Rachel Kramer Bussel of Cupcakes Take the Cake is in town this weekend tasting cupcakes as well as doing a couple seminars at Smitten Kitten. I got to introduce her to Sheela Namakkal of Miel y Leche and some of the best cupcakes Minneapolis has to offer.
More cupcake photos and if you’re interested in hearing Rachel speak she will be doing a free erotica reading at Smitten Kitten on Sunday at 6:00 - 7:30 P.M.
Thanks to a heads up from Brew52 and MNBeer, I stopped down to the Ugly Mug for the Flat Earth Brewing Company Black Helicopter release party.
Black Helicopter is a darker stout that’s mixed with a bit of coffee. At first glance the pints looked and smelled almost as if they were filled with coffee. Little to no head on this beer and we joked that we could get away with this at the office if we put it in a mug. It’s about one part coffee for every twenty-five parts beer but honestly, it tastes like it’s closer to one to one. The coffee comes through loud and clear but it’s not too overpowering. It’s a smooth beer but has what I’m starting to call the “Flat Earth Flat,” the tenancy for Flat Earth beers to taste like they have little to almost no carbonation. It’s tasty though — and I don’t generally drink coffee. A very drinkable beer overall and I went through three pints without really even noticing it. Well, I noticed it a lot when I was done.
We also took the opportunity to take photos with Flat Earth brewmaster Jeff Williamson who’s a very personable and nice guy.
I’d like to have another pint of this soon.
Cross-posted on Brew52
After a recommendation from Katie, I decided to take my father out for his birthday at Marcello’s. I brought my sister and brother in law as well.
Marcello’s is situated at the end of strip mall and the interior is rather campy. Dark booths, a lot of woodwork and shingles around the kitchen area to simulate another roof. Right away, my sister and I commented on how it “smelled like pizza.” It was strong.
We ordered some cheese bread as an appetizer and they gave us so much it could have been a meal by itself. Our large pepperoni pizza came soon after and immediately reminded me of many other midwestern round pizzas cut in squares or party-style. There were little pools of grease and the cheese and sauce dripped off the edges. The slices themselves were quite tasty and most notable was the particularly spicy pepperoni. Outside the pepperoni this pizza was a no-surprises, straight up pie.
The slices came apart nicely and worked great for a party of four. We didn’t finish our bread and when it was down to our last slice nobody would claim it. Our waiter, Tony, said that he’d prepare it for take out for us with the bread. We thought he’d just put it all in a box but when he came back, we all were impressed with his packaging: the last slice was individually wrapped in foil. Cute. Great service.
Many locals in Plymouth say this is the best pizza in town. Check it out.
Marcello’s Pizza & Pasta
4112 Lancaster Ln N
Plymouth, MN 55441
763-559-8266
Lesley and I decided to check out Yarusso Bros. Italian Restaurant as she’s a current and I’m a former Saint Paul resident and neither of us had been before. Yarusso’s, as it’s more commonly called, has been around for 75 years and many people regard it as an staple of old Saint Paul restaurants. The building is recognizable with a Statue of Liberty on top if you drive down Payne Avenue.
Yarusso’s was brought up in a thread on MNspeak and Steve Sundberg chimed in that they are “more famous for their giant meatballs and garlic bread than they are pizza.” I would attest that this is likely true as when we arrived we didn’t see any pizza at all but many people dining on pasta.
We each ordered a Brewer’s Cave Golden Caramel Lager as their menus indicated they were related to the brewer. It wasn’t our favorite beer but couldn’t exactly put our finger on as to why. Brew52 has more on this beer, including my short experience with it. I’ll order it again the next time I’m back. We also got a basket of slices of white bread and bits of butter in pre-packaged containers.
Our pizza arrived it looked a lot better than we expected. The pepperonis were good and it was loaded with cheese. Topped with some grease but not overwhelming. There wasn’t much sauce but most notable was the crust: it was surprisingly thick and crispy. We had a hard time comparing it but we kept agreeing it was most like a higher end “self-rising” frozen pizza. We felt bad with that comparison because the pizza was actually good, but it wasn’t good enough to avoid the similarity.
One of the owners or managers stopped by our table and asked if we wanted some free carrot cake as well. A nice little bonus.
Overall, not bad. Yarusso’s is a well established, family owned and operated joint in Saint Paul and worth a visit if you haven’t been. If pasta’s your game, you may want to try that instead of the pizza as that’s what their known for. Also, for their 75th anniversary they’re having “1930’s costume night” on the first Thursdays of each month. Sounds like a hoot.
Yarusso Brothers Italian Restaurant
635 Payne Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55130
651-776-4848
For the Aliveness Project’s Dining Out For Life day, where participating restaurants donate a percentage of their proceeds to the organization, Sarah and I went to Arezzo Ristorante. I hadn’t been before, and honestly I’m usually not down in the 50th and France area of Minneapolis and Edina.
While Arezzo is technically in Minneapolis, Edina is across the street and the crowd is to match. We were seated near people that were barely murmuring to each other and we had a hard time maintaining a comparable volume. I also muttered a vulgarity in conversation and the family behind us, including the head of the family in a full business suit, turned to stare at me. My mistake, but the point is that one doesn’t get away with poor manners here.
Our server was shy but formal and prompt. We ordered a bottle of Allegrini Valpolicella which was quite tasty. Overall their wine menu is well rounded out mostly with Italian wines. Their dinner menu is full of Italian cuisine and their brick oven pizzas are surprisingly tucked away on the bottom part of one of the pages. I wrongly assumed, as they invested in having a brick oven for pizza, that they would put it on the menu more predominantly.
Our Neapolitan-style pizzas came quickly. I got the Margherita. I noticed first that their pizzas are a bit larger than most pizzas of this style. The cheese tasted quite fresh and held together well. It didn’t have much basil but the sauce was tasty and sweet. It wasn’t too oily and had good consistency. My favorite part was the crust: chewy, a tad bit doughy, not too sweet and a slight crispy edge to it. The cornicione of the crust was just the right size and was enjoyable like a small breadstick at the end.
Our server multiple times made sure our wine glasses were full and was very attentive. Overall great pizza, and a good experience but priced a bit on the higher end. Certainly worth trying if you’re in the area.
Arezzo Ristorante
5057 France Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55410
612-285-7444
Chef J.D. Fratzke, previously of Muffuletta and Tim Niver and Aaron Johnson of the Town Talk Diner just opened their new restaurant The Strip Club. It’s situated in just east of downtown Saint Paul and probably a little too convenient for my commute home from work.
A group of over ten of us popped in on their opening to check it out. It’s generally unfair to judge a place by their first night open to the public but our food, drink and service were all fantastic.
I had three small plates: the walleye fritters, escargot and their fries, all of which were very tasty. Ang, who coincidentally lives in one of the condos above the Strip Club ordered the New York Strip and said it was probably one of the best steaks she’s ever had. (No doubt that having this place downstairs from her will be too convenient, for better or for worse.)
Everyone seemed to love the mixed drinks, all of which seemed to be modeled after prohibition-era cocktails. As Max from the Bottle Gang noted, “At least three of their cocktails use a brandy base. That’s really rare these days; usually they are made with bourbon nowadays. The original recipes were brandy recipes and they’re really good with brandy.” I agree wholeheartedly.
We were seated on the second floor which is accessible only by a small, tight spiral staircase. My first thought is that it’s likely difficult to be carrying food and drinks up it. It’s a very nice feature but probably would be my worst enemy if I worked there. Our service was fast, very friendly and made me forget about the staircase they were repeatedly scaling.
The view of downtown Saint Paul from the Strip Club is great, the interior is well lit and the place feels classic. There’s also a secret door on the second floor that leads to the Strip Club’s office. Cool.
I’m going to be back here a lot.
The Strip Club
378 Maria Ave
Saint Paul, MN 55106
651-793-6247
Also check out my photos from the evening, Brian Moen’s write-up on his visit during the friends and family opening, Courtney’s photos, Ed’s post on The Deets and Cristina’s post in The Rake.
A couple days ago Matt pointed me to Buster’s on 28th Street. As it wasn’t open yet, I passed the link to a few people expressing that I wanted to show up on opening night. Taylor deciding to live blog it, Ed Kohler blogged about it more and Greg Swan blogged about Taylor and Ed blogging about it. Heh. As a result…
The party that formed at 6pm tonight was Max Sparber, Courtney Mault, Max and Courtney’s friend Amy, Ed Kohler, Andy Brown, Mike McCarron, Steve McPherson and his fiancée Calley Graham. Taylor Carik couldn’t make it, but liveblogged it anyway by proxy.
Nick Miller, one of the owners of the Happy Gnome is behind Buster’s and one server referred it to “the sister to the Happy Gnome.” There were a couple similarities but don’t expect Buster’s to be anything like it.
On a side note, I think it’s pretty funny that they call themselves Buster’s on 28th Street when they’re actually on 28th Avenue. Sure to confuse locals and suburbanites alike. Update: Mike Stier from Buster’s contacted me and said it was just a goof on a third party and it’s now fixed. The menu and and their web site were the only things that were wrong.
It was a hot and steamy day outside but it was a tad bit worse inside. Air conditioning wasn’t all figured out yet I don’t think and I made the mistake of sitting next to the open frier near the bar. I initially ordered a Left Hand Sawtooth from the menu. Four minutes later I’m told they didn’t have it and then I found out they didn’t have any Summit or Surly either. Their menu humorously listed “Rush River” as a beer. They were referring to Rush River Brewing Company without letting us know which beer of theirs it was. I ordered their “Rush River” and whatever it was, it was good and most of us ended up having one. A decent selection of local beers, microbrews and a few Belgians are on the menu too.
It’s unfair to judge a restaurant’s service on its first day but to their credit they were well staffed and friendly. Service was sometimes slow and some servers were confused: “Did you guys order this?” Humorously our server came up to us with a full pint glass and asked us if we’d like to try a Pabst. Ed said “sure,” and it was warm. Not sure why we got a warm pint glass of PBR. We never drank it.
I ordered their Garlic and Pear pizza which tasted more like a dessert than a dinner. Still quite good though. Everyone seemed pleased with what they ordered. Amy and Ed got their version of the Juicy Lucy. I’ll let them speak to that in the comments.
After a bunch of us were talking about blogging and I took a bunch of photos around the place, suddenly a bunch more beer showed up at our table. There were so many pints that we couldn’t finish them all; we left some untouched at the table when we left.
Again, not really fair to go into a real review on opening night. We had a good time, good beer selection (even if they didn’t have many on tap yet) and it’s really a nice new neighborhood joint in South Minneapolis. Once everyone has their bearings and they get the rest of their beers on tap I’ll be visiting again soon.
See the rest of the photos on Flickr.
Bill, Kim and I decided to try out the latest hyped-up suburban restaurant, Copper Bleu. It opened two days ago but we were asked by their staff twice if we had been there before. Ha. It’s 20+ miles away from downtown Minneapolis in a land of strip malls and chain restaurants where everything seems less than 5 years old.
Designed by Jordan Mozer and Associates, Copper Bleu feels trendy. Not warm, not comfortable, not fun, not even all that interesting. The whole building was a bunch of strange angles and curves that cared more about form and less about function. The copper exterior is an expensive gimmick. Light fixtures on the ceiling looked like massive collections of test tubes held in place with a sheet of copper. The lights on the table along with a wall of plates separating part of the restaurant looked like they were melting and droopy. The windows outside showed a patio and the landscaping tries to hide the supermarket and strip mall outside. The best part was the strange blue and brown blocks that looked like a bunch of plush furniture from IKEA placed into the far wall. They made it all look sharp, though. Trendy.
After waiting twenty minutes to get seated, we started by getting a bottle of Echelon Pinot Noir. The wine glasses were obnoxiously large and our waitress struggled with the procedure of opening the wine and having me taste it. Otherwise she did well for her first week on the job and treated us very well. Also large was our coconut shrimp to start with which tasted fantastic. Largest shrimp I’ve ever had. Our food overall was great and even better was the dessert. Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake… arr num num. Bill wrote more about what we ate on his post about Copper Bleu.
We were surprised to find such good food in the middle of Lakeville despite the fact the menu was made by a “Consulting Chef.” We were also surprised that it was decent considering the owner being involved with Champps restaurants and the name “Copper Bleu” being chosen as a result of market research.
They’ve made a strange but decent product with their $5 million investment. Although it doesn’t have much personality and in a few years the freshness and trendiness of the place will wear off, my guess is with all the new money that’s moving to these outer suburbs, the great food and otherwise lack of “fine dining” in these parts, Copper Bleu will stick around.
UPDATE: Less than two years later, Copper Bleu is closed:
To all valued Copper Bleu guests
We are deeply saddened to inform you that Copper Bleu in Lakeville has closed it’s operations.
Thank you for your support. It has been a pleasure serving you.
Copper Bleu Management-
