B-52 Burgers and Brew – Inver Grove Heights, MN

I had a free night, so I headed to a place I had meant to go to for some time – B-52. I really wasn’t sure what to expect, aside from a serious burger menu. The restaurant is located right next to a movie theater that I’ve attended frequently, so it isn’t usually far from my mind.

The inside was different than I expected. From the outside, it looks like an medium-scale place, like a more affordable Granite City or Pittsburgh Blue. But once inside, it is much more low-brow than that. It’s really dark inside with some dark wood, and almost… I hesitate to say… divey (but a comfortable divey). It’s 1000% a sports bar, however. In fact, you know how in Vegas, all the booths in a place face the band’s stage? B-52 is like that, but all the booths face a wall full of television screens. MANY screen. You can’t look anywhere in the place and not accidentally view some sort of sports. While I was there, I was fortunate enough to see the Lady Gophers, the state hockey tournament, Minnesota Wild, some baseball game from last season, and a half dozen other sports. If you aren’t into sports, then this is NOT your place – be forewarned. To their credit, it isn’t particularly loud or dirty or anything, just really dark and set up like no restaurant I’ve ever been to.

The menu has a lot of things happening. Lots of wraps, fried appetizers, flatbreads, bigger entrees, and of course burgers. Lots of burgers. Also, they have a mac and cheese of the week – which I was tempted to get, but felt I owed it to the place to give them a burger review. They also have a Friday night all you can eat fish fry that I REALLY wanted, but still went with the burger. Next time, I’m going fish fry. Additionally, I was a little bummed at their beer selection. It’s got “brew” in the title of the place, but they had a pretty white bread selection of the standards. Not much local and not much weird.

I needed about 90% of the burgers on the list, but finally decided on the B-52. It’s got roasted jalapenos, banana peppers, pepper jack cheese, chipotle mayo, and B-52 sauce. I saw they had “the Mother of All Burgers” on the menu, which is a pile of stuff with 2 pounds of burger between a giant bun, but I wasn’t in the mood to die this particular evening. I also decided on sweet potato fries, since I’m always a big fan.

There was some interesting entertainment aside from that on the TVs in the place, so I enjoyed myself listening to a relationship end, a bunch of d-bags talk smack about their girlfriends who were sitting next to them, and a particular couple trying to do karaoke to the sound of the music on the sound system in the restaurant. Sound like every night is an enjoyable time at B-52.

The food came out and despite the dark, it looked pretty good. The bun is branded with the signature B-52 logo – a classy touch that I enjoy. There were also a handful of pickle slices which were REALLY thick cut and tasty. I was also amazed at the amount of sweet potato fries that were included here. Almost the amount you give someone to prove they can’t finish them – almost. There were a ton.

The burger itself was pretty good. Not in the Top 5 in the world, but pretty darn good. The combination of ingredients was fantastic and the meat was flavorful without being greasy. The ratio of toppings to burger and bun was spot-on, as well. There was a good amount of spice, but not enough to make me sweat (again, I’m not originally from Minnesota, so I actually do have a developed spice tolerance). Great work on the burger.

The sweet potato fries were great. They had good seasoning to them and were not floppy, nor crispy. Perfectly cooked. The seasoned mayo/sour cream that came with to dip made everything that much better, also. It was difficult to not blow through the small-ish container they gave me, but next time, I will ask for two. There are a lot of fries, and I hate holding back on my fry coverage.

Overall, I had a pretty darn good meal here. The server made sure I was well taken care of and didn’t even mock me for coming in solo. Looking around, I wasn’t the only one. I’m looking forward to heading back to this place before or after a movie sometime. Maybe on a Friday night when they have the fish fry or when they have some awesome mac and cheese special. It’s worth the trip from the Downtown area, if that’s where you’re at. Lots of things to choose from. But again, be forewarned, this place is a sport bar on crack.

Top 5 things about B-52 Burgers and Brew
1. Sweet potato fries and dip (amount and flavor)
2. B-52 burger
3. Really good menu with a lot of options
4. Really friendly staff
5. If you like sports, I’ll give you the fifth slot on the Top 5

Bottom 5 things
1. If you don’t like sports, I’ll give you the number 1 spot on the Bottom 5
2. It’s realllly dark in there
3. visually distracting with all the televisions showing every sport in the known universe
4. The B-52 war-time imagery that the place is named for is very much lost on the walls due to the televisions
5. Lackluster beer menu, considering “brew” is in its name

www.b52burgersandbrew.com

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

Big Daddy’s Bar and Grill – Indianapolis, IN

I did what I normally do before I go check out a city I hadn’t been to in a while. I hopped online and did some food research. I ended up finding this amazing blog - Indy Restaurant Scene - that had some great recommendations. I scrolled down until I found a listing for breaded pork tenderloins (the national dish of Indianapolis, unless you’re from Indianapolis). It suggested we go check out Big Daddy’s for a serious-sized tenderloin. In fact, I tricked a couple of roller derby significant others to come with me and have lunch before the derby action got started. ZackTorture, Slam, MommasBoy, and I piled into the car and headed out to gorge ourselves.
When we arrived, there wasn’t a single car in the parking lot – uh oh. Fortunately, when we tried the door (which claims a two drink minimum – seriously), it was open.
We headed inside and grabbed a table. It’s a nicely lit bar and not at all scary, like we had suspected. There are all sorts of interesting household items made into guitars hanging on the walls, so those of us whoe were musicians were pretty amused by it all. The really nice waitress came over and took our drink orders. I asked about Strongbow cider and she told me they didn’t have it, but they had this other new kind of cider. She handed me a table tent thing with an ad on it. It looked like it was being marketed to 6 year old girls. REALLY. So of COURSE I was going to try it. I love girly drinks. I got to choose between peach, strawberry, watermelon, and original flavors. I went with original.

She came back with the drinks and the guys started mocking. Really mocking. I had to admit, it was pretty wussy-looking in its metal bottle with cartoons all over it. It even said “apple wine” on the side of the bottle. REALLY wussy. I tried it and was not impressed. It was amazingly watered down – even lighter than Crispin cider, which I think is almost undrinkable. Very little flavor and no texture at all to it. I was going to drink this as fast as possible and get something else. It’s pretty clear this drink was designed by creepy old guys to lure underage girls into getting loaded and needing a “ride home”, since it has the same ABV as regular cider.

She took our orders and we explained we had heard about these giant tenderloins. She put three of us down for them and told us she’d be right back. ZackTorture had already eaten lunch, so he was just going to drink straight through. The waitress returned pretty quickly with our food.
The food is gigantic. Epic. Colossal. And any other big words you can think of. The tenderloin is beaten really thin and breaded with Corn Flake crumbs to make it sweet. But it is also served on a platter on top of two buns you have to hunt for to utilize. Yes, served on a platter, not a plate. It’s BIG. One of the most hilarious things about this is all three of us ate our pork-T’s differently. MommasBoy folded his in half, threw it on the bun, and went for speed.
Slam went with a tri-fold (I’m not kidding) on a bun, so his was triple thick and triple crunchy. I left mine on my plate and pulled chunks off around the outside until I hit the bun, then I put the single-thick portion that was left on the bun, heavily ketchup-ed it, and finished mine off.

I had also finished my children’s cider, so I ordered a straight Jack Daniels. The guys said it almost redeemed me in their eyes to drink such a manly drink. That was all I asked.

I know the review I had read online complained a little bit about the tenderloin being dry, but mine wasn’t at all. It wasn’t juicy like the one I had the previous day, but it was moist and had a great flavor and crunch, especially for how flat they had pounded this thing. It was reallllly thin. The hand-breading is what makes this thing. It’s breaded with corn flake crumbs which makes it just the slightest bit sweet and VERY crunchy. I really liked this breaded pork tenderloin a lot. The onion rings are also enormous – well, they’re very thick, anyway. They’re not freakishly large onions or anything, they’re just cut thick and battered really well.

MommasBoy and I finished our sandwiches. It was a struggle, which is saying something since I can eat a lot of food. Slam did some damage to his, but was unable to finish it up. And in case you’re wondering, yes, this IS very heavy food and you’ll want to take a nap immediately. You will NOT feel up to going to roller derby, painting your face, jumping up and down, and yelling for the next four hours. …Sigh… we did it anyway.

Big Daddy’s is a fun place and we were treated really well there. I’m really very curious as to something on the menu called the “Tenderloin for Two”. Was it twice as large as the single one, or is it just served with two sets of buns? I should have asked. Either way, the menu is pretty extensive and you really can’t go wrong with a breaded pork tenderloin. I’d recommend it!

Top 5 things about Big Daddy’s
1. Giant breaded pork tenderloin
2. Onion rings
3. Enormous menu
4. Really awesome staff
5. We capitalized on the two drink minimum

Bottom 5 things
1. Oliver Bean Blossom Hard Cider
2. You can still smoke in here (thankfully no one was)
3. Indescribable food coma
4. No Heinz ketchup in this town anywhere
5. I only got four onion rings and I couldn’t finish them… weak

Big Daddy’s Bar and Grill
2536 S Meridian St
Indianapolis, IN 46225

Joe Senser’s Restaurant & Sports Theater – Bloomington, MN

Yes, that’s really what it is called.

How have I never heard of this place? It’s been rated by Sports Illustrated and ESPN's Cold Pizza as one of the “premier sports bars in the country.” Everyone I suggested this place to from my work group had all heard of it as well. Maybe it’s because I don’t typically go to sports bars nor actually care the slightest bit about most sports. Maybe it’s not so weird I’ve never heard of this place…

After the mini-golf work-funded teambuilding exercise, a large group of us (25 or so) headed to Joe Senser’s for a quick happy hour. I got there later than other people and didn’t have a chance to peruse the menu, so I got a simple Jack and coke. While waiting, I had a chance to look at the menu and realized I made a mistake. A serious mistake. This place has INCREDIBLE girly drinks on the menu. Tons of fruity drinks made with Monster energy drink. A whole list of shots made with Monster energy drink. Tons of fruity daiquiri/pina colada combinations. And lot of other drinks that I would be mocked for drinking in public.

The waiter was a little weirded out that I ordered a second drink when he set my Jack and coke down on the table. Whatever. Just punch it into your little computer and bring it out. The Jack and coke was fine – difficult to screw that drink up, really. But I ordered a Liquid Butterfinger. This is a drink with Kahlua, vanilla cream, some other liquors and crumbled butterfinger candy bar on top. It looks like a milkshake. And it’s awesome. Yes, I DID get mocked, but it’s been happening for years, so I don’t even care. I got what I needed.

Our table ordered a whole bunch of appetizers which I chose to pick at since I was going to be eating ribs with LowVee immediately after leaving Joe Senser’s. We got onion rings (decent), waffle fries (decent), nachos (really good), flatbread pizza (really good), and cheese quesadillas (decent). But seriously, the food totally pales in comparison to the girly drink menu.

What’s troublesome is now that I know this place is 15 blocks from my house, how will I talk myself out of stopping here all the time for my own private happy hour after work…?

Top 5 things about Joe Senser’s Restaurant and Sports Theater
1. AMAZING girly drink repertoire
2. Liquid Butterfinger
3. Flatbread pizza
4. The name of this place is hilarious
5. It is REALLY close to my house

Bottom 5 things
1. Happy Hour still isn’t as happy without Gerd
2. I ordered a standard drink and an awesome drink instead of two awesome. If only I had taken my time.
3. I didn’t take any photos of the Liquid Butterfinger
4. Vegetarians at my table = no meat for miles
5. I can’t see a Big Buck Hunter game without thinking of Coach (that’s a whole other story)

www.sensers.com

JJ’s Clubhouse – Golden Valley, MN

Coach, KingDavid, WiseCracker, and I needed to eat since we all hurt from laughing. Seriously – hurt. When I was at Major’s earlier that week, I drove past JJ’s Clubhouse and wanted to try it. I had never been there before, so I thought.

When Coach asked where it was, I told him it was near where we stayed when we all met for a ball game in 2007 in Minneapolis. When we got closer, I realized it’s exactly where we stayed in 2007 and we did in fact eat there the morning after an all-night Wii marathon in the hotel next door. So I had been there. I’m a moron sometimes.

Anyway, the menu had a lot of bar-type sandwiches on it and we all found something to eat. I ended up with a Cajun Pork Tenderloin and a bowl of chili. It just sounded right. The chili was better than a lot of chili I’ve had at restaurants. Cheese covered and served with crackers. It had chunks of steak in it and was a little bit spicy – without being too much to handle. The tenderloin was seasoned with some spicy goodness and came with two slices of pepperjack cheese on it. Awesome combination. The sandwich was spicy and flavorful and juicy. A couple of stringy parts, but you’ll have that when you’re eating a pork tenderloin. Didn’t matter – it was still really good. My lips were tingling a half hour after eating it, but not in a bad way. I’d get this sandwich again without question.

Coach was impressed by how serious Minnesotans are about their pull tabs (gambling for people too cheap to buy scratch-off tickets). The money goes to good causes like youth hockey, so Minnesotans are serious about it. They have lottery/pull tab booths full time in bars. Very serious.

I’d go back to JJ’s anytime. And the beauty of it is with my lack of short-term memory, I won’t even remember I’ve been there in 6 months. That works to my advantage, I think.

Top 5 things about JJ’s Clubhouse
1. Cajun Pork Tenderloin
2. Chili
3. Good sized menu
4. Kept the refills coming
5. The onion rings looked good – too bad WiseCracker wasn’t in a sharing mood – ha ha ha

Bottom 5 things
1. They have screwdriver specials on Saturday and Sunday mornings, but not Thursday afternoons
2. Slow service
3. Seemed to be a lot of kitchen staff sitting around the dining room
4. Difficult to find off a frontage road from I-394
5. Coke products – no Dew

www.jjsclubhousemn.com

Major’s Sports Café – Golden Valley, MN

I went to a quick business lunch at Major’s on the recommendation of the gentleman that set up the meeting. I hadn’t ever heard of it, but I’m always up for new places. It’s kind of a sports bar atmosphere mixed with casual restaurant. Lots of TVs with various sports but generally a clean and nice restaurant environment. Kind There is a formal dining room section, a sports café section, and a standard bar section. Good thinking, designers – well played.

The staff was super helpful and explained the lunch specials, which were pretty diverse for a sports bar. The menu itself was pretty large as well, so I was sure to find something to eat and not starve. I wasn’t in the mood (nor did I have time) to gorge myself, so I opted for something off the lunch menu. I decided to go with the shredded pork chimichanga. I know, bad move, never order Mexican food at a sports bar. But based on the lack of quality Mexican food in the Twin Cities, I didn’t figure it could be that bad, right?

We chatted about business and such (sounds important doesn’t it? – it might be – time will tell) and the food actually came out pretty quick. Since it was a business lunch, I decided not to whip out the camera phone and snap a photo – my apologies. The chimi was pretty generous for lunch and looked delicious. Lots of melty (real) cheese on top and I found myself looking forward to this one. The meat inside was cooked perfectly and had a god mix of black beans, pork, and more melty white cheese inside. It was pretty good. And for a sports bar in Minnesota, it was great.

I’ll not balk at going here in the future. It’s not really close to me, but if someone decides that’s where we should go, I won’t complain (even though they had Coke products). It might not be top of my list of places to bring out-of-town guests, but it was pretty good for lunch.

Top 5 things about Major’s
1. Pork Chimichanga
2. Sports weren’t rammed down my throat (I’m not a sports bar kind of guy)
3. Nice environment for a business lunch
4. Super friendly staff
5. Quality selections on the menu

Bottom 5 things
1. Probably can’t get in there and out of there in under an hour (I wasn’t even close, but I was yapping)
2. Off a frontage road and parking lot is weird to get to
3. My Mexican rice was a little bland
4. Coke products
5. I didn’t get offered a job at the business lunch – ha ha ha (totally NOT the fault of Major’s)

www.majorssportscafe.com

Corner Bar – Minneapolis, MN

After a brutal class last night, some guys decided it was drinkin’ time. We had hit up Town Hall Brewery last week, so we decided we didn’t want to walk as far to drink, so we only made it as far as the Corner Bar (which is directly across the street from the Town Hall Brewery). I had heard they had a decent menu, so I figured why not.

The inside is a standard sports bar with crap tons of televisions (mostly showing the same boring baseball game). The inside isn’t noisy, but there weren’t a lot of people there on a Wednesday night. There were people, but there were empty tables as well. We checked out the menu, which said something being new and found lots of stuff to eat. The appetizers were the same price as the sandwiches, so the other guys ended up splitting some wings and a pitcher of beer and I got a meatball sandwich with onion rings and a jack and coke.

The food came out pretty fast and looked awesome. The meatball sub was smaller than I expected, but I might be spoiled by my hometown meatball sandwich place in Illinois where they’re huge. But lots of onion rings came with it, so I won’t complain. I got full. (And it was too dark to take a photo). The meatball sammich was actually, very good. Great pizza sauce and the meatballs tasted like actual meat. The onion rings were tasty, but there more undone spots than usual, so there were some batter issues clearly. The jack and coke (or however many I had) were the regular drinking glass kind, not the tiny glass kind, which is always an added bonus. Apparently, when I go out with people now, there seems to be some drink-spillage problems. Even though I'm not the spillee, I seem to be around a lot when it happens recently.

The bill was quite a bit more than I expected, but I guess maybe they take full advantage of the full-size drinks (since I took advantage of the full-size drinks). But the food was good and it’s close enough to walk to when I’ve had a rough night at class.

Top 5 things about the Corner Bar
1. Tasty sub
2. Full size jack and cokes
3. Lots of onion rings
4. You could hear your tablemates
5. Decent sized menu for a bar

Bottom 5
1. Gerd would have gone out for drinks after class (and she would have swiped my pickle – no that’s not code)
2. Sub was a tad small
3. Onion rings still had some doughy spots
4. It was waay more expensive than I thought
5. Most of the “new appetizers” were wings of some sort

www.thecornerbar.net

Vacation - Day 4 – San Diego, CA

We awoke without hangovers – always a good sign. We grabbed breakfast at the Eggery – a place our friends thought would suit us well. We will admit we were a tad bummed we didn’t get to eat on the water like one of the party people recommended to us, but the food was fine, so we’re not complaining at all. We took a quick walk on the boardwalk of the beach. Mostly this was because Gerd tried to buy a Dew at the mini mart next to the restaurant and then flipped out because it was taking too long. She hadn’t had a Dew in a like two days and she was at the end of the rope. We found a 7-11 for her and things were fine after that. Did I mention I hate sand but love bikinis? – That’s so tough for me to handle… ha ha ha.

We hopped in the Commander and drove to some cross on a hill. I don’t remember what it was or what it stood for, but I knew mom would be happy we did it. Then we drove to some really cool and open public park with a view. People were barbequing and it smelled awesome.

Gerd and I then drove to Encinitas to my friend Jill’s house. I got Encinitas Mixed up with Escondido – not a smart move, dingleberry. On the way, Gerd and I had the continuation of the pee-wee golf challenge, this time at Pelly’s Mini-golf at the Del Mar Golf Center. It was supposed to be a super cool miniature golf course, but it ended up being kind of lame. Although, I did win by a LARGE margin after dropping a couple holes-in-one.

Jill’s got a LARGE American bulldog who drools and talks. He’ll make the most hilarious talking noises and we all kept laughing. Apparently Jill’s BF doesn’t like it when he talks, but we kept doing it anyway since it was funny. The dog is also allergic to everything – lamb, chicken, rice, skittles, small children. So he got a healthy dose of hamburger and carrots for dinner. Looked kind of tasty actually.

Jill is in a band, so we went to go see her practice in Oceanside. She plays in a warehouse behind a sports bar – the Tremont Street Grill, so we ate there. I had a Cajun burger and some Cajun fries and Gerd ended up with a salad of some sort. The food was pretty good for bar food, but I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to eat there. Gerd mentioned the bartender had a nice rack (I TOLD you I was putting that in here) – I of course didn’t notice (wink, wink).

We watched band practice for a couple of hours – they were working in a new drummer (who was hilarious). They played mostly covers and couple of originals. It was a long day and Gerd was falling asleep – as was Jill’s BF. The band is a great bunch of guys – just need a couple more practices under their belt before they hit the big time. The best part was they were older guys and they were drinking drinks that made MY drinks look manly. Like Mandarin Vodka and Raspberry Mike’s Lemonade. Ha ha ha.

We took the scenic route home on Pacific Coast Highway, even though it was dark. It was still a beautiful drive home. Quaint little beach towns and some neat shopping areas interspersed with areas with LOTS of money.

Top 5 things
1. Bikinis
2. I rule at mini golf
3. Pacific Coach Highway – even in the dark
4. Got to see Jill
5. Jill’s band’s drummer is hilarious

Bottom 5 things
1. Still the sand thing
2. Peewee golf place
3. Gerd’s Dew freakout
4. Didn’t get to eat breakfast on the water
5. Encinitas is not just a mispronunciation of Escondido

http://www.delmargolfcenter.com/minigolf.htm
http://www.tremontstreetbarandgrill.com

Gameworks – Minneapolis, MN

I’m embarrassed I’ve never to bee to a place like this as an adult. I’ve been to Chuck E. Cheese, Showbiz, Razzmatazz, and Tex Critters, but never Gameworks or Dave & Busters. So it was time to go I guess.

We grabbed a bite to eat in the restaurant to make an evening of it. Curt, our host was an awesome guy and Corey, our waiter was awesome as well. Both super helpful and not pushy. Corey hooked us up with an appetizer sampler which had Thai rolls, chicken strips, cheese sticks, and Tater skins on it. All were good, though Gerd wasn’t a fan of the Thai rolls. I liked em fine for cracker Thai. My standards are low though.

Gerd had a Caesar salad for her meal since the app was pretty big. I got a half slab of ribs. They weren’t great ribs, but they were passable. Better then Appleby’s or Chili’s though. But the best part is the availability of Mt. Dew there – awwww yeah.

We finished and went upstairs for some bowling. I performed miserably in all honesty. We played four games next to a bachelorette party of trixies. It was a pretty eclectic crowd overall. After 10pm, they throw out all the kids under 21, so it clears out momentarily. Then the club people show up to play games and drink.

We finished up bowling and hit the bar for a quick sit-down before playing more video games. They have some pretty good girly drinks, honestly. All kinds of stuff with ice cream in it, which ruled. Though our bartender, She-ra (yes that was her name) thought I was a girl when she strolled up. ha ha. Gerd and I shot some hoops (and I won) and we played some Arctic Thunder (which is one of Gerd’s all-time favorite games). She schooled me on that game, but I came back to tie it up with a round of something-or-other car racing. We played some House of the Dead 4 and Hydro Thunder (the aquatic version of Artic Thunder). And we played enough skiball to win tickets for some Mike and Ikes (Coach’s favorite).

We left feeling like 14 year olds, and will probably be back. I’d like to hit up Dave & Buster’s to see the difference, so I’ll let you know how that is.

Top 5 things about Gameworks
1. Bowling with black lights
2. Girly drinks
3. Arctic thunder
4. Bachelorette party
5. The card system for paying for games rules

Bottom 5 things
1. Juggalos
2. Gerd got upset because the basketball game took her money but wouldn’t let her play
3. Far too many Golden Tee games
4. I’m terrible at video games
5. The place can get packed on a weekend night

http://www.gameworks.com/locations/minneapolis.php

Jake’s – Eden Prairie, MN

I love Jake’s – I’ll just come right out and say it. I’ve been to this place a couple of times and have always had good luck there. Gerd decided we need to go there, so she could watch football on Sunday. Being in Viking country doesn’t lend itself to viewing the Bears on television every Sunday. While Jake’s isn’t technically a sports bar, we knew they had tvs and showed a bunch of games on Sundays.

We planned to sit at the bar, order some drinks and appetizers and park ourselves for a couple of hours. When we got there, we remembered they had a Sunday brunch. And it looked mighty tasty… We totally caved and went with the brunch.

This thing had fruits, cinnamon and caramel rolls, eggs, juevos, eggs benedict, sausage, bacon, salmon, cheesy hashbrowns, beef brisket, gravy, fried chicken, gravy, garlic mashed taters, and omelets made to order. Really, you’d be a moron NOT to get this if you’re there on a Sunday morning. We now had the opportunity to eat as much as we wanted and still watch the game.

The best thing about Jake’s is the girly drink menu. It’s one of the best I’ve come across. I’ve probably had 12-15 different drinks there and most of them are quite tasty and unique. Lots of fruity and pink drinks with fruit and flags in them – wurd. The best one is the Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini – it’s brilliant. I will soon begin making pitchers of these at my house. I usually have the barkeep put my martinis in a normal glass to preserve SOME aspect of my heterosexuality.

We had to reposition ourselves in front of the correct TV to watch the Bears, but we eventually found it. We were facing, across the bar, Vikings fans that were quite amusing. And across the room, the Packer fans congregated like one big happy dysfunctional family gathering. It was fun. I’ve never gone to a sports bar for football, but I know why people do it now. It truly was fun. I also know far more about football than I ever have before. I still don’t care about the drama between teams, but I like the game all the same.

Bottom line – go to Jake’s for Sunday football, or for seriously good food. They have great drinks and great appetizers as well if you’re looking for a fun place after work.

Top 5 things about Jake’s
1. Girly drinks!
2. Sunday brunch
3. All the appetizers
4. Great atmosphere/decor
5. Staff are all great

Bottom 5 things
1. Bears were not shown on a large screen, angering Gerd
2. Too cold for the awesome patio Jake’s has during warmer months
3. If you sit in the wrong spot, you’ll be watching the guy’s head next to you at the bar
4. I did not get to see Gerd’s “monkey arms” when she yells “Bears” at opposing football drunks
5. After 4 girly drinks, I needed a nap

http://www.jakescitygrille.com