Rock Elm Tavern

The former location of Eat Shop in Plymouth on Highway 55 win Plymouth as a new tenant called Rock Elm Tavern. Let's hope this one sticks. That location must be cursed or something. I had noticed they had a birthday club so I joined and got a coupon around my birthday for a free hamburger, so we thought that was a good excuse to visit. The restaurant has been downsized slightly, what used to be the bar area is now a gym of some sort.

We visited for dinner on a Sunday evening and were seated right away. The server came by after a few minutes and took our drink order and recommended a few items and pointed out some specials. The menu features burgers and also has salads and a nice variety of entries with something for everyone.

They had a Sunday special of a Minnesota tap beer and a cheeseburger for $12, so John went with that.

I had the bleu burger with montfort bleu cheese, bacon, roasted tomato aioli, lettuce and fries. The server said the fries were made in house, but they tasted like standard frozen fries to me. The burger was cooked medium as ordered and very juicy. The bun was fresh and soft, but strong enough to hold up to the juices from the burger.

Our server was excellent and the food was good at a competitive price. I'm not sure if it is worth driving across town for, but if you live in the area it is worth checking out.


Rock Elm Tavern
16605 County Rd 24
Plymouth, MN 55447
Phone: (763) 208-4451
http://www.rockelmtavern.com

Original Pancake House

We visited the Original Pancake House recently for breakfast. We have been to the one in Maple Grove before, but it was a long, long time ago. Last time we waited forever, so we remembered to call ahead this time. However, we accidentally called the wrong location. We called the one in Plymouth, thinking if was just off 494 and Rockford road, but on the way, we checked and we realized the location we called was off County Road 101. The location off 494 is actually in Maple Grove and had a 90 minute wait, so we went to the Plymouth location and were seated almost immediately.

John had the sourdough French toast with a side of bacon.

I had the bacon, eggs and pancakes. The regular buttermilk pancakes were quite good, although I think I still prefer Al’s Breakfast pancakes or even Perkins pancakes. The bacon was very good thick cut bacon and cooked perfectly,  so it was just crisp enough. My eggs were cooked over easy as requested.

We found the service to be quite good. The server was friendly and kept our beverages refilled as needed. The prices were average, most items are in the $8-10 range.

I was surprised to learn this is a very large national chain with locations in 28 states. There are five locations in Minnesota and they are headquartered in Portland, Ore. I never would have guessed actually.

If you know you are going to visit, I highly recommend calling the location you want to go to ahead of time. The Maple Grove location told us to call 90 minutes before we wanted to dine.


Original Pancake House
1415 CR101
Plymouth, Minnesota 55447
952-475-9151
www.ophplymouth.com

Five Guys

I’m shocked I have not done a post on Five Guys Burgers and Fries. They have been in the Twin Cities for a few years now and have opened many locations throughout the Metro area. I think there is even a location in Mankato and St Cloud now.  John and I have found it is a solid choice for a quick burger and amazing French fries at reasonable prices.

I usually get the Little Bacon Cheese Burger with fried onions since you get so many fries. Five guys does offer a huge list of free toppings and few they charge extra for.  The hamburger is flavorful and I love the wide variety of toppings. The bun is also lightly toasted, which adds a little something to the burger for me.

 John also had the Little Bacon Cheeseburger, but with different toppings. 

The French fries have to be my favorite thing at 5 Guys. They remind me of Minnesota State fair fries. Freshly cut fries, never frozen and always freshly cooked with the perfect amount of salt. A regular size order is more than enough for two people to share.

There are a couple of Five Guys locations close to us; we usually visit the locations in Plymouth or Hopkins. Quality and service are great at both. The service is counter service and they call your number when your food is ready. Five Guys is a great choice for a quick meal and way better quality than fast food options such as McDonald’s or Burger King.


Five Guys Burgers and Fries
14 Minnesota locations
525 Blake Road N
Hopkins, MN 55343
Phone: 952-479-7849
http://fiveguys.com/

Eat Shop - Living Social four course dinner

We visited Eat Shop again recently because I had purchased a Living Social deal back in November or December for a four course meal with beer or wine flights for $49. Even though we normally would not order that much food, it sounded like a good deal and a way to try their dinner menu at a discount.

First, we had our beer flights. The beer selection is pretty good for a restaurant in the suburbs and they change things up seasonally from the local suppliers. I think I had Fulton Sweet child o’ vine, Big Island blonde and Lucid foto IPA. John had Summit EPA, Surly furious and Lucid foot IPA.

We started with the crab cake appetizer and it was quite good. I enjoyed the lemon ricotta sauce on the side as it added a bit of acidity. It was a decent crab cake with quite a bit of crab inside, and I liked how crisp the exterior was, but as John pointed out after having the crab cakes at Oceanaire all others pale in comparison as they are packed with crab. This is probably an excellent representation of a standard crab cake.

Next, we had the BLT salad with butter lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, garlic croutons and buttermilk chive dressing. The dressing was excellent and I should have asked for more of it on the side as there was not a lot of it on the salad. The bacon was very crisp and delicious. (It made me think we should try them for brunch sometime.) I did not detect much garlic flavor in the croutons, but they tasted good anyway.

John had the hanger steak with fries and it was cooked as ordered. The meat had good flavor too. The fries were very good.

I had the scallops with green beans, fingerling potatoes and fennel in orange butter. The scallops were only seared well on the top, so they were a bit underdone in the center and the larger ones were a bit gummy. Though they were not over-salted, which was nice as a lot of places I’ve had scallops lately seem to salt the heck out of them. The green beans were really good and tasted very fresh.

We ordered the butterscotch custard for dessert. I was thinking it would be more like pudding or ice cream, but it had an almost cake-like consistency and no butterscotch flavor at all. We should’ve tried another dessert instead.

Overall, we enjoyed the dinner, and felt it was a good value. I think we saved about $30 over regular menu prices and that is not counting the cost of the beer flights.

We’ve enjoyed Eat Shop for happy hour and casual dinners and we will certainly go back, but I think I will stick to appetizers and sandwiches form now on.

Deals & Discounts: Eat Shop had a very good happy hour with both food and drink specials. I'd suggest checking their website for the most up to date information, but right now they have food specials, most of which we sampled on this visit as well as $4 house wines and $3 select beers as well as $1 off all other tap beers.


Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar
16605 County Road 24 (Hwy 55)
Plymouth, MN 55447
763.270.5929
www.theeatshop.com/

Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar - 2nd visit

We went back to Eat Shop recently, trying to make it in time for their awesome happy hour, but we were a little bit late. They have some great specials for just $3 until 6pm Monday through Friday. Hopefully, we make it one of these days!

I don't have a lot to add to my last post, aside from new food photos below. The previous blog post is linked below as well.

http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2012/11/eat-shop-kitchen-and-bar.html

John had the Baja burger. It had avocado, onions, tomato, sprouts and jalapeño on it with lemon aioli. This burger has a nice combination of ingredients. It was cooked medium as ordered too.

I had the roast beef sandwich on this visit. It was very good and very filling.


Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar
16605 County Road 24 (Hwy 55) 
Plymouth, MN 55447
763.270.5929
www.theeatshop.com/

Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar

I was very excited to hear about a new restaurant opening in the West Metro called Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar. It is NOT a chain! It is close to where we live! There are not enough exclamation points in the world to convey my excitement! You see, this is the kind of place we would usually have to drive downtown or across town to find. And it is only a few miles from our house, the prices are reasonable and the food is good. We ended up deciding to stop in at the last minute for happy hour while out running errands on a Friday evening.

John ordered the $5 happy hour burger. This is a really good deal! It was not a tiny burger either. It was a full sized, hand pattied cheese burger on an onion bun with lettuce, onion and tomato. It was very juicy and cooked to order.

Not everything is awesome in Eat Shop land. We were just not crazy about the hot fries. The seasoning was spicy and salty and there was just too much of it. Maybe if they went a bit lighter on the seasoning, the hot fries would be better. I did not care for the hollandaise dipping sauce either. It was all egg yolk and no citrus bite, quite bland. I liked the fries that came with John's burger a lot better.

I spotted the pretzels on the appetizer menu and just had to try them even though they were not a happy hour special. The pretzels were pretty good, though a bit on the dry side, but I did not care for the cheese dipping sauce. It tasted watery, not cheesy. I had asked for some mustard on the side and the pretzels were better in the mustard sauce by far. It was a spicy mustard though, so we used it sparingly.

We also ordered the happy hour steak tacos, $5. These were very good! The steak was tasty, and there was lots of fresh grated cheese, some pickled onions and guacamole underneath. The guacamole was great. Very freshly made. The taco shells were fresh and crisp.  This was very tasty and a great value.

We liked Eat Shop a lot and will be going back soon for a full dinner. Great food, great service, great ambiance. We sat in the bar on this visit and would do so again. They have a bunch of flat panel TVs for the sports fan in your life. So if you like good food and he likes sports, everyone will be happy! They have a full bar with a large wine list and lots of local beers on tap as well as national brands.

Deals & Discounts: Eat Shop had a very good happy hour with both food and drink specials. I'd suggest checking their website for the most up to date information, but right now they have food specials, most of which we sampled on this visit as well as $4 house wines and $3 select beers as well as $1 off all other tap beers.


Eat Shop Kitchen and Bar
16605 County Road 24 (Hwy 55)
Plymouth, MN 55447
763.270.5929
www.theeatshop.com/