5-8 Club

It's another case of I thought I already did a post, but I guess not. I really thought I'd done a post on the 5-8 Club a long time ago. We visit the Champlin location occasionally as it is not all that far from where we live and it is a good place for a quick casual meal.

John ordered the garlic burger and jojo fries. The jojo's are basically potato wedges and are pretty tasty. John said the garlic burger was good, but it did not have very much garlic flavor really. The coleslaw is very good, seems to be freshly made and very creamy. Good coleslaw is harder to find than you would think!

I ordered a cheeseburger with onion rings on it. I can not recall what it is called on the menu and the website is down so I can't double check. Anyway, it was a decent burger and I would order it again.

The juicy lucy is a specialty at the 5-8 club. It is one of the places in the Twin Cities that claims to be the creator of the famous cheese stuffed burger. I have tried the juicy lucy here before and liked it a lot, but I do not have any photos of previous visits unfortunately.

The service was friendly and efficient. We sat in the bar on this visit and they have a bunch of TVs so it would be a good place to go and watch a football game on TV or other sporting event.

Deals & Discounts: The 5-8 always has a coupon in the Entertainment book. In the current 2012-2013 book there are a couple coupons for a 1/2 price hamburger basket or $3.25 off any item with the purchase of another item. Not the best discount, but better than nothing I guess.


5-8 Club
6251 Douglas Court North
Champlin, MN 55316
(763) 425-5858
www.5-8club.com

plus 2 other locations in Minneapolis and Maplewood:

5800 Cedar Ave S

Minneapolis, MN 55417

(612) 823-5858

2289 Minnehaha Ave E
Maplewood, MN 55119
(651) 735-5858

Q Fanatic update

We make it to Q Fanatic every so often, even though it is not really close to where we live, but I often forget to take photos on our visits. (Actually, I forget to take a lot of food photos when I'm really, really hungry!) Anyway, in my opinion, other than Ted Cook's BBQ, I'd say Q Fanatic has some of the best ribs in town. But we have a lot of other places around town we need to try yet.

On this visit, I had the BBQ brisket with vodka sauce and a side of baked beans. The brisket was very tender with a nice touch of smoked flavor to the meat. The meat was somewhat fatty, but I just cut it off as I think it probably adds flavor to the meat while cooking. I had the vodka sauce, which is sort of peppery and sort of spicy all at the same time. They charge extra for it, but it is worth it. They offer a wide variety of sauces at Q Fanatic and all of them are very good. Seems like they have a sauce type to fit almost everyone's taste. I also had a side of baked beans and they were really good and had a lot of added meat. I ended up taking home most of the beans and the second dinner roll to eat later.

John had a half rack of ribs with vodka sauce and a side of wedge potatoes. The ribs are quite tender and there's a lot of meat on the bones. He really likes the vodka sauce because it is spicy but not overly so. When you order they do ask if you want the sauce applied to the ribs or on the side. The wedge potatoes are good as well; they seem to be fresh cut potatoes and they are very crispy with a bit of seasoning salt on them.

Q Fanatic is very casual, you just order at the counter and they bring the food out to you when it is ready. They seem to be in the process of expanding into the adjacent space as well, but I don't think the project is complete yet. The dining area is quite a bit larger and more open than it was in the past so it will look nice once it is finished.

Deals & Discounts: Q Fanatic has a punch card in the Metro Dining Club, which is good monthly (buy one entree, get one free, up to $8) and the are also in the Twin Cities Happenings/Entertainment book (buy one entree, get one free, up to $8).

Q Fanatic

180 Miller Rd., 

Champlin, MN 55316

Phone: 763.323.6550

www.Qfanatic.com

Q Fanatic

I stopped at Q Fanatic for lunch on April 6, 2011. I was planning on walking around downtown Champlin and check out the antique stores and other shops since it was really nice out that day. However, I soon discovered that there are not many exciting places to eat in Champlin other than the usual fast food chain places, so I stopped in at Q Fanatic.

My husband and I have eaten here a few times before since we really like rib joints. Since I was not overly hungry I skipped the ribs this time and went with the sliced brisket sandwich. I got the vodka sauce with it as you get to choose a sauce with it. I had read the vodka sauce was great, but I was really impressed with how flavorful it was. It is a thin sauce, but it has a lot of flavor, spice and bite to it. I plan to order it next time I have ribs here as well. The sandwich bread was brushed with butter and pretty good as well. The meat was very tender with some fat on the edges, but that made it even better. 

Discounts:

I did not use any discount coupons on this trip, but Q Fanatic has a punch card in the Metro Dining Club, which is good monthly (buy one entree, get one free, up to $8) and the are also in the Twin Cities Happenings/Entertainment book (buy one entree, get one free, up to $8). 

Q Fanatic

180 Miller Rd., 

Champlin, MN 55316

Phone: 763.323.6550

www.Qfanatic.com