Tavern 4 & 5

I visited the newly opened Tavern 4 & 5 recently with a couple of friends. It is in Eden Prairie off Highway 5 in the spot that has housed a couple different restaurants recently including a Timberlodge Steakhouse. Eden Prairie is a fickle area of town for restaurants for some strange reason. It seems like a lot of restaurants come and go in the area and if they are not well received, they don’t last long.

That said, I think the chances for Tavern 4 & 5 look good. It is operated by the same people that own Hazelewood Grille in Minnetonka. It underwent a remodel since the last tenant and has a warm and inviting atmosphere.

The restaurant was packed when I arrived, so I put my name on the list and managed to grab a seat at the bar. The wait time quoted was pretty accurate as I recall. We were seated at a tall table near the pizza oven area. The service was fine, nothing memorable occurred.

I had the wood fired rotisserie chicken entrée with mashed potatoes and green beans on the side. The potatoes were very good and the green beans were fresh tasting and sautéed in a bit of garlic and lemon. The chicken was excellent, though the gravy was pretty salty.

Kelly had the rotisserie chicken sandwich with onion rings. She has been here a lot as she lives nearby and they really like this place so far.

Michele has the Cajun beef bites with onion strings and a spicy dipping sauce. She said they were very good with tender beef.

Overall, I enjoyed Tavern 4 & 5 and will probably return again soon. The service was good, the food was good and the atmosphere was great. The room was a bit loud, but not deafening.

Deals & Discounts: Tavern 4 & 5 has a good happy hour available 3-6pm daily and a late night happy hour Sunday through Thursday from 9-11pm. It has both food and drink specials with $4 and $5 appetizers.


Tavern 4 & 5
16396 Wagner Way
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
(952) 934-4545
http://tavern4and5.com/

Park Tavern - birthday pizza

This post is rather overdue as the birthday topic was addressed some time ago. However, I still wanted to do a short post on the Park Tavern’s birthday deal. If you join their eClub, you will get  a few emails throughout the year. The highlight is the birthday email where you get a coupon for a free 12” three topping pizza. This is a great deal (15.95 value) and one of the better birthday deals out there. The email arrives about a week before your birthday and is good for two weeks after.

We ordered our pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and green olives on it. There is plenty of cheese on the pizza and the crust is thinner, but sturdy enough to hold all of the generous toppings. The cheese has good flavor and I really like how the pepperoni get a bit crisp on top of the pizza. The pizza sauce is delicious, with just a bit of bite to it.

The Park Tavern has reliably good food and the pizza is no exception. I recommend it all the time, but it is an especially great deal with the birthday eClub coupon.

Deals & Discounts: I recommend joining the birthday eClub for deals and coupons throughout the year. And, as stated, the free birthday pizza is a great deal. The Park Tavern also offers daily happy hour specials.


Park Tavern
3401 Louisiana Ave S
St Louis Park, MN 55426
(952) 929-6810
http://www.parktavern.net

Smack Shack revisit

Just a very quick post today with a couple photos from our recent visit to Smack Shack. We just sat in the bar, at the bar and had excellent service from the bartender.

It was quite dark in there, but these photos turned out wonderfully with my new iPhone 5S. Hopefully, this will improve the quality of my photos for the blog going forward!

I had the shrimp po boy. I was missing this sandwich a lot since the truck was not out regularly this past summer during food trucks season. So good with lots of shrimp.

John had the Connecticut style lobster roll. This version is very simple with lobster drizzled with butter, lemon and chives on a roll with some lettuce. He likes this version much better than their regular lobster roll, because the other one has tarragon in it, which he does not care for.

Here's a link to our last visit to Smack Shack:
http://whereshouldwegomsp.blogspot.com/2013/06/smack-shack.html


Smack Shack
603 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN
612-259-7288
http://smack-shack.com

Pig Ate My Pizza

We finally made it to Pig Ate my Pizza to see what the Travail guys are up to while the new restaurant is under construction down the street. They are also doing a pop up restaurant in North Minneapolis called Umami that closes at the end of December. The whole Pig experience is somewhat reminiscent of what the old Travail was like, but with only pizza entrees. We did the tasting menu for two which costs $60. It seems to be the only way to get a good sampling of the appetizers and desserts right now.

Fresh greens salad with toast.  The potted meat is pate with foie gras. The foie tasted like butter basically!

 Liver and pork sausage with spicy ketchup and mustard with sauerkraut and spaetzle.

 Beer cheese soup with walnuts and blue cheese foam. This soup is killer. So rich and flavorful.

Welcome to the Boomtown pizza with shitake, shimiji and  portabella mushrooms and brie and spinach.

 Smoky Cubano pizza with pulled prok, jerk sauce and mustard hollandaise.

 Pop rocks tableside ice cream.

 Frozen grapes with caramel and peanuts.

Custard with pears– super rich and creamy with a graham cracker crust in the bottom. I want to go back and just order this as my meal! So awesome!

The whole experience is still pretty fun and interactive like Travail used to be, but not quite as much so since the pizzas are pretty much already finished when they arrive at your table. Though they do manage to throw in some fun flourishes. I am definitely looking forward to the new Travail down the street. I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.


Pig Ate My Pizza
4154 W Broadway Ave,
Robbinsdale, MN 55422
(763) 535-1131
https://www.facebook.com/PigAteMyPizza