Brick and Bourbon

I had been hearing a lot of raves about Brick and Bourbon in Stillwater. That is kind of out of our normal range, but I was excited when I heard they were opening a second location in Maple Grove.

We stopped in on a Sunday afternoon, so we did not have to wait for a table. Though it was plenty busy.

I started with the lavender mule- with vodka, lavender syrup and ginger beer. Very fresh and light tasting.

We shared a bunch of appetizers so we could try a variety of items on the menu. John went with wings with the pomegranate sriracha sauce. They were not at all spicy and very sweet. They were finished on the grill, which is always a nice touch though.

 We also had the crispy Brussel sprouts, which were a solid item. As advertised.

I tried the duck bacon wontons. I did not get a lot of flavor from the duck bacon and they came with the pomegranate sriracha sauce as well, which just added a very sweet flavor to them. Not sure I would get these again.

The service was fine, no issues at all. Everything arrived hot and fresh and we didn’t wait long for anything. I think it is worth a trip back to try a few more drinks and food on the rather extensive menu.



Brick and Bourbon
7887 Elm Creek Blvd N
Maple Grove, MN
Phone: (763) 208-9477
www.brickandbourbon.com

Thirty Bales

The old Big Ten in Hopkins has been gone awhile now and Thirty Bales has been reborn in its place. The room is modern and bright with a large square bar in the center. They did a great job and it looks nothing like it did before.

John had the spicy chicken sandwich with a buttermilk friend chicken breast, hot sauce and pickles, lettuce on ciabatta roll with crinkle fries on the side.

I had the lemon ricotta pancakes. Oddly the server asked if I wanted to add berries and I said no, but it arrived with berries. I had to ask for the maple syrup the menu said it included. The pancakes were fluffy and light, but did not have a lot of lemon flavor.

The service started out OK, but everything seemed a bit off. Servers kept trying to deliver food to our table after we had received ours. It took ages for the check to arrive and the server to come back and process the payment. The restaurant was not that busy at the time either, so I am not sure what the delay was. Being that there are not a ton of interesting options in Hopkins, it might be worth a trip back to try the dinner menu. And hopefully the service improves as they are open longer.



Thirty Bales
1106 Mainstreet
Hopkins, MN 55343
Phone: (952) 930-0369
www.thirtybales.com

Animales BBQ Company

We’ve gone to Able Brewing a couple times now since it is dog friendly indoors and out, which our dog Maya loves. She would rather be a good girl and come with us on field trips than stay at home and take a nap. Anyway, Animales BBQ is operating out of a trailer parked at Able Brewing for the time being. We decided to try Animales BBQ since it was nearing dinner time and we had been reading some good reviews of the food.

John had the pork ribs. They were very large and had a nice smoky favor too. The BBQ sauce was very tasty, not that the ribs really needed it.

I had the taco platter. This included everything to build your own tacos with chopped pork. The meat was very tender, smoky flavored and delicious. The salsas were also very flavorful and quite spicy, which was great. This is worth the trip alone!

The menus are pictured, though I suppose they change somewhat and they can run out of items any time. It gives you an idea of the prices and selection at least.



Animales Barbeque Co.
(at Able Brewing)
1121 Quincy St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

The Bird

In our never-ending quest for brunch, we visited the Bird near Loring Park awhile back. It was not at all busy when we arrived on a Saturday morning, which was somewhat surprising.

John had the roasted broccoli scramble with eggs, mushrooms, onion, cheddar cheese and 9 grain seed bread.

I had the quinoa pancakes with toasted quinoa, blueberry compote and cashew cream. These were much better than I had expected with a nice nutty flavor from the quinoa.

The service was great and we thought all of the food was very good. The menu definitely veers toward healthy options with items for vegetarians and gluten free diets was well, which is a nice option. The Bird is worth checking out!



The Bird
1612 Harmon Pl
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: (612) 767-9495
http://www.thebirdmpls.rocks/

Coalition Restaurant

Stephanie and I visited Coalition awhile back. It is a cute little place right on Water Street amid all of the shops and other dining options. I had made a reservation in advance, which was a good thing as it is a pretty small place.

 We wanted to try a bunch of different sections of the menu so we shared everything. The server did a great job spacing the food out so it did not arrive all at once.

 Fried goat cheese with honey and pistachio

Sweet pea bruschetta with edamame, mint, ricotta and honey. Tuna tartare with sriracha aioli, sweet sesame soy, fresno, avocado

Beef tenderloin with wild mushroom, chive mashed potato and herb hollandaise – they split this onto 2 plates for us, which was very convenient.

 Our side was cauliflower crispy, sweet chili bbq, sesame, chive

For dessert we had a smores brownie/cake item. It was torched and had a nice smoky flavor as a result.

All of the food we ordered was very good and prepared well. Everything arrived at the correct temperatures.

The service was very good throughout of visit and we appreciated that the kitchen split the main entrée for us. The room is very open and inviting and we found the prices to be affordable considering how much we ordered. We enjoyed Coalition and will certainly be back again soon!


Coalition Restaurant
227 Water Street
Excelsior, Minnesota 55331
(952) 283-1952
www.coalitionrestaurant.com

Note: there is also another location at 50th and France in Minneapolis.

Vegas trip report 9.13-18.2018 - The one where John won while I was absent

It appears I did not take notes for this trip, so this should be interesting trying to remember what we did. I guess we will just have to work off the photos I have.

Isn't this the best sight in the world?! A sign of fun to come! 

Our flight was fine and we took Lyft from the airport to the Golden Nugget. We checked in, unpacked and changed clothes. We had a drink at Bar 46 at the Golden Nugget to start and then headed to Golden Gate for some blackjack. 

We decided were starving, so we went to Magnolia's at Four Queens for a late night snack. Or dinner as the case may be. 

burger and fries

the prime rib was not bad for the price

Friday morning we went to eat for breakfast. John had chilaquiles. 

I had the truffled egg sandwich. It was a very tasty and flavorful sandwich- highly recommend it!

We wandered around downtown a bunch, played video poker at Main Street Boar's Head bar. There were some NASCAR events on Fremont as there was a big race that weekend.

Had a couple four of a kinds this time, but nothing too exciting to report. 

We had lunch at Therapy. Chicken caesar salad for John. 

I had the fried mac and cheese, which was highly recommended by the server. The food was good, but the food took ages to come out.

We played a few slots and some blackjack at El Cortez and then stopped at Corduroy for a round of drinks.

Played a few more slots at the D. Best Wheel of Fortune win ever for me shown here. LOL!

We walked through the Downtown Grand and then found the entrance to the Underground at the Mob Museum. I think we played some slots at the Golden Nugget and then got ready for dinner.

We decided to go to dinner at Redwood Grill at the California. The food and service were excellent.

mai tai

sashimi plate

shrimp cocktail 

baked potato with fixings

Flat iron steak

We played some blackjack at the Golden Gate and then tried again at the Plaza. The mural pic is from a hallway beyond the front desk and food court at the Plaza leftover from days when Amtrak picked up there I guess.

Saturday we had breakfast at the buffet at Main Street nation. It was not great, but it was not too bad either. I think we used a BOGO coupon.

We had chairs reserved at the Hideout pool at the Golden Nugget. We stayed there for a couple hours or so and left because it was super windy and crap was blowing all over. The wind gets to you after awhile.

We had a late lunch at Pizza Rock. Excellent as always. 

After lunch we went to the Golden Nugget and played some slots and then went to the Golden Gate to play some blackjack. We got to see some ladies auditioning to be dancing dealers. Well we saw them doing the dancing part of the interview anyway. Kind of fascinating. Can't say I have seen that before. 

We played a bunch of slots at the Golden Nugget. John had a good Quick Hits win- hit 6 hits for $169.

cashed out at $298, so not bad. 

The Golden Nugget was hosting a beer sampling event called Beer Fest, we had gotten BOGO tickets to that through the player's club. It wasn't a super huge event, but we got to try a lot of west coast beers that were new to us and the snacks available were not too bad either.

We had snacks/dinner at the bar at Chart House after the beer tasting. 

We played a bunch more slots at the Nugget after eating and John had a really good win on a different Quick Hits machine. We stayed at the Nugget for the rest of the night as we were trying to avoid the crowds on Fremont Street for some free concert. Those just get way too packed for us.

Here are pics of our Gold Tower room at the Golden Nugget. Our room was comped in Carson Tower, but we paid extra to upgrade to Gold Tower. We had a lovely view of a wall, but the room did not get super bright in the morning at least. ha.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Magnolia's at Four Queens. The usual items. 

After breakfast, we watched the beginning of the Vikings game at the Rush Lounge at the Golden Nugget. It was getting close to checkout time around half time, so we packed up the room and decided to  head to the Cosmopolitan, our second hotel for this trip.

I think we gave our bags to the bellman and we watched the second half of the game in the Clique Lounge.

After the game, we went to the front desk to see if a room was ready for us, which it was. 

I think this is the fountain view terrace studio room

mini bar and mini fridge for use now. Nice to have both! 

I had gotten a comp for one night, paid for another night and paid for an upgrade to a fountain view room ahead of time. We finally got to watch the Bellagio fountains from our hotel room!

I had scheduled a massage at the spa at Cosmo. It was expensive, but the spa is super nice. 

While I was at the spa John finally got his first Royal in video poker. He was pretty excited to tell me about it when I got back from the spa! 

We were both starving, so we had happy hour apps at Blue Ribbon at the Cosmo. 

poke

oysters

Next, we went to STK for dinner. I don't think we made a reservation, so we ended up seated in the bar, which was just fine.

bread was soo good!

fish crudo

Delmonico steak

yukon mashed potatoes

Donuts with maple glaze and candied pecans - so good! The food and service were both very good throughout our visit. 

After dinner we played some slots here and there- had a little Goldfish win that wasn't too bad.

I think we ended up at the bar in the sports book so John could watch some football. I managed to get a four of a kind, no royals for me. boo!

We ran across the street to Walgreens and picked up a few beverages for the room and sat on the balcony and watched the fountain shows and the world go by down below. The view from Cosmo balconies really is one of the best views in all of Las Vegas. I have about 100 more pictures similar to this one!

Morning view from the balcony 

Monday morning we had breakfast at The Henry at the Cosmo. I had the short rib benedict and it was crazy delicious.

John had French toast

After breakfast we headed down to the pool. We tried to go to the Bamboo pool, but it was mysteriously closed for the whole day. Very odd. We found chairs at the Boulevard pool though.

Dole whip cocktail

After the pool, we checked out the new Block 16 food hall at the Cosmo and we both tried Hattie B's fried chicken.

The chicken w very spicy, juicy and flavorful. 

Vesper bar at Cosmo- I think I have visited all of the bars there now. Goodness. 

I am not sure where I was when John hit this, but again, he had a decent win while I was elsewhere. I think we played a bunch of slots at the Cosmo and also played some crappy 6-5 blackjack. The dealer was competent, but talked way too much. We also had Verbenas at Chandelier bar 1.5.

For dinner we ended up going back to Blue Ribbon. 

Sashimi plate

Blue Ribbon wings- still excellent!

I think we played a few slots after dinner and went back to the room to watch some fountain shows. The weather was perfect for sitting on the balcony too.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at the Wicked Spoon buffet. I forgot to take photos, but it was solid. Plus we got a BOGO deal since John made Silver in their players club this time. I also hit Silver but it did not post until after checkout and the room and spa charges posted to my account.

Our flight home was uneventful. We had a great trip overall. We are already looking forward to our next trip over Thanksgiving!