minnepolis musts:: Pat's Tap

Pat's Tap on Nicollet has been on Nathan's list for awhile.  A couple weeks ago, I was dying for some patio time and he was dying to try Pat's, so off we went.  It had a great patio, great food, great drinks... I did not regret our decision at all.

Sunday afternoons at 4:45pm, when we chose to go, aren't terribly busy.  Leaving a couple hours, however, was a different matter entirely.  Being on Nicollet Avenue, there wasn't a ton of room for parking.  I'm fairly used to walking, but just be prepared that it might be a couple blocks away that you're able to park.

We got the house made Cheese Its right away.  I was absolutely starving and they instantly satisfied my hunger and blew away my taste buds.  We didn't make it in time for happy hour, but everything was very reasonably priced and the Apricot Hefe (their beer for July), was so good I got two, and have been craving it ever since.  The menu itself is a work of art.  I love the graphic layout and the typography, and their website has one of the best restaurant layouts I've ever seen.

After we finished dinner outside, it was in to the building we went.  Dimly lit, the place was adorned in the most fantastic wallpaper, and a plethora of sports and bar-themed memorabilia.  We headed into the back and played a couple rounds of Skee-Ball (I dominated, for once), and darts (also dominated).  It was only a quarter to play Skee-Ball or Darts, so we had plenty of fun off of a couple bucks.

I highly recommend going here if you get the chance - who doesn't love Pat?

Ginger Hop:: Minneapolis musts.

I apologize for the lack of good pictures on this one... I only had my iPhone with me, and the lighting there isn't the best for photos.  If I had taken more, you'd see the gorgeous palm fans in the bar!

Ginger Hop, in Northeast Minneapolis, is one of my favorite places.  I started my birthday there for one reason alone - the cream cheese wontons.  Nathan and I went back awhile ago, and I've gotten the wontons on take out multiple times since.  Literally the best cream cheese wontons I've ever tasted.  They have both plain cream cheese and carmelized onion cream cheese options, the latter coming with a soy/peanut/something delicious dipping sauce (though I'm a traditional sweet & sour).

Their cocktail drinks are delicious, and their wine & beer list isn't bad.  I will warn about the food - it is slightly spicy.  I made sure to order a dish that did not list "spicy", "hot", "medium", or "tangy" in the description, and I still ended up not being able to finish my meal due to my mouth burning.  Aside from it being surprisingly spicy, I enjoyed my dish, as did Nathan.  It should definitely be a place you check out, and if you're just going for the wontons, go during happy hour.

bakery series:: Patisserie 46

For Easter, Nathan and I received a gift card to Patisserie 46.  What a treat!  So many great pastry options, and the coffee was delicious!  Nathan chose an almond croissant, while I was in a rare muffin mood and opted for banana chocolate chip.  Neither of us regretted our choices.

It was such a lovely atmosphere, and had so much table space.  I was able to set out my laptop and get some work done and Nathan enjoyed his WSJ.  There was a little patio out front, maybe three or four tables, though I thought it was too breezy to work outside.

This is a short review - because there's nothing bad to say about it!  As Nathan says, "a nice little gem in the neighborhood".  For being small and not incredibly well-known, I bet you'd be surprised to find their pastries and breads in places you wouldn't expect!  Can't wait to go back and hit that patio!

bakery series:: Taraccino

It's absolutely awful, I know.  I've been working my way through the drafts I started, but never finished because of school or whatever else I had on my plate at the moment.  I want to go back to Taraccino just to keep working on everything.

An adorable little cafe in NE, it's connected to Breuggers.  I always passed it on the bus on my way to the internship I had downtown this last semester, and I'd been wanting to try it for awhile.  Nathan and I went on a cloudy morning around brunch-time, and were quite surprised.  They don't have a huge bakery selection (they are connected to Breuggers), but they have ahhhh-mazing waffles.  If you buy a specialty waffle, it comes with drip coffee, which is a fantastic deal.  Beautiful brick work and art, it's an easy place to go and just drink coffee and look around.  There isn't a ton of seating, but I would definitely go there with friends for waffles and coffee!  (I was looking at the pictures again and my mouth started watering for waffles...SO GOOD!)

Republic:: Minneapolis musts.

Republic is my absolute favorite restaurant in the Twin Cities.  I don't even really remember how I discovered it, but it is my go-to place for happy hours, dinners, and random everythings.  I spent my 20th birthday here, brought my parents when they were in town, celebrated my graduation, met up with friends, and ate a ton of fries at the Seven Corners location (I've yet to be to the Uptown location).

My favorite burger there is no longer on the menu - I can only hope the Brie Burger with a red-wine sauce comes back on the rotation soon.  As I was explaining to my family one time - no one has anything bad or even mediocre to say about the food.  A great beer list, a great wine selection, yum-yum sauce, homemade ketchup...wherever you're looking on the menu, you're going to be impressed (even my six year old brother loved the place and food!).

The food isn't the only fantastic thing about this place.  The environment and decor is great too.  Deep colors, beautiful crown molding and stained glass windows make me think upscale and intimate, but the environment is warm and welcoming.  I've never had a bad experience here, and neither will you.

612 Brew:: Minneapolis musts.

Last week, Nathan took me to 612 Brew for date night.  We went back in February 2013 when it was first opened, but hadn't been back since I was legal (!!).  It's a great space, and the walls are filled with murals and prints by local artist Adam Turman.  Let me tell you, I could look at his work for days.

Nathan bought an Amazon Local deal, which prompted us to go back.  The deal included a flight, two pints, and two pint glasses to take home with us - it was worth it.  The flight included Zero Hour, Rated R, Six, and Mal Beck (I think I spelled it right!), because they were out of the Gateway.  Nathan ended up with the Rated R, and I got the Six, even though the Zero Hour was delicious.  The wait staff was fantastic.  I've never had such a pleasant time with bartenders!

Whenever anyone asks me about this place, I cannot stop raving about the fact that they bring in a different food truck each weekend for food.  It means more space in the building, and that you never have the same experience twice.  Hibachi Daruma was the food truck of the night and it was so wonderful!

It was a blast, and I highly reccommend it as a Minneapolis place to visit.

(Also, my little brother mailed me his Flat Stanley, and I couldn't help but take him out to snap a quick picture.  Not appropriate for Kindergarten, but a good laugh for me, and an even bigger one from my Dad when I sent him the picture!)

bakery series:: Turtle Bread Co.

I mentioned last week that I was visiting another bakery...  Here it is!  Turtle Bread Company on Chicago is where Nathan I planted ourselves for a few hours to do work (and read Design Darling, apparently).  When we walked in, I was surprised by the number of tables that were sitting around empty - there were so many!  Only a handful of people were there when we got our pastries and coffee (almond croissant for me, cinnamon pecan sticky bun for him, both delicious), and we settled down in the back by one of the few outlets to work.

When Nathan went to get the first round of coffee refills, he came back with round eyes because the place was packed.  I had to check for myself, but he was right - packed.  It had gotten so busy in less than an hour!  There were couples and groups and people enjoying coffee on their own, it was so fun to see the different types of people.  Turtle Bread also serves hot breakfast and a lot of these newcomers were feasting on that.

The buffet table of breads and pastries were so enticing, I had such a difficult time choosing what to have.  The only thing I didn't love was there was a severe lack of outlets.  But that isn't totally a bad thing!  If you want to hunker down and get a lot of computer work done, getting your coffee and pastry to go would be best, but if you're looking for a place to grab brunch with friends, I would definitely recommend Turtle Bread Company!

bakery series:: butter

I'm happy to introduce a new, ongoing series of bakeries and coffee shops.  Most of them will be in the Minneapolis area, but I may throw one or two in that I run into outside of the metro.

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Nathan and I went to Butter a few weeks ago on Nicollet and 37th.  We didn't plan it as a work date, just morning coffee and a pastry.  It was an adorable little cafe and we stayed longer than planned, doing the crossword, reading the paper and just catching up with each other.

I had the banana ginger scone, while Nathan had the mocha scone.  His was tasty, but I'm biased towards how delicious mine was.  Coffee was good, pastries were good, the whole place was good.  It was pretty full, so we were lucky to get seats at the bar next to each other - some of the only seats left in the place.  That's what we get for going at 10:30 on a Saturday morning I guess!  Other than our own mistake of getting there later, the layout is a little weird by the coffee refill station.  Coffee refills are free, but not self serve.  I have no problem going up to the counter to get a refill, but because of the weird layout, the employees have a tough time seeing if someone is waiting there.  Oh, and they had these adorable homemade dog biscuits for sale by the register.  One of my favorite parts of Minneapolis is how pet friendly it is; I wanted a dog at that moment just so I could buy it a biscuit!

Overall, we had a wonderful time, and contemplated going this morning, but we chose another place that I'll tell you about next week.  I can't wait to go again - earlier though, so I can get a table!

Things I Love Thursday

Mm well, it is Thursday again.  Last Thursday before I start spring semester, and there are a few things I'm loving this week.  These posts are both a joy and a burden each week.  Trying not to repeat myself, but also challenging myself to come up with a few things to share with you each week can take its toll on the head.  This week wasn't terribly difficult, luckily, ha.

- Chino Latino
A delicious restaurant in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, I was able to go join a friend in celebration of her twenty-first birthday.  I'm normally not a huge fan of Latin food, and I'm pretty standard when it comes to Chinese, but the two times I've gone to Chino Latino I have had no problem finding something (or some things!) that I want to try on their menu.  I got the chicken potstickers, and Nathan got the empanadas.  Chinos also have an ahmazing bar if you're looking for a place to get drinks!

- Hummus
I don't like chick peas.  I don't like garbanzo beans.  But somehow, for some reason, I've decided I like hummus.  SO WEIRD.  For the longest time, I couldn't stand the taste or the gritty texture.  I was in Target the other day with Nathan and he stopped to look at the hummus to get himself a snack.  For some reason, I also looked at the hummus and was all "oh hey, hummus sounds good, let's get some hummus, yum yum yum".  And here I sit.  Eating hummus.  Yum yum weirdly yum.

- Pride Bets
There's something about pride bets that I love.  There are always the bets for a dollar, or dinner, or a beer, but there is something about making a bet with yourself and telling the world about it that makes it so much better.  I went out for McDonald's with Steph earlier in the week, felt guilty for getting McDonald's and spending money and not being healthy, and I decided that until the semester was over - no McDonald's.  I told Nathan, who is proud but has doubts, and now I'm not only proving him wrong, but myself wrong.  And it is kind of an awesome feeling.  Try it sometime.

- Lip Stain
I love lip color, but have always found problems with every medium I've tried; lipstick dries out my lips, lip gloss is sticky, balm is messy, etc etc.  I tried a lip stain from e.l.f. and was mostly pleased with it.  Unfortunately, it dried out insanely fast - I was only able to use it 2 or 3 times before it dried out completely, which was a bummer.  Anyone have recommendations for a lip product that they've used and loved?  Tell me about it!

- Oscar Nominations
As I've mentioned, I LOVE award season, especially the Oscars.  Well, the nominees are up today and I'm mostly pleased.  Inside Llewyn Davis got completely snubbed, which is a shame, because I loved that movie.  I'm getting seriously excited for the presentation.  Nathan and I are starting our second annual Oscar Picture ballot, which is when we watch every movie nominated for Best Picture, and then try to watch as many more of the highly nominated movies as we can.  We have seen 2 out of 9 so far, and have 6 weeks to watch 7 of them.  So pumped.



What's on your radar?

holidazzled

Last night, Loverman took me out on the town.  And tonight, he told me to stop calling him Loverman on the blog.  So from here on out...Nathan.  Here's Nathan and I from last night (sorry for the quality!).

He took me out for Date Night, which consisted of standing outside in INSANELY cold weather.  Do you not remember how cold it is here?  We stood outside for just under an hour to watch Minneapolis' Holidazzle parade, which was just long enough for my toes to get numb and the rest of my body to feel like it was being stabbed by cold daggers and other unpleasant feelings.  Nathan did say he was proud I didn't throw a fit about the weather, as my body is notorious for completely overreacting to the temperature outside and I am notorious for being quite vocal about the state of my temperature.  The parade was beautiful, and I managed to get a couple shots of the lit up floats!

It's always fun to head downtown, and it was so wonderful to spend a Friday night out soaking up the holiday.  We went out for dinner at Devil's Advocate and both had the delicious Natty Burger.  I found nothing wrong with the food, and they have one of the best beer lists in Minneapolis.  Afterwards, Nathan surprised me by getting out ingredients for us to make delicious Kiss Cookies (which happened to be gluten free and delicious!) and then watching a Minneapolis Christmas classic, "Jingle All the Way".  We had a blast trying to spot all the metro locations and laughing at the geographical mistakes.  Overall, it was a wonderful night, and a great way to enjoy the holidays in the place I now call home.

Some more pictures!

Hope you had a good weekend!