Yum!

Just stopped into the Mill City Café and discovered that, among other things, they have Surly Cynic on tap! To bad I had to go back to work, or I guarantee they would have sold 2 or 3 of those delicious citrus undertone having pints of heaven. Wow, is that even a sentence? Who knows.

For lunch I enjoyed a really nice riff on the cuban sandwich. Very affordable. $7.95 and it came with a green salad! I love that. Provolone cheese was melted over a concoction of ham, roasted pork, pickles, and a few jalapeños, and inserted in to a soft, but not so soft, baguette. Well done, good people in the kitchen.

I was very tempted to order the pasta special, some kind of mixed veg with truffle oil, for a whopping 6.95. I bet it was good…

Oh, and delicious coffee!

I will be back, for sure.

-shogunmoon

Mill City Café

The missus and I had a really nice brunch this Sunday at Picosa. For those of you who love Eggs Benedict, Picosa has would I would argue is the ultimate rendition of the classic. Tomillo roasted pork with poached eggs on a masa cake bed with chipotle hollandaise. Pure heaven. Came complete with a charming flamenco band!

-shogunmoon

Picosa Website

Both are fantastic… is it even possible that I prefer one over the other?

Yes… Little Szechuan has booze… otherwise. Yum!

I would like to give a shout out to the good people at the Eastside Food Coop for basically being the greatest business in Northeast Minneapolis.

Why, you might ask? I mean, besides the good selection of seasonal produce, a very workable selection of fancy cheeses, and the fact that they stock the excellent and reliable De Cecco Pasta despite it being neither local nor organic?

This is an aside, but know this Friends: until Shogunmoon has time to do testing on his own and/or access to fancier italian pastas, he does not use anything but De Cecco! I am not kidding about this. Believe me, I am not a person that has much brand loyalty as a general rule, but this stuff can be counted on. The only other brand loyalties I have are for this line of Misono knives, Lip Ivo and Levi’s.

Anyway, I was having the I-forgot-to-shop-for-easter-dinner blues, and found myself thinking the following Easter morn- Hmm, what can I create out of the limited grocery offerings of the local Walgreens?

Luckily Christie, in a stroke of either complete genius or complete naiveté, figured it was worth checking to see if Eastside happened to be open. Me? I didn’t think there was a chance in hell. Lord knows, @#$# Rainbow and Lunds were closed. Bastards.

The Eastside was wide open, ladies and gentleman. And busier then I have ever seen it. I was able to purchase some De Cecco pasta, Taleggio cheese, almonds, and some locally farmed cream and butter. Mac n’ cheese baby, shogun style. It was GOOD.

Anyway, Northeasters, we are quite fortunate to have such a first class establishment in our midst. You will be doing yourselves a favor by patronizing this would-be Northeast institution.

Now, if we could just get a decent bar on Central Avenue…

-shogunmoon

Eastside Food Cooperative
http://www.eastsidefood.coop/
2551 Central Ave. NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
Voicemail: 612-788-0950

Are you a gourmet snob?

Funny article….

I would agree, anyone demanding to “see the chef” or trying to order some off-the-menu item during a busy dinner service is probably a putz. heh.

-shogunmoon

I am not even sure where to start.

Seriously. All this talk about fine restaurants closing down around here, and one might get the impression that all the twin cities metro has left to offer is Flameburger and White Castle. Not true! We have Chipotle! We WIN!

Anyway. For the love of God, one can still obtain some VERY fine food in town. Indeed, the wife and I DID obtain some very fine food. I mean FINE food. Like, weeping with joy fine. Like, nirvana in the form of bursting flavors fine. Like, thinking about this meal, I am have a hard time laying off of the CAPS LOCK key fine.

Before we move on, I would just like to congratulate whomever was in the kitchen at Fugaise Friday night, 11 February. Was it Don Saunders himself? Was it a highly qualified sous chef? Was it Harold Dieterle? Was it some wonderfully talented soul from a foreign land? No idea. Also? Don’t care. Whoever was manning the stove was kicking out the jams. I really regret not having sent a bottle back to the kitchen, like some generous local souls do. But hey, we were splurging as it was…

Speaking of wine, we ordered a white Bordeaux. Very inexpensive. $25 bucks I think. Hey, I like to splurge on the food, not always the wine! We ordered this once we figured out what we were going to order off of the menu, two seafood dishes. The Waiter even complimented us on our choice. Heh. Little did he know, or, probably more accurately, totally knew, that we saw these things: Bordeaux, white, and $25. Knowing damned well that at a joint like this, they ain’t going to be pouring swill, we figured the inexpensive stuff would be just peachy.

Choosing a starter was not made easy for us. The problem was that their was at least three things we just HAD to have… Scallops with Salsify and Sauce Charon or Veal Roulade, for example. How does one not order a Veal Roulade? Well, we didn’t, opting instead for the Wild Boar Ravioli with white figs, and a balsamic reduction. Turned out to be a great choice… they were fantastic. Served with a nice reduction and white figs. Exactly what these ravioli’s needed. Soulful and savory, that braised boar. Little pillows of perfection. (I can’t believe I just typed that… sorry everyone.)

For dinner we ordered, and were completely blown away by two dishes, Sea Bass and Skate and King Crab.

The Sea bass was heavenly. The fish, if I may address the big portion crowd, was huge. And? Perfect. The vanilla parsnip purée that it was resting on was almost as good as the damned fish… never underestimate the deliciousness of a parsnips… seriously. The vanilla really added a nice pleasant dimension to them. (I am totally going to try making this myself, and I will NOT be sharing.) Add a little acid in the form of a blood orange sauce, and, hello culinary nirvana.

But thats not all, folks! After waxing poetic about the outstanding Sea Bass dish, I have to admit that the Skate was even BETTER, if only slightly. The fish and crab was just absolutely melt in your mouth, no knife needed, and just had a gorgeous flavor. I have never had crab so good in my life. Like with the Sea Bass dish, the sauces were executed with subtle perfection. A bit of tang from the red pepper was a wonderful foil for the awe inspiring Skate and Crab. Throw in some wilted greens, and… I am simply out of adjectives. So good.

Oh yea, and for dessert? Poached pear with delicate, creamy cheese, and some crispy deliciousness. Very very nice. I had the waitron pick out a nice white port for me to go with it, and was quite pleased with the end result.

Bravo Fugaise. Best meal of 2007 so far. And, quite frankly, the vast majority of 2006 as well.

-shogunmoon

http://www.fugaise.com/

Rake Page

City Pages

Wild Boar Ravioli
White Fig, Raddichio, Aged Balsamic

Skate
King Crab, Roasted Red Pepper, Herb Pan Sauce

To the customer that decided to come in to our café, buy the kitchen a bottle of wine, and tip generously on top of that, thank you! Way, way above and beyond the call of duty.

Things like this go a long way to restore our faith in humanity.

I promise, we will enjoy the wine!

-shogunmoon

I love taco’s. More specificially, I love Taco’s Al Pastor, that delectible Mexico City street food tradition. Not that I have ever been to Mexico City.

I have been checking out a new mexi joint at Central and Lowry called Adelita’s quite a little bit, and it seems pretty solid.

Decent molé, tasty salsa, and nice carnitas and tacos al pastor. Polle en adobo is pretty rightous.

Check it out, and let me know if you think it stacks up!

-shogunmoon

Adelita’s

2405 Central Ave
Minneapolis - Northeast/St. Anthony
612-789-2526

Dara talks about her favorite stuff. She even mentions our own Modern Café as having provided her with one of her top 10 meals of 2006! Cool! This is awesome coming from someone that eats about a babillion times a year.

City Pages, 3 Jan 2006

Last friday, the wife and I were in search for cheap eats. Lulled by the new sign hanging outside the NE Palace proclaiming for the world plus dog that Juicy Lucy’s are now available, we took the bait.

The NE Palace is a cool bar! We ordered Juicy Lucy’s, and they were as good as the “Jucy” Lucy that can be had at a certain venerable place in town, no joke. On top of all that, the guy in the kitchen is not an inch less then seven feet tall.

If you decide to get the Juicy Lucy’s and NE Palace, do yourself two favors:

1) Ask for a little pink in the burger… much much better then well done. That is the secret to a Lucy that is actually Juicy.

2) Go on friday night, and have a hand at Karaoke. For the record, they have plenty of Billy Idol songs in the book. What did I sing, you might ask? Rebel Yell of course! Raawr! In the midnight hour babe… more more more!!

Anyhow, that is all I have.

10-4

-shogunmoon

NE Palace
Lowry and 4th (One block east of University on lowry.)