I really have to thank City Pages for their excellent coverage and rating of restaurants, bars, bakeries, and events going down in the Metro. There are so many things I never would have known about had it not been for City Pages. Black Walnut Bakery is one of those things. It's a little pop up bakery located in One on One bike shop in the North Loop. After hearing about it, I checked out their facebook page and instantly salivated at the images. I figured this would be the perfect thing to bring for a mid-afternoon get-together with some dear friends.
I ordered chocolate chip cookies and the following pastries:
-Bostock- almond frangipane & sour cherry
-Kugelhopf- currant, pistachio & orange sugar bun
-Ham & Gruyere Croissant
I think the ham and cheese croissant was my favorite!
Three tips:
1. Her facebook page says she starts selling at 11 on Saturday mornings, but I'd get there early. There's limited quantity and there was a line!
2. You can pre-order goodies by 6pm on Friday and then pick them up on Saturday morning whenever. There were a bunch of pre-order bags lining the bench she was selling from.
3. She always posts on facebook what she'll be bringing on Saturday morning!
This is a true pop-up small operation. She literally has everything she brings for general sales sitting on a cardboard table. When it's gone, it's gone! Also, the bike shop also has a coffee shop inside so you can order a latte to go with your purchase!
Sorry, we cut everything up and did our taste testing before any pictures were attempted :)
She specializes more in fancy croissants and such. She didn't really have anything for donuts.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Bachelor Farmer
Two words: breakfast appetizers. Not "sides" like yogurt, fresh fruit, slice of bacon, or a ho hum cinnamon roll that usually frequent the "sides" portion of a breakfast or brunch menu. No, legit tiny breakfast masterpieces. Bachelor Farmer's Sunday brunch menu consists of four sections (pertaining to food) and three of them qualify more as these breakfast appetizers. I'll argue that these three sections - on the cart, smorrebrod (smear bread), and sides - of the Bachelor Farmer menu are more delightful than the actual main dishes. Thankfully the main dishes on the menu are smaller in size so you can feel free to indulge from these other areas of the menu.
Our brunch started out with Mark Dayton himself opening the door for my sister as she ran inside to put our name on the list. After an awkward "you go, no you go"/"I am staring at someone famous"/missed photobomb opportunity (love you seester!), she got our name on the list and we parked the cars.
I did not expect it, but the menu is very Scandinavian. We had to google some of the items on the menu to figure out what they were. Here's what we ended up with:
Bottomless coffee! Duh.
This magical pastry filled with chocolate and butterscotch cream. There's also a perfectly sweet cinnamon roll in the background.
Mini bacon pancakes with syrup
Deconstructed eggs benedict with speatzle
Deconstructed eggs benedict with kale and beans
Everything was quite delicious and sharable. We ended up not venturing into the smorrebrod portion of the menu. #fail. City Pages actually just wrote an article about it yesterday. The smorrebrod menu consists of open-faced sandwiches - Danish bread with Danish butter and various toppings like fish, bacon, egg, or cow's milk and seeds on top. They sound wonderfully interesting, we should have gotten one. Another perfect breakfast appetizer to share - the bread is cut into four small pieces so you can share and order a couple for variety's sake.
http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2015/03/21_brunch_toasts_at_bachelor_farmer.php
I was also very impressed with the prices - the sides ranged from $4-$7 and the main dishes ranged from $9-$14. Very affordable for a North Loop brunch.
Our brunch started out with Mark Dayton himself opening the door for my sister as she ran inside to put our name on the list. After an awkward "you go, no you go"/"I am staring at someone famous"/missed photobomb opportunity (love you seester!), she got our name on the list and we parked the cars.
I did not expect it, but the menu is very Scandinavian. We had to google some of the items on the menu to figure out what they were. Here's what we ended up with:
Bottomless coffee! Duh.
This magical pastry filled with chocolate and butterscotch cream. There's also a perfectly sweet cinnamon roll in the background.
Mini bacon pancakes with syrup
Deconstructed eggs benedict with speatzle
Deconstructed eggs benedict with kale and beans
Everything was quite delicious and sharable. We ended up not venturing into the smorrebrod portion of the menu. #fail. City Pages actually just wrote an article about it yesterday. The smorrebrod menu consists of open-faced sandwiches - Danish bread with Danish butter and various toppings like fish, bacon, egg, or cow's milk and seeds on top. They sound wonderfully interesting, we should have gotten one. Another perfect breakfast appetizer to share - the bread is cut into four small pieces so you can share and order a couple for variety's sake.
http://blogs.citypages.com/food/2015/03/21_brunch_toasts_at_bachelor_farmer.php
I was also very impressed with the prices - the sides ranged from $4-$7 and the main dishes ranged from $9-$14. Very affordable for a North Loop brunch.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Copper River Fish & Chop House
It seems like whenever I read the City Pages' "Best of" list or read buzz about a new restaurant, the location is in Minneapolis or St. Paul. Sometimes it feels like the 'burbs are only home to fast food and chain restaurants. This myth was dispelled on Saturday when we went to dinner with friends in their neck of the woods - Lakeville. The restaurant was beautiful with a cool floor plan design and modern/upscale decor. It also had a large, inviting patio that I would love to visit in the summer (unfortunately it was too cold to enjoy dinner al fresco on Saturday). Our friends frequent Copper River so I was very excited to finally experience this amazing food they'd been talking about.
We started the dinner with the complementary warm spinach tortillas and edamame hummus. I'm such a sucker for variety. Next we tried the oysters. They had about 6-7 varieties of oysters on the menu for $2.50 each. Copper River is known for their seafood so my husband decided to just try all the oysters so he knew which was his favorite for future orders. I'm really not a huge oyster fan - it's a texture thing. They were served with horseradish, cocktail sauce, and vinegar ice shavings. I tried one and thought it wasn't half bad. Our friends let me try their crab stuffed oysters and that was the ticket. They oysters are stuffed with crab meat and pesto is drizzled on top. The gummy texture of the oyster was masked with everything else in the bite and the flavors were the perfect combo.
For the main course, I ordered the blackened mahi mahi which was served with lobster/potato hash and BBQ sauce drizzled on top of the fish. It was amazing. My husband ordered the lamb shank with veggies and garlic mashed potatoes. The lamb was just exquisite. Perfectly cooked and seasoned.
We very much enjoyed our meal. And who knows, maybe more and more new, original restaurants will seek out suburb locations. Rent is undoubtedly cheaper and there's probably a clientele out there that doesn't want to venture into the city, wander around weird side streets looking for the restaurant because they are too cool to advertise, pay to park, or drink at the bar for an hour while they wait for a table because the restaurant doesn't take reservations.
We started the dinner with the complementary warm spinach tortillas and edamame hummus. I'm such a sucker for variety. Next we tried the oysters. They had about 6-7 varieties of oysters on the menu for $2.50 each. Copper River is known for their seafood so my husband decided to just try all the oysters so he knew which was his favorite for future orders. I'm really not a huge oyster fan - it's a texture thing. They were served with horseradish, cocktail sauce, and vinegar ice shavings. I tried one and thought it wasn't half bad. Our friends let me try their crab stuffed oysters and that was the ticket. They oysters are stuffed with crab meat and pesto is drizzled on top. The gummy texture of the oyster was masked with everything else in the bite and the flavors were the perfect combo.
For the main course, I ordered the blackened mahi mahi which was served with lobster/potato hash and BBQ sauce drizzled on top of the fish. It was amazing. My husband ordered the lamb shank with veggies and garlic mashed potatoes. The lamb was just exquisite. Perfectly cooked and seasoned.
We very much enjoyed our meal. And who knows, maybe more and more new, original restaurants will seek out suburb locations. Rent is undoubtedly cheaper and there's probably a clientele out there that doesn't want to venture into the city, wander around weird side streets looking for the restaurant because they are too cool to advertise, pay to park, or drink at the bar for an hour while they wait for a table because the restaurant doesn't take reservations.
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Shag Sushi
Last night we met some friends for dinner at Shag Sushi. Finally, more adventures in the North Loop! As soon as we walked inside, it was obvious we were in a Friday night hot spot. The place was packed and people were dressed in the trendiest duds. It was actually kind of a funny juxtaposition to the decor of Shag Sushi. If "Shag" hasn't already tipped you off, this place pays homage to the 70's with purple velvet chairs, orange carpet, and psuedo disco balls hanging from the ceiling. Beware, the crazy carpet and velvet everywhere don't quite soak up all the sound waves. The open warehouse style building make it a little loud during a busy Friday night.
We each ordered a different roll and shared. Sushi is the perfect food for sharing. Check out the snap shot below from the menu. We ordered #1, #4, #5, and the spicy tuna. They were all quite good! I've been making my rounds of sushi places, and I am always impressed how each place is able to kind of surprise me and do something different. My favorite of the rolls that we tried was the #1. It was loaded with avocado and the sweet sauce drizzled on top was just perfection. Shag also features Thai dishes on their menu so sushi lovers and non-sushi lovers can still enjoy dinner together at Shag.
We also ordered drinks. I had the shagarita (tequila, sake, lime, ginger simple syrup) which tasted good, but was really small. It was served in a small martini glass rimmed with salt. While I enjoyed it, it was probably was too expensive for what you actually get. My friend ordered the mojito which lacked essential lime flavor. I praise them for the tap list though. My husband was able to get one of his favorite ciders - Loon Juice - on tap.
We each ordered a different roll and shared. Sushi is the perfect food for sharing. Check out the snap shot below from the menu. We ordered #1, #4, #5, and the spicy tuna. They were all quite good! I've been making my rounds of sushi places, and I am always impressed how each place is able to kind of surprise me and do something different. My favorite of the rolls that we tried was the #1. It was loaded with avocado and the sweet sauce drizzled on top was just perfection. Shag also features Thai dishes on their menu so sushi lovers and non-sushi lovers can still enjoy dinner together at Shag.
We also ordered drinks. I had the shagarita (tequila, sake, lime, ginger simple syrup) which tasted good, but was really small. It was served in a small martini glass rimmed with salt. While I enjoyed it, it was probably was too expensive for what you actually get. My friend ordered the mojito which lacked essential lime flavor. I praise them for the tap list though. My husband was able to get one of his favorite ciders - Loon Juice - on tap.
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