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!

Grandma's in the Park (Hibbing Mn)

Last night it was a summer special - grilled mahi mahi with rice pilaf and veggies and a side of tartar sauce.

The portion was rather gigantic! 2 big fillets! Although, this is the place that give 2 huge chicken pieces per meal.

All was very tasty, but a person avoiding salt might think it was a bit too salty.

The Chipotle Invasion

Well a Chipotle opened up in Toronto last week just a tiny bit north of Yonge and Dundas.

I was super excited to hear of the arrival of a new burrito chain so I went today for dinner. It unfortunately didn't live up to my excitement due to a few disappointments:
- no guacamole in the burritos. The Chipotle's web site features guacamole but they want 2 bucks for it. I'm unwilling to pay over a dollar for an avocado so I'm certainly not paying 2 bucks for a tiny bit of guac. I'm not sure why no chains support the guac in canada. Are avocados significantly more expensive in Canada or is there just no competition forcing them to offer it?
- defective tortillas. The carnage out there was brutal as most of the burritos were falling apart during the burrito construction process.
- slow burrito making.
- price, $8.50 without chips, salsa or guacamole.
- too many ryerson students. Well I can't fault them for that.

Overall, I liked the look of the restaurant with its large open kitchen. The burrito was reasonably tasty without the guacamole so I'll definitely go back but it probably won't be for a while.

Super Duper Cereal

High protein & fiber, low fat, sodium & sugar and it actually tastes alright.

Bofinger (Montreal)

This joint is pretty tasty (ribs are ok), pulled pork sandwich #1 good. I went for sandwich #2 this week and basically bit into something really hard and bone like. It did indeed appear to be bone. I spit it out and made a break for it.

I have no idea how that would end up in a pulled pork sandwich. I am now somewhat sad, this place was getting into the regular rotation + it's good value because I sandwich and side for $9 is enough for 2-3 meals!

Boring Post Regarding MSP Airport

The french meadows bakery cafe refers to nanaimo bars as "Vancouver Island" bars. I wonder if it's an Americain thing?

I thought I would do some laptop stuff at the window of B10, but it's basically covered in spiders and kinda freakin me out. They are humongous! And they are fighting.

Update: the door to the gate is now open and they are doing the valet check luggage thing (which is right by the door). I am keeping my eyes peeled for incoming spiders and may have to relocate shortly.

More Update: passengers off plane and door closed. Crisis averted. Still on alert though....

Drink it or Don't Drink

I found this can in the back seat of Janice's car.
Should I drink it?

Toronto Potpourri

Well we haven't been that good about updating the blog lately. Here are some quick updates describing some recent events.

Royal Ontario Golf Course - Buffet Dinner - I thought it was pretty good. The chicken was tasty and the roast beef was alright although janice thought it was a little dry. My only complaints were the 7.25 drinks and the somewhat hard rolls.

Aroma - I went on a weekday for a change and was pleased to see that they add an extra chicken dish which makes it even better. We also went on the weekend and it was good as usual even without the extra chicken. The only think I don't like is sometimes they have chana instead of daal. Very disappointing.

KFC - Fun for one combo. Not really that fun, but somewhat tasty. I really prefer combos that mix up the KFC and the Taco Bell.

Tamales (Montreal)

On Sunday night, I went to what appears to be the second most trendy area in Montreal, Price Arthur off of Saint Laurent. Crescent Street seems to be #1.

For a decent $19 or so, I had a beer and veggie burritos. The burritos had black beans, mushrooms and onions with a tasty chipotle sauce and cheese on top. There was some guacamole & tomato salsa on top of some lettuce on the side. My only complaint was the rice - was very so so and not very Mexican-y.

The patios in this area are very delightful and fantastic for a nice summer night.

Here is the website.

Cafe Paris (Montreal)

Crepes were on the menu today after work. I walked over to Crescent and spotted the moderately busy Cafe Paris. After an ordering fiasco and 20 minute delay, I finally got a pretty tasty nutella strawberry crepe for about $9.

I tried not to think about the chef scratching his head and then touching the crepes or the guy taking money who then went and cut up my stawberries. Hopefully no illness results!

Cora's

Ian and I made it there early enough (10:15) to just barely escape the line that usually forms on the weekend at the Blue Jay Way location in T.

I went with the "1990's special" It was a super duper combo type breakfast. A cinnamon brioche at the bottom (basically a cinnamon bun but not as sticky) topped with fruit salad on one side and an egg and bacon on the other. All were decently ok. Price was about $9.50.

Ian ordered their feature item - strawberry panini. It was supposed to be a whole wheat panini filled with cream cheese and nuts with strawberries on the side. (Ian ditched the nuts). It turned out to be more crepe-like instead of panini. So not really as advertised. Ian made up for his disappointment by eating half of my meal.

The Keg's Annual Report

Friday night we headed out to the Keg on York street to partake in Lobster Summer. I typically get the calamari to open things up but I find it's a lot to eat on my own. Instead I stole some croutons from Janice's salad. For the main course, I had my usual Steak and Half Lobster while Janice had a Teriyaki sirloin as part of the classic dinner (hence her salad). Both were great as usual. The major innovation during the pre-meal bread eating was that Janice took to dunking the bread in the heated lobster butter. That definitely seems like a good idea. Who needs a knife then!

Since we saved our arteries by skipping the calamari, we went for dessert. We shared a brownie sundae. We've had it before but this was the best one ever we agreed. The brownie was delightfully fresh and warm. Combined with the ice cream, it really is terrific and reasonably priced at only 5 bucks and change.

The best part, thanks to Janice's Keg income trust units, dinner was 20 bucks off. We'll definitely be back again next year! (If not sooner)