Famous Dave's BBQ

This place is seriously tasty! I guess that's why it's taken over the US in the form of either franchises or chains??

$25 including tax, tip and a Sam Adams beer at the Duluth location got me:

- 1/2 rack of ribs. About 7 fall off the bone ribs with delicious bbq sauce. Perfectly cooked and lots of flavor
- 1/3 cob of overcooked corn
- tasty cornbread muffin - so moist that butter not required
- Creamy coleslaw...mmm
- BBQ beans - real meaty chunks in there with some chipotle flavor
- My choice of 4 bbq sauces on the side. The "regular" sauce was best, but I also tried out the sweet and the texas style.

Here's the web-site.

MSP Airport Burrito Showdown #2

I am not quite the burrito expert that Ian is, but here's my attempt at some burrito ratings at the Minneapolis airport:

360 Burritos
- I went for the first time today, what initially attracted me was they seem to cook up real veggies in a real pan
- I had a veggie with rice and peanut thai sauce. High marks for tastiness, although next time I will try and get some beans in there too. They had multiple flavors available to customize your burrito (teriyaki, traditional + a bunch of others I have now forgotten)
- Price was about $7 and did not include chips

Maui Taco
- My usual joint. In contrast to the 360, they pretty much squeeze everything out of bags and no fresh cooking of anything is required.
- Price is similar, about $7, but this includes some chips
- Tasty also
- Maui pretty much sticks with faithful cal-mex varieties

Janice's fave - 360!
Ian's fave - Maui!

MSP Burrito Roundup

This is a continuation of the series Janice started a while ago. This is just going to be a quick post and maybe I'll fill it in with more details later once I have time.

Maui Taco by Gate C5
Pros
-very very tasty. I had the Lahaina. Recommended.
-includes salsa bar and chips with your regular burrito
Cons
-does not serve dinner burritos before 11. Very disappointing

Gourmet 360 Burrito by the central food court area
Pros
- full menu even before 11
Cons
- no chips or salsa
- terrible customer service. In the time I was waiting for my burrito they messed up two people's orders and they made a lady wait forever for a bag of chips and salsa.
- burritos are not very tasty. I had the traditional. Boring.

Bottom line
Make the trek out to C5 and Maui Tacos

I also learned an important lesson. Try to eat it before you get on the plane. A middle seat on a packed plane with a disintegrating wrapper did not make for fun times. Luckily I think the burrito will wash out of my pants. For the boring tasting 360 burritos it's probably not worth it. For the excellent Maui concoctions make sure to bring napkins.

Faithful readers can possibly look forward to the DEN roundup later this week. The C gates didn't seem to have anything that tasty but a family favorite is apparently in the B gates area. I'm on the edge of my seat with excitement.

Maui Taco (Minneapolis Airport)

I was kinda in between meals, so I went with a hearty breakfast burrito and called it lunch. My item came with a burrito shell topped with rice, beans, eggs, red sauce and cheese. I nixed the sour cream. I was a little surprised when it came with chips too!

The salsa bar had lots of choices. I grabbed some mild tomato, mild pineapple and green tomatillo salsas.

Overall this was a very delightful item and at a price of about $7 not too expensive either.

Note to self & Ian - we should ditch the engineering and open up a T. burrito joint!

Here's the site...

Q-Doba

Ian is typically the poster of burrito related items, but this time I'll go for it! This joint is located at the Pittsburgh airport - probably not worth the drive from Toronto.

Here is the website - if you have an extra $2 million hanging around, you might want to consider a franchise!

My burrito consisted of: steak, choice of pinto or black beans, cilantro/lime rice, choice of salsa and I even got some additional mango salsa thrown on for good measure. The whole thing is wrapped up and grilled. With my diet coke to drink, total price was a reasonable $8.62.

It really was too much too eat for anyone concerned about their health.

If this were Ian, he would complain about how they charge extra for guacamole. I generally try not to get too stressed out about this - the avocado really is quite an expensive and labour intensive undertaking.

The Missing Chains

I'm just back from a trip to California and the trip reminded me that there are a few food chains that are desperately needed in Toronto.

Burger Chains
Carl's Jr - I've long been a fan. I like their chicken burgers. The six buck burger isn't bad although I don't really get why the name is unchanged since the combo price these days is more than 6 bucks.

Burrito Chains
La Salsa, Baja Fresh, Una Mas - Bottom line, burritos are solid and we need more burrito chains in Toronto and Canada in general.

Grocery Chains
Trader Joe's - 1 buck clif bars, 2 buck chuck and so much more. They definitely need to come to Canada

Random's
El Pollo Loco - They do sell burritos but I don't consider them a burrito place because the focus is really on the chicken. You can't eat Swiss Chalet every night and so on those other nights the mexican version is definitely the way the go. I really like picking my tortilla style (flour or corn - corn of course). Random wikipedia reading also points out that the founder also started the Pescado Mojado fish chain. I've never been but with that guy's flare for names, it seems definitely worth checking out.

Bruschetta's (Pittsburgh)

I went out for some Italian tonight in Pittsburgh. My one co-worker seems to enjoy this place, but the Internet had mixed feelings - mainly related to service.

Things started off a bit poorly with no wine list by the glass. I ordered a pino grigio and hoped for the best. It turned out well, but was pretty expensive at over $7 for the glass.

For appetizer, I went with wedding soup. Really only adequate.

For main course, I went light with grilled veggies & bruschetta + side salad. Very high marks for tastiness! A whole pack of grilled veg - zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, portabello etc. Toast was garlic-y and tasty. On the toast was a delightful sun dried tomato type spread.

Since I was reasonably healthy so far, I went with a the peanut butter - chocolate tart! This was the star of the night.

The service ended up being ok. I was a bit freaked out by my waiter - he looked like a slightly pudgy George Stomombopolous (spelling??) and even more freaky - he totally talked like the guy!

Nakama (Pittsburgh)

My co-workers are obviously in the know in Pittsburgh - they took me out to a joint that is apparently #1 in sushi as well as the best restaurant in the Pitt....at least according to their website...

We got to Nakama about 6:30 on a Wed night and it was already rather packed. The host basically thought we were complete fools for showing up without a reservation. She did manage to squeeze us in at one of 10 hibachi grill stations. We started with a Majic Hat #9 beer and some edamame. I also had one of my boss's spicy california roll. Everything very very deelightful. I then ordered the grilled flank steak. With the meal, I got brothy soup, green salad, grilled mushroom appetizer, grilled veg, choice of steamed or fried rice and my meat.

The dude doing the cooking had all sorts of little tricks and it was a very entertaining show!

The flank steak was delicious when dipped in either the ginger/sesame/soy sauce or the thousand island dressing type thing.

My entree was $21, so not terrible value either!

MGM Buffet Action

This joint was rather expensive at$19 for lunch I think and $16 or so for breakfast I think.

The breakfast was surprisingly packed and we had to wait in line for about 15 minutes prior to being seated. We partook in the standard breakfast fare - eggs, potatoes, bacon, waffle with whip cream/strawberries etc. Ian pretty much ate a half pineapple. It was a bit gross!

They seemed to have quite a few salads that we of course steared clear of. They were mainly seafood-y type items in mayo...so they basically had "FOOD POISONING" written of them!

Overall, not great value for what you actually got.

Lunch was pretty decent - similar to the South Point dinner items. I really liked the salsa bar here, that was pretty fun! They also had M&M's at the make your own sundae bar. I liked that a lot.

Service was good - the dirty plates with half eaten food were always promptly removed and out beverage glasses were always full.

Vegas Buffet Tastiness Part 1 (South Point)

The M&M bunny was quite cute, but the real star of the buffet eating action was surprisingly off the main strip at South Point.

Being off the strip, dinner came cheap at $13.95 per person. This is approximately half the price of most on strip places and the tastiness did not suffer at all!

There was an asian stir fry station, mexican tastiness, a tasty assortment of seafood that seemed to appease Ian and the requisite pork ribs, turkey, ham, beefy roast + a special item = beef short ribs.

Of course, they had an ok looking salad bar, but with so much tastiness, we found it better to completely skip the salad bar and focus on tasty!

There was also the standard italian fare, but again, why eat bad pizza and ho hum pasta?? Same deal for items like bread, veggies, potatoes etc etc.

The dessert was quite tasty over-all (cakes, pies, squares, cookies, ice cream dessert thingy etc). Ian always goes for cheesecake, I had a caramel chocolate cake type item. Also make ye own strawberry shortcake.

Service was pretty good and organized with headsets and the like!

As a side note - we also partook in a cheap $7.50 movie at the same location!

I should know better

Like a complete fool, I strayed away from what I know is good at the Detriot airport (Fudruckers) and instead went to a sit-down Middle Eastern restaurant. I ordered a $7 falafel sandwich (the going rate in To is about $3.50). I asked if that included sides and they said no, so I ordered some "grilled" veggies to go along with it.

The veggies seemed to be stir-fried, greasy and with a nasty fake tomato-y sauce smeared all over them. Pretty much in-edible. I make more authentic and tasty grilled veggies at home! It's not that tough! Eggplant, peppers, onions, zuchini, potatoe with some olive oil, S&P and bake for 45 min!!!

The falafel was cold and the flavour dominated by "pickles in a jar"

Outback Un-Tastiness

While stuck in Duluth Minnesota, we often partake in the Outback across the parking lot from the hotel we stay in.

The first time around I ordered the "Outback Special" involving a 9 oz centre cut sirloin. I would have liked "medium-well", but instead it came out "hockey-puck overcooked". No complaints about the extremely tasty baked sweet potato and bread before the main event.

The second time, I would have liked the fish special, but instead ended up with the Tilapia since they ran out. It was seasoned and grilled, but unfortunately seemed to have been coated in butter of some sort. The fish was a bit undercooked, which I know some restaurants like to do, but who wants to eat slimy inside fish??

The "fresh steamed veggies" tasted as though they had butter on them :(

Quizno's Airport Tastiness

Perhaps it was the extreme hunger, or maybe the 35 minutes between flights, but the conveniently located Quizno's at the Minneapolis airport was like a haven of tastiness.

They had a limited menu with no veggie - so I ordered the next best alternative - Black Angus Steak. To save the arteries, I ordered with no sauce.

The final result was toasty...I mean tasty. Large amounts of roast beef with mushrooms, onions and cheddar cheese on whole wheat. I did not regret skipping out on the sauce.

Cleveland Fun

I went on a two day trip to Cleveland for a course. The location was pretty good - hotel was right beside the police headquarters so the potential for mugging and drug dealers was actually quite low! Should have brought the running shoes....

We were near the trendy "warehouse" district, so I walked over and went a place called Crop on Sunday night. In general, it was packed with an older crowd, but I thought busy is good and went in. They have a special Sunday dinner deal for $23. I got some cornbread with three tasty butters, some salad with all sorts of fun pickled stuff on there, my choice of main - I went with salmon, but there was also pasta, steak etc, then some rasberry ganache cake type thing for dessert! All very tasty, but the salmon was slightly undercooked in my opinion.

Then some sushi the next night. Overpriced and poor selection but nice restaurant and friendly people sitting at the sushi bar.

BBQ Rib Showdown

Now that I am carnivorous, I am always searching for tasty bbq ribs. The Americans seem to be hard-core and use the word BBQ as a verb. What the Canadians call bbq is actually a grill.

Anywho, I was in Birmingham last week and went to Dreamland. It is quite the mini-chain down there and anyone who likes BBQ seems to be obsessed with this place. The first thing they bring is a plate of wonderbread and some bbq sauce. I didn't quite know what to do with this, so I dipped some bread into the sauce - it was alright - about as good as you would expect wonder bread to be. Then the 1/2 rack of ribs came out. I was a bit disappointed. The actual rib part of it was ok, but I'm not really sure what the other meat was that was clinging to the ribs. It was a combo of fat and gristle. Good thing I ordered the cole-slaw and banana pudding or I would have walked away hungry. Decent value for about $13 I think??

Then, Ian and I went on a camping adventure in the Adirondacks this weekend and spied the "Tail of the Pup BBQ" joint near Saranac lake. It was quite the monstrosity with about 10 buildings in the log cabin style, 3-4 huge tents, live band etc. I started with a Saranac Lake Pale Ale for $4. I had a full rack of ribs for $16 came with choice of two sides - I went with baked beans and cornbread. Beans were a little cold and cornbread was puny! Ribs were ok, as with dreamland - hardly any meat on them. Again some mystery cartiledy stuff on there.

Ian ordered the "meat lovers" plate - came with a piece of chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. He ordered corn of the cob and cole-slaw as his sides. A fantastic deal for $19!! He seems to have gotten lucky and got some really good ribs - probably more meat on his half rack than my full.

All in all pretty decent and I would go back again but this time order the meat lovers plate!

Indianapolis

Conference was alright, the town was much nicer than expected. Very classy looking downtown area and a nice canal, river, state park and a university campus off to one side.

Food was pretty tasty - probably 100 restaurants within a 10 block radius of my conference. First lunch we tried to go to a rib joint but it was closed down. Ended up going to the Old Spaghetti across the street. Pretty much what you would expect in Canada.

Then off for some fast food burrito a Qdobo that night. Had the veggie which came with beans, cilantro/lime rice, cheese and salsa. The menu said guacamole too, but they didn't really seem to have available. In Ian's books, this would be an unforgivable sin and immediately relegate Qdobo to the wall of shame. Me, on the other hand, am slightly more forgiving. Tasty factor was high and price was right at about $4.95. Also had diet lemonade on tap so they scored a few more points.

Then it was off to the "Palimino" Italian type place. I went with the pasta/sandwich lunch special for $11.95. Pasta was angle-hair-ish with some tomato/veggie/Romano cheese sauce. Pretty tasty all around. Sandwich was tomato, lettuce, fresh mozzarella and some basil mayo. Was supposed to be on "panini" bread, but ended up being "wonder bread style" that was toasted. Maybe I'm a fine dining connoisseur, but since when does "wonder bread" qualify as suitable sandwich bread at a semi-classy restaurant. Bread's not that expensive, why cheap out????

For dinner it was off to Harry and Izzy's. I attempted to order pork ribs, but clearly I need to brush up on my meat lingo. I ended up getting a big round ball of meat on a single bone. Seemed to be beef. I think it was called spare rib/short rib/side rib or something along those lines. Was alright - it was supposed to come with a rub and then be smoked. It really needed some bbq sauce or something like that to spice it up a little. The meat was pretty good - falling off the bone and all that good stuff. Had some green beans and tasty potato pancakes to go along with it. Certainly not cheap at $33.

Then we hit up the Steak and Shake for lunch the final day. Others had the hamburger/shake combo, ate too much and were quite queasy. I took it easy with a fish sandwich - and still felt a little queasy. I am officially off the grease!

The Southern 4-fecta

I am really trying to use the word "Tri-fecta" but then I realized that I actually wanted to talk about 4 things. Ian my human dictionary is not here :(

Anyway, I am departing Birmingham this afternoon and am pleased that we managed to hit up the 4 food groups down here.

1. Seafood
2. Steakhouse
3. Mexicain
4. Ribs

We went to "Habanero" Mexicain near the plant where I'm working at. It seems to be a local mini chain type thing. It was extreme cheap eating at it's best. A been burrito, a cheese flatula and a salad with lots of guacomole for a mere $6.25. About the same pricing for all the other stuff too. Reasonably tasty and certainly more authentic than something like the "lone star" and you could even put "sneaky dees" or that mexicain mini-chain in Edmonton in there too (forget the name).

Then it was off for some ribs last night. Forget the name of the place, but it was in the galleria. The place was PACKED! It was crazy! They even had a rib drive through. I guess my vegetarian eating has now officially come to an end as I partook in a half rack of baby back ribs with coleslaw, baked beans and some cornbread. The sides were among the best I've eaten, but the ribs were somewhat dissapointing. Kinda chewy?? The other's didn't really like either.

The other guys all had a full rack. The ribs came on a large plate of their own. Then the side dishes came out on another plate. It was pretty gross. At least my half rack meal was all contained on one plate. One guy ate all his food, a few large glasses of lemonaide, and a piece of lemon meringue pie. That level of food consumption really is impressive!

Landry's Seafood

Am back in Birmingham Alabama for a few days to work at one of the local steel plants. The people I'm with are very "americain" type food eaters, so we headed over to Landry's Seafood. To start, they provided complimentary garden salad with what appeared to be thousand island dressing, but later turned out to taste like balsamic vinegrette. Also came with some tasty garlic bread rolls that are near impossible to cut apart and share!

I had the gulf snapper (apparently not from the gulf coast area)...cooked with lemon pepper and some veggie risotto. High marks for tastiness, but certainly not cheap at about $19. The other three guys had a "seafood platter". Not really sure what was on there, but it was so big that it no longer fit on a round plate. They had to go oval! The guys seemed to enjoy and finished everything.

Ohio Road Trip

I went to Cleveland/Mansfield with a co-worker for a visit to a steel plant. For lunch the one day we went for some tasty mexican. I had the veggie combo c, with a bean/cheese burrito, a quesidalla and this quacamole salady thing. All for the low, low price of $6.25. High marks for tastiness too.

The one night we were there, we ended up at a bar/restaurant and had pints that were only $2.50 each! It was crazy. They are like $8 at best in TO!

Blue Mango

This is Janice, back in Toronto. Ian and I went out to Blue Mango in San Jose. Pretty tasty stuff with the two person combo....4 appetizer platter, pad thai, curry tofu and mango samosa ice cream with choice of tea, all for $30. Brown or white rice included. Now, if we could just find a place like this in Toronto....