John Hardy BBQ - Rochester, MN

We stopped at John Hardy BBQ when to went down to Rochester to visit a couple breweries on the passport. It has been there for as long as I could remember, but we've never had a chance to stop.

 John had the ribs with jojo potatoes. The ribs arrive with no sauce on them, and they don't really need it unless you want to add some spice. They offer six sauces from mild to Bad Boy Hot sauce. The jojos are similar to those at Ted Cook's BBQ and very good with some crisp and some softer potatoes.

 The cole slaw is on the saucy side and it was really good. 

 The bread is garlic buttered and very addictive. 

 I had the beef brisket and it was tender with excellent smoky flavor. 

The beans had quite a bit of brown sugar flavor with bits of meat mixed in as well. Quite good!

John Hardy's BBQ is definitely worth the stop if you are in the Rochester area. The service is quick and the food arrives quickly.


John Hardy BBQ
929 W Frontage Rd,
Rochester, MN 55901
www. johnhardysbbq.com
Phone: (507) 288-3936

City Works

I had signed up for the birthday club for City Works some time ago, when considering going there before a downtown concert. So the coupon seemed like a good excuse to check it out. We went during an out of town Vikings game and it turned out to be a pretty fun place to watch a game. They had a ton of televisions and during the commercial breaks a DJ played music and funny videos.

I had the buffalo shrimp, which the waitress described as a City Works signature item. The shrimp were served atop blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles with pickled carrots on the side. I’ve had the buffalo shrimp at Redstone a lot and so these were compared to their version. The City Works buffalo shrimp were not bad. The sauce buffalo sauce was certainly spicy and the blue cheese had great flavor. The shrimp were just a tad smaller than the Redstone shrimp, so overall, these were quite good. I do think Redstone’s buffalo sauce is less spicy and had a better smoky flavor.

John had the Carolina Fried Chicken sandwich with spicy bread and butter pickles, mustard BBQ sauce and lettuce on a brioche bun. The fries were piping hot and seasoned nicely.

We found the service to be excellent throughout our stay. Redeeming the birthday credit required a bit of footwork online, but the manager came by and explained the process to us clearly and was very helpful and friendly.

Our only gripe about City Works is probably the prices of the beer for the amount served. For example, all the beer was served in a tulip style glass, which holds fewer ounces, but the glassware did not make sense for the types of beer were ordered. I had a Lift Bridge Farm Girl and it was $7.00 (can be seen in background of my shrimp photo) for probably 10 ounces. Nothing was served in pint glasses at all. The beer selection was very lengthy and a lot of local and hard to find offerings were available, which is a plus.  

Overall, I think city Works is a solid choice for downtown Minneapolis. I don’t know that I would go out of my way to return, but it is a worthy place to stop if you are downtown for an event nearby.

City Works

600 Hennepin Ave 

Minneapolis, MN 55403

Phone: (612) 361-2900

https://www.cityworksrestaurant.com/minneapolis/