Sarna's

Those who live in Columbia Heights are probably familiar with this place, but I thought I'd write about it anyway for those less familiar with it and it's one of our favorite places to go.

We were severely lacking in "nice restaurants" in town for awhile. There was a Mr. Steak for years and years that closed down to make room for another tire store because hey, we don't have enough of those in Columbia Heights (sarcasm - drive down Central Avenue and you'll see what I mean). So, when Sarna's opened up it filled a void for sure.

At first, we were reluctant to try it - it's kind of in a weird spot in town, at the corner of 40th and University Avenues, in the space of a former gas station and in an area that was very industrial for awhile. Also, the name "Sarna's" is the family that owns the place - but they also own several tobacco shops, so just the name turned us off a little. Finally when they opened up, it was before the smoking ban went into effect so we feared being smoked out if we ate there.

Sarna's was probably open for a whole year before we actually ate there. It was after a Christmas event we had gone to at the Heights Theatre, we were hungry and it was a nice close option. I was pleasantly surprised when we stepped inside. It's clean, spacious, the wait staff is super friendly and nice, and the food is actually pretty good!

That was in late 2007 and since then we've pretty much added it to our regular rotation of places to go. Something unique that they do is have a rotating list of weekly menu specials - so you can go in and try something different just about every time. The regular menu is good too, but the specials can be kind of fun. Nate and I had some of the best cheese curds ever one January. One of my favorites is a fish deal that they have on occasion, prepared and tastes the way my dad would do fresh fish from a lake, I love it. Otherwise I love their pork tenderloin sandwich - it's huge, you could almost split it with someone, it comes with a pepper relish that's actually pretty good.

We also both like the "blue plate special" which is your basic open faced turkey sandwich/mashed potatoes and gravy - but it's fantastic. The burgers are good too, I like the "Heights Burger" which is a smaller option than some of their other burgers. Fries are simple shoestring fries, but I like that they are not overseasoned.

The menu really has something for everyone: salads, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas and entrees that span from Italian (my dad enjoys the Pasta el Forno - which comes with sausage and peppers) to Chinese (my mom enjoys the Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry) down to comfort food like the blue plate special I mentioned or beef stroganoff.

The portions are HUGE on everything. We always have leftovers. The bar is all right, they have good happy hour specials, but you'll just see your standard beers, wines, and they'll do just about any mixed hard drink you can come up with. In the winter I love the peppermint patty - hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps - warms you up inside and out! I also like their margaritas. Simple, small, and when it's happy hour - they're cheap!

I can't say enough good things about Sarna's really. It's just nice to have a decent place to eat in town, the staff remembers you and welcomes you each time, and I don't think I've had but maybe one meal I didn't enjoy in the last two years. Prices are moderate - you'll probably spend about $30 for two people if you both order meals and drinks but as I mentioned, you'll probably get two meals out of one entree with the portions being so large!

I really hope Sarna's will be around for some time to come. I have never seen the place empty, so I think it's a pretty safe bet!

Fogo de Chao

May 27th was our three year wedding anniversary. Due to circumstances beyond our control in 2008, our 2nd anniversary, we didn't do anything special. So, because we had the means to do so this year, we decided to give Fogo de Chao, in downtown Minneapolis a try, as we had read about and heard much about it.

It did not disappoint. We arrived in downtown for our 6:30 reservation, managed to score parking in a valet ramp a block away for only $6.00 (the valet parking Fogo itself offered was as much as $8, so this was a deal!).

We were seated immediately. They have a large dining area of which we were seated kind of off to the side in a slightly quieter area and we were kind of glad. The walls are filled from floor to ceiling with bottles of wine. Shortly after being seated one of the gauchos came over to explain how everything works. You can go choose offerings from the salad bar and then when you are ready, you get a little circle that is green on one side and red on the other. When you want some of the meat they serve, you flip it over to green. Then the gauchos come to your table with varieties of meat cooked on skewers, you pick the piece you want and they carve it directly on to your plate. When you've had enough, you flip your circle back to red and they will leave you alone to eat.

First we chose a bottle of wine, we figured between the two of us we probably would drink an entire bottle so might as well go for it. We had Robert Mondovi Cabernet Savingon. It was very good. Then we went up to make our plates at the salad bar.

I will admit - I was slightly disappointed by the salad bar. I had heard for months that it was the end all, be all of salad bars, but it's actually very simplistic and has some different items than you'd normally see and that's about it. There are two kinds of salad you can choose, four types of dressing and only a handful of add ons for the salad - broccoli, peppers, extra cheese and croutons. However, the other items were interesting - various cheeses, meats, artichoke hearts, asparagus, salmon, some creamy salad items and bread. I enjoyed the two types of cheese I grabbed, one was a swiss, the other I'm not real sure, it was a bit crumbly. The dressing I chose was Caesar, which was good, but I just didn't feel it was all that unique.

Salad is really not meant as the main event here though. It is clearly all about the meat. When you are ready for your meat, they also bring out the side dishes. I loved the sides, again, simple and light in flavor, but I think that is done on purpose. There were mashed potatoes, fried bananas and polenta. I loved the fried banana the best, it really brought out the sweet flavor without being over powering.

We flipped our circles to green and were immediately served beef sirloin, filet mignon, chicken and sausage. I decided I was good and flipped to red, Nate waited to get some pork tenderloin and then also flipped to red.

The filet was good - but very, very rich. I honestly wish I hadn't started with that cut of meat. But it was still tasty. The chicken is really good. I loved the sirloin the best I think, which was probably a good thing since it was the largest piece of meat on my plate! The sausage was not to my liking, it smells really good, but the spices were a bit odd for me. Nate liked everything, but felt his pork tenderloin was too Parmesan flavored, as it was rolled in Parmesan cheese.

Nate flipped back to green and was served chicken wrapped in bacon and a piece of lamb chops. He said both were good, but that lamb is definitely an acquired taste. He said he kind of wished he'd skipped the chicken/bacon as it's a flavor you can have anywhere, think of a chicken bacon club sandwich.

We were both getting super full, but wanted to try the pork ribs very badly, so we flipped to green and kept turning meats offered down until they brought it over. The ribs were very good, probably my next favorite after the sirloin.

While we were eating, the manager came over and asked if we were there celebrating or just dining. We said it was our three year wedding anniversary and he said, well you know what, we'll buy dessert for you. So, when we finally had our fill of meat they brought out a beautifully decorated piece of cake for us to share and the plate had "Happy Anniversary" written in strawberry syrup. The cake was a layer cake with chocolate and vanilla and creamy filling as well. Very decadent, but a great way to finish our meal.

Overall, I don't think I'd care to eat that much meat in one sitting again for awhile - but it was worth the trip for sure. They are very attentive and because there are so many different gauchos roaming, you won't be lacking for your food at any point. It was all warm and fresh and everyone was friendly. The wine was great, even if it was expensive. And I think it's a great touch that they offer a free dessert for a special occasion. We both loved it and would go again for another special occasion as long as some time had passed in between.

Pictures coming soon - don't have many, but do have a couple. :)

The Freight House

For as many years as I can remember, my parents and I often times would end up in Stillwater for Memorial Day weekend. We'd eat at one of two places, The Freight House or Estebans which was a mexican place that is now closed. I am not sure why we started this little tradition, but I suppose it was kind of a little getaway without having to go super far away.

This past weekend, Nate and I decided we wanted to go somewhere different for dinner. It was a gorgeous evening on Saturday and remembering my family tradition I asked him if he'd mind if we drove out to Stillwater and ate outside on the patio at the Freight House. He agreed, so off we went.

The Freight House has not changed much in the years since my youth. We arrived around 5:30 or so and it was busy, but mostly in the outdoor seating since it was such a nice night. We did get some seating on the patio and were lucky to be under a canopy that they have so the sun wasn't right in our faces the whole time.

We were excited to see several Minnesota beer options. I chose a Cold Spring Red River Ale and Nate chose a Mantorville Brewing Co. Stagecoach Amber Ale. We also selected pizzasticks as an appetizer.

My beer was good, it was light in flavor and I knew it would compliment the Barbequed Pulled Pork sandwich I chose for my entree. Nate chose the Jumbo Hot Dog, which came with relish, onion, and bacon. We decided to split an order of fries. Nate was not as crazy about his beer, he thought it had a bit of a maple flavor to it, which is funny, the other Mantorville beer they had on the menu was an actual Maple beer of some sort. At any rate he did drink the whole thing and then ordered one like mine.

We did not care for the pizza sticks that much, they were a breadstick that was basically stuffed with mozarella cheese and had marinara sauce for dipping and the sauce was so/so. Once our food came out though, we were much more satisfied.

My sandwich was piping hot, but delicious. The pork was nice and juicy and the barbeque sauce was light and just enough. Also the ciabatta bread it was on was outstanding. I did cut it in half to force myself to bring part of it home, between it, the pizza sticks and french fries we had alot of food on the table! The french fries are tasty as well, not over seasoned, though they call them rough cut fries and we thought they'd be thicker, but they were not as thin as a shoestring. Nate loved the hotdog, it was huge and he also had to force himself to stop so he wouldn't be too stuffed! He loved all the fixings that came along with it, even the relish which he is usually not a fan of.

It's funny, the Freight House is known for their hamburgers but I guess neither of us were in a hamburger mood. For the most part though, they do other food quite well too! As I said, I would not recommend the pizza sticks, but our entrees were great. I had to laugh too, I went in to use the restroom and you could've had your pick of any seat inside, no one was sitting there! The patio is quite large though so it was accomodating the many different groups of people gathered there. There were other couples like Nate and myself, there was a bachlorette party, and there were families that we observed, so it's a great place for all ages.

The downside? Be prepared to empty your wallet a bit. After tip we had spent a little over $50 or so. The portions are large enough though that we could've split an entree, maybe skipped the appetizer and would've saved more. The beer also wasn't cheap, but it was fun to try some Minnesota beer. Also, try to find some free parking if you can, we parked in a pay lot and had to pay $5.00 (which does give you 12 whole hours to enjoy Downtown Stillwater) but as we walked further, there were spots open in the Freight House's smaller parking lot and we could've parked there for free.

Bottom line, the Freight House is still a great place to go in my opinion and I would definitely go back, but would maybe try to be a little more frugal the next time. Skipping the pizza sticks would help alot!

Welcome to Nate and Beth Eat Stuff

Hello one and all and welcome to our new sub-blog!

We write a friends and family blog at http://bethandnate.blogspot.com but now we've decided to take our blogging one step further and share our thoughts on various places we go to eat!

We LOVE to eat. Maybe too much, which isn't just a problem for our wastebands, but also our wallets. But we can't help it. And the Twin Cities has many good places to eat! We have alot of favorites we tend to frequent, but we're also always looking for something new.

We've been reading alot of Twin Cities restaurant review blogs and while they are all very well written, we just thought, hey, we could write this kind of stuff too. Can we do it better? Not necessarily, we just thought it would be fun. So, we'll write about our "returning favorites" as well as the new places we try or we might also share recipes we make at home, because we also like to cook at home and try out new and interesting things with our recipes too!

We hope you enjoy this little blog, which is just meant to be in good fun, so let's all have a good time!