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