Rabbit Hole (Poutine Crawl) – Minneapolis, MN

D.Rough and I had wanted to try the Rabbit Hole for some time. I had read about this amazing burger that was rated highly in the Twin Cities and she had heard equally good things about some of the other dishes they have there. It’s a bit of a Korean restaurant with some upscale flair, so that would likely flavor all of the meals there. Tonight, however was the next iteration of our little group’s Poutine Crawl. We go all over the Twin Cities eating poutine and comparing it like classy wine (not all in the same night – we space it out over months).

The restaurant is just outside the Midtown Global Market – it’s a sort of indoor world bazaar of international food and shops in Midtown Minneapolis. The inside of the restaurant is pretty dimly lit – that adds to the classiness of a place, as we all know. It’s sort of an Alice In Wonderland theme, so there are all sort of fun tidbits on the walls. Make sure you look around this place. The menu has some pretty unique sounding items on it. You’ll just have to see for yourself. It’s very creative, however, and I think you’re going to find something you’d like to eat, even if it’s out of curiosity. To get the server to come to your table, you have to push this buzzer thing that is sitting on your table. Just be ready for that or no one will show up and you’ll end up thinking the service is slow – it ISN’T slow.

Tonight, many of us got the H&K Poutine (which is Korean inspired) and I somehow managed to talk D.Rough into splitting that top-ranked burger with me – the Appa Burger. But of course we ordered a couple of adult beverages while we waited for the food to come out. They’ve got a great beer selection, both tap and bottles, so they know their way to Minneapolis’ heart.

The dishes came out within a reasonable time of ordering them so don’t expect to sit around forever waiting for food. The poutine looked pretty fantastic to me. Again, it’s Asian inspired, so the poutine purists at our table already had issues with it. But for those of us who enjoy a little creativity, we were in for a treat. It’s got crispy and thick-cut fries mixed with onions, kimchi, parmesan, and cheddar, covered with a pork curry gravy, and then topped with a soft poached egg and a drizzle of kimchi aioli. Ridiculous? Yes. Delicious? Absolutely! The parmesan got lost a little bit in the mix, but every once in a while, you’d get a nice salty bit of parmesan flavor that was awesome. The kimchi wasn’t the scary kind you’ve seen in documentaries; it is the kind that’s like a vinegary slaw, so it was great with the other flavors. The poached egg was a wonderful touch, as well. The pork curry gravy was amazing and I don’t think I ‘ve had anything like that before. I’ll for sure have it again. Even the purists gave it a thumbs up, but they gave it the caveat, “If I was looking for REAL poutine, this isn’t spot on. But if I was looking for an amazing dish of tasty unique food, THIS is what I’d order.” From these guys, that’s high praise, indeed. Well done, Rabbit Hole!

The Appa Burger was next on the chopping block. It’s kind of got a little of everything on it, and if there’s one thing I lie on my burger, it’s lots of stuff. This 6 oz patty has smoked bacon, bleu cheese, gruyere, bourbon onions, arugula, tomato jam, kimchi aioli, and topped with a fried egg. It’s really difficult to see in the picture and it doesn’t do it justice. It’s a monster of a burger. The meat is super flavorful – something I pay attention to wherever I get a burger from – and the cheese worked really well together. I’ll admit this burger was a mess to eat (egg yolk everywhere hahaha), but I didn’t mind it. All the flavors that I wanted were there and it held up most of the meal. This won a Twin Cities Burger Award for a reason. It was fantastic.

Great work on many unique dishes, Rabbit Hole. I’m looking forward to my next visit, without question.

Top 5 things at The Rabbit Hole

1. Appa Burger

2. H&K Poutine

3. Great beer selection

4. Alice in Wonderland theme

5. Really unique things on the menu

Bottom 5 Things

1. The poutine isn’t purely Canadian here – it’s too fancy for a purist’s palate

2. I want to try everything on the menu

3. The buzzer thing for the server was weird at first, but we got the hang of it

4. I’ll admit, I was hoping to see rabbit on the menu

5. N/A (I had to try really hard to find the above “bottom” items. This place rules.)

www.eatdrinkrabbit.com

Kaposia Park Disc Golf Course Signage – South St. Paul, MN

This is one of those posts where I complain about something I’m passionate about. Some people don’t like it when I post negative things here, but this is my outlet and that is why Al Gore invented the internet (yes, I know that isn’t true). Be offended if you want. I’m not hiding behind anything by writing this. If I knew who to talk to, I’d talk directly to them. This is just a heads up to anyone designing future disc golf courses around the world.

I’ve been playing disc golf for 20-ish years now, so I’ve seen a lot of courses. This also means I’ve seen a lot of basket styles, tee pad styles, course amenities, pay-to-play courses, as well as public and many private courses. I don’t mind pay-to-play courses, especially when you can actually SEE the results of that money going into the course. The Twin City area has a handful of pay-to-play courses and you can really see the results in the upkeep, maintenance, landscaping, and improvements on the courses. I LOVE this area’s disc golf community. Especially since the Twin Cities is hosting the Amateur World Championships this year at some of the area’s best courses.

Kaposia Park is one of the longest running courses in the area and has a history of being a top notch course, in both challenge and appearance. To prepare for a host of upcoming national-level tournaments, Kaposia (with some members of the Minnesota Frisbee Association and the South St. Paul Parks Department) has done a lot of work on the course. Fixed some baskets, cleaned up some tee pads, trimmed some foliage appropriately, and put in some brand new tee signs. Sadly the tee signs are what have brought about my displeasure this particular day.

Here’s what the new tee signs have going for them:

• Distance from both tee pads – Check – extremely helpful and important on a sign
• Elevation Change – Check – not necessary, but helpful to top-level pros and impressive in some cases
• Quirky individual hole “name” – Check – not necessary, but amusing and nostalgic and interesting
• Flight path of the disc – Check – not necessary, but it can be helpful to know where the majority of people will throw their shots and where obstacle, out-of-bounds, streams, and trees are
• Pointer to the next tee – Check – again, not necessary, but VERY helpful in walking the course for the first time
• Compass/North Arrow - Check - really not necessary, except in a zombie apocalypse when I will be lost in the woods with my discs

What’s the one thing that’s an absolute MUST for a tee sign and the reason tee signs were created, especially for a course with parallel fairways and close groupings of tee pads??????

THE HOLE NUMBER

If I had never played this course before, I’d be extremely upset that I couldn’t tell if I was on hole 1 or hole 3. Or if I was on hole 2 or hole 18. Or if I was on hole 11 or hole 14. Or where to go after hole 16.

Yes, these signs look really fabulous and are high quality. I understand someone or some group took a lot of time to design and make them look nice, but tee signs are for people who haven’t played your course before and so people don’t get lost. It’s a really simple thing to do, and probably easy to forget if you’ve played that course a hundred times. The hole number is an absolute requirement on a tee sign.

Having run many tournaments, big and small, and designed many courses, public and private, one thing you always hear people say is “If you can think of that scenario happening, it WILL happen at some point.” If you think people could possibly get lost during your tournament because your holes aren’t numbered and then have to penalize them for playing the course out of order, then it WILL happen. For that matter, during a tournament (filled with non-Twin City players), how will you send people out to Hole #14 if there is no indication as to which hole is #14??? 

Sorry to go off like this, but it’s really frustrating to see high-quality work go into something and then the most important detail (not even a detail really – it’s the overriding reason to even HAVE a tee sign) has been overlooked and not included. I’ll repeat: the new tee signs look fantastic! There’s just a glaring mistake on all of them.

Again, I realize no one cares about my rant, and I’m fine with that. I just needed to get it off my chest.

Rant over.

Now, I’ll be straight up honest with you and tell you that Kaposia Park also has some of the most hilarious and creative graffiti I’ve ever seen. It’s things like this that absolutely crack me up when I see it and make me relax during the round. Despite it being vandalism, it’s (at the very minimum) hilarious. Thankfully, there’s a huge lack of racist comments, pot leaves, mushroom drawings, and proclamations of love. All of those things aren’t welcome anywhere. But hilarious comments? I can get behind that. Here are two examples.

Sweet Auburn Barbeque – Atlanta, GA

While in Atlanta for some roller derby activities, a group of us went to Sweet Auburn Barbeque, simply because it was in close proximity to our hotel. Despite our large group, they pulled some tables together and seated us really quickly. Once we saw the menu, we knew it was going to be a tough decision to figure out what we wanted to eat.

Some of the people decided to not decide – they got the trio of tacos, each with different ingredients. D.Rough went with the Sweet Auburn BBQ Plate with pulled pork, with cornbread and mac and cheese. My decision was made simple after I saw a monstrosity go past – I wanted the Beef Rib (aka, the Dinosaur Bone). The sides were also difficult to decide on, but I ended up going with the jerk spiced collard greens. They also serve some sweet tea since we’re down south. This always reminds me of my niece and her daughter who sneaks sweet tea like an addict, even though she’s three years old.

The food was pretty quick. The tacos came out and everyone that got them raved about them. There was a BBQ taco-pulled pork taco with pear slaw in it. There was a Mexican Street Taco with smoked brisket, charred corn pico, and avocado crema. And, there was a Korean short rib taco with Asian slaw, sriracha aioli, and scallions. They all sound good, don’t they? From the sound of things, they were all pretty incredible.

D.Rough was pretty happy with her pulled pork plate (and toast slices). The meat was fantastic, especially with the added BBQ sauce. The corn bread was amazing and just the way I like it. The mac and cheese fell a little short and there were a few complaints of too much flour in the rue. Flavor-wise, it was good, but texture-wise, it wasn’t the best.

The Dinosaur Bone came out and was really impressive. I didn’t even use my knife on this slab of meat. I just forked the tender meat right off the bone. Not a lot of seasonings – just salt and pepper and smoke flavor (the god kind, not the liquid kind). I also didn’t even use the BBQ sauce on it until the very end since it tasted so good already. It truly didn’t need the sauce. Perfectly cooked meat. The jerk seasoned collard greens were great too. Not spicy at all, but had a great flavor to the seasoning. I really enjoyed this side and I’m glad I got it.

Accidentally great BBQ in the south. It was lucky, but it worked out well in our favor. I’m happy to recommend that place to anyone in the mood for good BBQ when in Atlanta. They’ve got a curbside location and a food truck, so you should be able to find this place when you need to.

Top 5 things about Sweet auburn Barbeque
1. Dinosaur Bone
2. Trio of Tacos
3. Corn Bread
4. Sweet Tea
5. Full Bar

Bottom 5 things
1. Mac and cheese texture
2. The place gets REALLY busy on the weekends
3. I wanted to order ALL of sides and ALL of the meats. They make it difficult to decide
4. Not a huge beer selection, but you’re there for BBQ aren’t you?
5. N/A

www.sweetauburnbbq.com

B&B Grocery, Meat, and Deli – Des Moines, IA

D.Rough and I tried to go to this highly-acclaimed deli in Des Moines the last time we were in town, but showed up right after they closed. When I was in town this past weekend, I decided to check it out. I’m glad I did. Totally worth the trip!

The inside of this place is part grocery store with all kinds of things, part deli/meat counter, and part restaurant. B&B has a lot of people going through it, but every one of the workers is happy and friendly and you don’t really wait in line at all. It’s pretty awesome. If you look confused enough, someone behind the meat counter will ask if it’s your first time and then start making recommendations. Not pushy or anything, they just want you to know about their specials and what’s good (besides everything). Be prepared to read a lot of signage, since they have a lot of things behind that counter. I'd suggest going past the longer deli case past the bulk meats and go to the skinnier deli case where there are more sandwich signs. Just a hint.

I had a tough time deciding between the breaded pork tenderloin and the Zach’s Killer sandwich. I LOVE tenderloins, but Italian meats were calling me this day and the Zach’s Killer has ALL of them. Mortadella, Salami, Italian beef, others I can’t even pronounce, provolone, banana peppers, giardiniera, and a bunch of other things. I had waited about one minute to get helped and then another three or four minutes to get my sandwich. I was in and out of there in five minutes on a Saturday at noon. That’s pretty impressive. And the prices are even more impressive. Ridiculously inexpensive sandwiches.

I’m also impressed with Iowa’s passion for creating sandwiches that will kill you. In this case, it’s the Killossal Sandwich. It’s basically four sandwiches piled into one. If you had a family of 6, this might be the route to go.

Also, they have corn dogs.

And now that I’m looking at their menu, they have everything you can think of. Sausages, corned beef, pastrami, catfish, roast beef, cheesesteak, cod filet, meatballs, liver cheese, chicken/ham salad, shrimp, chorizo, tacos, poppers, deviled eggs, chicken strips, and probably a whole bunch more you wouldn't even know about unless you ask.

The sandwich was pretty exquisite, in all honesty. I know it’s been voted Iowa’s best sandwich and now I know why. They don’t’ skimp on anything. The meat is absolutely delicious, the seasoning they sprinkle on is wonderful, and despite some vinegar and oil, the bread doesn’t get soggy. It’s an awesome sandwich and I’m looking forward to the next time I can go. I’ll make sure to bring D.Rough with me next time, however. She’s a sandwich connoisseur.

www.bbgrocerymeatdeli.com

The Prairie Tap House – Eden Prairie, MN

A-Wow and I were catching a movie at the Eden Prairie Mall and thought we needed a little happy hour after work. We were seeing a movie that we needed to pre-game for and I thought we should go someplace where we wouldn’t have to drive afterwards to the theater. I hadn’t been to the Prairie Tap House since they opened last year, so this was the best reason I could think of to check it out.

It happened to be snowing (no surprise there, right?) so traffic held up A-Wow a little bit. By the time he got there, I had already received my “Ready For Summer” beer flight – Wasatch Belgian White Ale, Lucette Shining Dawn, Magic Hat #9, and Lift Bridge Farm Girl. A pretty solid showing and with happy hour prices, was $6 total. A-Wow was pleased with the prospect of multiple choice beer imbibing, so he also did a Ready For Summer beer flight.

We thought we should order some happy hour-cheap-ified appetizers and then maybe split the sandwich. After some deliberation, we got the Maple Glazed Pork Belly, and the Thai Dragon Lobster Egg Rolls. Then, when a place is known for its Baltimore Pit-style beef, you get the pit beef – this time, in sandwich form.

And then, since you’re finished with your beer flight too fast, you get a Johnny Jump-up. Cider beer (in this case, Cider Boys’ First Press) with a generous helping of Jameson whiskey in it.

The food came out quickly, which was fantastic – even though we had plenty of time before the movie started. The appetizers were solid.

The Thai Dragon Lobster Egg Rolls were perfectly crispy and you could taste each of the ingredients. Nothing was over powering. The lobster tasted like lobster should – not fishy, and both the peanut dipping sauce and the dragon sauce were quite good. I didn’t even prefer one over the other – they were just different from each other and delicious.

The Maple Glazed Pork Belly was really good. It’s hard to mess up pork belly, to be honest with you. It was covered in a spicy peach marmalade which was fantastic. Though it was a bit heavy handed, so you had to scrape some of it off to have the correct ratio. But that was ok, since the pork belly slices were on a bed of pulled pork, which you could then continue eating with the spicy peach marmalade. It also came with a couple of toasted baguette slices. We tried to make little sandwiches out of them, but then decided the ratios were better if you just ate the bread on its own. Overall, still very good, however.

The Pit Beef Sandwich was probably better than the online reviews give it. The thin-sliced beef has obviously been sitting in its own juices for hours and is seasoned pretty amazingly. The creamy horseradish sauce was a thin layer, so it enhanced, rather than overpowered the sandwich. Incredibly tender meat and they had cut it into two equal pieces so we could both have our own sets of fries. A-Wow thought the fries may have been a tad over-seasoned/salted, but I’m a salt fiend, so I found them about perfect.

And then, of course, I needed another Johnny Jump-up. Hahaha. I probably could have used a few more for the movie we saw that night…

I really liked the Prairie Tap House. The happy hour deals are pretty considerable, and it’s really close to my work. I’d suggest anything you can get with that pit beef and be adventurous with the sides. The folks here are really nice and there’s usually 4 or 5 specials, so ask about those before you decide, or you’ll be in a world of confusion.

Top 5 things about Prairie Tap House
1. Pit Beef Sandwich

2. Happy hour deals

3. Maple Glazed Pork Belly

4. Thai Dragon Lobster Egg Rolls
5. Decent beer list and beer flights (though, I honestly expected more from a Tap House)

Bottom 5 things
1. Spicy Peach Marmalade was too generous
2. Not a ton of “healthy” options on the menu, but that’s not why you’re here, is it?
3. Portion sizes are pretty large here, just as a warning. If that’s your thing, then this shouldn’t be in the bottom 5
4. It isn’t a cheap date night, but if you hit up happy hour (until 7pm – which is generous), it’s quite affordable
5. The website raised an eyebrow from my cubemate at work – it’s standard issue pin-up style, but some work places are a little more conservative

www.theprairietaphouse.com

Acme Deli – St. Paul, MN

D.Rough had heard good things about this small mom and pop deli in St. Paul. We had a lazy Saturday afternoon, so we thought we would check it out.

When you get inside, you need to grab a yellow piece of paper, which has a sort of checklist menu on it. The menu has a few special sandwiches on it, but you can also build your own (you pick the bread, meat, cheese, veggies, sauce, etc). We found two that we really needed to try, which is not uncommon. But we heard the sandwiches are normal-human-being sized sandwiches and not a foot-long gargantuan sandwich with more calories than you need for a week. So we didn’t feel too bad about splitting two sandwiches.

We got the Acme Special #2 (roast beef, cream cheese, cucumber, and tomato on marble bread) and an Acme Special #3 (roast beef, turkey, swiss cheese, and cole slaw on a hoagie bun). They sent us into the small dining room to wait for our order. The dining room has four small tables and some really fun photos on the walls. Most of them are framed foods they serve there in the deli or of the people working there. Really a fun atmosphere.

The sandwiches came out quickly on paper plates and the plastic plate holders I haven’t seen since I was a kid. Really a vintage-y touch.

The sandwiches were absolutely perfect. Great fresh ingredients and bread. Fantastic combinations without being giant servings. We didn’t lolly gag when we were finished either. We had to make room for other people waiting to eat. The place does pretty good business during lunch and we saw a ton of people picking up food to take away. Probably having a picnic with all of this nice Minnesotan weather we’re having this week!

I’m looking forward to going back here. These people were really nice and the food is delicious. I don’t know what else you could possibly need!

www.acmedelistpaul.com

Gorkha Palace – Minneapolis, MN

Gorkha Palace is one of those places I’ve driven by a lot, but never during lunch time since I work nowhere near the place. D.Rough and I decided to meet for lunch this week and despite planning to go to another place in Northeast, when we drove past Gorkha Palace, I knew we needed to eat there and today was the day.

The inside is smaller than I imagined, mainly because the building it occupies also contains multiple other businesses. But there is plenty of seating available. It filled up almost entirely during the lunch hour while we were there, but there’s quick turnover with an Indian food buffet, so that helps.

The buffet itself looks smaller than others I had been to, but don’t be fooled, the portions on the buffet are smaller, which means they can fit more items on the buffet, and they are fresh more often – both good things. They had these lentil crisps that looked like tortilla chips, but tasted completely different and also these Indian fry-bread things that were delicious. We didn’t see any naan on the buffet, but were still satisfied to eat the above mentioned two bread-like items.

The other items were a mix of vegetarian, vegan, and carnivore dishes, even a curried hardboiled egg dish and broccoli pakora. I filled my plate.

Then I filled my plate again.

Then I went and got some Indian-style chicken noodle lentil soup. Decent, but I wanted there to be more seasoning and pop to it. I’d eat it again, though. I also ate it so fast, I forgot to take a photo.

We had a great meal and got out of there pretty quickly so we could both get back to work. While Gorkha Palace isn’t a ground breaking Indian restaurant, it’s really good and you won’t be disappointed at all. The server was really nice and made sure we were happy with our meals, which we were.

I have trouble doing top 5’s for Indian buffets because I can’t ever remember the names of the dishes I’m eating. They’re all good though. Does that help? haha

www.gorkhapalace.com