Tilia

My friend Stephanie and I decided since we had such a fun time at Haute Dish awhile back we'd schedule another nice night out at a new (to us) restaurant. I've been hearing a lot about Tilia ever since it opened, but hesitated to check it out since they do not accept reservations and it is a pretty small place. We decided to arrive early, at 5pm so we would not have to wait too long for a table. We were lucky too, on arrival all of the tables were full but there was room for us at the bar, which was just fine with us!

This is the shrimp and it was our favorite dish of the night.  The shrimp were in a spicy tomato sauce that was very flavorful with black beans and peas. We both used the flat bread to get every last bit of the sauce too. I can't wait to go back and have it again.

The flat bread was good, but dipping it in the spicy shrimp sauce took it to a whole new level. The dukka (or peanuts or whatever it was) was fun to have with the olive oil on the flat bread too. I like the crunchiness it added to the bread. It was good to nibble on while we wait for the rest of our food to come up.

We both really enjoyed the pirogi and they tasted great. It was like a mini pot roast and mashed potatoes fried into a dumpling. The outer crust was very crisp and the sauces added a bit of brightness and freshness to the bready pirogi.

We both loved the fish taco torta too. The cilantro and lime combined with the lightly breaded fish was so perfect. The crunch of the breaded fish worked well with the softness of the other ingredients. Very tasty! The whole dish tasted like vacation in Mexico to me!

The mushroom panzanella was also good, but I would probably not order that again. The mushrooms and sauce kind of made the bread soggy which neither of us cared for very much. We probably should have ordered something else that paired better with the other items we ordered.  Everything else had such strong flavors that this seemed sort of bland.

When we ordered dessert we thought we were still hungry, so we both ordered the butterscotch pudding and shared the German chocolate cupcake. The butterscotch dessert was so fabulous! I understand why they serve it in an espresso type cup because was so smooth you could drink it and it was very, very richly flavored. The German chocolate cupcake was good too, very moist with good chocolate flavor, but the butterscotch dessert was really amazing.

The service at the bar was good, though they got quite busy at times and we both liked the small cozy atmosphere of the place. It was very white and sparse inside. We really liked the portion size of the dishes and everything was so beautifully presented. We were able to try quite a few things and not get too full (until dessert). Also, the pricing was great for quality ingredients. I wish I lived nearby so I could stop by all the time and I look forward to going back soon.


Tilia
2726 West 43rd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55410
Phone: 612 354 2806
http://www.tiliampls.com/

Twisted Sister House of Hunger

Tracy and I felt like hot dogs the other day so we checked out Twisted Sister House of Hunger truck. They can usually be found on Marquette Avenue at lunch time in downtown Minneapolis. There have been a ton of trucks daily on Marquette between 7th and 8th streets recently! It is s sight to behold them all lined up one after the other. I love it!

Tracy had the white trash dog and onion petals with dipping sauce. The onion petals were great and thE dipping sauce was a bit spicy and quite tasty. The white trash dog had crushed Fritos and melted cheese on the hot dog.

I had the Twisted Sister dog. It has cheese slices, bacon and olive-jalepeno relish. The relish tasted mostly like olives and added a nice salty flavor to the hot dog. I really like that they butter and toast their hot dogs buns too.


Twister Sister House of Hunger
http://houseofhunger.com/
Twitter: @houseofhunger

Bloomy's Roast Beef

Time for another food truck post! There are quite a few new food trucks on the streets this year and I've been waiting patiently for this one. The premise is simple. Roast beef sandwiches. Apparently a good roast beef sandwich is harder to make than it sounds, but these guys have nailed it. I have not found a decent roast beef sandwich anywhere in the skyways and it is quite a hike to Wally's in Bloomington or Maverick's in Roseville from downtown. (Both have EXCELLENT roast beef sandwiches!)

The sandwich was very good and priced fairly at $4.50. It was a good size, served on a toasted bun, with lots of tender, thin sliced roast beef. They have BBQ sauce and homemade horseradish sauce available free of charge as well. You can add several types of cheese and bacon at an extra charge if you'd like to jazz up the sandwich a bit.

I ordered a chocolate chip cookie and it was very good; crispy with lots of chocolate chips. A variety of sides are available including cole slaw, mac and cheese, fries, mashed potatoes or tater tots.

I loved Bloomy's and I'm looking forward to going back and trying other items on the menu such as the french dip, Philly and open face sandwich.

P.S. to Arby's: this is what a roast beef sandwich is supposed to taste like!

Bloomy's Roast Beef
http://bloomys.com/
Twitter: @BloomysRB

Good Day Cafe

I thought I wrote a post about breakfast at Good Day Cafe ages ago, but I think I have forgotten to take photos on our many past visits. (I did write a post about a dinner visit there back in March.) Apparently I am often totally starving while there so photos totally slip my mind. This probably happens because there is always a wait for a table here and there is no way around it unfortunately.

John had the glazed doughnut pancakes with a side of bacon. The bacon here is always top notch, very thick and smoky tasting. The pancakes were very good, quite fluffy and very sweet as the name would lead you to believe. They probably don't need any additional syrup, there must be sugar in the batter. John thought they were a bit too sweet and would not get them again, but if you have a sweet tooth they might be perfect for you. I had a bite and thought they were tasty, but I can see them getting too sweet after awhile.

I had Iggy's Fried Egg sandwich, which is one of my favorite sandwiches of all time. I order this on just about every visit. It contains ham, fried egg, caramelized onion, tomato, cheddar cheese, and avocado on sourdough bread. It comes with a side of spicy ketchup, but I don't usually put that on the sandwich. I really think the avocado makes the sandwich totally perfect. But I think avocado makes everything better. It is also served with a side of GDC potatoes, which are sliced potatoes with onions and seasoning.  This is a huge sandwich and I usually end up taking half of it home to eat later. It's good even reheated.

The service at Good Day Cafe is always friendly and efficient and the food arrive rather quickly. The place is usually packed and they are pretty great at getting you in and out as quickly as possible.

One tip I've learned to shorten the wait slightly is to call ahead before you leave the house and ask them to add you to the waiting list.

Good Day Cafe
5410 Wayzata Blvd
Golden Valley, MN 55416
(763) 544-0205

Greek Grill & Cafe

I've been vistiing the Greek Grill once a week or once every other week for awhile now. I'd been going with co-workers to another place for gyros, but figured there had to better options. It is connected to the skyway so it is a great option, espcially in the winter time.

Of course the one time I take other people along with me, the gyros were just so-so. The pita on this visit was a little hard, like it had been sitting too long. I think sometimes they make them up ahead of time for the lunch rush. All the other times I have visited the gyros are actually really good. I like the french fries a lot as well, since they seem to be fresh cut fries and very crispy.

Tracy had the Greek salad and said it was really good. I got a side salad with my gyro on a later visit (forgot to take a picture though) and liked the salad a lot also. The dressing has good flavor and tehre was a nice amount of other vegeatbles in the salad.

I'm not sure that this is the best gyro in the skyway, but it is pretty good. I think additonal research will be required!


Greek Grill & Cafe
40 S. 7th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55402
P: 612.305.9163
http://www.greekgrillandcafe.com/

Little G's Mobile Pizzeria

I've spotted Little G's pizza trailer downtown quite a few times now, but have heard next to nothing about it, so I decided to be brave and check it out. The food truck is actually a trailer and seems to have a wood fired oven built into the trailer. You can smell the wood while you are waiting for you pizza.

The pizza was quite tasty, though it was a little burnt on one side. The sauce and toppings were not applied very evenly either, maybe they shifted when the pizza was being put in or taken out of the oven. The sauce was slightly sweet with a good tomato flavor and a nice crisp crust. The cheese seemed to be good quality mozzarella.

It was definitely better than most skyway pizza I've had downtown, but it was not as good as Punch or Black Sheep, if you want something to compare it to. Considering it was made in a trailer on the street, it was good pizza and I'd go back and try other items on their menu sometime.

Little G's Pizza
Twitter: @Gsmobilepizza

Vellee Deli

I hit the food trucks the other day with a few co-workers and managed to get a couple photos. I had the Korean BBQ burrito, which was excellent. It had a lot of tender meat inside with rice, lettuce and salsa. The meat had great flavor and the portion was large and very filling.

Jenny had the bahn mi, which is a Vietnamese sandwich, and it had the Korean BBQ meat, carrots, cucumber, jalapeno and cilantro. We had to take a few bites before taking a photo so you could see what was inside. Sorry for the bite marks!

The weekly schedule of where the truck will be is usually posted on their website if you want to look ahead and figure out where to find them. Otherwise, follow them on Twitter for up to date information.

Vellee Deli
http://velleedeli.com/
Twitter: @velleedeli

Angel Food Bakery & Coffee Bar

Hell's Kitchen has added a bakery just upstairs from the main restaurant called Angel Food Bakery and it opened just last week. I stopped in over lunch today and picked up a caramel and peanut brownie. It was very good with lots of soft caramel, peanuts and good chocolate flavor to the brownie. The nuts added a nice touch of salt to the caramel. I think it was $3.50 plus tax. It was a good size and quite filling.

They had a nice variety of other bakery items such as breads, doughnuts, muffins and croissants. Since it is pretty close to work I look forward to trying their other offerings in the future. I'll let you know if anything else I try is interesting!

Angel Food Bakery & Coffee Bar
86 S 9th St
Minneapolis, MN 55402
(612) 238-1435
www.angelfoodmn.com