Or a single drink. Minnesota is different (in lots of ways). One way we noticed almost immediately, is that you can't buy alcohol at the grocery store. You can buy a drink at a restaurant, and you can buy alcohol at a "liquor store" that may be right next to a grocery store. But you can't put food and beer in your cart together anywhere. You can, as we did, buy your groceries, wheel your cart 10 feet further into the "store" next door, and buy your wine and beer. The only thing separating the "stores" was a wall -- same store, same cart, you just can't buy those things together. For some fun internet searches, just google Minnesota liquor laws, and specifically Edina liquor laws. Who knew?!?
Tailgate Sports Cafe -- we didn't actually eat here. It's next door to Cintia's where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo. Cintia's was overrun by Cinco de Mayo revelers and in short order the waitstaff was joined by a bunch more waitstaff in Tailgate t-shirts. Shared ownership I guess. And very convenient when you're understaffed. But what I loved about this place is there are little birds living in the letters of the sign, and in the truck bed over the door! Adorbs!
Ruby Tuesday's at the mall. I'm out of practice for eating alone in public, but I worked it out. Ordered way too much food for one body, and still had half a day of shopping to do, so I couldn't get a doggie bag. I only made this mistake once.
Twin City Grill. This place was so good I ate here for lunch, and then brought Mark back for dinner. Yes, that's Prosecco.
Buca di Beppo! We met Mark's friend Nathan here, and I try not to be embarrassing taking pics of food in public, so no pics of the food. But I did get some pics of these long-time Army friends! And Nathan gave us a hot tip on what radio station to listen to while in Minnesota -- 89.3 The Current, Minnesota Public Radio. Saved our lives, musically speaking.
Leftovers! We try to not always get our own meals when we travel, because there's too much food. But we had a full kitchen at the hotel, so it was easier to keep leftovers. You may know I never fix a meal (Mark's so good at it!) so he was pretty surprised to come home, and find out I'd fixed lunch All. By. Myself.
Our last day, hanging out in the student lounge while Mark finished class. Best coffee of the trip (except all the Starbucks, natch). I really wanted to take this mug.
Mark let me have his 3 o'clock break icecream bar! He was allowed one per day from the freezer in the student lounge. And considering I spent all afternoon in the student lounge, largely unattended, I figure I am the model of self-control by just having this one.
Back at the airport. I've never seen this beer before. Cute label! That's basically how I choose beer.
Tucci Benucch. There aren't words to say how great this place is. The waitress was SO funny, I hope that's just her dayjob, and she's really a stand-up comic. The food was SO good. We had appetizers for dinner so we could try the most things. All good. And, when I read Tucci Benucch, in my head I'm saying Tucci Benucci. What a fun name.
Back at the Twin City Grill, this time for dinner. Cocktails, check. Bacon wrapped scallops, check. Made from scratch everything, check. Best biscuits of my life, check. If I could live in the Moods of Norway store, and have Twin City Grill for every meal, I would be happy. A total weirdo, but totally happy.
Fudruckers? We had to go here, and squeezed it in right before our flight home. Mark says these onion rings are on his top ten, but not me. However. The pineapple-teriyaki burger was amazing. And having to fix the burger myself was not as annoying as I thought it would be.
Cinco de Mayo! We did a little internet search to find a Mexican restaurant in Minnesota, and found lots with terrible reviews. We finally found one with good, recent reviews, arrive and it doesn't exist. Yet. There's a sign that it's opening soon. What?!? So we made our way to the next best, Cintia's. I liked it. The people watching was absurd. One lady who waits at the bar for her friend for half an hour, then complains that she should be served sooner because she's been waiting so long. The next-door-neighbor waitstaff coming over because all of a sudden this is the busiest Mexican restaurant in Minnesota (Cintia's seemed completely taken by surprise to be busy on Cinco de Mayo. What?) Lots of picky middle-aged Minnesotan's sending their food back. The (older, white) apparent owner having to wait tables, and literally dumping a huge plate on a customer. It was a madhouse. I liked the food, but I have the tastebuds of a Minnesotan -- black pepper can make me sweat. Mark was less of a fan.
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