Restaurant Review: P.F. Chang's

Oh.My.God. For nearly a year I've been craving Chinese food....I'd made some at home with store-bought sauces....but nothing tastes as good as take-out (where there is no effort on my part).

The P.F. Chang's GF menu has several options. We sampled three things: The chicken lettuce wraps, beef with broccoli and spicy chicken.

 Everything was delicious. For one appetizer and two entrees (all gluten-free) our bill was around $40. We got two LARGE meals out of this....so overall, it's not a bad deal. I highly recommend trying out the GF P.F. Chang's options!

Restaurant review: Ciatti's Ristorante

Ciatti's has long been one of Luke's favorite restaurants - we go there occasionally to meet up with his mom for dinner (as it's halfway between us in St. Cloud).

Ciatti's has a GREAT gluten-free menu - I was nervous about eating there for the first time....but have now dined twice without incident. I can honestly recommend this place - the waitstaff was knowledgeable, I didn't have to point out that GF means no croutons on my salad, etc. Refreshing.

The first time we ate there I ordered the chicken Marsala:

The chicken was served with mushrooms,squash, zucchini and onions in a Marsala sauce - delish!

The second time I had the baked mostaccioli:

GF penne pasta with a red sauce with spicy Italian sausage covered with cheese and baked. Very, very good!

Restaurant Review: Pizza Luce

Yum! I dined at Pizza Luce in downtown Minneapolis - which now has a GF menu EVERY DAY! They used to offer GF options once a week....but it was so popular they now offer GF pizzas every day! It was delicious. I was a little worried about cross contamination - after all, they are using the same kitchen, counters, ovens etc. for their gluten-filled pies....but I didn't suffer any consequences from this meal. I highly recommend checking it out:

Restaurant Review: Hazel's Northeast

One word: De-lightful!

Hazel's opened about a month ago (first week in December) and we've been there twice...with plans to go back quite frequently. The restaurant is owned and managed by two brother's from Alexandria (my hometown) that have the restaurant business in their blood. These boys were born for this line of work - and it shows. Hazel's is located on 29th & Johnson in northeast. Here is their website: http://www.hazelsnortheast.com/home.html - they can also be found on Facebook - be sure to become a fan!

The restaurant is cleanly decorated and cozy, with artwork on the wall by famous people - like our high school friend Macaille!

Luke and I visited the second day they were open. They don't yet have a GF menu, but are working on putting one together. They were accommodating, and helped me to find something GF on the dinner menu. I had a giant pork chop with an apple chutney, with mashed potatoes and veggies. Luke had a windy city burger. The food was excellent.

A few days after Christmas, we went back - for breakfast. There were 6 of us (plus Jack) on this excursion and we sampled a hefty portion of the breakfast menu....everything was delicious.

 Bread pudding, made fresh daily:

Hippie cakes (pancakes with granola and fruit):

Mission omelette (corn, black beans, onions and cheese served with sour cream and salsa verde) with potatoes:

Biscuits and gravy:

Smokehaus omelette (three types of pork!) :

We'll soon be back for more!

Restaurant Review: Bar La Grassa

Luke and I received a very generous gift from our friend Courtney - a gc for Bar La Grassa in Minneapolis. We loved it. The food was incredible. I highly recommend giving this place a try.

Here is a link to their web page:
http://www.barlagrassa.com/
and they have their menu on the site. The food is sooooo good.

Pardon the quality of the photos....I forgot my camera and so we snapped these with Luke's iPhone:)

Luke and I each had a glass of wine, I had Pinot Grigio and Luke had a Chianti. We started with the caprese salad, the cheese was to die for.

 For our entree, we shared the Pork Tenderloin and the grilled asparagus.

 We finished our meal with the caramel crispelles. Words cannot describe this. Too yummy.

Review: The Blue Door Pub

Oh my gosh. I love burgers so much, and this place served me the best burger of my life! I highly recommend checking out the Blue Door, if you like burgers - you'll love it.

Here is their website: http://www.thebluedoorpubmn.com/

They specialize in a MN favorite - the stuffed burger (the cheese is INSIDE the burger) - Genius. Luke sampled the "Blucy" which is a bleu cheese stuffed burger and I had the Luau - which was stuffed with mozzarella and Canadian bacon and topped with pineapple. Again, genius.

We had really good service, though we did have to wait for awhile to get a table. It was a Friday night and the restaurant is small - so be prepared to wait.  However, the food was served pretty quickly for the amount of customers they had in the queue. 

The only "disappointment" (and I can't even really call it a disappointment) was the fried pickles.  They were still good.....just not up to the standard set by the Chatterbox Pub. You really can't go wrong with pickles. 

Here are some fabulous pics of the food:
Fried pickles

Luau burger:

The blucy

Review: Beirut Restaurant

I love, love, love Middle Eastern food. Luke and I used to go to Jerusalem's in Minneapolis all the time.....until we rediscovered Beirut Restaurant. Luke's family used to go there frequently when they visited Minnesota - and it is amazing. The restaurant is located on Robert Street in West St. Paul, here is a link to their website:

http://www.beirutrestaurantanddeli.com/

We usually go there for dinner when Luke's dad is in town, and I try to get everyone to go eat there when they visit us. I crave their hummus...and their tabouli is so fresh and the best I've ever sampled. Here are some photos from our most recent trip there. The white sauce in the cup is garlic, lemon and oil -mostly garlic - and it is Luke's most favorite thing in the world.

Lulu's shawirma sandwich:

My shish ta'ook (chicken) kabob:

Luke's kafta mishwe kabob:

The Festival of Nations

Each year I attend the Twin Cities Festival of Nations at the St. Paul River Centre.  This year I went with Luke and my sister Lulu and our friends Courtney and Gus. We had a blast, as usual.  We go for the food, but enjoy walking through the shopping area as well. This year we sampled many delights, and posed for some photos as well.

My falafel sandwich from the Palestine booth:

Luke's American Indian fry bread taco:

Lulu's Egyptian hummus:

This is the "Viking in a blanket" from the Norwegian booth....it's a sausage wrapped in lefse, as much as I love both lefse and sausage....I don't recommend this:

Lulu's chicken adobo from the Philippines:

Luke's Polish sausage with kraut and mustard:

My cream horn from the Czech and Slovak booth:

Lulu's Swiss Frosty Kaffee:

Luke's French Eclair:

and Lulu's Dutch Cream Puff:

and here are the pics of us being awesome in front of stereotypical cultural cutouts.

Lulu:

Luke and I:

Courtney and Gus (whose food consumption was not documented on camera):

Luke and Lulu:

and my personal favorite:

Here is the website for the Festival of Nations, I highly recommend attending next year - I know I'll be there!
http://festivalofnations.com/