Black Forest Inn

Visited on Friday, May 27 with Jake and Allison

Ben's Review

Erin heard about spargelfest at Black Forest Inn and wanted to check it out. Her parents took Annie up to the cabin one day early on Memorial Day weekend, so we took the opportunity to meet our friends Jake and Allison for dinner before heading up ourselves on Friday night.

I had heard that Black Forest Inn had a great patio, but I wasn’t really excited to try this place out. After having what I considered to be bland, uninteresting food in Germany during our honeymoon, I had written off their food entirely. Spargelfest sounded cool, and I do like asparagus, so we headed over after work.

It was cold out the day we went, so the patio wasn’t going to happen, which was unfortunate. The inside of Black Forest Inn reminded me of the beer halls in Germany with the high, painted ceilings, the woodwork, and the customers and staff.

We had arrived early which gave us plenty of time to look over the menu and consider our options. I started with a beer (Erin insisted that I get a German beer, which I was going to anyway) and got the Paulaner Salvator.

I was surprised at how much of the food actually seemed good, not what my prejudiced mind was expecting, which was nice. I actually didn’t end up getting any spargelfest specialty, but I made sure to try Erin’s asparagus soup. I went traditional and got the bratwurst dinner which consisted of two bratwurst links, hot German potato salad, sauerkraut, and rye bread. I also noticed that they had a maibock mentioned on the spargelfest menu that was not on the beer list, so I got a maibock with my meal as well (can’t recall the brand now).

I was amazed at how good this food was. I don’t know if I just happened to get bad food in Germany, or if my tastes have changed in the past five years. The bratwurst was excellent, and I even slightly enjoyed my sauerkraut. The best part though, was the hot potato salad. I had breezed over the word ‘hot’ in the menu and was expecting the cold variety that we know and love. This potato salad was phenomenal and I fully intend to try making this at home because it cannot be that difficult.

Jake and I also got to have the lion’s share of Erin’s pork because she had ordered a ridiculously sized portion for herself and found herself not really needing her third slab of meat. Needless to say we left incredibly full and with leftovers for the cabin.

Service: The service was just OK, it took awhile to get our drinks and orders taken. Our server changed halfway through, so there must have been a shift change or something going on.
Food: The food was excellent and the portions were huge.
Drinks: Small beer list, but they have light and dark German beers and a couple macro brews.
Ambiance: Kind of loud and boisterous, while also friendly, which also reminded me of Germany.
Convenience: Black Forest Inn actually has a parking lot, which I did not realize. We parked on the street, and we’ve always managed to find a close street spot when we come to this area.

Erin's Review

Like many places on our list, I'd been wanting to go to Black Forest Inn for many many years. German food just isn't high on my wish list, however. The patio was the biggest selling point for me, so I was pretty disappointed that it was cold and raining on the day we planned to go. I do definitely think we'll have to go back sometime to sit on the patio, because it looks beautiful!

Ben and I took our honeymoon, now 5.5 years ago, to Germany, and Jake and Allison just went on a trip to Germany last year, so it was fun for all of us to reminisce about our time in the FATHERLAND (not Motherland as I sometimes have been known to mistakenly say).

I was having a REALLY hard time figuring out what to order. I started off with a refreshing root beer, and then stared at the menu for a good 20 minutes while we waited for Jake and Allison to show up. I knew I wanted SOMETHING with asparagus, and wanted a pretzel. Those were my basic requirements.

Finally I decided to order the asparagus soup as a starter - it was creamy and delicious, with mostly pureed asparagus but with enough chunks to make it interesting. It brought back pleasant memories of the asparagus soup I had in Amsterdam on the last night of our vacation in Europe 2 years ago.

After MUCH deliberation, I decided to go with the hausplatte - it was described on the menu as "A generous sampling of rippchen, bratwurst, polish sausage, red cabbage, sauerkraut, and potato salad. Served with a fresh-baked pretzel and homemade mustard". I mistakenly thought that this would be a "sample" plate - which is what it said on the menu. But no. This was FULL portions of EACH of those meats, PLUS a pretzel and full orders of each of those sides. Um. A bit much for me, you could say. I did think this was DELICIOUS - especially the pretzel. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was the "rippchen" which was some kind of huge slab of pork. No thanks. Anyway - my advice is that this plate is PLENTY for two people. I made good headway with the brat and potato salad, and some saurkraut but that was about it. Far too much for one or even probably two people. Despite the solo pretzels not being anywhere that I could see on the menu, you can just order one on the side. Probably a better idea than ordering an enormous meal just because it came with a pretzel. Oh well, live and learn.

Black Forest Inn was friendly and inviting - everyone seemed to be having a great time. Upon looking at their website, they have a kids menu and I saw plenty of high chairs too. We might have to go back with Annie in tow for a patio visit later this summer.

Deets

Black Forest Inn

1 East 26th Street

Minneapolis

the Bad Waitress

Visited on Saturday, April 23 with Rebekah, Rett and Adelaide

Erin's Review

When Rebekah told me that Annie was playing at the Children's Theater, I knew we had to make a family trip to see it! For some reason I thought the theater was in downtown St. Paul near the Children's Museum, so when we went to make firm plans of where to get brunch, I found I was mistaken. There aren't a whole lot of brunch places really near the Children's Theater and Minneapolis Institute of Arts, so the Bad Waitress was pretty much the obvious choice. The show was at 11, so we figured we were giving ourselves plenty of time with a 9:30 reservation.

We all arrived promptly at 9:30 and were taken back to a large, oddly shaped booth in the back. We mulled over the menus and then wrote our orders on a pad, and sent Rett and Ben over to do the business. Finally, after what seemed like a ridiculously long wait, we got our coffee. Most other places get it to you pretty much the second you sit down, which I much prefer. It took even longer to get our food, as Ben notes below, which since we had a show to get to, and two toddlers with us, was VERY annoying. The service concept at Bad Waitress certainly works fine at other places, like Birchwood Cafe and Be'wiched, but on this trip, I felt like they were deliberately making us wait longer than every other table there for some reason. With no set server, no one has any level of accountability either. No one apologized or even seemed to notice that we were waiting. Overall, the service was pretty horrible.

Annie eventually got frustrated with the wait

The food finally came - I had ordered eggs benedict, which came with asparagus. It was actually very good, but I had to seriously wolf it down so we could leave in time to make the show, and also help Annie eat. The eggs were done a little more than I prefer, but still had a bit of runniness to them.

The pancakes that Adelaide and Annie both got were ridiculous - larger than most adult pancakes and just seemed to be wasteful. I know they are on the younger end of the spectrum for kids meals, but even a grown adult doesn't need a pancake that large. They came with a few berries in the shape of a face and bear ears, which was definitely cute. Annie ate maybe 1/4 of the pancake there and all the berries, and I brought about 1/4 more along for a 2nd act snack during the play which was definitely needed. I also noticed the pancakes sitting at the window for at least 5 minutes, and they only got brought out when Rebekah finally asked about it. Very, very annoying. Every restaurant should know that you can bring out a children's meal as soon as it's ready.

I actually really liked the food at Bad Waitress, and the service at other tables around us seemed to be much faster, so I'd still recommend it and just hope the service is better for you.

Ben's Review

Erin was unable to pass up the chance to go see the play “Annie” at the Children’s Theatre, so we arranged to go see it with Rett, Rebekah, and Adelaide, with plans to have brunch nearby at the Bad Waitress beforehand.

I had heard little about the Bad Waitress other than they don’t really wait on you. I like the ordering concept a lot; you fill out a short order ticket at your table from the menu, then walk it to the register where you place your order and pay. A food runner then brings your food out when it’s ready. I like that you can order at your own leisure, or as soon as you walk in the door if you know what you want.

The menu was varied with nearly every breakfast option you would want for brunch. We sorted out what we would have and got something for the little ones and headed up to order. I like that they have the option to order a carafe of coffee as opposed to individual cups, and carafe refills are only a buck.

I ended up with the breakfast burrito which is made to order with your choice of three ingredients in addition to a couple scrambled eggs. I got chorizo sausage, bacon, and cheddar cheese, but I turned out to be a horrible “short orderer”, as the cashier had to fix several of my entries on the slip. She seemed annoyed with my ignorance, but also appeared as though it was totally expected from a noob such as myself.

We were so rushed I nearly forgot to take a photo

Rett and I ordered, paid, and went back to the table to wait for our food. We waited. And waited some more. Other tables that arrived after us got their food, ate, and left. We still didn’t get our food. We started to worry that we’d miss the start of the play if we didn’t get our food soon. Rebekah went to check on the status. We waited a little longer and it finally arrived, about fifty minutes after ordering. Luckily the girls were good natured the whole time. Annie and Adelaide did great too.

Annie was quite patient up to a point

While scarfing down my burrito I managed to take a second to taste what I was eating, and it tasted great. The burrito was pleasantly full of eggs, meat, and cheese, and it wasn’t all liquidy like my scrambled egg burritos are when I make them at home. The burrito came with a side of American fries which were good and tasted as if they had actually been made fresh.

Annie and Adelaide both had the largest single pancake I’ve ever seen, in the shape of Mickey Mouse, of course. It came with some berries which Annie made sure to enjoy before moving on to the actual pancake.

For size comparison

Luckily since you pay when you order we could simply eat and run, and we made the play with plenty of time. One thing I find a little odd about the Bad Waitress is that there are reminders to tip your server. What is the etiquette in this situation? I tipped the same amount I would normally, but I felt like I shouldn’t have to. The level of service you get is, by design, less than traditional restaurants. Being that I won’t be here that often I didn’t mind this one time, but if I were to make regular visits, I think I would feel justified in reducing the tip percentage, what do you think?

Service: The service was fine, the food took much longer than expected.
Food: The food was very good, so maybe the time it took was worth it :)
Drinks: I didn’t see any alcohol on the menu, so I think it’s limited to NA drinks. The coffee was good and they serve real half and half.
Ambiance: Typical busy brunch crowd, there was a good din to the place. It was difficult to have a conversation across our large table, so the sound carries quite a bit.
Convenience: Parking was OK on a Sunday morning, but this isn’t the easiest place to park, at 26th & Nicollet.

Deets

the Bad Waitress

2 East 26th Street (at Nicollet)

Minneapolis

Azia

Visited on Monday, July 13th

Ben's Review
A couple weeks ago, Erin and I received an invitation to attend a dinner with other local bloggers from Thom Pham, the owner of Azia and other area restaurants. We agreed, but weren't really sure what to expect, without knowing who else had been invited, or even how many people would be there.

It turned out to be a fairly small group of people - eight bloggers/guests and three of Thom's associates for cocktails and food at the Caterpillar Lounge, which is adjacent to Azia. We arrived and were brought to the bar in the Caterpillar by the hostess and were greeted by Nick, who does marketing for Thom, and he got us squared away with something to drink. In spite of the extensive list of specialty martinis I went with a normal half vodka, half gin martini (which was excellent) and Erin got some fruity concoction the bartender put together that looked delicious.

As other people started to arrive I was a little jealous that I hadn't gotten a fancier drink - several of them were served with dry ice that made the drinks appear to be smoking, it was a really cool effect. We enjoyed conversation as more people, including Thom, arrived and got drinks. Thom is a gracious host and an interesting person to talk with, he has a great story to tell of his arrival in Minnesota and starting several restaurants.

After everyone arrived they brought out appetizers in the bar. We helped ourselves to a great spread of food. There were these squash pot stickers that were fantastic as well as meat skewers, some sushi, and a couple other items that escape me at this point (I should have written this earlier). Everyone sat at the small bar tables in the back of the Caterpillar Lounge and talked while we ate. The food was excellent, everyone seemed to be having a great time.

When everyone had filled up on the appetizers, we were then moved into the dining area of the Caterpillar where were seated for a meal of family style items, some from the Azia menu and some new items as well. The invitation had said "heavy appetizers" but this was a full on meal with wine and several desserts. There were four or five main dishes that were passed around the table. I think my favorite was a tie between the Shanghai noodles, which was similar to pad thai but with very thin "cellophane" noodles, and the basil & jalapeno walleye. I was skeptical of the walleye at first, but it was absolutely delicious.

(Cranberry Curry - another winner)

After we ate Thom gave us a tour of Azia and described what it looked like when moved in (the pressed tin ceilings were covered by a dropped ceiling!) and how the corner used to be full of drug dealers, but it has now been transformed into a hip area that people love to come to. There is also a third restaurant, on the other side of Azia, the Anemoni sushi bar. They have a cool boat in the front corner of the restaurant with a table inside that I'd like to eat at someday :) He said that from any of the three restaurants you can order anything from any menu, which is great because you can choose the kind of vibe you want for the night, without having to sacrifice any of your meal options.

We only stayed a few minutes after the tour finished as it was after 9pm by this point on a Monday night and we're lame like that. The food and experience went WAY above the expectations I'd had for the night and it turned out to be a really fun night, I had a great time.

Erin's Review

When Ben told me we'd been invited to a "cocktail/appetizer" event at Azia by chef Thom Pham, I honestly thought it would be pretty lame. Even that night we weren't that excited to go, as we had no clue who else would be there or what the event would be like. Well, to put it mildly, this event FAR exceeded both of our low expectations! We were the first to arrive, and were greeted graciously by the host and the bartender. Nick the marketing guy, and Ryan (I think?) the manager of the restaurant made sure we got drinks right away. I asked for "something fruity" and was blown away by what I got! I can't remember what was it in, except for blackberry puree. It was definitely delicious!

A few other people showed up - bloggers from twin cities eats, The Food Court, and The Bloated Belly. It was really awesome to finally meet these people in person after reading their blogs for awhile! We had some great conversations about our various blogging experiences :)

After a bit of mingling we got some appetizers. I, of course, headed straight for the wontons. As with most things on Azia's menu, there was a twist to them - cranberry. YUM! These were absolutely delicious and one of my favorite things that I had all night. We chowed down for awhile, and I was already pretty much full... and then we moved on to dinner.

(My second fruity drink - complete with edible flower :)

We were all seated and got to try a number of Azia's dishes - I really loved the Sea Bass, which was served with squash, and the walleye with jalapeno basil cream sauce. Those were the two standouts to me, but honestly I was too full to really give any of the dishes justice, unfortunately! To top it all off, we then got dessert, the almond joy and some sort of banana something or other. I was a little meh about each of these - they were good, but nothing that blew me away. That was fine though - I'd definitely enjoyed enough!

This was an excellent event, and I'm so glad it finally got us out there to try Azia. We will definitely need to come back to try it on our own - I want to go to the sushi bar specifically. I loved the vibe in Azia - they have a number of sections - the lounge and sushi bar definitely feel more cozy than the huge main dining room, but the dining room is beautiful so it makes up for the hugeness. It seems like it would be a great place for a fun night out - albeit a slightly expensive one! Monday night wasn't exactly hopping, so when we go back I want to see what it's like on a weekend. Also a bonus - the kitchens of all 3 places are open until 2am!

Deets
Azia
2550 Nicollet Ave S
Minneapolis

jasmine 26

Visited on Thursday, November 12th with Ryan and Corlissa

Ben's Review
Erin arranged to have dinner with Ryan and Corlissa last Thursday night. We ended up going to Jasmine 26, at 26th & Nicollet. Without knowing exactly where the restaurant was, I grabbed an open parking spot on Nicollet which was luckily only a block away. (I didn't want to pay $13.50 again!)

As we sat down, Ryan told us that they had Surly Bender on tap, in addition to the rest of the beers on the menu. I looked over the list and nothing called out to me, so I opted for the Bender. Our server came back a minute later and apologized, saying that they didn't actually have the Bender, it was instead Surly Furious. No apologies necessary :)

The water glasses at Jasmine 26 are tall and heavy, so when I grabbed my beer I was a little surprised at how light it seemed. I figured I was just used to the weight of the water glass and forgot about it. Throughout dinner though, I couldn't help but feel like the beer glass was NOT a real pint glass and Erin agreed. I didn't ask the server, but I have a strong suspicion that they have miniature pint glasses, maybe 12 oz. Also, there was a head of about 1.5 inches on the beer, further reducing the amount of beer I was getting. This turned out to be the only negative of the meal.

Erin and I ordered the lettuce rolls as an appetizer - these are kind of like spring rolls except they are wrapped in lettuce and tied with cilantro, I thought they were kind of cool, but a little hard to eat without looking like a fool, everything kind of falls apart as you bite in. For my entree, I was drawn to the spicy eggplant stir fry in the 'Specialty Dishes' section of the menu. I was thinking of going for the pad thai, but that seemed like a cop-out; I'm at a new place and I should try something I haven't had before.

The stir fry was excellent and big enough for lunch the next day, which seems typical of the Asian places we've been going to. We've either been splitting an entree (Tum Rup Thai), or I get another meal out of it. Although the stir fry was called 'spicy', I wouldn't have guessed it. It had a great flavor, but it didn't bite back like I would expect a spicy dish would. I also tried some of Erin's crepe, which I thought looked like a huge omelet. It was good, but I would like it to have more meat, it was mostly bean sprouts inside.

I liked Jasmine 26, but there was nothing that would make me go back before trying other Vietnamese restaurants around town.

• Service: We had good service, it probably helped that it wasn't very busy when we were there.
  
• Food: My stir fry was great and the portions were large.
  
• Drinks: Small pint glasses make you feel like you're getting cheated. The bar looked like a cool place to hang out.
  
• Ambiance: I've read other reviews of Jasmine 26 when people said it was full of people. It was a little slow when we went, but I can picture the restaurant having a nice din to it when packed in on a weekend.
  
• Price: Good prices, $12 for my entree that got me two meals. Beer was $5.
  
• Convenience: We found a spot on Nicollet to park but I would guess it'd be a little more difficult on a weekend. Plenty of buses go down there too.

Erin's Review
My friend Ryan suggested that we join him and his girlfriend for a double date last week first because he enjoys our company, and second (and probably most importantly) because he wanted to be featured on the blog :) I told him to choose any place on the list. His choice (after one rejection from me) was jasmine 26. Sounded fine to me!

We arrived at 7:30 and the restaurant was pretty empty. I had perused the menu on the website earlier that day, but still had no clue what to order. Ryan had gotten a Thai beer (or so he said) that was pretty good, so I ordered that right away. It took us all a good long time to decide what to get because the menu is pretty extensive. The server was very friendly and attentive throughout the evening.

The lettuce wraps were chosen by Ben as an appetizer. They were pretty good, but my preference is usually toward fried appetizers. I chose the Jasmine Crepe for my entree. The "crispy tumeric coconut crepe" tasted great, and was filled mostly with bean sprouts with a little bit of pork and shrimp. I wasn't even that hungry but I ended up eating pretty much the whole thing, so it wasn't super filling. This was exactly what I wanted for my entree, but be forewarned that if you are super hungry you might want to choose a different dish.

Ryan and Corlissa both liked their entrees. I believe they each got some variety of fried rice. Ryan commented several times that his tasted faintly like ketchup, but in a good way. So take that for what it's worth :)

The atmosphere of jasmine 26 was nice - I liked the decor and lighting. It was very date-like, which is in contrast to many of the other Vietnamese places on Nicollet. The food at some of the other places may be better (I personally liked Quang better, but I'm not exactly a connoisseur of Vietnamese food...). However, if you want to enjoy an adult beverage with your meal in a well-decorated and nicely lit room, this is a good choice. I would compare jasmine 26 to Ngon Bistro in St. Paul.

Deets
jasmine 26
8 E 26th St
Minneapolis

Recommended for the atmosphere

Quang

Visited on Monday, June 16th

Ben's Review
Erin and I had planned to go for a walk after work downtown so Erin could take some photos. Afterward we convinced ourselves that we deserved to go out for dinner. It wasn't a long debate.

We first tried to go to Pho Tau Bay at 28th and Nicollet. I've eaten lunch there twice before with a group of people from work and I thought Erin would like it. We got there and the parking lot was completely empty and the restaurant appeared closed. We had seen Quang a couple blocks north so we decided to head over there instead. I later learned from my coworker that Pho Tau Bay is closed Mondays, Quang is closed Tuesdays, and there is another Vietnamese place nearby that is closed Wednesdays. Some sort of rotation I guess???

We luckily found a parking spot in the small parking lot in front of Quang that they share with a couple other shops that are attached. There were plenty of tables available when we arrived and got sat immediately. I opened the menu (with pictures, nice!) to scan my options. As an aside, I love the simplistic nature of many Asian restaurant menus. Most of the time it's a simple list of the items followed with a number that makes ordering very easy, I love it.

I had gotten a vermicelli salad last time at Pho Tau Bay and I went with another one at Quang. It had rice vermicelli noodles, carrots, cucumber, and grilled chicken. I also throw in some hoisin sauce and I tried the fish sauce that came with the meal as well (even though it didn't smell appetizing, it tasted great). We also ordered some spring rolls that came out 5.6 seconds after ordering them. Spring rolls are great, especially cause they can last so long. I want to learn how to make them so I can stuff my fridge full of them.

Our food came out quickly and we got to it, as we were both hungry. My food was fantastic, and I'm now on a Vietnamese food obsession that will last a couple months. At least it's not some unhealthy food obsession like, say, bacon. I think grilled chicken over rice vermicelli has to be an OK diet :)

It took a lot of willpower to not finish the whole large bowl and save the rest for another meal. Had I kept picking at it like I wanted to there would only be enough for a little snack, so I held back. Erin didn't even come CLOSE to finishing hers and I got to snag a few bites as well.

We asked for a couple containers for our food and the server came back with the containers and also slapped the check on the table. We boxed up our food, took the check to the front, and left. I bet our whole time there was around thirty minutes, quick, easy, and delicious.

The ratings for Quang:

• Service: Excellent service, I loved that she brought our bill with the boxes. She knew we were ready to leave and didn't need to ask for dessert or refills.
  
• Food: Fantastic. Spring rolls were great with pork and shrimp and my rice vermicelli salad was delicious.
  
• Drinks: I actually didn't even check if they had beer, we both just had water. Quang is borderline Vietnamese fast food, so I didn't feel like having a drink.
  
• Ambiance: They have huge windows that face Nicollet so it's very well lit, I really enjoyed the space.
  
• Price: Our bill was $20 after tip and tax, and we both got two meals out of our food, so Quang is a great deal.
  
• Convenience: Small parking lot out front holds maybe ten cars, otherwise you're parking at a meter.

Erin's Review
We decided after our walk through downtown to go out to eat for the second day in a row. We justified this because the place we were headed to was fairly inexpensive and that we'd get two meals out of each of our orders. This seemed like a good enough justification for me, but I don't need to be convinced to go out most of the time...

We headed down Eat Street from downtown past about 15 places that are on our list - for some reason we really had never eaten out in this area before. I'm excited to try them all out. Pho Tau Bay ended up being closed, so we headed back to Quang.

My only experience with Vietnamese food prior to this was Ngon, this was a much different atmosphere. Ngon is more of a hip bistro that you would go to for a nice night out, and Quang is a no-frills place to get cheap, filling, and delicious food (not that Ngon isn't also filling and delicious, but it isn't as cheap).

I decided to get a broken rice dish with chicken - it was very good. The chicken had a bit of a kick to it, but it wasn't overwhelmingly spicy. It was a huge portion, which was nice, since I could also take it for lunch the next day. I also liked the spring rolls, but not as much as Ben. I think I just have too much of a preference for fried, unhealthy appetizers :)

I enjoyed Quang - the service was great, the atmosphere was friendly, and the food was delicious.

Deets

Quang
2719 Nicollet Ave.
Minneapolis

Highly recommended for the value, service, and food