Red Cow - Edina, MN 03/16/2013

Hard to believe, but it has been nearly three years since my last post. Life has changed quite a bit since 2010. Today we stopped at Red Cow in Edina, MN.  Red Cow is new to the burger scene having just opened a few weeks ago. They took up space in an old Blockbuster Video. I was joined by Jason & Tarsha along with their daughter Zoe and my wife Chelsea along with our son Cooper. We came straight from music class that we take on Saturday mornings.  This did not happen back in the day. In fact today, we all passed on beer even though they have a great selection including many local brews. Our reasoning was that it was to early and settled on iced tea and diet cokes.

Red Cow is a very cool and trendy place that is very family friendly during the day. I am assuming that it has more of a hip, younger crowd at night judging by the area. They have ample seating with both a dining section and a bar area. We went at 11am and were one of the first ones in the door.  It was almost full by the time we left around noon. We started with a couple of appetizers. One order of caramel bacon puffcorn which was pretty blasé and an order of Wisconsin cheese curds that were awesome.  Since none of us had ever been there we decided on getting four different burgers and then cutting them into fourths to share. I ordered the Bison burger that come with caramelized onion, fig and goat cheese ($11.50). Jason got the Duck wild rice burger with goat cheese and triple berry ketchup (11.50). Tarsha got the Barcelona burger with manchego cheese, prosciutto, piquillo pepper and smoke aioli ($11.50). Chelsea got the BBQ burger with blue cheese, onion petals, bacon and BBQ sauce ($11.00).  Cooper and Zoe decided on splitting the Mac & Cheese.  No complaints from those two!  

Everyone agreed that all of the burgers were very good but it seemed like the Bison burger was the overall favorite followed by the BBQ, Barcelona burger and then Duck burger. I rated the Bison burger below under the specialty category.  I have not had many Bison burgers but this was definitely one of the better ones I have had. The goat cheese was nice and creamy and paired really well with the caramelized onions on top of the patty. The bun was a soft lightly toasted pleasant addition as well.  Even though Red Cow is slightly over priced compared to some of the other joints around town I am excited to go back and try some of the other burgers on the Menu.  Especially the breakfast burger with peanut butter, egg and bacon on sourdough.  Until next time!

Bison Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Duck Wild Rice Burger

Barcelona Burger

BBQ Burger

1/4 share of each burger

RED COW
3624 W 50TH ST   
EDINA, MN 55410
Phone: 612-767-4411
Email: luke@redcowmn.com
Website: http://www.redcowmn.com

Specialty Burger Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (4)  
Presentation (4) 
Bun (4)
Flavor (5)
Juiciness (3) 
Value (3)
Side items (4)
Wait time (4)
Originality (5)


Total Score 36 out of a possible 45

Cardinal Bar - Minneapolis, MN 03/27/2010

Not a bad little day today. We made plans to go to the Cardinal Bar in Minneapolis and the first baseball game ever at Target Field. Jason & Tarsha Rice, Nate Pischke and me drove down to the 38th street light rail station which is right next to the Cardinal Bar. We jumped on the light rail and took that to the new ball park to watch the Gophers take on Louisiana Tech. The Gophers got their asses kicked but the stadium was beautiful!

After the Game we jumped back on the light rail and headed back to get out burgers. The Cardinal bar as Nate described it is a local watering hole. Its set in a neighborhood and had quite a few drunks in it at 4pm already. Including one guy that gave me bunny ears in our group photo. He was very apologetic and offered us beer from his pitcher to make up for it. The Cardinal large bar but is pretty dark and kind of out dated. Its your typical dive bar minus one thing. They have amazing hamburgers. They have a giant mural painted on the outside of the building and another giant mural painted on the inside of the restaurant. They just hosted an episode of food wars for the Travel Channel. The Cardinal was a neutral site to determine the winner between Matt’s Bar and the 5/8 Club which are both on our list. I am excited to watch it.

The Cardinal is known for their exceptional burgers and among those burgers is another Juicy Lucy. Jason and I both went with the Juicy Lucy with fried onions. I got onion rings with mine and he went with the fries. I can’t remember exactly what Nate and Tarsha got. The Juicy Lucy is a pretty good Value at $4.95 but does not include anything else. Fries are an additional $1.50 and onion rings were an additional $2.95. The wait time was about 20 minutes which is what the menu said it would be and pretty typical for a Juicy Lucy.

The burgers came in a basket with the sides and a pickle. I noticed right away that the buns were toasted which I love. Other wise it was a normal plain hamburger bun. I tries my onion rings first which I have to admit were some of the best I have ever had. I tried some of the fries also which were nothing special. The Juicy Lucy itself was so good which was a relief after last weekend at the convention grill which were so so at best. I put this Juicy Lucy right up there with the Nook for taste and quality. They lost a few points for atmosphere but other than that are in the running for best Juicy. The meat was perfectly cooked and the cheese was almost perfectly melted. Not quite the liquid mess that poured out of the Nooks burger but close.

I would stop by the Cardinal Bar for a burger anytime. It is going to be a great place to park by before a Twins game. I look forward to catching the light rail to a game and then going to get a burger right after. Make sure you read the street signs carefully because Jason had a parking ticket on his car when we got back to the vehicle. You can drive down another block and there is plenty of parking with no signs. I highly recommend a trip to the Cardinal; they had good service and plenty of room for a large party.

CARDINAL BAR
2920 E 38TH ST
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55406
Phone: 612-724-5837
Email: rrcasey@cadinaltavern.com
Website: www.cardinaltavern.com

Juicy Lucy Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (3)
Presentation (4)
Bun (3)
Flavor (5)
Juiciness (4)
Cheesiness (5)
Value (4)
Side items (3)
Wait time (4)

Total Score 35 out of a possible 45

Convention Grill & Fountain - Edina, MN 03/21/2010

After a three week hiatus let the quest recommence. I was joined by the usual suspects Brian Wallenfelt, Nate & Brooke Pischke, Eric Prose and Chelsea Jordan at the Convention Grill & Fountain in Edina, MN.

The Convention Grill is a throwback to the 50’s dinner. Or an actual 50’s dinner that has never been updated and hasn’t changed a thing. I am not sure if it was just bad luck or if it is normally like this but there were kids everywhere. Half of them seemed to be crying making it too loud to hear people across our own table. It did settle down about half way through our meal. Two kids fell over right by my chair and I was wrongfully accused of tripping them by my party.

We all ordered burgers and malts off the menu. The malts came right away but it took a long time for the rest of the food to arrive. I hadn’t had a malt in years! I got the Strawberry malt with banana. It was awesome. I wish I could say the same for the burgers. There is nothing wrong with them they are just not in the same league as some of the other places like The Nook or Lions Tap. I ordered the Plazaburger which consist of sour cream, chives and chopped onions on a wheat bun. The bun was a nice changeup from the typical white bun and was pretty good. I also got smoked cheddar cheese added to my hamburger which was really good. We all split an order and a half of fries as well. The basket is huge and is enough to feed 3 to 4 people. The fries were a little overcooked for my liking. The overall value was decent. My burger was $5.50 plus a little extra for the cheese. The order and a half of fries cost around $8.50 but feed all 6 of us and the malts were around $5 with another 50 cents for fresh banana.

The Convention Grill is a nice place to go if you are looking for a family night out. Not a great place to go otherwise. Nothing really stood out other than the malts. They did have good service and our server was very friendly. Another cool thing is that when you walk in part of the kitchen is right in front of you. You can stand there and watch them cook the burgers and fries. Maybe in several years when I have a family of my own and am driving through the neighborhood I will stop in for another burger. There are just too many great burger places around town for them to compete with.

Next week we are going to try out The Cardinal Bar in Minneapolis.


CONVENTION GRILL & FOUNTAIN
3912 SUNNYSIDE RD
EDINA, MN 55424
Phone: 952-920-6881
Email: None Available
Website: None Available


Specialty Burger Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (3)
Presentation (3)
Bun (3)
Flavor (3)
Juiciness (3)
Value (4)
Side items (4)
Wait time (2)
Originality (3)

Total Score 28 out of a possible 45

Sweeney's Saloon - St. Paul, MN 02/27/2010

This week we started our day off at the Flat Earth Brewing Company in St. Paul. They are a local brewery that opened their doors three years ago. Flat Earth has a tour twice a month on Saturdays at 4pm. I highly recommend checking them out and supporting a local brewer. Its a small brewery in a little warehouse but they brew some awesome beers. The tour itself lasts about 20-30 minutes depending on questions asked by the audience. They give you a sample as you walk in and then after the tour you are allowed to try several samples and go back as many times as you want. The tour is free! When I say tour I mean standing in the warehouse while the owner tells you about the brewing process and how the company began. I am very jealous of him, it would be sweet to own a brewery. You can get Flat Earth beers at several restaurants around the twin cities including The Nook and Sweeney's.

After the Tour we drove over to Sweeney's Saloon also in St. Paul. Its about a 10 minute drive from the brewery. I was joined by a rather large group this week including Jason & Tarsha Rice, Nate & Brooke Pischke, Jesse & Brenda Goerts, Alice Snorteland, Leena Haugland, Eric Prose, Lynn Fussy, Ben Bauman, Chelsea Jordan and Kelly Wallenfelt. Sweeney's is a very hip and trendy bar with a huge patio area and a giant bar with 20 beers on tap. There is ample seating with several different rooms. Its a great place to go with a large party like the one we strolled in with. The only problem was that on this particular occasion they had already reserved a part of the restaurant. This happened to be the only part of the bar that had room for our large group. We arrived at 5:30pm and were told we needed to be out of there by 6:45pm. No problem right? I mean there was only 14 of us. The server seemed a little apprehensive at first. I think he thought we were just there to have a beer and then leave. When we told him that we had all planned to eat as well he seemed to doubt that we could get the feat done in a little over an hour. But we did it and that is one of the reasons I gave them a 5 out of 5 for wait time. I was pretty impressed that they could get good quality food out to the table for 14 people in like 15 minutes which allowed us to enjoy the meal and feel slightly less rushed.

This week I ordered my first specialty burger. The Santa Fe burger which had pepper jack cheese, jalapenos, fried onions, chipotle mayonnaise and a freshly toasted bun. It was a great combination that worked really well together. With each bite you could taste the hotness of the jalapenos and the chipotle mayo contrasted by the sweetness of the fried onions. The burger itself was huge and it came with an order of fries for around $9. The fries were nothing special but I would highly recommend stopping in for a burger. My only negative comment is that they give you a little cup of ketchup which is not enough for the fries nonetheless the burger. A few of the other burgers were also tried such as the chili burger, ultimate cheeseburger and Greek burger. Not one bad comment was made by anybody about their burgers.

Sweeney's is a great place to gather with your friends, knock down a pint or two and have a great burger. They have a giant outdoor patio that was rated one of the 10 best in the twin cities. Currently the men's bathroom is under construction and is located out on the patio in the form of a port-o-pottie. I am sure that will be fixed by the time the patio opens up in the spring. The patio also had an enormous wood burning fireplace which would be awesome to sit around on a chilly Minnesota evening. I look forward to stopping back in one of these days when the weather gets a little nicer.

Santa Fe Burger
Greek Burger
Chili Burger
SWEENEY'S SALOON
96 NORTH DALE ST
SAINT PAUL, MN 55102
Phone: 612-396-0701
Email: None Available
Website: http://www.sweeneyssaloon.com/

FLAT EARTH BREWING COMPANY
2035 BENSON AVE
SAINT PAUL, MN 55116
Phone: 651-698-1945
Email: info@flatearthbrewing.com
Website: http://www.flatearthbrewing.com/

Specialty Burger Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (4)
Presentation (4)
Bun (4)
Flavor (4)
Juiciness (3)
Value (3)
Side items (3)
Wait time (5)
Originality (4)

Total Score 34 out of a possible 45

Leader Board

Hamburger/Cheeseburger (40 points possible)
1. Lions Tap - Eden Prairie, MN - Cheeseburger - 33 Points

Juicy Lucy (45 points possible)
1. The Nook - St. Paul, MN - Juicy Nooky - 37 Points
2. Cardinal Bar - Minneapolis, MN - Juicy Lucy - 35 Points 
3. The Blue Door Pub - St. Paul, MN - Blucy - 34 Points
4. Adrian's Bar and Grill - Minneapolis, MN - Juicy Lucy - 30 Points

 Specialty (45 points possible)
1. Red Cow - Edina, MN - Bison Burger - 36 Points
2. Sweeney's Saloon - St. Paul, MN - Santa Fe Burger - 34 Points
3. Convention Grill - Edina, MN - Plazaburger - 28 Points  

Adrian's Bar & Grill - South Minneapolis, MN 02/20/2010

This quest is starting to pick up steam. We are already in week four of the journey. A few important topics were discussed tonight at Adrian's Bar & Grill in South Minneapolis. It has become clear that it is not fair to compare a hamburger/cheeseburger up against a Juicy Lucy. Juicy Lucys are just way to good. There for we have split our quest into three different categories. First is the aforementioned hamburger/cheeseburger category, second is the Juicy Lucy category and third is a specialty category for burgers that are a little different like the "Goober Burger" at My Sister's place in Grand Marais. The Goober Burger consists of a hamburger with mayonnaise and peanut butter on top. Also evident is that we don't have a rating system fully in place yet for the burgers which is nearly complete and will be posted soon. Anyways like I said this week we went to Adrian's for another Juicy Lucy. Our third in a row. I was joined by Eric Prose, Nate & Brooke Pischke, Brian & Kelly Wallenfelt, Chelsea Jordan and Katherine Dunbar. And once again this week Chelsea took the photo of the group. Sorry honey! We arrived at about 6pm and for the first time in four weeks we found ourselves with no wait. I was not sure if this was a good sign or a bad omen. Adrian's is a dive bar with a sort of out of date feel to it. Its a very narrow restaurant with a nice bar on the left when you walk in that looks like it is the original. They had several beers on tap including Delirium Tremens which is a Belgian pale ale. Brian also brought to my attention that Delirium Tremens is a medical condition for people suffering from severe alcohol withdrawal. Symptoms include shaking and trembling in case you are looking to self diagnose yourself. This is the beer I decided to go with. It was very good. It must be a pretty rare beer or extremely overpriced. When we got the bill everybody else's beer tab was around $3.50 and mine was $7 for a pint.

We ordered a few sides to share such as onion rings, fries, cheese curds and buffalo chicken tenders. All were good but nothing to write home about. Like I said before I once again choose a Juicy Lucy ($7.25). Adrian's version of the Juicy Lucy had a small twist. It not only had American cheese stuffed in between two giant patties of beef, but it also had cheese on top of the patties. Several of us got the Juicy Lucy. I think Kelly got a Cheeseburger ($5.00) and a few others got the Lurtsie burger ($6.00) which has bacon and cheese on it. I am not sure if they liked theirs or not but mine was pretty spectacular. Each burger came with chips and pickles. Pictured above is Adrian's Juicy Lucy.

It took around 20 minutes for the burgers to be delivered to our table which is pretty good considering there was 8 of us. The bun was your every day run of the mill bun that you would get at your local grocery store. Not from the bakery but from the bread isle. The burger itself was huge. The patty was about 1 1/2 inches tall. Biting into it was exactly what I expected from a Juicy. Warm melted American cheese gushed out of the burger. I was pleasantly surprised and glad to know there is a place that you can walk right in with little to no wait and grab a great burger. They also have take out burgers which would be awesome if you lived in the neighborhood. One of my knocks against Adrian's is their choice in ketchup. Maybe I am biased and really like Heinz but they served Red Gold ketchup which I had never heard of. Heinz mustard but no Heinz Ketchup? Whats the deal with that? After the burgers the 8 of stayed around for a while and watched the Olympics. It was nice to not feel rushed for once after finishing our food. There was nobody waiting for a table so we did not feel any urgency to leave.

I really liked the burgers at Adrian's Bar & Grill and would definitely recommend them. So far I am giving them a 2nd place nod behind The Nook and in front of The Blue Door Pub. The atmosphere itself was a little dull. Nothing to special about the place itself. They do have several arcade games in the back for kids it makes for a nice family place and a great place to quickly grab a great burger.

Next week the plan is to go to take the Great Earth Brewery Tour at 4pm and then go to a burger joint in the area if we can find one on our list.

ADRIAN'S BAR & GRILL
4812 CHICAGO AVE S
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55417
Phone: 612-824-4011
Email: None Available
Website: http://adrianstavern.com/

Juicy Lucy Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (2)
Presentation (3)
Bun (3)
Flavor (4)
Juiciness (4)
Cheesiness (4)
Value (3)
Side items (3)
Wait time (4)

Total Score 30 out of a possible 45

The Blue Door Pub - St. Paul, MN 02/13/2010

This week we decided to visit The Blue Door Pub in Saint Paul, MN. I was joined by Chelsea Jordan, Brian Wallenfelt, Nate Pischke and Eric Prose. First thoughts upon approaching The Blue Door Pub were that this place must be good. Patrons were jammed in every open space and even spilling out the front door. There was neither a hostess nor a waiting area. Once again Prose saved us by getting their early and putting our name in with the waitress just ahead of several other parties. We stood in a cramped corner for about 20 minutes . Our target was a nice-looking family of St. Thomas boosters with an interesting basket of deep fried, battered green stuff. Are they french fries? Asparagus? Edamame? These were a few of the guesses thrown out there. We would later discover quite deliciously that they were actually beer battered green beans.We were lead to a large and stylish booth in the back corner of the restaurant. A particularly nice decorative touch was the chalkboard wall. We plotted the elevation of Minneapolis and other ski destinations like Park City and Denver. The menu was two-sided and highly focused on burgers and fried appetizers. They also have an item called pie bites for dessert. They are mini made-from-scratch cheesecake bites with a graham cracker crust and then deep fried with a coating of powdered sugar. We saw the waitress bring them past and they looked amazing. We will have to try them next time we go. We skimmed past the "Best Burger" award winner the "Jiffy Burger". It won for best burger in the Twin Cities by City Pages. It consists of peanut butter, mayo, pepper jack cheese, bacon and pickles. Maybe in the future we'll try it, but for now we are in the Juicy Lucy phase of our quest. We focused on choosing one of the 10 signature Juicy Blucys from the menu. You can get a punch card from the server, and punch out each burger once you have tried it. When you finish all 10 you get an awesome t-shirt and a burger on the house. One of my main goals for the trip was to acquire one of these punch cards. Unfortunately, I remembered that this was one of my main goals when I got home empty handed . Hopefully we can sweet talk the server into punching two burgers next time. That is if we remember! Chelsea, Nate and I ordered The Blucy ($6.50) which is blue cheese and garlic stuffed between two pattys of meat. Prose ordered The Classic ($6.50) which is stuffed with cheddar cheese. Wally settled on The Frenchy ($7.00) which is a Swiss cheese and fried onion stuffed burger served with a side of au jus. We also split an orders of cheese curds ($7.50) and beer-battered green beans ($6.50). There was a nice beer list on a chalkboard on the wall that featured micro-brews and imports.
Pictured to the left is The Blucy. The appetizers arrived quickly, and it was clear that they know how to use a deep fryer. The cheese curds were soft, bite-sized and delicious. They were served with a side of marinara sauce. The small serving of sauce required sparing use from the five of us. Fortunately, the cheese curds were satisfying on there own. The Blue Door Pub deserves an award for creating an unhealthy version of green beans. The green beans arrived deeply covered in beer batter and deeply fried. A trend emerged as the accompanying dish of ranch dressing was also disappointingly small. When consumed with copious amounts of ranch dressing, the green beans were delicious. On their own the green beans were a little bland. I will have to purchase a deep fryer when I become a parent so that I can get my kids to eat their veggies. The arrival of the burgers were perfectly timed with the completion of the appetizers. The burgers were presented in small colorful baskets. So far these hamburgers had the best bun of the three places we have visited. They were crisp and delicious from a quick toasting. The hamburger meat was average, and it was closer to being over done on the outside. Brian commented that he had expected an explosion of molten cheese like when he bit into a Juicy Lucy. Swiss cheese apparently does not have the same melting characteristics of the typical Juicy Lucy that is made with cheddar or American cheese. The same can be said for blue cheese. While it melted more than Brian's Swiss cheese, it was still not completely melted and was stringy. Prose's classic burger on the other hand was melted and gooey like a typical Juicy Lucy. This is the first place that I have seen that serves a side of au-jus with a hamburger. Brian commented that the au-jus made up for the unexceptional juiciness, and when the burger was dipped into it it became quite satisfactory.

We had a noticeable delay between the completion of our meal and the arrival of the check. We split the bill each contributing a reasonable $14. Prose and Nate ordered Orange soda and the rest of us had water. I don't know what drinks cost so if you choose to imbibe in a few adult beverages it will be a little more. We took care of our check quickly to make room for the other hovering patrons that were no doubt guessing what the fried green things on our table were.
Overall the burgers were filling and with the appetizers made for a very complete meal. They were good, but not on the same level as The Nook. Those that ordered fries were unable to finish them and commented that they were slightly overcooked and unnecessary with the appetizers. I will be back to claim my punch card and sample the 9 remaining Juicy Blucys and the award winning Jiffy Burger. This is a great place to go with two to four people but there is not much room for a party bigger than that. They did have one table that was larger but who knows how long you would have to wait for that one.

Next up is a trip to Adrian's Bar & Grill. Also home to a Juicy Lucy.

Special thanks to Brian Wallenfelt for writing the majority of this blog entry. It was a quite detailed review. Also to Chelsea for taking the photos. Next time we will have to have somebody else take the photos so you can be in them.



THE BLUE DOOR PUB
1811 SELBY AVE
ST. PAUL, MN 55104
Phone: 651-493-1865
Email: contact@thebdp.com
Website: http://www.thebdp.com/

Juicy Lucy Rating: 1-5

Atmosphere (4)
Presentation (3)
Bun (4)
Flavor (4)Juiciness (4)
Cheesiness (4)
Value (4)
Side items (4)
Wait time (3)

Total Score 34 out of a possible 45