Ben's Review
Summit released their new beer, Horizon Red, to a few places on April 16th. I sent the list of places to Erin who consulted with Kate and came up with Longfellow Grill as the spot for dinner that night.
Longfellow Grill is the third Blue Plate restaurant we've been to (Highland Grill and Groveland Tap being the others). All of the Blue Plate restaurants have a similar vibe and menu style, but the menu items themselves are different, which I appreciate. We arrived a little before six that night and the place was packed. It was a beautiful spring day so the patio was full as well, in fact the wait time for the patio when we got there was nearly an hour, as opposed to fifteen minutes for inside. We put our names on the "inside" list and hung around outside while we waited.
After we were seated our server told us that the number 4 news was there that night, along with one of the Summit founders, to cover the release of the new beer. We got a pitcher of the beer right away, and Erin even tried it out (she liked her Mich Golden better). I really like Horizon Red and I will add it to my rotation of beers from the liquor store. I felt like it was hoppy, but still a beer that I could drink a couple of in a given night.
I was debating between a burger, which looked really good, and the slow roasted pork shoulder with creamed corn and garlic-asiago cheese mashed potatoes. As usual, Erin knew what was best for me and told me to get the slow roasted pork, and that I could try a bite of her burger. This turned out to be a GREAT decision as the pork, corn, and potatoes were unreal. Everything came together so well that I could have mixed it all up into a pork-corn-potato paste and it would have been delicious.
We stayed for a little while longer and had another beer before we all retired to our house for a cigar and Jameson (me and Kyle) and wine (Erin and Kate). All in all a good night :)
- Service: Our server was awesome and a really funny guy.
- Food: Excellent pork shoulder, Erin's burger was just OK.
- Drinks: Good beer and wine selection, no booze.
- Ambiance: It was busy on a Wednesday night and the place had an upbeat mood, I liked it.
- Price: I thought the prices were spot-on for the food you get. My pork was $14 and the burgers range from $8-$12.
- Convenience: You'll have to park across the street in the neighborhoods, and turning left onto Lake sucks at this spot, luckily we head east onto Marshall instead.
We met Kyle and Kate right after work on Thursday, and had originally intended to walk around taking photos before eating. However, I was beat from a long day at work and Kyle and Kate were starving, so we just headed inside right away. I'm not sure if this is normal or was due to the Summit release, but it was packed. We got a table inside pretty quickly but would have had to wait awhile for a table outside.
Once we got in, we ordered a pitcher of the new Summit beer, and watched the taping for the news. Kyle ordered a pork quesadilla for the table, which was good but nothing that outstanding. I think that pretty adequately sums up Longfellow Grill for me - it's good, solid service and food, but nothing great. Ben's meal was definitely the best of the bunch.
I ordered the "Grill" Burger (not sure why there are quotes there, but that's what it said on the menu) and again, it was fine. Not cooked medium as I specified, but oh well. I enjoyed the fries although they didn't seem to be freshly cut.
The service was great - our drinks came quickly and the server was knowledgeable and funny. He only seemed to get a little less chatty after Kate sent back a glass of wine that was apparently bad. I'd say stick with the beers at a place like this.
As Ben mentions, this is the 3rd Blue Plate restaurant we've been to, and I haven't been overly impressed with any of them. They do all seem like very family friendly locations.
Deets
Longfellow Grill
2900 West River Parkway (at Lake)
Minneapolis
