A Busy and Well Fed Week

On Monday, the talented and hilarious guys that produce The Well Fed Guide to Life had a temporary lapse in judgment and invited me to be a guest on their show. We met at Cupcake in Minneapolis (home of seriously good sweets) to discuss my blog and other food related topics as well as the Oscars. These guys put on a brutally honest and an extremely entertaining show and I suggest you check them out. They usually record at local establishments and cover a wide variety of topics and give a pretty insightful run-down of their surroundings and the food they serve.

I also hit Falafel King--home of killer falafel for this week's Epic Sandwich feature. Check out the full review here.

Happy Eating,

-Teddy

Galactic Pizza

Friday nights during Lent are usually reserved for pizza or a good-old fish fry. I made a tasty tuna salad for lunch, so it was time for pizza. We headed over to Galactic Pizza in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood (sandwiched between The Lyndale Tap House and Tiger Sushi) and quickly realized that it's a pretty darn unique place. Just about everyone is familiar with their super hero-styled delivery drivers and the corresponding electric cars, but you may not know that they've created other initiatives such as leveraging wind energy and creating an extensive waste reduction program.

You'd think all these extras would lead to some sort of gong show that limited the end product, but I don't think that's the case at all. Galactic leverages fresh, local and organic ingredients whenever they can and the ingredients are often coupled to make eccentric and unique combinations. Take the "Thailander" featuring green onions, bean sprouts, shredded carrots, crushed peanuts, cilantro, marinated chicken and mozzarella as an example. It's like pad thai woven into a pie. The "Paul Bunyan" features a unique blend of MN ingredients including morel mushrooms, wild rice and bison sausage. Sounds interesting for sure, but you definitely get the vibe that this place is run by some pretty free spirits - as illustrated by the 5 minute break our waitress took. Hmmm, what could one accomplish in only 5 minutes? Needless to say she seemed very relaxed (but still attentive) when she came back.

Jess and I ordered the "Organic Veggie" featuring mozz, button mushrooms, roma tomatoes, green peppers and onions in accordance with my vegetarian experiment. The veggies were fresh, but lacked any true excitement - pretty common for produce this time of year. However, the mozz was fresh, evenly melted and incorporated just the right hint of salt as it mingled with the zesty, but balanced sauce. Thankfully, Galactic didn't go overboard on either the cheese or the sauce -- a critical mistake in several MN pie shops. Thankfully, the crust was relatively thin for the "hand tossed" variety and was prepared at a temperature that creates a nice char and crackly edges amounting to a more flavorful crust. I'll definitely head back to the friendly folks at Galactic, but hope to try one of the more exciting pies on my return trip.

Happy Eating,

-Teddy

Epic Sandwich: Caffrey's

There aren't that many great sub shops around here, but I do think Caffrey's is a cut above the rest. They're my go-to for a grab and dash lunch in the Lyn-Lake area and they seem to care about the product their putting out. Looks like I won't be stopping by until after Lent though! Full review here.

Epic Sandwich: Lyndale Tap House

I previewed the Lyndale Tap House a few days ago, but managed to get there last week for a bite to eat. I ordered the pit beef sandwich, and it was pretty darn good. There are a lot of other interesting options on the menu as well, and I'll be back to check them out for sure. Full review here.

Lyndale Tap House Preview

I heard the murmur from across the room and couldn’t help but get excited. I was over at a friend’s place the other night, and inevitably the “where are we going?” conversation came up. This is typically a pretty solid debate. Some people will want to go to the place with the drink specials, while others stake their claim for a good place to dance, or the best place for people watching. Needless to say, I didn’t think anyone would mention the Lyndale Tap House. I couldn’t have been happier that this is where we landed.

The Lyndale Tap House is a new bar/Restraunt/Gastropub/Beersnob haven/whatever-you-want-to-call-it located in the former JP’s American Bistro space near the Lyn-Lake intersection. The atmosphere is intriguing with exposed wood, a pressed tin roof, enormous bar and a completely confusing path to the bathroom for the untrained.

I’ve heard two knocks on the recently opened Tap House: one is that the pin-up style pictures are offensive and the other is that the tap list is out-dated. I can’t say I agree on either account. All of the girls in our group are intelligent, forward thinking women who seem to be very comfortable with both themselves and expressing their opinions. I didn’t hear one word about the art either bad or good, and to be honest I hardly even noticed it. I'll let everyone form their opinion on the art, as the beauty of art is that it is open to your own interpretation. Also, I wouldn’t venture to say that the tap list is amazing, but I didn’t think it was lame. There were some mainstreamers on the list such as Guinness and Blue Moon, but there were also some nice additions, such as Lagunitas, which is one of my favorites. There wasn’t an overwhelming selection of local taps, but there seemed to be some others to fill the void.

The accessible kitchen quickly fills the space with the strong smell of the open pit (they specialize in Baltimore Pit Beef), which wasn’t ideal for a Saturday night social gathering, but it wasn’t a hindrance either. There seemed to be a ton of burgers and sandwiches pouring out of the kitchen and one of the folks in our group seemed to be singing the praises of the sloppy joe (this one will be on Epic Sandwich for sure!) as well as the fries. They have what I think is a pretty deft late night happy hour (10-12) including three dollar domestic taps as well as food specials including Tap House Burgers ($5), Turkey Sloppy Joes ($4), and Mugs of chili ($2). Is there ANY doubt in your mind that it is officially chili season?

I can’t speak for the food yet as I only drank and socialized, but I’ll definitely be back to try it out soon and suggest you give it a try yourself. I’ll miss JP’s but I feel that their model may work a bit better for the area and wish them success.

Happy Eating,

-Teddy