Tangled Up In Blue

Visited on Friday, January 6th

Ben's Review
Erin and I planned a weekend away before baby #2 arrives, so last weekend we were off to a bed and breakfast in Osceola.

We already had plans for dinner on Saturday night (in the next post), so for Friday night we did some searching around and eventually settled on Tangled Up in Blue Restaurant in Taylors Falls.

A few people had mentioned to us that the decor was............eccentric. As we pulled into the parking lot we were prepared for the worst. Maybe we had oversold the decor in our minds, because while it was a little much, it certainly wasn’t the most awful thing in the world. (Just for an example of the decor, we were seated “at the table under the two sconces”).

The restaurant is rather small and is handled, seemingly, by one server with help from the cooks, so it took a few minutes for us to get water and drink orders. The bottled beer list is rather small and I started with a Samuel Adams.

We were both starving when we had arrived so we quickly ordered the crab cake appetizer while we decided on our entrees. Several of the entrees choices sounded good, but I was sold on the beef Wellington as I had just seen a friend of mine having some leftovers at lunch, and was intrigued.

Our crab cakes came our after we had ordered and they were piping hot and delicious, served with some greens and tartar sauce. We devoured them quickly due to our hunger. I don’t know if I was influenced by how hungry I was, but they were some of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had.

My beef Wellington came out awhile later, reinforcing that it was probably freshly made. I ordered a Fat Tire to go along with the steak. The steak came with sides of asparagus and au gratin style potatoes. As an aside, for some reason asparagus is the vegetable that I always notice being served ridiculously out of season. It’s winter and there’s no way that asparagus was grown anywhere near Taylors Falls. It’s ok to use seasonal vegetables, people shouldn’t expect asparagus in the winter.

The beef Wellington was excellent, as I had imagined it would be. It seemed a little different than the example I had seen a few weeks ago, but it was awesome nonetheless. The mix of the flaky pastry with the steak was delicious and everything was hot and fresh.

Erin was scanning the dessert menu as we finished, but decided instead to grab some ice cream on the way back to our bed and breakfast (and some whiskey for me, thanks Wisconsin gas stations!) and enjoy our lovely suite.

Service: The service was very casual and friendly, almost like you were a guest in their home.
Food: The food was fantastic.
Drinks: Decent wine list, but very small (four, I think) beer list. No cocktails.
Ambiance: Small, cozy restaurant, but it wasn’t close to full when we were there.
Convenience: A bit of a drive from the city. I don’t think Metro Transit makes it out there.

Erin's Review
After telling a few friends that we were headed to the St. Croix Falls to stay at a B&B for the weekend, we got a few recommendations for Tangled Up In Blue... but were warned about the decor (I also was particularly fond of the URL). I'm really not sure what I expected, but I think it was along the lines of scarves hanging from the ceilings, lots of mirrors, maybe some bells hanging from the chairs. Something completely over the top, that's for sure. What we happened upon was tame by comparison, but I guess could still seem to be a bit much, especially considering the glitter on the table. To those friends who recommended the place - was the decor "worse" when you went?

We actually were originally going to try out a pizza place in Dresser, but as we approached, it was super bright with about 100 small children running about inside. Not something we wanted to see after leaving our still a little sick (first ear infection - great timing!) Annie with the grandparents. I'm definitely glad we went the extra few miles to go to Tangled Up In Blue - the atmosphere was much better suited to what we wanted our weekend to be - quiet and calm.

Because, as Ben mentioned, we were absolutely starving by this point, we quickly ordered an appetizer. I ate a bit less than half because I wanted to save some room in my limited stomach area for my main dish - I decided to get just soup and salad and to try some of Ben's beef wellington, mostly because he was concerned about the cost of the meal. I was battling a cold and couldn't taste much anyway so didn't want to waste a ton of money on a huge entree I wouldn't be able to taste or eat all of anyway.

I had the house salad and a tomato soup. I liked the soup, but I swear there was some mention of pasta being in the soup on the menu (which isn't updated on the website) - tortellini or something, but that was nowhere to be found in the soup. It had chunks of green pepper and tomato in it, and was very creamy... but no pasta. Oh well, it was good, and soup is easy to eat when you're stuffed up so it hit the spot.

The salad was pretty meh - there wasn't quite enough dressing and the chunks of blue cheese were not flavorful at all, and I felt there should have been more cheese overall.

I did look at the dessert options, but was glad I passed on them to just enjoy some ice cream by the fireplace at our B&B - it gave me some time to actually want to eat again too. Tangled Up In Blue is definitely a good option in this area - although I liked our next meal more (Grecco's) - but if you are looking for 2 nicer dinners for a weekend trip, these 2 seem like the best choices in the area. I noticed they won some award "restaurant worth the drive" several years ago, and that might be a BIT of a stretch since there are far better restaurants in the Twin Cities, but if you are already in or near Taylor's Falls - it's a great option.

Deets
Tangled Up In Blue
425 Bench Street
Taylor's Falls, MN

La Chaya Bistro

Visited on Saturday, December 31st with Nate & Molly

Erin's Review
Because Ben's parents had asked to take all the grandkids each New Year's Eve, we figured we were pretty much obligated to find SOMETHING to do. 98% of our friends are either pregnant and/or have small children, so the pickings were slim. We have both been burned by special "holiday" menus at restaurants before that are mostly a waste of money and not very good, so I set out to find a place on our list that was just serving their normal menu and either did not take reservations at all, or still had openings. Ben apparently did not know this, after reading his review, but I purposely picked places further away in Minneapolis since I knew we'd have freedom from rush hour and the toddler.

After driving through what was a rainstorm at the time, we got there right on time - all the spots in the parking lot were filled, but we found one on the street very close. The restaurant was completely full when we got there, so I guess it was a good thing we made reservations. I didn't think it would be that full since there were still several openings when I'd checked about a week previously.

After the men ordered their beers, we decided on a few appetizers. Molly picked something with mushrooms, and we also got calamari. I normally am not a fan of mushrooms, but I actually really liked the appetizer. I guess they are "oyster mushrooms, sauteed in garlic and chili served with grilled bread", according to the menu - I liked that they weren't HUGE chunks of mushrooms, and they were grilled such that the mushrooms had a nice texture to them. I also liked the calamari - the tomato sauce they came with was a nice change, and they weren't overly breaded or too chewy at all.

For my entree, I chose to get the pasta special, which was their standard seafood pasta with lobster. It was served in a white wine sauce with spinach and tomatoes. I liked how light this dish was - I didn't feel disgustingly full when done with it, and the sauce was very flavorful but didn't overwhelm the lobster. I did have enough leftover for a small lunch, and it reheated well.

I purposely saved room for dessert, but wasn't too thrilled with the options. I went with a key lime pie, but it was a bit TOO tart for my liking. I honestly don't even think I finished the whole thing. Molly got the apple crisp and that seemed like a much better option. I also got a decaf Mexican mocha which was quite good, but not sweet enough for me - adding a few sugars made it perfect. I guess my sweet tooth has gotten a bit out of control lately :)

La Chaya Bistro was a great pick for this evening - I'm glad we finally tried it, as the food was delicious. The ambiance is a bit generic, but the food makes up for it. It was a fun night out actually enjoying some leisurely kid free conversation with Nate & Molly for once!

Ben's Review
My parents want to start a tradition of taking all the grandkids on New Years Eve, a total of three kids this year. We took advantage of the night off and went to La Chaya Bistro in south Minneapolis with our neighbors.

Randomly, we ended up just a few blocks from our last review spot, Sunstreet Breads, which is odd for us since I feel like we don’t make it over to south Minneapolis that often. We had reservations for 7pm and arrived right on time. Nate and Molly had gotten there a few minutes earlier and already were at the table. La Chaya Bistro is a very small restaurant with the tables close together and “cozy”, so we were elbow to elbow with our neighboring tables. Luckily being the table of four, we got to be the “loud” ones and all the couples just had to deal with us :) The place was completely full of NYE diners and everyone seemed to be a in good mood having a great time.

The beer list at La Chaya Bistro is not huge, but they did have Fulton’s IPA in bottles, which I had been wanting to try. Nate got some sort of peppery concoction with Corona and a salted rim that he seemed to like. The wine list looks more promising if wine is your thing.

We ordered calamari for an appetizer while we enjoyed the company of adults without any children around. Erin remarked afterwards that she had no idea the last time we ate dinner with Nate and Molly without both of our kids around. I bet it’s been well over a year. The calamari was good, being that it’s pretty tough to screw that up. There was also plenty for the four of us.

I was tempted to get the special that night, an eight ounce pork tenderloin with brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes. Nate ended up getting it and let me try a bite and it was fantastic. I ended up ordering the chipotle sea bass with mashed potatoes and spinach.

Our food took awhile to arrive, but we were fine with the wait as nobody was in a rush. When our food came out it was immediately clear that it was all freshly prepared. The food was still steaming and the plates weren’t hot. I feel like a hot plate is a sure sign that it has been sitting under heat lamps for awhile :) My sea bass was one of the best meals I ate all year. It was absolutely delicious. The sea bass came with a sort of oily pesto on top that gave it a fresh flavor in addition to the chipotle, it was amazing.

Not being a dessert fan I deferred to Erin and she got the key lime coconut torte and let me try a bite. It was good, but I was already too full from my sea bass to really care. I say give me a good piece of meat over sweets any day of the week.

If you’re looking for a nice meal out, I highly recommend La Chaya Bistro, it is fantastic and well worth the money.

Service: Excellent service. Our server was knowledgeable about everything and friendly.
Food: Delicious and fresh, you won’t be disappointed.
Drinks: Good wine list, smallish beer list, but they did have Fulton and Summit.
Ambiance: It’s a tight fit, but everyone we encountered was in a good mood, so it was fun.
Convenience: They have a small parking lot and there is ample on-street parking.

Sun Street Breads

Visited on Friday, December 23rd

Ben's Review
For Erin’s birthday she wanted to go out for breakfast, unsurprisingly, and decided on Sun Street Breads in south Minneapolis. Since I still had to work that day we headed over there relatively early and found an already busy bakery.

The entrance to Sun Street Breads is a little confusing if you haven’t been there before. First, there is a curtain that blocks a view of the restaurant from you so you don’t know if you need to queue up, wait to be seated, or grab a table. Secondly, since you can either order food to eat there or simply stop by for a loaf of bread to go, it’s unclear if you wait in the same line depending on what service you need.

It turns out that the line is for everyone, though I certainly could see a second line being useful for those people that are not eating in. Erin probably made a faux pas by going in and grabbing a table with Annie while I got in line to order for us, but with limited seating we didn’t really care :)

Actually, another family came in after us with three kids and the dad took the kids to grab a table. Someone who was in line commented to him “Uh, I think you’re supposed to order before taking a table”, to which the dad replied, “Well, we’ve got three kids, so......I’m sorry if this inconveniences you.” I can see both sides of it, but still funny to overhear :)

Anyways, on to the food. We knew we’d be getting their breakfast biscuits, it was just a matter of what combination of meat, cheese, and eggs we’d be getting. In order to differ from Erin’s order I got ham with pepper jack cheese and a basted egg. I also got an americano to drink.

After ordering at the counter and getting a number for our table, we had a short wait and our drinks were brought out. The americano was better than I had expected for a place that focuses more on their bread than coffee. Our food also came out quickly while at the same time appeared to be freshly prepared. I happened to notice a bottle of sriracha sauce at the coffee station so I made sure to doctor up my sandwich a bit. The sandwich was fantastic, with the homemade biscuit being the highlight. Being that they have several combinations, and the prices are reasonable, I would for sure come back just to try several styles.

In addition to having great food, the ambiance at Sun Street Breads is cool because the kitchen is in plain view so you can see their large scale baking operation at work. It’s interesting to compare the tools and methods they get to use compared to what I see Erin doing at home when she bakes. We picked up a loaf of sourdough for a family get together that was also delicious.

I had a great time at Sun Street Breads and will be back this spring, probably on Erin’s maternity leave for a sandwich and perhaps a walk around the lake :)

Service: The line was long, but it moves quickly. All the people I encountered were friendly and attentive.
Food: Excellent breakfast and fresh bread.
Drinks: They have beer and wine and the beer selection is small but diverse.
Ambiance: I liked the ambiance a lot on the weekday morning we were there. I was shocked how busy it was, but it was the start of a holiday weekend.
Convenience: They do have a shared parking lot with the strip mall they’re in, but I couldn’t find a spot there. Plenty of bus options on Nicollet as well.

Erin's Review
After asking a few people for recommendations for a good new breakfast spot, I decided on Sun Street Breads for my birthday breakfast. Since my birthday was on a Friday, and some places only serve brunch on weekends, my options were a bit limited. After getting this recommendation, I saw Sun Street in many "best new restaurants" lists, so I figured it must be a good choice!

Ben and I drove separately, so when I got there I immediately got one of the only tables left, bypassing the long line. I'm sure I angered a lot of people by doing this, but it turned out that tables turned over fairly quickly, so everyone got a spot without incident. Ben got inside shortly after me, I took Annie and we got settled at the table. It took probably 10-15 minutes or so for Ben to get to the front of the line and order - it was WAY more packed than I had anticipated for a Friday morning.

Once Ben finally joined us, he brought a scone for our "starter" - it was quite good, and was in a different style than most scones I've had. We all enjoyed it. Since Annie is not so skilled in eating biscuit sandwiches just yet, we got her granola with yogurt. When it came out, the pieces of granola were huge and pretty hard, so I took most of them out and gave her just the yogurt with some of the littler pieces of granola. I did try a few bites and it was very good - just not so easy for a nearly 2 year old to eat with the large very crunchy pieces.

I got a pretty standard biscuit sandwich with fried egg, cheddar cheese, and sauce. It was absolutely delicious! I loved the sausage, and especially the biscuit. It filled me up for quite awhile too. There is nothing fancy at all about the food here, but it is very well prepared, and comes out with everything hot, including the biscuit, which is crucial. They have lunch and dinner too, and I'd really like to come back to try those meals as well.

As with all places in south Minneapolis, this is not convenient to us at all, however, if we have an open morning it's a fun outing, especially in the summer. Annie and I made the most of the trip by hitting up Heartfelt and Wild Rumpus in Linden Hills after breakfast when Ben went to work. Sun Street Breads is delicious and I'm glad we made it over there!

Deets
Sun Street Breads
4600 Nicollet Ave
Minneapolis

Caribe Caribbean Bistro

Update on May 16th - Caribe closed due to Light Rail construction and is trying to re-open in Northeast Minneapolis - you can learn more and donate to help them rebuild here!


Visited on Tuesday, December 20th with Erin's family

Erin's Review
It felt like an ordeal to pick a restaurant for my family birthday dinner this year. Since we were going on a weeknight, it needed to be somewhere relatively close to our house to avoid traffic because we'd be going at the height of rush hour. I really wanted to go somewhere new, but felt we'd exhausted the family friendly options in St. Paul and eastern Minneapolis on our list. Thankfully, after close examination of our list (which caused me to finally update it to delete all the places that closed and add a bunch of new places - it had been awhile for sure!) I remembered Caribe, one of those places that is so close to our house that I just apparently forget about it completely.

After conversing on twitter with one of Caribe's biggest fans (@AlecGraham), I decided to risk it with Annie even though it seemed not the most kid friendly place (small menu with no real kid options, small space, dark, etc) and figured she could eat off our plates and that if I brought enough entertainment she'd be okay. It turned out to be mildly stressful, but when is eating out with a toddler ever not?

We got there right at 5:30 and my parents were already seated at our table that we'd reserved a few days prior (they ask for reservations for parties over 6) - we did specify that we were a party of 6 plus a toddler, but were seated at a normal 6 top - luckily it was easy enough to squeeze in a high chair. We waited about 10 more minutes for my sister and brother-in-law to get there, after hearing the specials.

I'd already pretty much decided on the lobster mofongo if they had that, and was DYING to have some of the mango and cheese empanadillas. Perhaps it's pregnancy hormones, but when the server told us they were out of those after I attempted to order them, I was near tears. Yes, irrational. But I REALLY WANTED THEM. Plus I'd had about 10 minutes to get extra sold on the idea since we'd gotten there too. They were also out of 2 of the entrees as well (or just not serving them, not sure which) - note to servers and restaurant owners everywhere - if you KNOW you're out of something, tell the tables immediately so they don't get their heart set on something. It seems like an obvious thing to do when listing the specials. Anyway, through my sorrow, I managed to squeak out an order for the conch fritters instead.

The fritters came out fairly quickly, along with our beverages (I just had water and did try a sip of my sister's sangria - I liked it but she thought it tasted too much like black licorice, which I think was really the black cherries - whatever). I did really enjoy these, they weren't overly fried and the dipping sauces were very tasty. Annie also loved them, especially dipping. We probably could have eaten another order of them even, but wanted to save room for our main dishes.

We had eaten the fritters in record time, so the wait for our main dishes seemed pretty long. I'm not sure if it REALLY was, but I was getting mighty impatient by the time they finally came out, mostly because Annie had decided she'd had enough of sitting in her high chair (no food = no thanks for her) - she was fine one I got out the secret weapon - grapes - but that basically meant she wasn't going to eat anything substantial that evening. It did give me confidence that the food was prepared to order (mostly at least), which is a BIG deal to my Dad - I always like to try to find a place that he will enjoy for our family dinners and he did seem happy with his meal - success! Everyone seemed very happy with their choices.

 Brother-in-law's Piñon

My dad's pork tenderloin special

As soon as I got my lobster mofongo, I dug in, and gave Annie a few beans and pieces of it - she ate it up until getting a huge piece of lobster that apparently frightened her and she decided she was done with eating for the night (except for a mountain of grapes). The mofongo was excellent - it is described as a classic Puerto Rican dish made with plantains that are first fried,then mashed with garlic, salt pork, olive oil, salt, and pepper,using a mortar and pestle; then stuffed. It reminded me of a cornmeal type casserole dish in texture. It was stuffed with the lobster meat, and as pictured was on a bed of black beans with other veggies. I ate way more than I should have and felt seriously uncomfortable the rest of the night, but it was worth it! I need to remember that no matter how good something tastes, I AM 7 months pregnant and my stomach space is limited.

After we finished our meals, I was waiting and waiting to hear what the dessert special was... finally, my mom and sister finished and our server told us it was coconut tres leches cake, which excited me greatly. Since going to 112 Eatery, I love tres leches cake - and it's one of Ben's favorite desserts (I even made it for his last birthday). We originally were going to get 2 for the table, but decided on 3 and that was definitely a good choice as we devoured all 3 pieces extremely quickly - Annie would have for sure eaten all 3 pieces herself if we let her. This was delicious - almost like pudding and perfectly coconut flavored. A great way to end the meal! They usually have just one dessert option so it's luck of the draw - most that I heard of sounded great to me though.

I'm so glad we finally went to Caribe - we can get there without taking any major roads at all (aka University) but thankfully, light rail construction in our area is done so traffic isn't even a major issue like it was all spring/summer. I have heard awesome things about the brunch - they have several delicious sounding benedict options, so it'll probably be another one we hit up after I have this child - although Ben is already planning a return visit for lunch just to have the Cuban sandwich. It's debatable how kid friendly it is during dinner, but it would be fine during the day. It is a really cute place that's different from the usual spots - I highly recommend giving it a try!

Ben's Review
Erin struggled to find a place to go out to eat for her birthday this year, as we find ourselves going to the same places over and over again when we go with Annie. It’s just easier to go someplace that we know is kid friendly, rather than tempting fate with an unknown location.

She got several good recommendations about Caribe on Raymond Ave. in Saint Paul, in the old Jay’s Cafe location. (We never made it to Jay’s before it closed, though we live about a mile away). We got reservations for six adults and a toddler and headed over on Tuesday night.

To say that Caribe is small is an understatement. I think there’s room for about twenty people total to eat at once. In spite of the small size it didn’t feel cramped, nor did I feel like I was intruding on the other tables’ conversations. The lighting was dim but, again, not in an annoying way.

The dinner menu is small and fit on one page and while I was salivating the prospect of their Cuban sandwich, that was only on their lunch menu :( That just ensures that we’ll be going back at least one more time. Erin had been eagerly anticipating the mango and cheese empanadillas and was devastated when he told us they were actually out of them. He also mentioned that they were out of two of their entrees as well, the mahi mahi (which I was considering ordering) and the shrimp (which Erin’s mom was considering ordering). It’s a little frustrating when they have a small menu to begin with and then they have several items that are unavailable.

Luckily there were still plenty of items to choose from, so we made it through unscathed. I was tempted to get one of the specials, but Erin was already going to order it, so she convinced me to get the Jamaican Rundown, a coconut stew with some vegetables and crab served over rice. We all ordered and then played the game of trying to keep Annie entertained until our food arrived. Erin had some gifts to open and with six adults it’s a little easier keep her occupied than when it’s just Erin and me.

Our food came out two people at a time, with a few minutes in between each serving. This was good and bad, because it gave a little confidence that the food was prepared fresh, but it also meant that the first people to get served were over half done with their dish by the time the last people got served, oh well. My stew was a good, hearty winter dish. It actually reminded me of a non-spicy Thai curry, but with crab meat. The serving size was not huge, but certainly enough to fill you up. I thought Erin’s dish was better than mine and since she couldn’t finish hers I had ample opportunity to compare the two. In addition to hers tasting better, it was also the more interesting dish of the two, as mine was soup, more or less :)

I enjoyed our dinner at Caribe and will be going back for sure to try their Cuban sandwich. I would also be tempted to go back on a Wednesday night as it’s half price bottles of wine. I think this would definitely be a fun place to go without a kid next time.

Service: Our server was friendly and knowledgeable, just wish he would have told us what wasn’t available right away.
Food: Delicious food that is freshly prepared.
Drinks: Decent beer and wine list and half price bottles on Wednesday.
Ambiance: Despite the small size that I normally don’t care for, I really liked the ambiance, it was nice.
Convenience: Just north of University on Raymond, it’s probably much better now that the light rail construction has subsided.

Deets
Caribe Caribbean Bistro
791 Raymond Ave.
St. Paul