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Crystal Liepa / Heavy Table
In the growing maze of Eden Prairie strip malls, there are numerous restaurant choices, but few that seem genuinely appealing — especially for a quick lunch. Red Moon Chinese Cafe proved a lively surprise, and Little Sushi on the Prairie is a reliable option. Now there’s a third hidden gem: India Spice House.
Tucked into a stretch that features an insurance office and an oil change shop, the restaurant is easy to miss. But it boasts some standout dishes that are well worth the visit.
Redecorated just a few months ago, the restaurant is surprisingly cozy for a lunchtime visit, but that could be just because it’s dark. Standard Indian restaurant decor blends with warm colors and low lighting to make it a soothing, laid-back experience, complete with highly attentive servers.
Crystal Liepa / Heavy Table
The buffet (8 weekdays; $10 weekends) is on the small side, but since many of the dishes pop with flavor, it seems more than enough. The paratha bread — aggressively flattened and slightly oily — makes a palate-cleanser for the high spice level of the other dishes. The dal makhani, in particular, sneaks up on you in stages, until you’re feeling like a fire eater by the meal’s end. But in a good way.
Other well-balanced and nuanced selections include the chicken tandoori, chilli gobi, and egg masala. Unlike some other Indian buffets in town, India Spice House puts a good deal of effort into its sauces, and that’s a boon for either cooling down the meal or heating it up even more. The yogurt-based raita is a refreshing pick to dial down the spice, for example, while the coconut chutney is wickedly hot.
Crystal Liepa / Heavy Table
There’s also a mango puree, but if you’re looking for a stronger flavor pairing, opt for the mango milkshake ($2.99), which is similar to a mango lassi, but with a thinner consistency.
There are a few false notes in an otherwise delicious buffet. The inclusion of eggrolls is mystifying, considering that there are no other non-Indian selections. The eggrolls themselves are greasy and lackluster, and certainly don’t benefit from languishing in a steam tray. The goat biryani, too, is disappointing, since the meat is a little dry and flavorless.
But then there’s the paneer. Homemade, perfect in texture, this cheese elevates and balances the spicy tikka masala sauce that accompanies it. Continue reading India Spice House in Eden Prairie »
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
You might think that Burger Jones, with its cusp of Uptown / Lake Calhoun / St. Louis Park location, might corner the market for burgers in this part of town, but the November opening of My Burger makes a case that there’s room for more than one burger joint near the Lake Street-Excelsior Boulevard junction. Expanding from its downtown skyway lunchtime hot spot, the newish My Burger serves up fresh burgers and crispy fries in a fast-casual atmosphere that more closely evokes Smashburger or Five Guys than Burger Jones. In fact, starting at $5.45 for a classic hamburger and fries, My Burger beats all three on price. But flavor? That depends on the burger.
My Burger offers its basic burgers ($5.45 for a single, $6.75 for a double) two ways: “original,” with ketchup, mustard, fried onions, and sweet pickles, or “California,” with lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise. Both feature a well-seasoned patty on the thinner side, with a crust that draws some comparisons to Smashburger, and a hefty golden bun that deftly holds in the inner layers without smushing to bits under your fingers. While it’s a satisfying patty on its own, the meat’s true purpose is to host the variety of toppings you can choose — we liked the addition of pepper jack cheese (50 cents), but you can also select blue, cheddar, American, or Swiss, as well as mushrooms, bacon, a fried egg, and various sauces.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
With patties that lean toward the bland side on their own, the non-beef burgers benefit from those toppings big time. The turkey burger ($5.95) features a forgettable round of ground turkey, but adding lettuce, tomato, dill pickles, and ketchup helps it sing. The veggie burger ($5.75) is the same Gardenburger you’ll find in the freezer case at the grocery store; it’s perfectly palatable but won’t inspire you to order it again. Breaded and fried chicken and fish burgers ($5.75) round out the menu, but your best bet is to stick with beef.
Whoever mans the fryer at My Burger gets a double thumbs-up for the tasty, surprisingly non-greasy fries and onion rings (75 cents extra to substitute for fries). The fries offer the ideal contrast between their pillowy potato center and crunchy exterior, making them the ideal carrier for ketchup or a shake. (I know I’m not the only one who likes dipping fries in shakes, right?) Though the rings could use a touch more salt, we dug the crispy batter and sweet onion interior. Definitely choose them over the coleslaw if you want to swap out your fries — the overly sweet, runny slaw dressing did little to pep up the cabbage and carrot.
If you’re grabbing your burger to go and want a frozen beverage to accompany it, you can’t go wrong with a shake or malt ($2.45 small / $4.45 / large). Available in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry with several mix-ins, the treats please with their Frosty-like texture and flavor. But if you’re dining at My Burger, skip the shake and head next door for dessert at The Yogurt Lab for a greater variety of flavors and toppings.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
With its simple yet eye-catching, orange-tinted decor, designed by local brand agency FAME, My Burger provides a level of sophistication to your burger binge that others in town can’t match, and neighborhood touches, like the wooden beams featuring the names of nearby streets and landmarks, cement the restaurant’s foothold in the Lake Calhoun area. And foodie voyeurs will enjoy the seats under the “Um Yeah” sign to watch the action in the kitchen.
The rule of thumb at My Burger: Stick to the classics and you’ll leave happy. Your wallet will be, too.
My Burger
Burgers and fries in West Calhoun
3100 Excelsior Blvd
Minneapolis, MN 55416
952.500.9118
MANAGER: John Abdo
HOURS: 10:30am-10pm daily
BAR: Beer and wine
VEGETARIAN / VEGAN: Yes / No
ENTREE RANGE: $5.45-6.95
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Indian buffets are as common as be-goggled winter bicyclers in these parts. From Everest on Grand to Gandhi Mahal in South Minneapolis, you can find yourself a steaming plate of something spicy in virtually any corner of Minneapolis-St. Paul. But out on squeaky-clean Hopkins Main Street, where storefronts are young and the businesses predictable, there’s a 49-seat spot called Curry ‘N’ Noodles.
The lunch buffet ($9) is good, the naan varieties extensive, and the samosas flaky fantastic. The restaurant bills itself as Indo-Chinese, a now-popular combination in India itself. The cumin-laced wok creation called Chili Chicken is earthy and decent, but the masala dishes on the evening menu are where things really blow up.
Katie Cannon / Heavy Table
Indian food has a mysterious way of being delicious even when it’s not. The harmony of a billion spices humming in every bite satisfies a hankering for the exotic. It can be lukewarm or a little bitter and still be interesting simply because of its immense depth of flavor. Curry ‘N’ Noodles takes this idea, wraps it in cream (a practice typical of Northern Indian cooking), and turns it out fat and rich and fit for the most gluttonous king.
A great example is the Malai Kofta ($11). Soft golden orbs of fried mashed potatoes, like savory doughnut holes, are paired with a yellow curry that has the buttery decadence of something like crème brulee. Along the same lines is Saag Gosht ($13), a velvety sauce of sautéed spinach and flavorful cream coating impossibly tender chunks of almost gamey goat. And the Butter Chicken ($11) kills, with a kind of tomatoey parmesan tang to its own silky sauce.
The Mirchi Ka Salan ($10) is an excellent choice for fans of a little more heat. It highlights whole, braised green chilies that look like the biggest, most chartreuse penne pasta you’ve ever seen. They appear swimming in a creamy peanut- and sesame-spiked curry and let their juices go at the slightest prodding, permeating the rest of the dish. Continue reading Curry ‘N’ Noodles in Hopkins »
Jena Modin / Heavy Table
It always seemed that, for much of my childhood, trying to find decent eats in Duluth was a chore. During my family’s trips to my grandparents’ house or my brothers’ hockey tournaments, I’d find myself eating, to wildly varying degrees of success, at places like Grandma’s Bar & Grill, Red Lobster, the thoroughly mediocre Pickwick, and that rotating restaurant on top of the Radisson.
Since then the town has clearly stepped up its game. Quality options now range from finer establishments like Nokomis, to the cozy charm of At Sara’s Table Chester Creek Café, and better locales for the college set like Pizza Luce and Burrito Union.
And then there’s Fitger’s. The beloved brewpub has been slowly expanding its empire and its newest arm has received a justifiably warm welcome.
Jena Modin / Heavy Table
Open since New Year’s Eve, Tycoons Alehouse and Eatery sits only a few blocks down Superior Street from the brewery. It’s housed in a massive old building, constructed at the turn of the century to be the city council chambers and jail. They’ve done a spectacular job with the space, keeping an air of old-fashioned elegance along with the modern touches (check out the bank vault-turned-TV lounge in the back).
Their main menu is very nearly a carbon copy of that found at Fitger’s, and features little outside of ordinary-sounding pub grub — some standard appetizers, a few salads, and a set of entrees almost entirely comprising sandwiches. Continue reading Tycoons Alehouse and Eatery in Duluth, MN »
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
You wouldn’t necessarily expect good deep dish pizza from a neighborhood pizza joint in South Minneapolis. You certainly wouldn’t expect it from a place with a gargantuan delivery zone that stretches from Uptown to downtown to Bloomington and Richfield. In fact, you might not even expect it from Chicago, since the very idea of deep dish pizza — an almost lasagna-like two-inch layering of red sauce over a heavy band of cheese and a thick (and potentially pepperoni-stuffed) crust — flies in the face of received East Coast pizza wisdom, which worships at the altar of the Thin Crust.
And yet, the delivery-and-takeout-only Di Noko’s Pizzeria is making good deep dish, and driving it all over creation.
Speaking personally, I’ve had enough run-ins with bad Chicago-style pizza to give up on it — it tends to be a gloppy soup of crap cheese and over-sweet sauce, fit only for a Hefty sack. Even the stuff in Chicago proper can seem overpriced and overhyped. But when local chowhounds began whispering sweet nothings about Di Noko’s pizza, it seemed odd enough to check out.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Quality deep dish pizza: confirmed. Di Noko’s 12″ deep dish ($13 + $2 a topping) has a strong point of view. The sauce is balanced, not oversweet, and it’s defined by chunks of tomato married to a pleasantly spiced flavor. The sub-sauce cheese layer is substantial but not unpleasantly gooey, and like all of Di Noko’s cheese, it has a real dairy kick that makes it a joy to eat. In a nutshell: Di Noko’s deep dish is the kind of pizza that will turn skeptics into converts. The only minor knock is that it takes 45 minutes to make, but that’s the nature of the beast.
And while the whole pie works well, the cheese is the lynchpin. Owner Rich Moore, who bought Pizza Joe’s in July of 2010 and turned it into Di Noko’s in November of that same year, credits the team at Burnett Dairy Cooperative in Alpha, WI.
Becca Dilley / Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin
If you’ve been to the Burnett Dairy Cooperative and met their master cheesemakers (see above: Steve Tollers, left, and Bruce Willis), you know that they mean business; that quality shines through atop Di Noko’s pies. Continue reading Di Noko’s Pizzeria in Nokomis, Minneapolis »
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Does the Copper Dome Restaurant (established 1960) offer the “best breakfast in town” as claimed by its website? No; Al’s Breakfast or Hell’s Kitchen or the Craftsman or The Original Pancake House would probably lay claim to that honor, presuming we’re using the term “town” in the expansive “Twin Cities” sense of the word. Even if we knocked it back to St. Paul, brunch at Muffuletta or Caribe would probably take top honors in the category of best morning meal.
But what the Copper Dome does offer is a surprisingly light, tasty, and widely varied menu, plus turkey bacon that is likely the best in the state, if not the world (more on that in a moment). Although the menu at this old neighborhood spot resembles that of any unreconstructed pancake place in the Upper Midwest with its sprawling assortment of pancakes and omelets, the food itself is quite different than the typical diner or dive. It’s… lighter. Less buttery. Less greasy. Less prone to setting up into a dense-as-lead ball in one’s stomach. The menu states that “all our cooking and frying is done with pure vegetable oil and no animal fats” and that commitment comes through on the plate — hash browns, for example, are thin and light and crispy and mashed potato-y in the center, but don’t leave a greasy streak on the plate and don’t immediately fill up your stomach. We noticed the food’s light touch before seeing the note on the menu — you’ll be surprised (and potentially pleased) by how different it tastes from the regular American breakfast fare.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
There’s very little pretense to the place, either. Upon receiving a compliment for the restaurant’s little smokies sausages (which have a tender texture, nice depth of flavor and are well complemented by the accompanying applesauce) the waitress acknowledged the kind words and passed the credit along to Sam’s Club, the sausages’ original point of origin. Whatever points are lost for vanished mystique and re-gained for frank talk, and the important thing is that the sausages are tasty as the dickens.
Becca Dilley / Heavy Table
Pancakes are available by the full or half order, and are up to snuff. They’re not the chewy, amazing wonders served up at Al’s, but they’re a nice fluffy / chewy compromise in terms of texture, and they taste homemade. The half order of pecan pancakes we tried ($3.10 for two) was only lightly sweet, which made them a pleasure to eat with the accompanying pancake syrup. Continue reading The Copper Dome Restaurant in St. Paul »
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