Pages

Monday, September 15, 2008

Gloomy Weather = Food Weekend

So the weather was horrible this weekend, save My Friday night jaunt to the Muddy Pig's Belgian Beer Festival. Since the weather was a drag I accordingly devoted my weekend to food. I wanted to try a few new places/things and also get some cooking out of the way, so what better then a nice rainy weekend to do both. Here's a few mini-reviews for quick meal options that I discovered this weekend as I sought something to fill my seemingly bottomless stomach.

Friday night I went to Patrick's Bakery in Southdale square. I have had one of their sandwiches before and was pretty impressed so I figured I'd give it another whirl. I immediately gravitated to the Patou Burgers. Take your basic burger, but cut it in half and stuff the beef into a long fresh French baguette. The soft buttery, bread actually ads a lot to the sandwich although it makes it a bit interesting to eat. I opted for the California version - think classy Big Mac. It was really good and the fries were awesome, although they put the fries in a baguette bag along with the burger so I had to dig a lot of them out before I ate, which was less then ideal, but still delicious. They also have quiches, sandwiches and nightly specials that all looked very good. I dare you to get out of their with out a pastry or something sweet.

On Saturday I was going to spend my afternoon building a nice robust  liquid for some pork shoulder that I was eventually going to braise and serve over cilantro lime rice (yep, stole it from Chipotle) and some hearty black beans. The dish ended up being really nice, but if I was going to be cooking all afternoon I needed some energy. I heard Scott at Corner Table was supplying Rustica Bakery on 46th with fresh sandwiches, and since I'm always in search of an inventive sandwich, I had to head on over and check it out. The sandwiches were very creative and as I found out when I tore into my chicken and egg salad sandwich (2 salads - one sandwich!), they are also very good. The nice fresh bread definitely adds a lot to the creations and they had a nice lemony aioli mixed into the salads and some crisp breakfast radishes to supply a bit of zip! I'll  be back again for sure, but should note that Rustica was very busy, but everything they made looked wonderful!

Finally, on Saturday night I was driving though Uptown on my way back from an engagement party and my tummy started to ask whether or not I had forgotten about him. As I was pondering where to eat I realized I was near Caffrey's deli and decided I would hit it quick because some former colleagues used to rave about it. I perused the menu and thought something hot would be nice given the dismal weather and went with the cheesesteak although there were many "winners" on the menu, at least in concept. The lady ordered the sliced meatball sub and we tore into our sandwiches a few moments later. The cheesesteak was a little lighter on the cheese then I'd like and too heavy on the salt. I stole a bite of the meatball sub, and it was very good. The food was fast and pretty good, so I'd go back, but go with a different option next time. 

Sunday Supper left me devouring the fruits of Saturday's labor and the warm, hearty mixture of succulent pork, garlicky beans and jazzed up rice made it a nice little belly-warming end to the weekend.

Ok, I'll end with a promise. I need to get better at taking pictures. Sometimes I just get excited and forget to take 'em or bring the camera! There will be more to come. Promise.

Happy Eating,

-Teddy


2 comments:

kat said...

Did you find Patrick's a little overpriced for what they serve? We were surprised by what they charged for a ham & cheese at the one at Bachman's.

I'm dying to go to Rustica & try one of those sandwiches!

HungryinSW said...

The Burger and fries were about $10 which is probably a bit higher then most people would want to pay for that. Remember, you are speaking to a guy who shells out $13 for the Guac and Queso Fresco burger at Cafe 28. I wouldn't make it a regular purchase, but it's a nice treat!

Rustica looked like it had a pretty tight little operation all the way around. let me know what you think.

Related Posts with Thumbnails