Manny's

Visited on Saturday, August 18th

Ben's Review
Finally. After three years of sitting a Parasole gift card that became two gift cards, and then three gift cards, we finally made it to Manny’s. We planned to go a few times before now, but our plans were always thwarted by something. I made reservations three weeks ago, and they were still booked from 5:30 to 8:15, so I got us a table in the bar at 8:15 last Saturday night.

I had wanted to sit in the bar anyways, as long as we could get a booth, as it had seemed a little more happening than the dining room. I had heard people complain about the bar being loud, and it was, but for some reason it didn’t bother me like it normally would. I think we were just excited to finally be there :)

We were sat and IMMEDIATELY served water, which I’m sure Erin appreciated. The service throughout the night was excellent, as I would expect. We were seated in a large, high backed booth that would comfortably fit four people, so we had room to spare.

In spite of the $2 upcharge to get your cocktail served “up or on the rocks”(???) I ordered a Manhatten up, while Erin went straight to the wine we had planned to order. I told our server, Tony, that we were in no rush and wanted to hang out and enjoy ourselves and that seemed to suit him just fine, which I appreciated. It’s rare that I actually wanted to sit and chill at a restaurant for very long, so I was glad he wasn’t going to rush us.

We ordered the lobster cakes as an appetizer that Tony had recommended and they didn’t disappoint. They were just barely done, soft and crumbly and delicious, just enough to whet your appetite for more food, and from this point on, the portions were ridiculously sized.

Even though I was fairly certain I was going to get a filet, it was fun to have Tony wheel over a cart that contained each different steak they offer, so you could see exactly what it was you were getting. They have a cut called the “bludgeon of beef’ that comes with a long bone protruding out of it like a handle. It was disgustingly large and $85. I passed. The filets looked tiny in comparison, but I was pretty sure a 12 oz steak was going to be plenty, so I stuck with my gut.

I ordered my steak medium rare and we added some loaded mashed potatoes as a side. No vegetable, and I’m glad we skipped it because they probably used five potatoes in our side dish, which was obviously more than enough food.

Our food came out incredibly quickly, they must get on those steaks as soon as they are ordered. I have to imagine the mashed potatoes are mostly made, and then mashed to order.

The steak, as expected, was fantastic. I ordered medium rare, Erin medium, and there was a clear difference between the two. Erin kind of wished she had ordered medium rare, and I was kind of wishing I had ordered rare :) They were served with a bearnaise sauce on the side (the horror!) which was very good, but I didn’t use it on the whole steak - it was delicious on its own.

Erin was ordering dessert, and I was ordering scotch. I asked for a small glass of Glen Livet and Tony informed me that they don’t pour them small. Fine. I just want some scotch. Erin ordered banana cream pie and I figured I could have a bite or two. The scotch and pie came out and both were out-of-this-world large. Seriously. We both had pie at the restaurant, both of us had some the next day, and then Erin had more the NEXT day and it was finally gone. The scotch pour was nearly four fingers in a good sized low ball glass. Tony set the scotch down on the table and said “Good night!”. He was right. By the time I finished the scotch and a couple bites of pie, I was painfully full, even after having unbuttoned my pants before dessert even arrived.

We took a quick glance around the dining room to see what it looked like before we left, and I felt justified in choosing the bar, seemed like a much more fun vibe. If we ever go back I’ll make sure to get a booth in the bar again. You can even request a server by name if you want. I recommend Tony if you ever go, he’s great :)

Service: Excellent service, we wanted for nothing.
Food: Awesome. Steaks were great, as you would expect. Lobster cakes were a good suggestion. The mashed potatoes could use a ton of garlic.
Drinks: Full, and beautiful, bar. No tap beer, which I think is kind of lame. Huge wine list.
Ambiance: Loud, but fun in the bar, the dining room seemed to have a life of its own, even though there is just a doorway separating the two.
Convenience: We took a cab both ways, which was convenient, but expensive. Downtown can be a pain in the ass. There, I said it.

Erin's Review
This dinner out reminded me just how much I LOVE going to nice restaurants and having a long leisurely meal. As Ben mentioned, we have had gift cards to Parasole for YEARS - we always intended to use them at Manny's, so we knew we'd need a lot to actually have a decent meal since the prices here are absurd. Completely and utterly ridiculous, along with the portion sizes - but, we knew that going in and just let go and enjoyed it. We got the original gift card years ago, but I was pregnant for much of the last 3 years and wanted to at least enjoy a bottle of wine and not well-done steak here, so those times were out. We tried a few months ago, but the night before both came down with some random illness - so finally it all worked it. We decided that this meal was to celebrate Ben's birthday and Father's Day, and then I got a promotion at work last week too, so that was well timed for this "celebration" dinner as well! For us, we'd need a special occasion to go to a place like this - however, it seemed like there were a lot of people in the bar area just enjoying a normal night out there - who are these people!? We got a bit dressed up and even decided to take cabs to and from the restaurant - going all out, because who knows when we'll be able to get a babysitter again!!

As we've done at several places now, we chose to sit in the bar and I'm glad we did. The dining room looked very stuffy, and the tables were super close together. Since we were in a large booth, it felt a bit more intimate, despite the volume of the bar area. We immediately got bread and water which was good since I was starving (it was 8pm after all). The bread was pretty good, but not the best I've had, and was a little too salty for my taste.

The wine list was completely overwhelming to me. Back in June when we had originally planned to go, I sent it to Kate and told her to just pick a reasonably priced red that was delicious. She told us to go with the Benzinger Estate, so that was easy enough. Ben briefly considered paying the $25 corkage fee and just buying a nice-ish bottle (which to us, is like $15 at the liquor store) but it was worth the extra $10 to not seem like a bunch of cheap a-holes. This wine was absolutely divine. I enjoyed more than my fair share of the bottle, but as you saw above, Ben was pretty well served himself.

Our server was quite chummy without being super annoying. So chummy, that apparently Ben even remembered his name even days later?? He recommended the lobster cakes when we mentioned that we were considering an appetizer, so we went with those and it was a great choice. They had HUGE chunks of lobster in them, and lots of cheese and herbs. So good. This was the only thing we ordered where the portions actually seemed appropriate, so that was good because I did NOT want to ruin my appetite and I had far more food to eat that night.

I knew before even getting there that I'd get the filet. I was kind of surprised that Ben chose that as well, even after observing all the other completely absurd cuts of meat that were available. I ordered it medium, which was described as pink and warm in the center. Medium rare was described as pink and cool, which sounded gross to me, but after tasting a bite of Ben's steak, I think would have been a bit better. We could clearly taste the difference between medium and medium rare and they matched the descriptions perfectly. I really did enjoy my steak, and the Bearnaise sauce was a nice addition, and somewhat shocking that there wasn't an additional charge for that. That being said, this was not the best steak I've ever had. That title is still held by Murray's, and the steak I had at erte might even eclipse this, which surprised me greatly. I think this steak just seemed a little less juicy and tender than the others - even Ben's medium rare as well, so it wasn't like mine was just overcooked. It's possible that I'm pickier now, or that my tastes have changed. I will likely never know, because I don't plan on going back - there are way too many steakhouses and other nice restaurants in this city for me to go to the same place twice.

We also got the loaded mashed potatoes, and they were indeed loaded. Ben was borderline offended that there did not seem to be any garlic in them. I suspect there was, just not the massive amounts he tends to put in everything. I thought they were great, but far, far farrrrrr too much for 2 people.

By this point, I was drunk and full - definitely the sign of a good night out. I still wanted dessert - the key lime pie and banana cream pie were both recommended - I probably would have chosen key lime, but Ben wanted a few bites and he swayed me toward the banana. This was also just so absurdly huge it was laughable, especially after everything else. It was basically a whole pie, just for us. Topped with homemade caramel, it was absolutely delicious and still was the 2 additional times I ate it at home! I only had a few bites at the restaurant because I went to the bathroom and when I came back, Ben had it boxed up already because he thought I was done. Very sad. I also got a decaf coffee and was kind of upset because the first cup was not very hot, and they just had packets of sugar which seems too diner like for a nice place like this. I prefer when they have sugar cubes, but that's a little nitpicky I guess.

We had such an amazing dinner at Manny's - it was definitely worth the wait. I loved the atmosphere in the bar area - it was fun and loud, but since we were in a booth we could still feel like we were on an intimate date and could hear our own conversation well. I would definitely recommend it for a special occasion.

Deets
Manny's Steakhouse
825 Marquette Ave
Minneapolis

The Lexington

Visited on Sunday, October 2nd

Ben's Review

I was out of town on the day of our actual anniversary, so we went out last Sunday for a belated anniversary dinner. I gave Erin a few options of places to go and she waited until Sunday to decide on The Lexington so she could determine what kind of food she was in the mood for.

My sister Becca came over around 5:30 to hang out with Annie for the night and we headed out. Sunday was the start of a gorgeous week in the twin cities and it was a great night to be outside. The Lexington is a short drive from our house and we got a parking spot on Grand Ave, right in front. Grand was surprisingly dead for a nice weekend evening, as was The Lexington. Erin had made reservations earlier in the day, but they were not needed at all. We opted to sit in the bar area, as I liked the decor and the lighting better, but there were plenty of tables in the dining room as well.

I perused the drink menu after we had been seated and was immediately drawn to the sazerac cocktail, made with bourbon, bitters, and a bit of absinthe. I had thought that this would be served up by default, but mine came in a small glass on the rocks. Not sure what the “right” way is here, but it was still a good cocktail. We were also served a basket of bread with butter, which is always a hit with us, and this was no exception.

I briefly considered steak or seafood, but the prices turned me off - they seemed higher than some steakhouses in town and I doubted it would be as good. The chicken breast stuff with crab and asparagus sounded delicious and it came with Bearnaise sauce and a side of herbed risotto.

Our food came out and it looked great. I started with the chicken and it did indeed have asparagus inside, but I couldn’t really discern any crab meat and the Bearnaise sauce was just OK, it was overly salty and richer than I thought it ought to be. The risotto was good, but I prefer Erin’s home cooked risotto better (I don’t have the patience to make it well :). Overall I was a little disappointed in my meal. I was expecting a great meal from a restaurant that has been around for as long, and with as great a reputation, as The Lexington.

Being that it was a nice night out we had planned to walk down to Cafe Latte for dessert (for Erin), but our server surprised us with a free dessert for our anniversary. The dessert was some sort of pastry with a chocolately, marshmallowy mess inside, but it was pretty damn good. We picked at it a bit, but kind of had our heart set on going to Cafe Latte, so we still went over there and Erin enjoyed an amazing lemon cream torte that I snagged a few bites of.

Overall I had a great evening out, but I chalk that up to my company and the weather. Sadly, I can’t recommend going to The Lexington, with plenty of other places to spend a special night out.

Service: The service was the bright spot at The Lexington. The hosts were incredibly friendly, as was the server. The free dessert helped :)

Food: The food was fine, but I was expecting more.

Drinks: Full bar with a good menu of specialty cocktails. The drink menu on the web site must be out of date because I don’t see the sazerac that I ordered.

Ambiance: I was glad we sat in the bar instead of the dining room, it looked a little stuffy in there and the bar area was plenty nice for me, plus they have a very nice bar to look at, which is better to me than any sort of wall decorations any day.

Convenience: Lexington and Grand can be an annoying intersection, but it was no problem for us on a Sunday night.

Erin's Review

Ben gave me a few options from the list to choose from for our anniversary. After looking at the menus, The Lexington stood out purely for their "signature" mac and cheese. Yes, kind of lame, but that's what I wanted that night. After announcing that we were going on twitter, someone recommended sitting in the bar. When we got there for our 6pm reservation, which was in the dining room, I did elect to have us sit in the bar since the vibe just seemed a little less formal in there.

We sat for awhile before ordering, Ben got his drink and I ordered a kiddie cocktail. Places that have actual good non-alcoholic cocktails are becoming amazing to me lately. It seems pretty rare. We then order and get our bread. We both changed from "The Lex" salad to a house salad because of neither of us likes olives.

Salads come out shortly after, and they are pretty bad - overdressed, and the tomatoes taste like they were refrigerated and from the middle of January. Pretty sad, considering they could have just, you know, gone outside and plucked some fresh ones, but oh well.

My macaroni and cheese with lobster was realllllllly good, by far the best part about the experience. I could only eat about 7 bites before I was completely full, but it was good for lunch the next day too. This was a great meal - you can choose 2 different things to go in your mac and cheese (a few meats and some veggies) but I just wanted the lobster. It's definitely rich!

We were then informed that we were getting a free dessert, which I figured we'd take even though we also planned to walk to Cafe Latte for dessert. It was chocolate and marshmallow in a pastry, and I also got decaf coffee. The dessert was also very rich, and I wanted to save SOME of my appetite for my 2nd dessert as well so we didn't eat it all.

I did like the ambiance of The Lexington, and some of the food was good. I can't say I'd go back since there are about a zillion other fancy places in the cities that are far better, but I'm glad we finally tried it after driving by for years.

Deets

The Lexington

1096 Grand Ave

St. Paul

Murray's

Visited on Wednesday, September 24th

Ben's Review
Last year for Christmas Erin's parent's gave me a gift card to Murray's in downtown and we thought it would be a good idea to use the gift card for our 3rd anniversary dinner last Wednesday. I had been looking forward to going ever since I had gotten the card, so I was very excited to try what is supposed to be one of the best steaks in the city.

Before our 6:30 reservation we went to Seven Sushi to sit on the rooftop and have a beer. The rooftop view at Seven is pretty cool, I think, even though it's not very tall. Just being three floors up still gives a unique view of the skyline that you don't normally get to see. As far as the bar at Seven, I highly recommend NOT going there for drinks, our two beers came to $12.70, ouch.

We only stayed for one beer since it was getting chilly outside and wandered over to Lyon's Pub next door to Murray's where we killed time at the bar until 6:30. The beers at Lyon's Pub were much better priced, and amazingly they tasted the same :)

Murray's is a short building that is nestled in between two much larger buildings. It seems a little out of place, as if the development of the area over the past decades passed it by. It's a smaller building, and frankly I would even say it's an ugly building after taking a good look at it during the daylight hours. Luckily the interior is much nicer than the outside. As you walk in there is a small bar and lounge area immediately to your left and the dining room goes to the back of the building behind the host. The dining room is kind of weird because there are no windows, which I think is odd for a downtown restaurant. Given that the building is squeezed in between two taller buildings there's really nowhere to put windows anyways, so it makes sense in that regard.

We were seated right away and it was obvious that we didn't need reservations on a Wednesday night as there were several open tables (although maybe they were all reserved as well??). We had scoped out the menu before going and Erin convinced me that we should try the signature dish, the Butter Knife steak for two even though we could get more specific dishes for less money. The Butter Knife steak for two is a 28 oz. sirloin, carved at the table, that comes with a choice of potato and a salad, for $89. I figured by getting individual steaks (I had wanted a tenderloin) and sides we could save $15 or so, but being that it was their signature dish, we thought we'd try it out.

After looking at the menu again, however, I realized they had a similar dish, the Chateaubriand, which is the same as the Butter Knife except that it's a 24 oz. tenderloin and $4 more. This sounded like a great compromise, we'd get a signature dish AND I would get a tenderloin steak - perfect :) We both got Caesar salads and mashed potatoes for our sides and they were happy to throw some garlic cloves in the potatoes.

As we drank our wine the restaurant started to fill up, I was surprised at how busy it was getting for a Wednesday. We tried to guess the occasions that people were out for, it seemed like an equal mix of people out for a reason (like us) and business meals with an expense account.

Our salads came out soon and they were huge salads and pretty good too. It's hard to have a bad Caesar salad, I think, and these ones did the job. A little while later our server wheeled out our steak and potatoes and proceeded to carve the steak right next to our table and serve us up. This steak was the best steak I've ever had. It was done medium, but even Erin thought that it would be better at medium rare. I'm at a loss for words to describe how good it was, it was just delicious, I think I could've eaten the entire thing myself. As it was we kept a lot of it for lunch the next day. I almost feel bad by not talking more about the steak, but there's not much more to say other than it was awesome.

Erin ordered the Chocolate Mousse for dessert and I got a glass of Oban to go along with it. I wasn't hungry for dessert, but when the Chocolate Mousse came out I was inspired to eat more. Along with everything else at Murray's, it was fantastic and the glass of scotch was well poured :)

I feel like I've written a lot, so I just want to recap that I thought this restaurant experience was awesome.

• Service: Wonderful. The servers here are experienced and they provide a seamless dinner, no complaints at all.
  
• Food: Best steak I've ever had. They accommodated the garlic in the potatoes too, which was sweet.
  
• Drinks: Full bar and a pretty big wine list, I think I saw a $900 bottle on there.
  
• Ambiance: Because of the low light and no windows it kind of feels like an "old boys" club. Someone at work commented that it's the kind of place you expect to see Sid Hartman at, I think that captures the ambiance pretty well.
  
• Price: We knew it would be expensive but the tab came to only $150 for everything, which shocked me. I was expecting closer to $200.
  
• Convenience: Not very convenient to get to, but nothing good is ever easy, right?

Erin's Review
Well, Ben pretty much wrote a novel about this experience, so I don't really have much left to say! (edit: uh, after writing my review it seems that I DID in fact have a lot to say... ) I do want to add my extreme shock over the drink prices at Seven too - I got a freaking Miller Lite and it was $6?! We will definitely not be drinking there again! I had read that they had a happy hour - $3 taps. However, there were no tap beers on the rooftop and definitely no specials... if anyone knows where in this large building that this mythical happy hour exists, please comment and let us know!

I have to admit, I was VERY skeptical about Murray's. Sometimes I find the most hyped restaurants to be totally disappointing, so I was fully prepared for the fact that I might not actually think that this meal was anything special. When we walked in and the place smelled and looked vaguely like one of those houses where someone has lived there 50 years and not updated at all... I grew even more apprehensive.

The bread and salad really did nothing to convince me that this would be a great meal. Both were fine, but certainly nothing spectacular. Their garlic bread kind of tasted like popcorn.

The moment I took my first bite of the Chateaubriand was when I finally believed that there is a reason many people think this is the best steakhouse in Minneapolis. This was the best steak I have ever had - it was so tender and perfectly seasoned and cooked. We still have a long ways to go in our tour of all of the great Minneapolis steakhouses, so I cannot claim that this is the best of them all. I have been to Capital Grille a few times and I liked this steak better than the filets I have had there, for whatever that's worth. The mashed potatoes were also wonderful, but would have been pretty bland without the addition of garlic.

I made a conscious effort to not eat too much so I'd have leftovers, but I really wish I had just eaten more that night - this steak definitely does not taste that great the next day. However, I really wanted to get dessert and I knew my stomach needed some room for that. The chocolate mousse that I ordered was awesome - I loved the caramel drizzle on the plate - it made the dessert a little different from how it is normally served.

One more comment about the wine list - their list of bottles is extensive, but as far as I could see, there were no bottles under $36, and the $36 bottles were few and far between - I think I saw maybe 4 or 5. The wines by the glass are much more affordable, with most being under $10.

Deets
Murray's
26 South 6th Street
Minneapolis

Highly recommended for their excellent steak

The Strip Club

Visited on Saturday, June 21st with Janelle and Scott

Erin's Review
I had read a lot about The Strip Club on various local blogs, and most reviews were pretty good. Ben was probably more excited about trying this place out than I was - he loves steak houses. I thought the menu was much more inventive than is usually found at a steak house, so I was intrigued. I decided I didn't really want to have my own steak here, because they are fairly expensive and I can never finish the whole thing, so Ben got the NY Strip, and I got 3 small plates. He had a little of my food, and I got to have a few bites of his steak.

The first thing I noticed about the food when it came out was how pretty it was. It was very beautifully prepared, and was really fun to photograph. Janelle and Scott did the same thing we did, Scott got a steak, and Janelle got 3 small plates, so I had plenty of food to photograph that night. Here are Janelle's dishes. She seemed to like them all, but did say that if she went back, she'd get a steak instead.

On the whole, the 3 small plates I ordered were very good. First, the asparagus was tasty, and I liked the sauce that came with it a lot. It was kind of an unusual flavor, as I'm used to just have plain asparagus with maybe a little sauce. I liked the sauce almost more than the asparagus itself, it was a combination of sundried tomatoes, roasted peppers, and mushrooms. I'm normally not a huge mushroom fan, but these had a good consistency and weren't super mushy which is usually what I don't like.

The mashed potato pie was not exactly what I was expecting - for some reason I was picturing a little bit more (like maybe a whole pie dish filled with mashed potatoes?? wishful thinking), but it literally is a little pie crust with mashed potatoes on it. I did not taste any bleu cheese, so I don't think there was really much in there. Normally that is not really a flavor you can mask. I did like this dish, but I thought it was pretty bland. More cheese would be better, and maybe even putting the bacon and the scallions in the mashed potato mixture... but then it wouldn't have been as pretty.

Now, for the deviled eggs. The 3 plain eggs I got were great - the sauce was spicy which was an interesting accompaniment to the eggs. The 2 pink eggs totally freaked me out. I know that is irrational, but for some reason I thought they were some other type of egg (like not from a chicken) completely. I have no idea why I thought that, but the sight of those pink eggs just kind of made my stomach turn. I did eat them, and I have to say they were not good. They were pretty..... tough, almost. Overly chewy. Ew. I did ask our waiter what kind of eggs they were, and apparently they are pickled in beet juice or something. I didn't taste any beet flavor at all, but maybe I was too put off by the color and the over-chewiness.

I tried a few bites of Ben's steak too - I liked it a lot, the sauce was very tasty. It wasn't what I would have chosen, I would have probably gone for the bleu cheese sauce. I also had a glass of wine, the Casa Solar Tempranillo, which came in a pretty small glass (I thought at least) but seemed fairly reasonably priced and was a good complement to my meal.

I enjoyed the Strip Club - it is a cozy place. I don't know if I'd go back, because it isn't really convenient to our house, and there isn't really a lot near there, but it was fun to try once! I really liked how the owner came over and talked to us. He seemed very down to earth and really wanted to make sure we had a good experience.

(Tim the owner is in the middle of this photo talking to another table)

Ben's Review
Erin's co-worker Janelle and her husband Scott had won a gift certificate to the Strip Club playing bingo and Janelle knew that we had it on our list so we arranged to have dinner last Saturday night. I love the Strip Club's url (http://domeats.com), I'm sure they had a tough time finding a url given that most permutations of "strip club" were probably taken :)

When we arrived Janelle and Scott had already been seated right inside the door in front of a big window. The front of the restaurant kind of faces west, towards downtown St. Paul so the blinds were down as the sun was low at that time. I have to say that the Strip Club is not really in a picturesque neighborhood anyways, so having the shades down wasn't a big deal. It's located in a residential area where you would expect a corner market to be, but instead there is a nice steakhouse. It seems a little out of place, I'm surprised it's even zoned to allow alcohol to be served.

Scott had ordered a pint can of Surly Furious which tempted me, but I went for the bottle of Bell's Two Hearted instead. The drinks at the Strip Club are a little pricey; my beer was $5 for a bottle and the Miller Lite is even $3.75. They have a list of specialty drinks, some that looked good, but I stuck with beer. They don't list them, but I would guess they have some good scotch too.

I had high hopes for the Strip Club after checking out the menu. For the first time in recent memory I knew what I wanted before we even got there, I was going to get the New York strip steak, which seems to be their signature dish. The steak comes plain but you can order a "sauce accompaniment" for a couple dollars. I got the "love you long time" sauce which consisted of ginger, scallions, red chilies, sesame, and soy. Being an Asian food fan I figured that was right up my alley.

Our food arrived promptly and it looked REALLY good. We were a little weirded out by Erin's purple deviled eggs, but I'll let her get into that a little more. My steak came with steamed carrots that I had kind of written off as nothing more than just a simple vegetable garnish, but I was impressed with how many I got and how good they were. I actually FINISHED the vegetables on my plate, vegetables that I had barely even acknowledged on the menu. I was a little proud :)

The steak was done as a I requested, medium, and was delicious. I was glad I got the sauce as it added a great flavor and some texture to the steak. I don't recall how big the steak was, but I would guess around 10-12 ounces.

After we had finished eating a busboy came around and took our dishes while we were chatting. A little while later our server, Bill, came back and brought us our check. Janelle handed Bill the gift card and asked to thank the owner for donating the gift card to the bingo game, so Bill went to fetch the owner. A minute later the busboy came back over and introduced himself as Tim, one of the owners of the Strip Club (pictured in one of the photos above). I thought it was real cool that he actually works in the restaurant in such an unassuming role as clearing dishes. He was very friendly and made sure we enjoyed our time there. That definitely left a positive impression on me, if I go back that will probably be a reason why.

• Service: Our server Bill was great and meeting Tim the owner was cool.
  
• Food: Excellent steak and sauce, but no bread unless you order it? That's a bummer.
  
• Drinks: Drinks are expensive, but they've got a good bottled selection. They have two taps: Rush River IPA and Rush River Amber. Good beers, but a random choice for only two taps.
  
• Ambiance: I like the restaurant, its a small place with a spiral staircase to an even smaller upper level. It was pleasantly busy on a Saturday night.
  
• Price: It's a steak house so it costs a little more than a standard place, but the food isn't unreasonable.
  
• Convenience: Located just east of downtown Saint Paul, there's no parking lot so you'll have to find a spot on the street.

Deets

The Strip Club
378 Maria Ave
St. Paul

Recommended for atmosphere and interesting menu

Erte

Visited on Wednesday, May 21st with Erin's mom, dad, and sister

Erin's ReviewI was very happy that my sister Liz told me that I could give her three choices of places to have her graduation dinner from our list. I gave her the options of Brasa, Erte, and Meritage. She chose Erte, so off we went. Ben and I had been to the adjoining Peacock Lounge with Kyle and Kate a few times because they lived a few blocks away, and I always thought Erte looked like such a nice place so I was excited to try it.

I think Erte is a beautiful restaurant. I love the decor in the Peacock Lounge as well. I think this place looks better when it is dark outside, and we were there when it was still light outside, but it still looked lovely. It is very close to a number of dive bars (Knight Cap, Mayslacks, Shaw's, probably more) so it was kind of surprising to me how nice of a place Erte is the first time we saw it.

(Bread and olives that come out right away)

I like to follow my dad's advice (on this at least...) and stick with what a place is known for when ordering so I got the only type of steak I really enjoy, the Filet Mignon. I ordered it medium and it was cooked perfectly. The sauce it came with was delicious. Ben and I also got a side of "le smush" mashed potatoes to share. What is with restaurants giving potatoes cutesy names? I think this trend is le lame. The filet was amazing, one of the best I've had. Granted, I don't really order steak that often, but this tasted delicious to me. The potatoes were also good. They would have been made even better with the addition of garlic, but I think most things in life could benefit from garlic. I also got a salad to start which was awesome - I loved the bleu cheese dressing.

I had a glass of pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon over the course of the evening. Both were pleasant. My sister got a lemon drop martini that looked great, and my mom got a lemon daquiri to remind her of our trip to Zihuatanejo last January - she said that it was very good.

The turtle fudge brownie sundae was delicious, and my sister had a key lime pie that was pretty good, although slightly too tart for my tastes.

We all really enjoyed this restaurant! It is quite romantical, but is also a good place for a celebration dinner such as the one we were having with a small group of people.

Ben's Review
Erin's sister Liz graduated from college this month and she picked Erte from our list of restaurants for her celebratory dinner. Erin's mom got us reservations for 7pm last Wednesday.

As it turns out, you don't really need reservations on a Wednesday night, as there were only three or four tables in use, out of approximately twenty-five tables. Erin and I got there first and I checked out the drink list while we waited for Erin's parents and Liz to arrive. Erte has a decent domestic beer list and an equally sized European beer list. Most of the beers are bottles, although they do have a couple taps. What I also liked about the beers is that they have a range of prices; you can get a can of PBR or a bottle of Golden Monkey.

After everyone else sat down, Erin's dad ordered a scotch so I followed suit and got an Oban on the rocks. I wasn't really feeling like a beer anyways.

The menu at Erte is great, I had a hard time deciding what to get. They have several steaks including an 18 oz. porterhouse, a 16 oz. rib eye, an 8 oz. filet , and a 10 oz. sirloin. There were also several chicken and fish dishes I was considering. Erin had decided that she was getting the filet and offered me half the steak knowing that she wouldn't be able to eat it all. I was leaning towards the walleye but Erin's dad says that when you're at a steak place, get a steak, so I did. I ordered the house special, the 10 oz. sirloin that came with a mixed green salad. Erin and I also got a side of mashed potatoes to share.

The salad came with a perfect amount of dressing and tasted delicious. The onions in the salad was a great touch and I actually found myself wanting more of the salad when I was done.

My steak came out done medium as ordered, and it also tasted great. You can optionally get garlic butter on your steak and I wished that I had, but I forgot at the time. Our mashed potatoes came out as well, and the potatoes mixed with the steak was excellent. I like to get a piece of steak (or meat in general) on my fork and then use that to scoop up some potatoes, it's delicious.

As promised Erin had plenty of her filet left over that I took down. The filet was good, but it wasn't as good as others I've had in town, but it also didn't cost as much, so take that for what it's worth. It didn't have that crusty exterior that some filets have, which I really like. Still, I'm not gonna turn it down.

We moved on to dessert. I'm not usually a dessert guy, but if there's a dessert that comes in a turtle fashion (pie, sundae, cheesecake, etc.) I can't help myself. In this case Erte has a turtle fudge brownie with vanilla ice cream that Erin, Erin's mom, and I shared. Oh man, this thing was good. If nothing else, get this dessert, it's two big brownies, a scoop of vanilla ice cream with fudge, caramel, and pecans all over the top. Wow.

Our server at Erte was a incredibly friendly woman who was prompt and just knew what she was doing in general. I give the service two thumbs up, this was one of the best servers I can remember.

On to the ratings:

• Service: Fantastic, our server was very friendly.
• Food: The food was excellent as was the dessert.
• Drinks: Limited taps but several bottled beers. A good selection of wines and full bar as well. Several specialty martinis are on the menu.
• Ambiance: It wasn't busy on a Wednesday night but the inside of Erte is cool looking, its a big open space with a well decorated interior.
• Price: The bill was reasonable for five people, I think it worked out to around $40 per person.
• Convenience: Erte is located on University just two blocks north of Broadway in Northeast with plenty of parking on street.

Deets
Erte
323 13th Ave NE
Minneapolis

Highly recommended for the food and atmosphere