Tilia

Visited on Tuesday, January 1st

Ben's Review

To fully utilize the time my parents were watching Annie and Luke, we wanted to go out to breakfast on New Years Day after our sushi dinner the night before. We struggled for a bit deciding where to go, knowing we wanted a place that was NOT close by, since we didn’t mind the drive with nothing else going on in the morning. Also, we struck out on a couple places that didn’t appear to be open on the holiday.

I was looking over our list and randomly clicked on Tilia to see what it was, and they helpfully had an updated web site that showed they were indeed open on New Years Day. Located in Linden Hills, it also fit the bill for not being close by, and Erin had been wanting to check them out, so we were set.

We arrived around 9 o’clock to a restaurant that was about half full. I appreciated the heavy curtains on both sides of the door that did an effective job of blocking any cold air from coming in when people entered or exited, very smart.

The host attempted to seat us near the door which, in spite of the curtains, was certainly colder than NOT being by the door, even though there were far better tables available. I asked if we could instead sit closer to the exposed kitchen and the host complied, but she certainly seemed a touch annoyed. We weren’t having seating luck on these New Years Eve restaurant outings.

Our server stopped by soon after and got our coffees going. When our coffee was brought out, I was immediately in love with the coffee mugs. They were white, simple, easy to hold, and had a thin rim. I loved them so much that I located them at Crate and Barrel and have since bought us four of them :) They’re only $4 each too.

The coffee setup was cool too, with a nice matching cream cup, and large hunks of brown sugar for Erin to get her fix. The actual coffee itself was just ok, it tasted a bit burnt to me, but the mug more than made up for it :)

Looking over the menu, I came across their Cuban breakfast sandwich and knew that I was done looking. “¡El Sapo en la Cubano!” has your typical Cuban ingredients of pork, ham, pickle, mustard, and they add a runny egg on top. Either the mustard had horseradish in it, or they added horseradish on its own, because there was a ton on the sandwich that nearly made some bites inedible it was so strong.

Other than the occasional hit of horseradish, this sandwich was amazing. The people leaving at the next table over helpfully told me to just break the egg and use a fork and knife, and that was certainly necessary. The sandwich is humongous and would be difficult to eat as a normal sandwich (and I hate getting my hands messy anyways). Tilia uses high quality ingredients in their food and it definitely showed with my dish, it was absolutely superb.

While we ate we had a chance to check out the restaurant and I really want to make it back in the evening for dinner sometime. The entire restaurant is well decorated with a rustic, vintage feel to it, and the bar is no exception. They have a great list of tap beer and a large wine selection as well. The quality of our brunch makes me think the dinners are also excellent. We may have to venture over to Minneapolis again soon to give it a try.

Erin's Review
I was really excited to find out that Tilia was actually open for brunch on New Year's Day. I've been wanting to try the place since they opened, but we very rarely got over to Linden Hills, and I knew that the chances were slim of getting a table quickly if we did have time for brunch - the idea of waiting for a table with 2 little ones was not appealing! We have been able to go out for brunch a few times on weekdays, but none of the good places are open then. This time, we got lucky!

I was really surprised at how not busy it was when we got there. As far as I know, this is still a pretty popular spot, but maybe people were like us and just assumed they'd be closed. Their loss, our gain! I was glad that we decided to move over the side of the restaurant by the kitchen since it was freezing outside and the vibe on that side was much more pleasant and bustling. I loved the decor here, everything was very simple but felt very thought out and worked well together with the beautiful bar and the open kitchen. We saw some kiddos and it looked like they had some little fun stuff for kids to play with which is awesome.

We immediately ordered coffee and I got a cinnamon roll since I was starving. The menu had many enticing options, but I can never turn down a benedict, and the Reuben one on the menu sounded amazing. I went with that, and enjoyed the coffee. The coffee was ridiculously strong, so it took quite a bit of cream and sugar for it to be prepared to my liking, but I made do. The cinnamon roll was pretty good, but I've had better and it would have been a lot better if it was warmed up a bit.

Our food came out pretty quickly, and I had to chuckle at the couple who came over and told Ben how to eat his cuban - the instructions were great, but the fact that they name dropped the chef as if they were best friends (and, I guess, maybe they are??) seemed like a very Linden Hills thing to do. It was good, because Ben honestly did look a little confused as to how to proceed, so he clearly needed some direction.

My Reuben benedict were simply amazing. The corned beef hash croquettes were the best part, along with the perfectly poached egg and delicious hollandaise. Sooo, everything was the best part. It was just delicious. Definitely the best breakfast dish I've had in recent memory. We lingered over our food for a long time, and I had a few more cups of decaf as well. It was so nice to enjoy a nice long breakfast without having to manage the kids.

I loved our meal at Tilia, and would definitely go back. I'd love to try their dinner options, but wouldn't hesitate to go back for brunch or lunch or any meal for that matter.

Deets
Tilia
2726 West 43rd Street
Minneapolis

Bagu Sushi

Visited on December 31, 2012

Erin's Review
December was a month that was jam packed with family activities and holiday celebrations. My birthday came and went without the time for Ben and I to slip away for dinner alone, so I told him I wanted to get sushi on New Years Eve instead because his parents watch all the grandkids that night each year. I originally had suggested Origami, but Ben was wary to go to a place that doesn't accept reservations on New Years Eve. He suggested Bagu Sushi, since he'd been told by a few people that it was a good spot.

When we got there, it was quite a bit brighter and more casual than I was expecting. It reminded me a lot of Midori's - and I had no reason to expect it would be fancier based on their website, but the last few sushi places we've been to have been a little more upscale, I guess. It was definitely packed - I wasn't sure what to expect since it's not really a typically NYE spot, but every table was full! Ben was more annoyed than I was about the location of our table, but I was glad that we could move to the sushi bar, even if it wasn't really a nice sushi bar to sit at because you couldn't see the sushi chefs doing their work quite as well as you can at some places.

The service was not so hot - it wasn't clear who we should order from, and it took a really long time to even be acknowledged at all by anyone. It appeared that most people at other tables had water (so it should have come standard) but wasn't brought to us until I asked for one later. The service seemed to get better later (after some parties left, probably) but they were quite overwhelmed at first. I immediately ordered the Japanese Bagel Balls as an appetizer - deep fried salmon, cream cheese, and green onions with eel sauce and started with a coke as an attempt to stay awake until midnight.

The bagel balls were very tasty - especially since I was ABSOLUTELY starving. I had been to a spa day prior to dinner, and all that relaxing apparently worked up an appetite!  I decided to get the bagel balls as a way to slightly change things up from cream cheese wontons. Living on the edge, for sure. I also like to get a philly roll, so this took the place of that as well.

I got a glass of white wine to have with our sushi - I don't typically handle white wine very well, but I don't like red with sushi and didn't feel like beer. Luckily, my reaction to this glass wasn't quite the same as it was in my early 20s... probably has more to do with the fact that this time, I didn't drink an entire bottle... just a thought.

We got the caterpillar, spicy tuna, and the "sumo" roll, which was deep fried salmon with avocado and topped with spicy mayo and eel sauce. I really liked the caterpillar and spicy tuna, but could only handle a few of the sumo rolls - they were a bit hard to eat and the deep fried part seemed almost a bit burned. I also had a few bites of Ben's pad thai before he added spice and it was pretty standard but tasty.

This was certainly not the best sushi I've had, but was a cute neighborhood spot. For the money, you can get far better sushi elsewhere, although some of the rolls are pretty affordable. I've heard they have a great patio, so it might be worth going in the summer but it's not a place I'm likely to return. We did have a fun dinner here, despite the service issues at the beginning.

Ben's Review
With my parents having a standing overnight with the grandkids on New Years Eve, we made plans to try out Bagu Sushi in south Minneapolis.

I called for reservations a couple weeks beforehand, and they seemed a little surprised that anyone would be calling to reserve a table, but they took our reservation nonetheless.

We arrived right at 7:30 and the small restaurant was packed. We were brought to our table, way in the back and around a corner. There was our table and another table of four already in the middle of their meal. Certainly the worst table in the restaurant, and I was a little annoyed at getting seated there given I had called so far in advance. Luckily, a few spots opened up at the sushi bar right as we arrived, so we asked to move over there instead.

We gave the server our drink order and waited for quite awhile before she brought it back, so we didn’t really get off to the best start. Then there was some confusion as to who we should be ordering from - the sushi chef at the bar, or the server who came around. We got it sorted out and placed our order with the server. Erin got rolls of course, and I opted to try their Thai food and got pad thai. Suspiciously, there was no option to add or remove spiciness from the pad thai, which concerned me that it was already made in a big pot in the back.

Bagu was loud on NYE, mostly from a particular table behind us of people who were seemingly shouting at each other. The restaurant acoustics seems to amplify the crowd noise as well, which didn’t help much. I found myself having to put my ear right next to Erin to hear what she was saying half the time.

Our food came out, and it took an appropriate amount of time. I prefer the food take longer to come out, so you have a fighting chance of it being prepared when you order it. This isn’t really an issue at the sushi bar, since you can watch the chef make the rolls you ordered :) The pad thai was actually very good, in spite of my concerns that it might not be freshly prepared. They also offer a side of red pepper to add some heat if that’s your thing. As with most Thai food places, the portion was huge and I didn’t come close to finishing it, but it made for good leftovers. It was good, but a little on the dry side, I prefer a little more sauce.

We were considering dessert but being that we were completely stuffed we decided to pass. It’s a rare dinner out without kids that dessert doesn’t happen, so this is rather notable :)

I’m glad we went to Bagu as the sushi rolls were excellent and you get a decent amount of food for the money. The service left a little to be desired, but not so much that I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Deets
Bagu Sushi
4741 Chicago Ave
Minneapolis

Heartland

Visited on Saturday, November 10th

Ben's Review
Erin had been antsy to go on a date night to a nice restaurant and gave me a short list of places to choose from our list. We settled on Heartland because they actually had a reservation available at a reasonable time, and it was within walking distance of a pre-dinner drink spot.

I had some credit with the new driver service, Uber, that recently launched in the Twin Cities, so I figured we could really make a night of it and get a ride to and from dinner.

Using Uber is way easier, and more fun, than ordering a cab. You request a driver through their iPhone app and then optionally watch the car on the map as they arrive at your pickup location. The phone tells you how far away they are as well as the driver’s name. When you arrive at your destination, you simply get out of the car and go on your way. No money changes hands, as Uber has your credit card info and will charge it automatically. Tips are also built-in and there is zero pressure from the drivers.

We had Uber drop us off at Barrio in Lowertown, about two blocks away from Heartland, to get a drink and an appetizer. We had a little over an hour to kill, so we were in no rush at all. Barrio was surprisingly (to me) quiet for 6pm on a Saturday and the bartender joked that IF they got busy, it would be much later.

We sat at the bar and got drinks and chips with salsa. I was impressed with the chips - they were salty, thick tortilla chips that came with three different salsas of different heat levels. I was less impressed with my martini that was small and watered down. That’s what you get for ordering a martini at a tequila bar I guess.

We made our way to Heartland a little before 7:30. It was oddly warm out (a stark contrast to this Monday morning), so the walk over was pleasant. Heartland is across the street from the Saint Paul Farmers Market location, which I’m more familiar with at 9am on the weekends with kids in tow.

We were seated right away in the bar area. Heartland seems to have several different rooms with slightly different feels to them. The bar spot was fine with me, I think the bar there is rather pretty, as is the entire building for that matter.

We had the server recommend a bottle of wine for us, within our price range, and he chose a Green & Red zinfandel. It was good, but I’m not one to judge a wine. I’m sure this bottle would be $30 cheaper at the liquor store, but not much you can do there.

Erin quickly settled on getting the three course tasting menu. The tasting menus are a decent value, but I saw the cassoulet and instantly had fond memories of our dinner at Meritage a couple years ago and how awesome the cassoulet was there, and I knew I had to try Heartland’s.

I wanted something else to share with Erin, but her tasting menu came with an appetizer already, so I got the broccoli with smoked tomato bechamel sauce for myself. The broccoli was excellent, with a rich, creamy tomato sauce drizzled over the top. Also, it wasn’t very filling, leaving me with a fighting chance of finishing my cassoulet. While we had our appetizers, we were also brought dinner rolls, which I happily had seconds of when they came around a second time - so much for not getting full :)

The cassoulet came out in a bowl that didn’t appear to be large, but was deceiving by it’s depth as well as the richness of the food inside. The creamy mixture of beans with several variations of rich, cured meats was absolutely delicious. In spite of all the food that I’d had so far, I still managed to finish the bowl, though I woke up painfully full around 3am. Probably not the wisest choice, but fun at the time :)

As we sat finishing our glasses of wine, I inconspicuously requested the Uber driver to head over to pick us up. I could see that he was a few minutes away, so we were in no rush to leave. We had a great time at Heartland and I would definitely go back.

Erin's Review
It had been awhile since we got to have a date night that didn't involve a wedding, so we confirmed with my sister and her husband that they could babysit, and I set out to try to get a reservation somewhere! Most of the places we have left on our list are definitely on the expensive and fancier side. I checked quite a few places in downtown Minneapolis (including the new-ish Butcher & the Boar and Bachelor Farmer) and saw they had ZERO reservations available even a week in advance! We decided on Heartland, and had no issues getting a reservation. Lowertown definitely has more action than it used to, but it certainly will never be the same as downtown Minneapolis. I actually went to Heartland for the first time back in April with girlfriends and LOVED it, so I was excited to check it out again with Ben.

We enjoyed our pre-dinner drinks at Barrio, and walked the few blocks over on the unseasonably warm evening to Heartland. The building that Heartland is in is quite beautiful - it's a very open space, with a few different rooms. They also have a separate market that is more like a deli and you get get things to go. I loved the bar area where we were seated this time - the separate rooms have a bit more formal of a feel to them.

Heartland changes their menu daily, and has two 3 course menus - Flora, vegetarian, and Fauna, with meat. I got the Flora last time and really loved it, so wanted to try the Fauna this time. It was settled when the main course even had "Irish Creek Annie" beans in it - I'm a sucker for trying anything with my daughter's name in the description! I was a bit nervous reading that the beef and beans were in a goat's milk sauce, as I am not a fan of goat cheese no matter how many times I try it. I wasn't really sure if goat's milk always had the same flavor as goat's cheese so I figured I'd give it a try regardless. The flora option also had something with goat's cheese too and for some reason I was set on the 3 course menu.

Ben requested a zinfandel for our wine, so I asked the server to recommend one that paired well with the food we were getting. He talked for awhile about how the one he recommended was a good "food" wine, and how many zinfandels are not... whatever. I enjoyed the wine and it DID seem to pair well with our food, so he chose well! While we enjoyed the wine, we were brought an amuse bouche of butternut squash mousse and apple which was delicious.

I LOVED the first course of my meal - the fish was so tender, and the sauce was amazing. I wished there was much more, especially because sadly I was not a fan of the 2nd main course of beef roast and beans in the goat's milk sauce. For anyone wondering (and yes, I should have asked), goat's milk does indeed have the same flavor as goat's cheese. The meat also LOOKED like it would be tender and delicious but I found it very tough. The server came back and raved about how delicious the sauce was - it wasn't his fault I don't like goat's milk so I just smiled and nodded. After the bread, appetizer at Barrio and the first course, it wasn't as if I was actually HUNGRY, so I wasn't too upset about it.

The dessert course was fine. Nothing amazing, nothing bad. The pairing of flavors was a bit odd to me. Pumpkin pot de creme with a cranberry mousse - Thanksgiving flavors I suppose, but the white chocolate in the mousse was just not working for me. I still finished most of it, of course but it wasn't my favorite dessert. I did really enjoy the little french  press of decaf coffee I got to go with my dessert! I love how they instruct you to wait one minute to press - reminds me of every weekend morning where Ben sets a timer for 3 minutes before we are allowed to plunge our french press at home.

Having gone to Heartland twice now (check out the instagram photos from my first visit here), I would definitely recommend it for a delicious dinner. I was truly wowed the first time I went, and while this visit didn't live up to that experience, it was still an excellent meal. The setting is beautiful, and being in downtown St. Paul it's a pretty relaxed and low key atmosphere.

Ben also talked about the Uber car service we used that night - I LOVED it, and it was definitely worth the few more dollars versus taking a cab! Such a nice experience to be able to order the car and see it coming on the map while we were sitting at our table, versus calling a cab and just hoping they show up. I also loved not having to exchange money. And, you for sure feel like a high roller with a town car pulling right up to the curb, and a driver getting out and asking for you by name! Definitely a great service, and one I can see us using again in the future.

Deets
Heartland Restaurant
289 East 5th Street
St. Paul

Colossal Cafe

Visited on Friday, September 28th

Erin's Review

Our 7th wedding anniversary was September 24th, and because we had a few weddings in the weekends surrounding it that required babysitters for the kids, we chose to celebrate it by both taking a day off work and going to breakfast and then to the Ivy Spa Club to spend the day there (you can use their facilities all day by booking a service, it's awesome!).

When I sent Ben the list of breakfast options available, I realized just how slim the pickings are getting on our list. We have plenty of options should we ever want to have a nice dinner out, but very few for breakfast or a casual dinner. I guess it just goes to show just how many new places we've been to since we started this blog!

We settled on the new-ish outpost of Colossal Cafe that opened in St. Anthony Park, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods in St. Paul, and happened to be somewhat on the way to downtown from our house anyway. It was a beautiful fall Friday, and we were both in good moods with the anticipation of our spa day.

I was somewhat surprised to see that this was the type of place where you order at a counter versus table service. I'm not sure if that is always the case, but it was for the weekday breakfast. This to me makes it a good option for kids, since the food tends to come a lot faster. I made a quick decision to order an omelet with bacon, green onions and cream cheese as well as a mammoth cinnamon roll which they heated up for me. They are "famous" for their pancakes, but I was told by 2 people to avoid them, so I did just that :)

We sat down, got ourselves some coffee from the self-serve coffee station, and I enjoyed a few bites of my cinnamon roll before I started to lose my appetite and feel a little ill. I had a slight cold and headache going into the day, and unfortunately it was only getting worse. Ben and I seem to be plagued with these random bouts of flu-like feelings that only last a day, and always seem to happen at the exact same time.

By the time our food came, I had zero appetite and started to even feel queasy so I just nibbled at my toast while I downed some coffee to see if caffeine would perk me up. I did end up feeling okay for awhile, but not well enough to eat my food. Luckily, it kept well (the toast was amazing actually), and when I finally regained my appetite later in the day, the omelet really hit the spot. The combination of green onions, cream cheese and bacon vaguely reminded me of one of my favorite absolutely not authentic sushi rolls, the Philly. Delicious! Far too rich to enjoy while feeling icky though.

Colossal Cafe in St. Paul is a cute little cafe - it looks like they probably have remodeled the whole place, and I really liked the completely open kitchen. We'll definitely be back, especially since I love the neighborhood and it's so close to our house!

Ben's Review

For our anniversary we had planned to go to the spa at Hotel Ivy in downtown Minneapolis, with a stop for breakfast beforehand. My getting LASIK delayed our spa day by a few days, but the day finally arrived a few weeks ago. We dropped the kids off at daycare and headed to Colossal Cafe in Saint Paul for breakfast.

I wasn’t feeling too great that morning, it felt like a cold was coming on, but since we had the day off with breakfast and a day at the spa planned, I figured it would still be a good time.

We arrived at Colossal Cafe around 8 and headed in. You order at the counter, about halfway into the restaurant, and they give you a placard for your table to identify you with your order. There was no line, though plenty of other diners, so we quickly made our decisions from the blackboard menu. I opted for a sausage breakfast sandwich on a biscuit with a cup of coffee.

I like the model of ordering at the counter and having self serve coffee. I’m not much of a breakfast guy in the first place, and I would just as soon be in control of my own coffee refills rather than wait for the server to come back around.

We got some coffee and just enjoyed being out to eat without two little kids :) Colossal Cafe is a cutesy place in a cutesy neighborhood, so hanging out waiting for food among the laid back crowd isn’t a bad place to be on a Friday morning.

Our food came out rather quickly and my sandwich looked delicious. However, what I had noticed in the minutes between ordering and the food arriving is that my headache and ill feelings had gotten a bit worse and my appetite was literally non existent.

It’s rare when I can’t even bring myself to have a bite of food, but that’s how I felt at this moment, and I was really sad about it :( The sandwich looked so good and I WANTED to enjoy it, but at that moment the thought of eating it made me feel even worse. Erin hadn’t felt great either and HER appetite was minimal at best as well.

Having never ‘failed’ at breakfast before, we were pretty bummed. Luckily we thought that our food would keep ok, so we drove it home before going to the spa to enjoy later.

Eating my sandwich later in the day, while still not feeling well, was certainly better than having it in the morning when I felt awful. I’m happy to report that their breakfast sandwiches stand up well to being refrigerated for a couple hours and reheated in the microwave :)

We’ll be back to Colossal Cafe so we can give it a real try in the near future, if for no other reason than to erase the bad memories of the day when I couldn’t stomach breakfast.

Service: The service was good and everyone was friendly.
Food: We need to go back, but what I had was pretty good.
Drinks: Small list of beer, but it’s got several local options and a couple on tap.
Ambiance: This is a low key breakfast spot in a low key neighborhood.
Convenience: Plenty of street parking and bus routes. Didn’t see any bike racks, but they can’t be too far away.

Deets
Colossal Cafe
2315 Como Ave
St. Paul