Descending on the Twin Cities March 20th

wj:

In Miami-Dade county, Haitians are not a noticeable influence on the restaurant scene, whereas Cuban restaurants are like the grains of sand on the beach: uncountable.

While I have been enjoying the ongoing dialogue on this post, I am most definately looking forward to the food reports...

  AMEN to that Ann !!!    The guys should be at Al's RIGHT NOW!  mmmm.... Hashbrowns.       Dawn

easydoesit

I knew it was only a matter of time before Anderson House went out of business. The reason why they went out of business is for the same reason there's a fast food and non-roadfood chain forum on the Roadfood website. For some reason, the tradional regional roadfood restaurants in the  midwest seems to have been hit hardest by the proliferation of casual dining chains, for example Dodd's in Indianapolis, Crabtree's Kitchen in Minnesota and The White  Way and Stone's in Iowa for example.Here in New England it
wasn't very different, many of the old time diners (hundreds of them) in the Boston area serving the "food of the people" (cod cakes, baked beans and brown bread) were "taken out" by the proliferation of the Dunkin Donut chains. You can find one every 6 blocks (I'm not exaggarating- ask any New Englander) and they're packed to the gills.  And mind you these restaurants didn't shut down their doors because the quality went down, the quality of these restaurants never waivered, just the quality in taste of their patrons went down the tubes.

I know I've lost the battle and the war. People who laughably call themselves "roadfooders" and continue to post on the chain forum and others  like them are the ones to blame for the collapse and downfall of regional roadfood. The "time marches on speech" is a load of garbage, if that's the case these restaurants would have died out decades ago, but instead their demise has been "coincidentally timed"  with the influx of national chains.

Miami Don

I know the number of Cuban restaurants in Miami far exceed the number of Haitian Restaurants, however I'm fairly certain that the majority of Haitian Restaurants in Miami far exceed the number in any other city in the US.

AHI MPLS

The guys should be at Al's RIGHT NOW!  mmmm.... Hashbrowns.       Dawn

Hey Dawn, how about some corned beef hash?

We interrupt this thread for late-breaking food news...






These photos are unretouched (my sincere apologies) but taken only an hour ago at Al's Breakfast in Dinkytown!  Buffetbuster & I (Amy's not feeling well and wanted to sleep in) were waiting at the door at 5:50 am and were among the first customers when they unlocked the door promptly at 6 am.  Davydd arrived a few minutes later, and we had a grand time eating, taking pictures, struggling with poor lighting for photos, and chatting with the servers.  "So, you guys met on a website?" is the question that hooked them into a long discussion about RF.

Amy & Cliff have great pictures from Nye's Polonaise Room last night, and we'll be posting our Jucy Lucy finds later...stay tuned, friends!    Chris

  BEAUTIFUL !!  I'm lovin' that short stack... Now get on over to A Bakers wife before all the American teacakes are gone!!!!  

As soon as we get going this morning, that is definitely on our list!  Thanks for the tip, Dawn!    Chris

 Amy, I hope you're not suffering from the dreaded " Nye's Revenge "    go get some Pho on eat street ,that should fix you right up!!    { sorry, WJ>>>}

Wow- everyone got up early! Good pics so far...

Dawn,

Apparently I can get my "Pho fix" right here in good ol' Rhode Island..

http://www.phofever.com/restaurants/rhode-island.php

  A Pho is a Pho is a Pho..... In any other city, 'twould still smell as sweet !!  

Nope, Dawn, it wasn't Nye's fault, even though we could blame the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band!  Amy was feeling a cold coming on before we got out of Iowa, unfortunately.  She seems okay this morning, so we're headed to A Baker's Wife and then to the 5-8 Club for our first Ju(i)cy Lucy of the day.

More to come...   Chris

At 6:00 AM it is still dark for another hour to go. We left before the sun came up and as I was snapping this picture on our departure I learned later I was becoming a grandpa for the third time at about this moment.



You are probably wondering how one should behave as a roadfooder. You really don't eat your food until it gets cold because you must first spend time composing your shot and shoot your food. Fortunately at Al's Breakfast it is a common enough event that no one pays you any mind.

Not to repeat photos but I should add this one to show you I seemingly must have been the only coffee addict in the group.

Did I say they don't pay you any mind? Our wait staff seemed enthralled at our photography.

Wonderful pictures of the food and the people as well.  It looks as though you all are off to a great start!

  CONGRATS Davydd !! hope all is well      OH PLEASE don't forget to go to Matt's , none of that uptown cheese here !! ya get the real thing, yellow cheese ,kin to velveeta I believe..... makes it the raunchiest of the Lucys!! yummiest in my book. 

wanderingjew



Miami Don

I know the number of Cuban restaurants in Miami far exceed the number of Haitian Restaurants, however I'm fairly certain that the majority of Haitian Restaurants in Miami far exceed the number in any other city in the US.

Probably true, but what I was trying to convey is that one might be able to count all of the Haitian restaurants on two hands.  BTW, if you are ever in town again, I can make some recommendations beyond Tap-Tap on South Beach.

wanderingjew, The anticipation intermission discussion is over. We're back to some serious reporting.

First, I should report we roadfooders had the honorary gift exchange. Ayersian brought fresh pork tenderloins straight from Iowa for Buffetbuster and me. I had mine for lunch and took the time to experiment with white balance settings on my kitchen counter north light. I went through all the settings to see which one worked best. This white balance was the outdoor shade setting.



Finding the right setting at Al's Breakfast to shoot without flash was difficult. One only wished they had more time to experiment but the lighting was fairly dark and diffuse with incadescent, LED and flourescent shooting out from the back room. The best thing you can hope for is a daytime visit sitting next to a window to get the best shots.

Anyway, my gift to Buffetbuster and the Ayersians was Pearson's nut candie bars. They are a St. Paul product. I think there might be an old Roadfood.com discussion about them. I thought about 25 CDs but heard that was not appropriate.



And last but not least, Grandson Jonah Hippert Stovall arrived this morning at 7:19 AM in La Crosse, WI. He will be the first born true cheesehead roadfooder in our family.



I will be heading for La Crosse tomorrow morning.

Awww on both counts!  Congratulations Grampa Davydd--he is lovely--and it looks like y'all are having a wonderful time in the Twin Cities.  Enjoy yourselves, and I hope Amy feels better.

Davydd


Here is the Google search on A Baker's Wife's Pastry Shop.

http://is.gd/nrw2

We gathered again at the Cat-Man-Do Tibetan restaurant in St. Paul in a neighborhood surrounded by Macalester College. After our meal we engaged in a clandestine pastry taste-up from the trunk of Chris' car in the parking lot behind the restaurant. Chris' contraband came for the Baker's Wife's Pastry Shop. Pure roadfood addiction.



More reports are coming. I will miss the Hell's Kitchen breakfast gathering. I'm headed to La Crosse in the morning.

Congratulations, Davydd, on the new grandchild. I'm sure grandpa will make sure that he grows up to be a dedicated roadfooder. BTW, great report and photos - sure wish I was there with you. 

Chris always has something in the trunk of his car!  ;)

Davydd


I learned later I was becoming a grandpa for the third time at about this moment.

 

I ditto the Mozel Tov!

Cute baby there!

We had a fantastic time at Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis yesterday morning.  If this place is going downhill, it would be truly scary to think about how good it was before.  Everything from the porridge to the maple glazed bison sausage to the peanut butter and jams were outstanding.  They even gave us a complimentary caramel pecan roll to try.  Service was friendly, while the atmosphere was bizarre and unique.  I have never eaten at anywhere else quite like it.
 
When they sat us down, they gave us what was called the key to the city.  The waitress didn't know anything about it (or did a great job of playing dumb) and the hostess came back over and told us it was from the mayor.  A quick phone call to Al Bowen eliminated him from the suspects list.  We never did figure out what the purpose was, although since we discussed it so much, maybe it already served that purpose.
 
Here are the six of us in front of the fireplace next to our table.

Sitting down left to right: Amy and friend Kelly
Middle row: Mariton, Emilou (holding the key) and Chris
Back row: Myself

Sorry I missed the get together at Hell's Kitchen (not really)



The night before here they are at the Cat-Man-Do.

Davydd-
Wish you could have joined us for our meal at Hell's Kitchen, but you had grandfatherly duties elsewhere!  Congratulations again!

Buffetbuster,

Another photo of your mug at Hell's Kitchen-  
Where's the food???

Key to the city you say ?      

A quick story my buddy wanderingjew may enjoy.....

I was in Winona, Minnesota on Saturday and spotted a cool looking little drive-in type place called Penguin Zesto.  Definite bonus points for the cool name!  The menu includes such local foods as 1919 root beer and cheese curds.  I asked one of the locals in front of me what she recommends to eat and she told me her favorite thing was the shrimp basket! I'm guessing WJ would not be ordering the shrimp basket.