Bar-B-Quest 2011 UPSET!!!!!!

A few months back, HotGirlsBrother and I were pretty upset to find out that C. G. Hooks BBQ was delicious. We were upset because A) the restaurant is quite a drive from either of our places and B) C.G. was up against our number one seed, Lee’s & Dee’s. Neither of these things should upset us at all. The ribs are simply amazing at both places.

Since that time, there have been numerous conference calls, spreadsheets, graphs and charts, and tears shed over who was going to come out on top during this particular battle. And it WAS a battle.

HotGirlsBrother and I love Lee’s & Dee’s. In fact, L&D’s has been a game changer for both of us since we first tried it a few years back. We’ve recommended it to everyone that asks about ribs (and a few that didn’t ask about ribs). The ribs there are top notch and the folks that work there are super friendly. They also have Galaga in the restaurant – bonus! I will, however, defer to the fact that this is a single elimination tournament format. Each restaurant (unknowingly) has one shot at beating the BBQ place they are up against. The last time we went to Lee’s & Dee’s (meaning the one shot in time that we are gauging the head-to-head battle with another rib place), both HotGirlsBrother and I had fantastic meals – as usual. Sadly, one of our party got a bad batch of ribs, though. Normally we don’t believe her (I’m TOTALLY kidding, Low-Vee), but this time, she stopped after two of her ribs. I ate them later that night re-heated and was horrified to find Low-Vee was right. They were absolutely a different batch of ribs from the ones the rest of our group ate. It’s simple things like inconsistency that cost Lee’s and Dee’s the battle.

…Plus, we never saw C.G. Hooks coming. All around, they excelled. The ribs were incredible and the sides actually beat the pants off of Lee’s & Dee’s. So, I think we have our first upset of Bar-B-Quest 2011!

I am announcing this with the full knowledge that HotGirlsBrother and I will continue to go to Lee’s & Dee’s every chance we get. We love to eat there and it’s much closer. I hope L&D aren’t offended, but these bracket head-to-head competitions are tough sometimes. We will also continue to send people to L&D without abandon and listen to the subsequent stories about how people never expected the ribs at Lee’s & Dee’s to be as good as they are.

Kudos to you, C.G. Hooks BBQ. You are a true sleeper contender and I look forward to visiting you MUCH in the upcoming years. In fact, HotGirlsBrother and I are already figuring out free weekends to rent a pontoon boat across the street, buy a boatload of ribs (literally) and set sail on White Bear Lake with our closest carnivore friends. I am anxiously awaiting to see if C.G. Hooks can pull off even more upsets in the remainder of the Bar-B-Quest. We wish you the best of luck!

Signed HotGirlsBrother and Chao

Here is the new and updated bracket:

Mr. BBQ – Columbia Hieghts, MN (Bar-B-Quest 2011)

With the end of the year approaching, HotGirlsBrother and I have resigned ourselves to the very real fact we cannot complete the Bar-B-Quest in the next two weeks. But we WILL continue BBQ ribs through next year to make sure we cover all of our bases and complete the task we started with.

Mr. BBQ was up on the list. I had a major c(gr)oupon in my possession for Mr. BBQ. They were on the Eastern Division bracket since I drove past their Maplewood location. Sadly, I realized the day HotGirlsBrother and I had scheduled that the coupon was only good at the Columbia Heights and Brooklyn Center locations. AGGGH. Oh well, we would pretend we were on the East Side of the Twin Cities just this once.

The place is bigger than I expected. It has a decent sized dining room with 10-12 tables and also a large patio (closed for the winter) outside, as well. When we walked into the place, it was smoky. As in, a considerable haze about 4 feet from the ceiling. I don’t think it was intentional, but it actually smelled delicious, so we didn’t complain or even comment on it. We have found it makes it cheaper if we split a full rack of ribs and then get our own sides, so we did that. Full slab of baby backs, baked beans, coleslaw, and extra order of fries, and it comes with a cornbread muffin. Done. The guy behind the counter was REALY sellin’ his food. REALLY. He told us the guys that work at Famous Dave’s come here to eat (NOT a ringing endorsement in our book, but whatever). People come for miles to eat their burgers when McDonald’s is right next door! (Again, not really going to win us over with that comparison, but we could see he was proud of his food.) The guy is quite the salesman.

The counter guy handed us our number so he could find us later. That’s right, WE’RE NUMBER ONE!!!! As we were walking away from the counter, a really large man in line behind us asked us if this was our first time here. We said yes. He told us, “You’ll be back.” Wow, people really like this place. We grabbed our various eating accoutrements and sat down. They have moist towelettes at the condiment station, which is always super nice. Reinforced plasticware, perfect for eating ribs, and bendy straws. Things were looking up.


I was a tad disappointed that A) they had Coke products and B) there was a severe lack of orange, grape, or strawberry pop to drink. But I can deal with that.

We waited a while for our food, but we had a lot to catch up on, so it wasn’t a major deal. The food showed up on a cafeteria tray – which is how all ribs should be served, I’ve decided. They did bring us individual Styrofoam plates for us to put food on, but the initial presentation is old school and I like it. We started with the coleslaw since ti was the only thing not piping hot. The coleslaw was actually quite good. Very creamy and bright like it was very fresh. It could have used a touch more vinegar in it, but it honestly was one of the better coleslaws we’ve had since we started this quest.

The baked beans were next. Holy crap. These were good. Really good. They tasted like meat, but didn’t have any meat in them. Smoky, without being fake-smoky. They had a thick sauce in them and were perfectly cooked. These were MUCH better than we expected. I’d go back just for the beans (if it wasn’t a 45 minute drive from my house). The cornbread was really quite moist – not the tiniest bit dry. But it was extra sweet and very cold – not a fan of those two things together.

The fries were pretty good. I say that knowing that anything you put Lawry’s seasoning salt on is going to be made better. We didn’t complain one bit, but I wouldn’t say these fries were anything special worth selling your children for.

The meat – that was why we do this thing. First off, the meat is saucy – not a dry rub. I know people like to know this up-front. The meat was very tough. Really tough. We had trouble cutting it with the knife we had and we sawed at it longer than we should have, and that was just to separate them so we could get them on our plates. We had to fight the meat off the bones a bit too, all the while dodging cartilage pieces. That being said, the sauce was quite good. Both the sauce that was cooked onto/into the ribs themselves, and also the stuff in the squirt bottles on the table. I think Mr. BBQ has the sauce nailed. So we slathered the heck out of the ribs and finished our meal. A bit disappointed with the rib experience, but the aftertaste of the sauce still was lingering.
I checked out the bathroom, which some people find amusing that I write about it, but deal with it. I’m glad I checked it out. It was in rough shape. There is no lock on the men’s room door and there’s a handwritten sign taped to it that says the lock doesn’t work and you should knock first. I did so. However, I’d be a bit cautious if there are children in the restaurant who may not be able to read the sign. That’s just me. Once inside, I was less than impressed. The toilet seat is stuck in some half-open arrangement that forces you to hunker down and recreate a scat film with Hasbro’s Mr. Mouth board game. Very weird experience.

As we left, the guy said to come again: We won’t. Then he said to tell all our friends: We are doing that…. here.

And to look at the Bar-B-Quest 2011 brackets to date, HotGirlsBrother and I noticed that Dickey’s BBQ Pit is a chain restaurant and we’re not doing that in this little quest. So we’re disqualifying them. Not because they’re bad – I haven’t tried their food – they might be good. But we can’t be comparing home town heroes to stores with over 200 locations around the country. So that moved Mr. BBQ to the next round, which was immediately destroyed by the awesomeness that is Big Daddy’s. Those guys are going to be tough to beat. (Click on the photo to enlarge it)


Top 5 things about Mr. BBQ
1. Baked beans
2. Coleslaw
3. BBQ sauce
4. Bendy straws, reinforced plasticware, moist towelettes at the condiment stand
5. Really friendly staff who are proud of their work

Bottom 5 things
1. Really tough ribs
2. Cold and painfully sweet cornbread
3. Really smoky inside
4. Bathroom was a wreck
5. Put Lawry’s seasoning on anything and it will be 39.4% better. That's just science.

Mr. BBQ
4621 Central Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55421

Surdyk’s Flights (in the MSP airport) – Bloomington, MM

D.Rough sent me a txt a few months ago from the airport. She said she wanted to get a meat platter at Surdyk’s when she was at the airport. I had forgotten she mentioned that until I was actually AT the airport looking for a snack before my flight to Denver. Ding! Meat Platter! I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for. …I’m totally lying. I was looking for one of those giant meat platters they sell at the grocery store that has enough meat and cheese on it to stuff 50 rolls. I didn’t see such a thing in any of the refrigerated cases in the front of the storefront, so I assumed it was a menu item of some sort.

Someone had just gotten up to leave and I took the last seat in the small restaurant. The nice server brought me a menu of delicious sounding food. I kind of knew what I was supposed to order. I did, however, consider about 15 other things. But, alas, I went with what I came in there for. The Sulami platter. And I got the one with the three accompanying cheeses. I had no idea how large it was going to be or how long it would take. I was already pushing it with my boarding time, but meat comes first, I always say.

I got to watch the chefs make a whole host of entrees and sandwiches for people from my seat. I had the best view in the house. There was a guy whose job it was to only use the meat slicer. That guy is a men amongst men. You’d think it doesn’t take much, but he sliced and placed meat slices on everything imaginable with the finesse of an artist. Very fun to watch him work. I wasn’t even sure which plates he was making, until I saw the growing mound of meat that was going to be my platter. Y. E. S.

It actually took a bit longer than I Was expecting, so when the server brought it out, I asked her to bring around a to-go container when she had a chance. I was excited about this platter. It looked amazing. Not too much meat that I was going to go into a coma, but enough that I was going to be verrry verrrry happy. Which I was. I know the woman told me which cheeses she had brought me, but I don’t remember them. One was a blue, and the other two were something else. I should have written them down, but I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t write down the meats either, though I know one was a spicy capicola. The fruit they brought was fantastic – apricots and grapes – and the nuts were also delicious. It was a very well balanced meal in my opinion.

And since it took the server a while to get back with the to-go box and my check, I had almost eaten all of the food on the platter. I took what was left in the box and headed to the gate. Last one on the plane! Hooray. It’s becoming a habit for me, but I haven’t missed a flight yet (well, within the past 5 years, anyway). I took the Bit-O-Honey with me that comes with the restaurant check, and had a little snack before my in-flight snooze.

I was really impressed with the new location Surdyk’s has in the airport. It’s worth a stop if you’ve got the time. They are also a wine bar, so please feel free to fill up on (or bring with you) a bottle of some really quality wine. I wish I had, but I knew I was going to have to eat quickly. I know the meat platter started out as something I was going to eat as a joke in the airport before a flight, but I’ll probably going to get it each time I go to MSP in the future. Now, aside from Popeyes Chicken, I have a new restaurant I’ll look forward to eating at in a US airport. Thanks for the suggestion, D.Rough!

No top 5

www.surdyksflights.com

Sultan Mediterranean Restaurant – Rock Island, IL

While I was back visiting the family in Illinois over Thanksgiving, my brother in law wanted to eat some food that wasn’t Applebee’s. My sister isn’t very adventurous when it comes to food, so I told him D.Rough and I would show him the good stuff. But we had to make sure the place we chose had something other people in my family could also eat. My niece had mentioned there was a new Mediterranean restaurant open in the area, so we thought we’d take them there. Worst case scenario, they get a plate of rice and complain about it for the next ten years. Hahahaha

The restaurant is located in a small strip mall in the Kmart parking lot, so it was easy to find for everyone. We rolled inside and found a set of tables we could combine to fit our family. There were other people eating inside, so that was a good sign. Sadly, my niece Frog, who recommended the place, couldn’t join us. But, DeliveryBoy and AmandaHugginkiss and their new twins were able to – bonus!!!! We looked at the menus given to us and eventually realized we had to go up and order at the counter – whoops. I was surprised a lot of the Mediterranean things D.Rough and I like to eat weren’t on the menu. We’re in training for our honeymoon, where we’ll be staying in Santorini, Greece, so we’re trying to eat as much Greek food as possible. No dolmades and no mousakka for us at this place. It’s ok, there were other things that sounded good. D.Rough got a gyro salad and I got the special for the day, Shevid Baghali Polo – basmati rice with dill, lima beans, and seasonings, topped with marinated chicken.
The food arrived in a reasonable amount of time, but since other family members’ food came out first, I helped myself to their plates (I always blame it on the blog writing, even though I’m just rude).
The red pepper hummus and the garlic hummus were pretty good. Much smoother than a lot of places I’ve had, so no complaints on that part. The falafel ball I ate was pretty good, although just a tiny bit dry for my taste. The tahini that came with it helped a lot, though.
The homemade fries were good, but I wasn’t in the mood for fries. They were a lot like my mother makes, so we knew we had to tell my dad so he could sneak away and eat thousands of fries without my mother’s knowledge. He’s sneaky like that. In fact, he’s from a long line of sneaky people (his diabetic brother tried to get me to sneak him cookies without letting my aunt find out).

D.Rough’s salad arrived and it looked pretty good, even if all of the lettuce was iceberg. There was plenty of meat and feta on it, so it passed as a Greek salad just fine. The flavor was good, according to her, and she ate almost all of it, so I know it wasn’t terrible. The balsamic tasted like it should have and there weren’t any surprises in the salad like some of the Quad City restaurants like to throw in to keep it “Midwestern”. She did knock it a point for using canned black olives, but aside from that, she enjoyed it.

My dish wasn’t at all what I expected, but I still enjoyed it. The rice was really quite flavorful and I loved the seasonings they used, even though they were pretty mild. I also love lima beans, so I’ve got that going for me. The chicken was cooked well and I was pretty happy with the amount of meat on the plate. The grilled veggie kabobs were a nice addition to the plate, both for color and flavor. I even sprinkled some of the magic dust the place has on the tables. I’m not sure what was in it, but it isn’t spicy – just unique. I’d use it again the next time I went, and I’d use a LOT of it – like I said, it’s pretty mild.

Overall, I thought it was a decent Mediterranean meal, especially for a Midwestern town. It isn’t fancy, but it’s good food and filling. I think everyone was happy with their meals, since I didn’t get any complaints. I’d eat here again if the family wanted to when I come home next time. I did, however, tell my brother in law that he can eat a guinea pig at two different restaurants when he comes up to visit us in Minneapolis. THAT’s incentive…

Top 5 things about Sultan
1. Shevid Baghali Polo
2. Gyro Salad
3. Hummus
4. Friendly staff
5. It wasn’t terrible expensive

Bottom 5 things
1. The fries get RAVED about in online reviews, but I thought they were just meh
2. One of the workers offended my niece by commenting on her children - yikes
3. Limited menu, and missing some standards
4. We didn’t get the baklava we ordered and then forgot about it and paid for it
5. The falafel was a bit dry

www.sultanmediterraneanqc.com

Yak and Yeti – Westminster, CO

I was out in Denver for the 2011 Roller Derby World Championships, and some of the large group I was with went to Yak and Yeti the first night they arrived. I kept hearing the words “yak” and “yeti” and eventually figured out it was a restaurant. Not only was it a restaurant, but the people I was with kept talking about how delicious it was. Since I’m hairy beast, I tend to love things related to hairy beasts. I think both Yaks and Yetis fall into that category.

We headed over to the restaurant with multiple large groups of people. Probably not the best plan of attack for being seated quickly, but we were patient and eventually got a table in the last group of 6-person groups – yikes! It’s a buffet (and a large buffet), so we got up and started picking and choosing what we wanted. All of the vegetarian dishes were on one side of the bar and the rest of the food was scattered throughout. It all looked amazing to me.

On the first trip to the buffet, I got vegetable pakora, samosas, some chicken item, lamb curry, some curried vegetables, and basmati rice. No complaints on anything on this plate. It was absolutely delicious and filling.

I went back for more. Broccoli, some yam curry, more chicken, more pakora, and rice. They kept bringing baskets of naan to the table, so I got absolutely stuffed.

…But not stuffed enough that I couldn’t fit a bowl of Kheer down my gullet. I love this stuff. It’s basically condensed milk with long grain rice and sometimes cashews or raisins. Delicious stuff, although the texture tends to weird people out, for some reason. I can’t get enough of it.

In summary, a great Indian buffet and lots of helpful staff. We all were leaned waaaay back in our chairs after this meal and moving slowly. That’s how you know it’s a great Indian buffet!

www.theyakandyeti.com

Jack and Grill – Westminster (Denver), CO

I have reviewed Jack and Grill before, but I noticed they had a new location built when I was out in Denver for the 2011 Roller Derby World Championships. I talked the people I was with into going there to get stuffed so we’d all sleep better – totally an excuse that does NOT work on this crowd. But I talked them into it anyway.

The inside is festive, brightly colored, and eclectic in its decoration. Lots of very friendly and helpful staff make sure you are taken care of quickly. I had great luck when I was at their original location a few years back, so I knew this would be good, as well.

The menu is enormous, so be ready for that. The last time I was at Jack and Grill, I attempted the 7 pound breakfast burrito. It was a fail, but I did make it about half way through it all. And it was delicious. That gave me hope that everything on the menu would be good. I wanted to try a few things, so I ended up getting the combination #2. One beef enchilada, one chicken enchilada, a bean tostada, beans and rice. That should do the trick!

They bring out chips and salsa that cost a dollar – just do it, people. The salsa is good, although it might be a bit on the spicy side for Minnesotan palettes. I thought it was just fine. I also had ordered a margarita – you know, to help me sleep (I’m still working that angle). It had Chambord in it, so it was like a black raspberry margarita. And it was verrrrry good.

The food came out quickly and we were all glad – we were starving from a long day of roller derby. Word of warning, the food here is enormous. Mrs. Novia tried to order ala carte since she’s not a big eater, and ended up getting way more than she expected. They’re very generous here.

The enchiladas were quite good. The red sauce is smoky and spicy without being heavy (the cheese takes care of that part). The bean tostada wasn’t anything special, but it’s made with fresh ingredients, so it just tastes better automatically. The beans and rice were also good and were helping stockpile sleep-time credits for later. I was slowing down exponentially. I knew pretty quickly that tonight wasn’t going to be a go-out-and-party-night. Sigh.

I already did a more thorough review the last time I was here, so I won’t overstate how good this place is. It’s like a better version of Chevy’s (atmosphere-wise), but with more authentic Mexican food.

Bender’s Bar & Grill – Westminster (Denver), CO

Mr. Novia and I were in Denver for the 2011 Roller Derby World Championships and there was a bar near our hotel. We walked around the giant pond to find something to eat. Bender’s is built right into the Ice Arena (actually called “Ice”), and we were highly amused to see signs prohibiting skating gear in the restaurant. Hilarious.

We were excited to see we could sit along the windows of the restaurant and watch a hockey game being played on the ice below us. Now THAT’s entertainment. Mr. Novia and I now realized we were sitting in the hockey wife section and got to witness all the ladies smack talking on behalf of their significant others and doing shots. Hilarious.

I ordered a Strongbow and perused the menu. Lots of tasty sounding things were listed, but I decided on the burger with ham, salsa, and the most peppers – jalapenos and pepperjack cheese. Hard to go wrong with this one. I can’t remember if it was the volcano burger or Diablo burger or the hangover burger, but it’s one of those, I’m thinking. (I eat a lot of burgers like this and they’re all named something different – sometimes I mix them up in my crazy head) Our waitress asked if I wanted regular fries of curly fries. I said I didn’t even know they had curly fries and I ordered those.

The burger came out pretty quickly. It looked delicious. I was actually a little scared by the slice jalapeno sitting in front of me, but I rolled with it. I put as many of the slices as I could fit onto the burger and cut the thing in half so I could actually eat it. Good meaty flavor from the burger, a delicious salty sweetness from the ham, a hint of salsa flavor, good but mild pepperjack cheese flavor, and just a tiny bit of heat from the peppers. I really thought this thing was going to be painful to eat, but it was just alright. Not a stellar burger, but one I would probably order again if I found myself at Bender’s watching a hockey game again. The fries, on the other hand, were delicious. I didn’t want them to end, and there was a serious pile of them to be eaten.

Overall, just a good meal. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing bad, either.

Top 5 things about Bender’s
1. Curly fries
2. Strongbow is always a plus
3. Got to watch a hockey game while we waited
4. Super nice staff
5. Hangover burger

Bottom 5 things
1. They were out of the Colorado beer Mr. Novia ordered
2. No hockey gear in the restaurant is an OUTRAGE! – Kidding, I don’t own any hockey gear
3. You can’t beat on the glass of the restaurant like you can the glass of the hockey rink
4. Mr. Novia’s meal wasn’t fantastic
5. The team where most of the ladies around us were cheering for lost. Mood dampener!

www.benderswestminster.com