Restaurant Review - Corner Table

Last night I had a phenomenal dinner at the Corner Table, a local food restaurant at 43rd and Nicollet. This is the same intersection that boasts Anodyne, which is one of my favorite coffee shops/breakfast stops in all of Minneapolis. So it's odd that I hadn't yet tried the locally-themed restaurant across the street!

This was the perfect time of year to go, since the chefs had the most local ingredients. When I went to Heartland several months ago, local veggies were in short supply. Pretty much beets only (still quite delicious!)

For drinks they had a small but impressive list of beers and wines. Considering that Corner Table prides itself on local food, it was odd that there was only one local beer option and ZERO local wine options (Note to Corner Table: There are some good wines and lots of great beers you could highlight from Minnesota). I had two delicious beers, an Oktoberfest beer from Hacker-Pschorr that was the best Oktoberfest beer I've ever had, better than even Paulaner. Then I polished dinner off with a Belgian Kwak. My only gripe with that was that I was given the wrong kind of glass. They gave me an oddly shaped "hour-glass"-shaped glass, but not the traditional Kwak glass with wooden stand as seen here (and as served at Busters on 28th). Drinks: A- (lack of local options).

For an appetizer we split a cold app, Grilled Vegetable (see menu here) medley. For the price, I was a little surprised that it was so tiny, but the presentation (chopped up zucchini, squash, etc) in a cylindrical shape was great, and the taste was fantastic and did the job of whetting our appetite for more. Appetizer: A- (size outweighed by taste and delicious bread, probably from Rustica???)

The meal came and wow, it was superb. My date had the Vegetable En Croute, which was basically a meat pie without the meat. The crust was flaky and looked delicious, and the ingredients were local and fresh. I had the lamb. It was the first lamb I'd had in probably 7 years and it was worth the wait. It was juicy and flavorful. The orzo/corn mix was great, although a lot of the orzo stuck together. But really, it's hard to find anything wrong with this. Main Course: A++!!

The atmosphere: I got there a bit ahead of my date, and there was a nice small bar to sit at and enjoy a beer while I waited. Not much else for waiting room, but the bar was a perfect spot for that. Thumbs up! While I waited I checked out the dining options. The place had a nice, romantic, but not stuffy feel. The outdoor seating looked good, even with the busy traffic of Nicollet Avenue. While the main dining room had a great feel, we were placed in a back room that jutted off the main dining room. It was a small room with only 4 tables. When I first sat down, only 1 table was occupied by a loud and annoying couple on probably a first date. I didn't really enjoy the feeling that I was sitting at their table and in their conversation. But once the other tables filled with diners, the room became uniformly noisy and the conversations canceled each other out. Grade: B+ (A+ for the main room, C+ for the back room)

Service: Impeccable, friendly, just what I would expect for the price. Great job!

All in all, in the categories that matter most: 1) Would I recommend this place and 2) Would I return, the answer to both is a resounding YES!

I'd love to return in winter and see what local food they have.

Buster's on 28th Review

After reading about a new restaurant in my neighborhood on the Deets' Blog, I had to check it out. Well, a short 2 months after I read his review, I finally got my ass over to Buster's on 28th.

Well, the Deets was all fired up about the lame Juicy Lucy, but I noticed very quickly that it was absent from the menu, probably a good thing since they never got it right, and there are plenty of other great places to score a delicious Lucy.

I'll do the food review first. The menu is pretty much elevated bar food, decent, but not outstanding. They had a buffalo burger that 3 of the 4 of us tried. We all agreed that the burger itself was delicious. Here's my problem with it. It is a huge burger smothered in BOTH mayo and a sour cream-based chipotle sauce. Why the need for both? Seems excessive. I asked for mine SIN mayo. The burger (cooking options: medium, medium-rare, charred, whatever... were not offered) showed up and there was about half an inch thick of the chipotle sauce which the waitress INSISTED made the burger. NO WAY! It was delicious, but the sauce was so spicy that it completely masked the flavor of the burger. I scraped off the sauce and discovered that the burger itself was pretty darn tasty too. I would highly recommend this burger with no or just a light amount of the sauce. Other than that, fries were good, onion rings were good.

They did have a difficult time finding BBQ sauce for my fries and malt vinegar was not an option. If they want to be a little better than bar food, those options should be available.

On to the beer. This is their specialty. Busters is owned by the same folks who brought us the Happy Gnome, and they bring their love of good beer. I must say I was exceedingly impressed with the beer list, especially with what was on tap. The gluten-free beer option was a nice touch since I was there with my old roommate Molly who cannot have gluten. I had a Hennepin Ale from NYC that I had had only once before in Brooklyn. I would HIGHLY recommend that. I also tried a MN beer, Flat Earth Element 115. Really interesting taste, but perhaps too many competing flavors. This unique beer is worth a try though. One complaint with their drink menu is that their draft root beer is Frost Top. That sh@t is nasty. Get some good ol' 1919 root beer from New Ulm! But I'm not there for the root beer so I don't really care.

Last comment, on the decor. Hopefully they spruce this up. I like the mirror at the back so even the last table (which we were) can see the whole restaurant. But if you're a place specializing in beers, show that! There's pretty much nothing on the walls, no flare. Of course we know from Office Space that too much flare is a bad thing, but no flare = no personality.

All in all, I'd recommend this place if you live in the neighborhood, but not as a destination, unless something off of their drink menu compels you.