a long table (like a bowling pin configuration). Then, one member of each team throws or bounces a ping pong ball and tries to get it into the cups at the opposite end of the table. If the ball goes in the cup, that opposing team has to drink what’s in the cup. Simple, right?

Now let’s look at some numbers. Beer generally has 3-7% alcohol by volume. Scotch has 40-50% alcohol by volume. Do you see where we are going with this? I had to come up with some way for people not to DIE at this event. I thought we’d go with just a shot of scotch in the cups, rather than a mostly full cup. Also, we’d only use 6 cups, instead of 10 cups. Still too deadly, in my opinion. This event is a double elimination tournament, so participants would be playing a minimum of two complete games. And people sometimes forget to drink water during these events, so I needed to add water into the game. That lead to three cups of water and three cups of scotch for each team.

Then, these games could go pretty quickly, so I needed to come up with a way to drag this out as long as possible,. If participants were required to drink multiple shots quickly, things were going to go south FAST. So…… I changed the red solo cups to glass low-ball (old fashioned) glasses. You might think this isn’t a big change, but it turned out to be the greatest impact on the evening. It is REALLY difficult to get a ping pong ball to go into a glass cup, even with liquid inside the cup. I bought a case of low-ball glasses from a bar supply store and did some trial runs. Plus, drinking scotch out of glass cups is more classy, and we’re all about class at the Scotch Pong World Championships.

Due to the high alcohol content for the evening, the official Twitter hashtag for the event was #MassSuicideFest2013. Thank you, TempleOfDoom for coming up with that most appropriate moniker for the event. And everything is more fun with FUN-fetti cake!!!

The entry fee was simple for this event – bring a new or full-ish bottle of whatever scotch you would like to drink. We had one team accidentally bring Irish whiskey and we would not let them participate. However, KingDavid had brought a bottle of Islay Mist (clearly the Arbor Mist of Scotland), and happily donated it to the team so they could play. Thank you, KingDavid, for your generous donation.

I won’t go into details about the entire night, but it was one of the most fun parties D.Rough and I have ever thrown. We encouraged people to dress formally, since it was a fancy event. Many people did dress up and it enhanced the atmosphere of the entire night. I even broke out a new ascot for the night. (I had already taken off my tux jacket by this point - sorry it didn't make it in the photo)

We had eight teams participating in this double elimination tournament with only one team swap out when one team went home ill (flu-related, not alcohol-related). Awkward Taco was under the weather to begin with, and coincidentally, The Kool-Aid Kids arrived just as Awkward Taco forfeited the game.

We had The Highlander and Braveheart showing on the television to highlight the Scottish heritage of this event. We also realized that we had inadvertently scheduled the event on Robert Burns’ (famous Scottish poet) birthday. What better way to honor his fine work than with a Scotch-drinking event.

We had a crowd of designated drivers, spouses, live-tweeters, photographers, and revelry-lovers. This group provided much cheering and heckling and even some food to help participants absorb alcohol. I’m so glad we had spectators to witness the shenanigans.

There were numerous upsets and nail-biting rounds. Many matches came down to one cup for each team. That cup is extremely difficult to drop a ping pong ball into, especially using glass cups.

In the end, Team Casual (featuring our very own M.Giant and his partner whom he hadn’t met before that night) triumphed TWICE over Bearded Wonders (featuring B.Sweet and ME!!!). Bearded Wonders only had to win one of the two games to win the title and we managed to get both games down to one cup for each team before Team Casual swooped in for the win. Team Casual had to win both games to win the title (which they did). It was an intense battle, but seriously, it was incredible fun for everyone.

(Thanks for the photo, Spike!)

Some other hilarious things that happened:

• Team Commander Stein didn’t realize “cask strength” means super-alcohol-y scotch
• Man wearing ascot vs. Man in Tuxedo
• Team Dan Dan noticed after their second round, that their scotch was 10% higher ABV than everyone else’s
• Space Jam was quite inspiring in Commander Stein’s gameplay, also thanks to Scar for top-notch coaching (You’re the best Mr. Fuji ever!)
• Teams that pre-gamed before the event didn’t fare well
• Unsanctioned extra-curricular scotch pong WILL, in fact, get you weavy-drunk
• Irish AND Canadian whiskeys were barred from participation
• Taki’s go with every party
• More parties need roller derby infield seating
• We even had some subtle product placement from the Twin Cities Terrors’s newest men’s roller derby team – The Thunderjacks! Nicely played, gentlemen.

Here is the final bracket for the night. Very impressive, mainly in people’s ability to hold their liquor.

And finally, the most hilarious part of the night (and a little before and after): the Twitter feed for the evening. It was quite entertaining to read. I broke it all down to only related tweets, to make your lives easier. But, if you are into twitter at all, you’ll be highly amused by the live event tracking for our home viewers. Open this document (which is in Word) and start at the bottom of the page and read up to the top. You’ll thank me later.

Huge thanks to all the participants, spectators, live tweeters, referees, photographers, food-bringers, and designated drivers. We couldn't have done it without you all!

2012 Minnesota State Fair – St. Paul, MN

My sister PalmMapper and brother-in-law UncleDumDum were in town celebrating their 10 year anniversary. The trip was a surprise for my brother-in-law, who has never been to a State Fair before. He’s always wanted to check it out and who better to go with than someone who can also eat their weight in fried food! ME!!! PalmMapper had printed out a couple of new fair items (which coincided nicely with my own list that I always write up) and we headed out to the fair.

We got there early to ensure we could see D.Rough on TV at the KARE-11 building. In fact, we got there too early, so we started eating without her. There’s no better time for breakfast than… uh… breakfast time. We headed into the food building and started the day right.

Ham, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Stromboli from American Stromboli. It’s hardboiled eggs chopped up with ham and shredded cheese baked in a pizza dough - delicious and comes with a side of salsa. While you’re waiting in line, you get to look through the window and watch them make cinnamon rolls… which of course means we had to get a cinnamon roll, as well. Really good dough perfectly baked and with TONS of cinnamon. And of course we got it iced with sugary frosting – which melts immediately on the hot roll. Perfect way to start the morning.

We headed into the other wing of the food building to find Rajin’ Cajun. The entire building was empty and we didn’t think it was open. Thankfully, there were workers behind the counter who were willing to make our breakfast sliders (right before the power went out in the entire building). The breakfast sliders were a trio of small buns filled with steak, Cajun sausage, and ham (each slider has its own meat). They also had scrambled eggs and cheese on them, and each was complimented with an incredible homemade garlic mayo. We actually ate this in order of our favorites, accidentally: ham first, just ok; sausage second, pretty good; steak last, really beefy and tender. I had heard the steak might not be the best, but we must have gotten a good piece because we were thrilled with it. AND it’s really cheap for three sandwiches.

We headed back to the KARE-11 building and watched the Minnesota RollerGirls get interviewed by Eric Perkins. He’s a hilarious guy that just got a promotion to Sports Director – which he’ll be fantastic at. Congrats, Perk! Now it was time to find the 1919 root beer booth – I’ll never get enough of this stuff. It’s my favorite root beer.

We walked around a bit and found the animal barn. I claim I like to go here to watch animal surgery – which they have set up in a sterile booth with cameras and then bleachers outside it to watch the action. But the real reason I like it there is I get to pet the cute dogs. Sure it isn’t cool and it isn’t tough-guy, but I don’t care. The dogs are awesome. This year, the Great Pyrenees stole the show. Beautiful dogs.

After a quick swing through the fine arts building, we eventually found our way to the International Bazaar. One of the new items they had this year at the Midtown Global Market booth was Camel Burgers. UncleDumDum wanted to try one, since he had already ridden a camel at the Minnesota Zoo a few days earlier (I’ll see if I can score a photo). He grabbed one and had it cut in half so we could split it. The sandwich could use some sauce or something, since the meat itself is a little bit dry. It’s got a decent flavor, so it isn’t bad, and I will say it’s way better than the camel on a stick I had last year at the fair.

We headed to the Holy Land Deli (one of our favorite places in the Twin Cities anyway). D.Rough got a gyro on a stick, which ended up looking like a gyro steak on a stick. I’ve never had gyro meat cut this thick and I was worried it wouldn’t be crispy like I like it. But it honestly was a good piece of gyro meat (did I mention it is on a stick?), especially paired with the tzatziki sauce dip that comes with it.

We had to get the lamb fries, since they were the talk of the fair. Lamb testicles! The sign says they’re grilled, but they aren’t. They’re clearly fried. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with these things, but we absolutely went for it. The balls themselves don’t taste like much, to be honest. They just taste like “fried”. Not fried meat. Not fried anything. Just fried. The Holy Land dip that comes with them gives them some flavor, but it just didn’t taste like much. So for $5, you get some bragging rights, but not much else. Meh.

Next on the docket, poutine from Duke’s Poutine. As you know I’m participating in a Twin Cities Poutine Crawl trying out all the poutine in the Twin Cities. This was basically a requirement at the fair. The fries were pretty good. I like when there are bits of potato skin on the fries for texture and flavor. The gravy was a little lack luster and bland (still salty, but not much meat or even gravy flavor). But the real winner was the curds. We all ended up fighting over them. Very tangy and held their shape in the heat of the gravy and fries, but had the squeak that lets you know they’re serious. This was a pretty solid dish of poutine, especially for a fair truck.

Right across the street from the Poutine truck was the Icee truck. I had to get one – blue and red mixed. Nothing fancy, especially considering we walked by an Icee truck earlier that had like 10 different flavors. But I would have gotten these two flavors anyway – I’m old school - so what was the point? Delicious. And now, Coach is jealous.

We needed to rest our feet from walking, so we popped into the air-conditioned coliseum to watch the bull judging. Sure it isn’t action packed, but it’s just the thing you need after a morning of walking and eating.

We had to get Scotch Eggs – a hardboiled egg encased in deep fried sausage. I really like these monstrosities and get them whenever I see them. This year, the one we got was a bit dried out, even though I drenched the thing in maple syrup (they have other more normal sauces to put on them, but I like syrup). Just ok, this year.

PalmMapper was finally worn down by the cheese curds signs. You can only walk by cheese curd booths so many times without stopping to buy some and she had reached her limit. I’m not even sure which booth she got these at. They were delicious, as always. They could have been fried a bit longer in my opinion, but a deep fried cheese curd is a good thing, no matter how you look at it.

Deep Fried Pickles from The Perfect Pickle were next. I love these things. We get the sampler pack – regular, Cajun, and cream cheese-stuffed. These things are always delicious – today was no different. And they have Dew at their booth, which is a bonus for me.

We headed into Heritage Village so Rita could try this new beer from Schell’s Brewery – it’s a Shocked Radler, which means it’s beer with Grapefruit in it. UncleDumDum was unsure about trying it, but he tried it and liked it. …And then we spend much of the remainder of their trip going to Twin Cities liquor stores trying to find it (it isn’t in bottles until next year). Good stuff, according to everyone who tried it. I was still drinking my dew. But we did get photos of D.Rough and Rita hanging with the raccoons and hyenas.

I was feeling desserty – which doesn’t happen often. I needed a cannoli from Ole’s Cannoli (pronounced like Oleee, not Olé like in a bullfight – though it still cracks me up when I hear it pronounced that way). I’m man enough to get sprinkles on my dessert – and I’m glad I did. The fried shell of this cannoli was a little thicker than most I’ve had, so it was difficult to break into pieces, but the flavor of it was just right, so I’m not complaining. Also, the mascarpone cheese filling was spot on to the hundreds I’ve had in Italy and Sicily, so kudos to Ole for nailing it!

It was time for beer flights back at the Ag building. The ag building (pronounced “AYG building” in Minnesota)(I got told I wasn’t allowed to make fun of Minnesota accents while AT the MN State Fair – it’s apparently an unwritten law, enforceable by punching) had a huge exhibit on hops since home brewing is so popular now. This also created an absolute madhouse for trying to get tickets and get in line for the beer flights. They had four different sets/flights of beers from Minnesota: Dark, Light, Belgian, and something else I can’t remember. You can’t mix and match, so I went with the Belgians. All were delicious, however, you have no idea what you’re drinking. The cups aren’t labeled at all, so it’s almost pointless, unless you’re only hoping for four small cups of beer for $8. Next year will be better… right guys? Better system? Just a hint…

Teriyaki Ostrich on a stick at Chinatown in the food building. Looked like a meat lollipop, actually. And surprisingly, this was pretty delicious. The meat itself was much better than other ostrich I’ve had (sounds weird to say, but yes, I’ve had other ostrich), but it was better without the teriyaki dipping sauce. We almost went back for more of the ostrich.

D.Rough swears by the cheese curds at the Mouth Trap in the food building. So we scored some. They were better than the curds we had earlier, if only because they were fried a bit longer to get crispy. Delicious.

UncleDumDum had never had lefse before (it’s a potato pancake – a Swedish thing), so he popped in to Lynn’s Potato Lefse and got one filled with lingonberries. I like these things but only enough to eat some if someone offers. I don’t think I’d order one for myself. It’s a little bit dry and could always use more filling in my opinion. But if you’re Swedish, I’ve heard these are the holy grail of lefse. I could take it or leave it.

You’ll notice, up to this point, I haven’t done anything with bacon. I’m not an addict. I can stop anytime I want. I don’t need bacon all the time. That being said, I DOOOO love the bacon on a stick at Big Fat Bacon. So we grabbed one. The bacon is super thick and deep fried. You can also put this delicious chipotle orange glaze on it, which I highly recommend. I really like these, even though they’re nothing fancy. They’re just fantastic.

D.Rough and I tried the sweet corn ice cream last year at Blue Moon. It’s really good, and really weird. But we liked it enough to try it again, since we were near it. This year, we got cayenne peanuts on it, instead of the honey bacon glaze. I like this much better. The ice cream actually has pieces of sweet corn in it, as well as some corn nuts – which is a brilliant touch, I might add. The dish is about the perfect size to split with someone. UncleDumDum wasn’t a big fan, but the rest of us ate it ALLLLLLL.

We passed by Luigi’s and I mentioned they have the best Hot Dago on a Stick ever. UncleDumDum had never had one, so I said it might be worth it (although he should also have a real hot dago sandwich from a restaurant). It was. These things are sooo good here. Garlic breadstick, meatball, garlic breadstick, meatball, garlic breadstick, meatball, garlic breadstick – then cover it all with mozzarella cheese and bake it. Then serve it with marinara sauce. Man, these things are awesome.

Back for more 1919!!! This time, a large.

And another repeat from last year – the Yankee Apple Pie Chocolate Sandwich. The whole things sounds horrific, but it honestly is one of my favorite things to get here. It’s apple pie filling and some chocolate sauce cooked between two slices of bread until toasted. Then cover the thing with powdered sugar (which apparently gets all over your black shirt while eating, especially if it’s windy). I’m glad we got this on the way out of the fair, or I might have gotten two. They’re fantastic.

I think I can safely say we did some damage at the 2012 Minnesota State Fair. I’m not sure if it was amazeballs enough for UncleDumDum to come back and do it again, but I had a blast hanging out with my awesome family. We like to eat, and I’m sure we eased into the five-digit calorie zone for the day. Thankfully, I only let myself do that once a year. Then I start training for next year!!!!!!

Top 5 things at the 2012 Minnesota State Fair
1. Hanging with my sister and brother-in-law
2. Yankee Apple Pie Chocolate Sandwich
3. Hot Dago on a Stick
4. 1919 Root Beer
5. Poutine (especially the cheese curds)

Bottom 5 things
1. Beer flight debacle
2. Lamb Fries – still, I now have bragging rights
3. Camel Burger
4. Scotch Egg
5. Severe lack of cute puppies in the animal barn

Town Hall Brewery – Minneapolis, MN

It has been a while since I’ve reviewed the Town Hall Brewery. Fortunately, it has NOT been a while since I’ve patronized this place. It’s become a pretty regular stop after my evening MBA classes, so I get to visit it pretty regularly.

I won’t go into too much detail, since I’ve reviewed this place before and gave it a rave review. Nothing this place has done in the past two years has made me change my mind about giving it a rave review. They always have fantastic scotch specials and my friends all seem to wax poetic about their home-made craft brews (with the occasional person who complains that they don’t have Blue Moon on their beer menu).

I try to order different things when I get here, but usually stick to a few standards – mainly the Goat Cheese Nachos and the Mashed Potato Pizza. And I switch up the scotch every time I go to try some new things.

This time however, I got the Greek Burger and a glass of Balvenie Rum Cask scotch. It didn’t take long for the food to come out and I was happy with my decision when I saw the burger.The burger has feta on it and is covered with a home made tzatziki sauce. It was just what I pictured (well, maybe a bit more green than I pictured, but still close). The burger itself is cooked perfectly. When I say medium, I expect medium and this was perfect. Just a bit pink on the inside and had some char on the edges. Very juicy. The tzatziki sauce was really flavorful and thankfully the feta wasn’t overpowering like it can be sometime. It was a good mix of differing flavors and a burger I’d definitely get again.

You’d think with it being called a Greek burger, it would have a bunch of olives on it or something, but it didn’t, thankfully. Not my cup of tea. The fries are always pretty good here, so I didn’t leave a single one on my plate.

Still not sure what I’m going to get next time, but I’m guessing I’ll show my face there on the patio in the next week or two, based on my recent track record.

www.townhallbrewery.com

Red Stag Supper Club – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough was having some people over to the house and it was a girls-only event. I was on my own. I thought of about 5 places I could have gone on my own for dinner, however, each of those places would have angered D.Rough had I gone without her. I finally decided on Red Stag since she told me about this awesome mac and cheese dish they were supposed to have. I was down for it, especially since I needed to do some Xmas shopping and wine shopping near there anyway.

I sidled up to the bar since I was flying solo. I didn’t have a great seat and had to sit right behind the beer taps – completely blocking my view of the bartender who was helping me (made it seem like some sort of drunken Catholic confessional deal). But I didn’t mind all that much. I got a great view of the kitchen and all the goings-on back there, which is always exciting to me.

For those of you who haven’t been to the Red Stag, it’s a pretty swanky place. It’s dimly lit (and everything seems to have a red tint to it – but that could just be my mind suggesting that to my eyes due to the name of the place) and has a super high quality menu with tons of wine. It’s an excellent place, even for groups of people. I’ve only been here a couple of times, but it’s always been memorable. It’s also the first LEED-CI registered restaurant in Minneapolis, so they’re environmentally aware, if that’s your thing.

I will warn you, however: The serving and bus staff there appear to have some sort of competition going to see who can show up to work with the most f*$%-ed up and disheveled head of hair. Not styled or anything, but seriously what looks like bed-head. I laughed out loud at couple of times. I’m sure it’s fashionable, but from a sasquatch perspective like my own, I just don’t get it. Thankfully, I’m not above pointing and laughing when I see it – I’d hate for that kind of thing to be bottled up inside me for too long.

Ole the bartender came over and chatted me up a bit. This guy was fantastic. He made flying solo for dinner a treat and made sure I was well taken care of. I started with a Redbreast whiskey – it’s basically Scotch, but it’s from Ireland, so they aren’t allowed to call it scotch. Whatever, it’s delicious. I got a menu for the dinner portion and perused it while sipping my Redbreast. It was fish fry Friday, so they had an auxiliary menu with all kinds of delicious sounding seafood on it.

I asked Ole about the crab cake and he gave me a hilarious description of the size of the thing. It sounded like a good appetizer, so I got that and the aforementioned mac and cheese D.Rough had told me about. I didn’t remember it being Lobster Mac and Cheese, but it was. Ole told me it was delicious and baked in its own crock and I couldn’t go wrong with it. I also needed a glass of wine. Ole suggested a nice sweet Sauvignon Blanc to go with both lighter items and I had him hook me up.

The crab cake came out first and looked fantastic. Healthy portion of crab cake on a swirl of what I think was pea puree and some clover as a garnish. (I have no doubt I’m butchering everything about this, but bear with me). The more crab cakes I have the better I think they are. Seriously, this is one of the best I’ve ever had. Not a hint of fishy-ness and no bits of shell or anything in here. Perfectly pan fried on the outside and very smooth and texturally awesome on the inside. I’d get this again anytime.

As I was finishing the crab cake, the Lobster Mac and Cheese came out. Ole assured me this was the best Mac and Cheese in the Twin Cities (except for the secret one he told me about, which I have just discovered the location of – I’ll be trying that soon). Nice golden crust on the top from it being baked and not too small or large for a dinner-portion. I dug in. and was pleasantly surprised. I’m not a huge lobster fan, so I think I’m biased. The dish was good, but didn’t kick me in the face or anything. I could taste a lot of the lobster, and was frankly missing the cheesy-ness I thought would be there. It’s a béchamel sauce, so it isn’t like a super rich cheese goo that I’m used to. The dish wasn’t dry or anything, but I expect to at least see some cheese in there. The grilled leeks added some crunch to the dish and some texture that isn’t usually there, but that actually helped out in this case. Also, there were pieces of something – I’m assuming they were lobster – that absolutely reminded me of scrambled eggs. I honestly don’t say that in a bad way – in fact, it was awesome. I’m actually going to try working scrambled eggs into my next batch of homemade mac and cheese. Even if that wasn’t what it was, it sounds delicious to try to recreate. Again, I’m not a huge lobster fan, so that probably tainted my description a bit (as did the pieces of shell I crunched on and picked out of my mouth – tactfully).

Both dishes were presented extremely well and were of appropriate proportions. I got perfectly full and had some delicious beverages. Frankly, I’m not a mac and cheese connoisseur or anything, but I still like the mac and cheese at Seven that has the truffle oil in it. That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about fancy mac and cheese.

Overall, I really love the Red Stag. Generally, I would go for a nice steak (and pay a lot for it), but flying solo, I got to try some things I wouldn’t normally. This is a fantastic restaurant in Northeast Minneapolis, and I look forward to going again. And seriously, if you sit at the bar and are lucky enough to get Ole as a bartender, you’ll be treated well.

Top 5 things about Red Stag Supper Club
1. Crab cake
2. Ole the bartender
3. Fantastic menu – and it changes, so keep an eye on it
4. Ambience of the restaurant
5. The kitchen is pretty wide open so you can see everything that goes on

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s fairly pricey – not an every night kind of place (at least for someone like me)
2. Parking, especially in a snowstorm, isn’t the easiest
3. Unless you’re eating at the bar (and there’s a spot open), you’re going to have to wait – it’s worth it though
4. Lobster Mac and Cheese didn’t amaze me – keep in mind, I’m not a lobster guy – unless I’ve been out in the sun too long
5. There are always 15 other things on the menu I want to try when I go here. The menu is awesome (technically should not be in the bottom 5, I know)

www.redstagsupperclub.com

W.A. Frost and Company – St. Paul, MN

This will be a long review – I just warning you now… It was St. Patrick’s Day and D.Rough and I didn’t feel up to dealing with amateur drinkers this night. We had both purchased Groupons for W.A. Frost and were looking forward to going there and using one. We had been to Frost for some afternoon drinking (and she had gotten a sandwich from there for lunch once), but we hadn’t experienced the dinner atmosphere there and we heard it was pretty nice. It was a beautiful night, so we walked from her place (after pounding a couple of Jameson and Baileys each – yeah, mixed together – told you we weren’t in the mood for amateurs).

The inside of W. A. Frost is really nice. Not swanky snooty nice, but classy and warm nice. Dim lighting, without being mafia-dark or happy-cheery. Just elegant. I ordered a scotch while D.Rough powdered her nose and scanned the menu while I waited. Glenrothes 1991 – one of the best scotches I’ve ever tasted. I will be buying a bottle or three of this – wow. I already knew what I wanted food-wise, which I will explain in a second, but I wanted to see what other things they had, check out the specials, and see if I could figure out what D. Rough would order. There are lots of tasty sounding things on the menu, but I kept looking at the "Chef's tasting menu". 6 courses of amazing-sounding food. When D.Rough returned, I casually mentioned she should at least LOOK at the chef's tasting menu before deciding on something.

The reason I knew what I wanted was due to the fact that D.Rough e-mailed me earlier that day with an excited message about one of the dishes containing Kabocha Squash – my favorite squash in the world. What? You’ve never heard of kabocha squash? Weird. Hahahaha. We came across kabocha squash in a bag of Terra Chips (those dehydrated vegetable crisps that are marginally good for you). I loved them and they’re super colorful. Well, one of the dishes on the menu was a variety of pork served with pureed kabocha squash. SOLD!

D.Rough went back and forth on the 6 course meal and we were worried I’d be eating by myself for a part of the meal (and that it would be a lot of food). We asked the waitress (Elise, who is awesome) when she came back if they could space out my meal pieces to align with the 6 courses and she assured me they do it all the time. So to make things simple, D.Rough got the chef's tasting menu (which I will go into detail on)(and which we knew we would be sharing most of anyway) and I ordered the Potato Wrapped Quail Roulade, a salad of Winter Lettuces (NOT pronounced Lay-TOO-chays, despite my insistence), and I ordered the Trio of Minnesota Duroc Pork (since 2010 is the “Year of Three”). I commented on how excited I was to have the kabocha squash (yes, I’m THAT guy), and Elise said she’d never heard of it before seeing it here and was surprised that I even knew what it was. We explained the Terra Chips thing and she wrote it down and is going to try them herself. We rule. A nice glass of Malbec (Argentina) for the lady, and a nice glass of Pinotage (South Africa) for myself.

The first course arrived and apparently, we both got one, so I was excited. It was a tiny cup of soup, but it was really quality. It was an Apple-Celery Root Soup with Smoked Star Prairie Farms Trout, Julienne Radish, and Dill Oil. I’m not normally a seafood guy of any sort, but I love to try things. D.Rough assured me smoked fish is more palatable to haters like me and she was dead on – she’s a foodie and knows things about things. I really liked the soup as a whole and even the fish bits (which weren’t large or numerous). Very good texture, and the dill oil was a nice finishing piece to this soup. Excellent starter to the night (actually, the amazing scotch was the best starter, but we’re talking about food now).

The next dish was my Potato Wrapped Manchester Farms Quail Roulade and D.Rough’s Crisp Roasted Duck Confit. Mine first. First off, beautiful presentation on the plate. I don’t usually notice, but it was masterful. Three quail pieces wrapped up in a thin crispy potato roll (again, the Year of Three). I’m not sure if it’s a strip of potato that’s been fried or what, but it was delicious. It came with oven roasted grapes, tangerine-frisee salad and a ruby port reduction. Amazing flavor wrapped in a crispy bacon-inspired wrap. Seriously good appetizer.

The duck confit was even better though, if you can believe it. Medjool Date and Stickney Hills Farms Chevere Tartlet and Moroccan Vinaigrette. It appeared small on the large plate, but I remembered she had 4 more courses coming, so I wasn’t too alarmed. She had one bite and proclaimed “This is F’N GOOD!” She gave me a bite and I reluctantly agreed hers was better than mine – and mine was delicious. Really juicy duck with all kinds of other flavors going on from the chevre tartlet. The best duck I’ve ever had was in Paris… until now. W.A. Frost, you win.

The next course came out and looked great. Mine was a selection of winter lettuces, sliced pears, glazed walnuts, Stickney Hills goat cheese, medjool dates, and sherry vinaigrette. This was a serious salad (even though I got the smaller size). It was also really delicious and a great mix of flavors and textures.

D.Rough’s next dish was Pan Roasted Diver Caught Sea Scallops with Crispy Hidden Streams Farms Pork Belly Confit, Apple-Madeira Puree, Broccoli Rabe, and a Jalapeno Vinaigrette. D.Rough tried the pork belly confit first and really liked it a lot. Then she tried the scallop next and really liked that. Then she tried both and I recall hearing even more swearing about how amazing the food was. I was fortunate enough to get a couple bites of this dish and it truly was awesome. Great mix of flavors with the soft insides of the scallops and the crispiness of the seared part and then combined with the saltiness of the pork belly confit – simply brilliant.


The big meals came out and we probably heard some sort of “Eye of the Tiger” theme music in our heads as the fanfare (actually, D.Rough probably heard Lady GaGa in her head, but we won’t judge, will we?...). D.Rough’s dish was a Duo of All Natural Angus Beef – a grilled New York Strip Steak, Braised Short Ribs, Yukon Gold Potato Puree, Sauteed Escarole, and Beet Jus. She started with the NY Strip and we were both pleasantly surprised at how good this was. Really tender and juicy and pink without being bloody or chewy. Great pieces of meat. The better part was the short ribs – absolutely fell apart when you touched it with a fork. We didn’t get steak knives here and now we know why. You don’t need them to cut anything. Perfectly cooked short ribs and we’d both order these again anytime.

I will try not to ramble on about my own dish, but it’s going to be difficult. The reason I got it was clearly the kabocha squash portion. In fact, I don’t even think I looked to see what the different pork dishes were going to be. I just now realized that… hmm. Anyway, here’s what I got – Roasted Tenderloin, Belly Confit, Crispy Pulled Pork Strudel, Cassoulet of Giganda Beans, Kabocha Squash Puree, Sauteed Escarole, and Sherry Gastrique. This was one of the best dishes I’ve ever had. Everything about it was brilliant. The tenderloin was amazingly moist and tasty. The pork belly was cooked to perfection – crispy with a tiny bit of fat for flavor. And the small wrap things (which “someone” referred to as Taquitos! – which was hilariously accurate) were the pulled pork strudel. I’ve never had pork prepared this way and I don’t think anything will ever compare to it. It was exactly how pork should always be prepared now. Light crispy shell on the outside with super flavorful meat on the inside. Simply amazing.

The next course for D.Rough was a cheese plate that we split. It was Fourme d’Ambert, with a Bitter Orange Marmalade, Micro Greens, Lavasch, Glazed Walnuts, and Garden Farme Honey. It was almost a mild bleu cheese and tasted really quite light and good. I preferred to eat mine with the micro greens (which were a cross between clover and sprouts) and flat bread, but D.Rough liked hers with the honey and marmalade. This was a nice light refresher before dessert. Yes, we still have one course left.

The dessert was a Trio of Mini Desserts (again, the Year of Three – sense a pattern here?). There was an Organic Carrot Cake, Classic Crème Brulee, and Chocolate Fudge Cake with Coconut Ice Cream on top. We split the Crème Brulee between the both of us as we are both fans. It was awesome and of course the most fun part is bustin’ through the crystallized sugar on the top – which D.Rough does a splendid job at. I got more of the carrot cake and was really happy with it. It was quite good (although, the carrot cake that D.Rough’s mother made may have been slightly better). D.Rough seemed to like the chocolate fudge cake more than I did, so she took care of most of that.

The wait staff was very attentive to us the entire time. The water boy/server reminded me of Justin Timberlake and was pretty good at explaining what each dish he brought us was made up of. He was a very good server. On the downside, whenever he would come back and take our plates, he’d make comments about how impressed he was that we finished everything on the plate. EVERY TIME. It’s not like we’re gluttonous sows or anything, but comments like that are cute once, then they’re borderline rude. Still amusing, but rude. The waitress seemed genuinely glad to serve us (probably because we’re not stuffy old white people) and said so after the meal. She was really good herself and made sure we had everything we needed. Thank you, Elise!

I’m REALLY glad we walked to dinner as we were absolutely stuffed to the gills after this enormous meal. Yes, like uncomfortable-stuffed. It was worth it though. We went home and kept complaining about how much we ate and how it would be months before we could eat that much again. Then we’d talk about how awesome the food was and how we’re looking forward to going back with the other Groupon that we have – hahahaha. Seriously, go to W.A. Frost and Company. It doesn’t matter if it’s for an afternoon drink In the bar or lounge downstairs, or for lunch on the awesome patio, or for a painfully large gorge-session in the dining room. You will not be disappointed at all. It is top notch.


Top 5 things about W.A. Frost and Company
1. Trio or Minnesota Duroc Pork
2. Crisp Roasted Duck Confit
3. Potato Wrapped Manchester Farms Quail Roulade
4. Duo of All Natural Angus Beef
5. No drunken d-bags dining with us on St. Patrick’s Day

Bottom 5 things
1. It’s a tad pricey, even with a $50 Groupon, we still hit well into the triple-digits – still worth every cent
2. Comments about us finishing everything on the plate – doesn’t everyone? Why would we leave awesome food?
3. The snooty people behind us talking complaining about his wife sitting in a box at the Wild game or about his crotch scar from his angioplasty, or any number of annoying loud conversations
4. The patio is ALMOST ready to be opened for eating
5. D.Rough lives too close to W.A. Frost for us to adequately walk off the amount of food we consumed by the time we got home. If she lived in Wisconsin, we might have been comfortable when we got home

www.wafrost.com