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Future Islands In Evening Air In Evening Air isn't growing on me, per se, since I liked it from the beginning. But it has, stealthily as Tony Stark's blood toxicity levels, been thoroughly infiltrating my music selection, to the point that if I'm not listening to a podcast (sorry, music), there's about a 40/60 chance that I'm listening to Future Islands. Quite a feat considering that I can barely communicate what it is I even like about them.
Steve | 07-25-2010
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Big Boi Sir Lucius Leftfoot First you're like, "Ohmigod, this is the best thing I've ever heard." Then you're like, "Maybe Big Boi is the real genius behind Outkast after all. Like Matt Sharp and Weezer." But then you're like, "Dammit, why didn't the record company let Andre 3000 onto this thing?" And then you're like, "Aauuuuugh! If Andre was on it this would be classic!" So then you're like, "Shit. Why doesn't Outkast just release another album? Big Boi is wasting himself on this solo stuff!" Which leads you to be like, "Outkast!!!! Where are you!!!?????" So by the time the record is done, you're like, "That was okay I guess. The opera samples in that one song were pretty cool. And I like 'Shine Blockas.' I wonder what Andre 3000 is up to?"
Junip Rope And Summit EP So this is Jose Gonzalez's band. Did you know he had a band? I don't think anybody did, and by that I'm mildly shocked. Before we all saw that Sony ad with all the bouncing super balls in San Francisco and became enchanted by the force of nature in the voice of Jose Gonzalez, why hadn't we already been equally enchanted by the EP Junip had already released? I mean, this music is essentially Jose Gonzalez performing his songs backed by a crack-shot post rock band, perfectly attuned to maximizing the mantra-like nature of his music. Had we been introduced to this guy's music via Junip as opposed to that ad, we'd be saying, "Holy shit, Junip is unbelievable!" But as it stands, Jose gets to go do his thing around the world, and the other dudes in the band get to stay home in Stockholm or wherever and mope. (Though I'd bet you 100 kroner at least one of them plays in a jazz combo in his spare time).
Steve | 06-24-2010
The Beach Boys Kokomo So my post over there in the "Food" section regarding the Mall of America's vaguely tropical nightmare restaurant Kokomo's lead me, obviously, to link to a video of the Beach Boys' nightmare anthem, "Kokomo." Funny, right? But then I watched the video, tried to ignore the shots of a sexy young Tom Cruise slinging drinks in Coctail, and just listened to the song. And, you know, if you ignore the corny reverbed percussion, the corny sax solo, the corny steel drums, the corny hats, the corny flowered shirts, the corny lyrics, and Mike Love, you're left with a pretty damn sensational song. The way the verse melody continually descends... the chord change at the 5th bar... the "baby why don't we go" melody appearing on top of the low vocals at the end of the chorus... it's all classic Beach Boys. And the "That's where we want to go..." line? Just imagine that being sung by the 1964 Beach Boys instead of the 1988 ones. It's fantastic, in theory. In theory.
This leads me to another point, something I read the other day that I'm totally down with. It was a Rolling Stone Q&A interview with Sting (yes, Sting), which was mostly stingingly annoying, but he threw out one gem that just makes me say, "Yes!" To paraphrase, he said, "A great pop song has to surprise you every 8 bars." He really summed up something I've been trying to verbalize for a long time now. I'd even go further, and say it needs to surprise you every 4 bars. After 4 bars, you're naturally ready for something to happen. Either those 4 bars repeat themselves, or something changes. It could be the chord progression, the melody, the addition of a new aural component, something. In "Kokomo", for instance, after 4 bars, you're expecting it to go back to bar 1 and repeat the melody. But instead, the chord shifts down to a minor (or minor 7th?), and it feels as if you're on a roller coaster that just dipped when you thought it would zig. It surprised you. The Beach Boys were masters of this, as were the Beatles (as was Harry Nilsson and as is Jon Brion). But I'm just surprised that reading Sting say it is the first time I've truly seen the concept articulated. It seems so obvious.
Villagers Becoming A Jackal It's as if Grizzly Bear, Bishop Allen, and Conor Oberst's older, less-obnoxious brother all got drugged, hog-tied, and thrown headfirst into Harry Belafonte's grave, along with some Sam Cooke records and a radioactive spider. Then after the police are alerted to the scene, all they're able to find is this Villagers album. And they're like, "Yeah, this is alright."
Steve | 06-23-2010
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Janelle Monae The ArchAndroid I've spent a lot of time thinking about this album. I've listened to it front to back, read the rave reviews, meditated and marinated. And as a result of all that thought, I've composed a multi-page essay, with footnotes and appendices, pie charts and photo plates, in my mind. It is very thorough. I've proofread it and everything. But I won't write it here, because not only will it bore you to death, but it will shock you with its subtle hints of possible racism and sexism. What it all boils down to (the "thesis", as you learned in 7th grade composition class), is this: The ArchAndroid, while nowhere close to the modern masterpiece that everyone wants it to be, is the noble attempt of Janelle Monae to make the album that she's always wanted Andre 3000 to make. It is, 5 years later than expected, the natural evolution of "Hey Ya" from song to genre. It is an interesting collection of quirky production and arrangements, with a couple catchy tunes and some respectable work from the studio musicians, but if everyone would just take a deep breath and take a step back and ignore the fact that she's a cute girl in a tux dancing like MJ, we'd see that this album is little more than a big-budget game of musical dress-up. And Janelle Monae is no Andre 3000.
Future Islands In Evening Air Everything about Future Islands points directly at me hating them. Or at least ignoring them. I don't like Joy Division, I don't like New Order, I don't like Tom Waits, and I don't like megahyped blog buzz bands from Baltimore. (It's not that I don't like them, but you could say that I'm very, very wary of them. How's that?) So why is it that this band comes out of nowhere (and Baltimore), sounding like Tom Waits singing in a Joy Division/New Order tribute band, writing songs that aren't particularly smart or memorable, and I love it? Eating it up, in fact. I think the key is that despite all the referential sounds they're making, none of it seems silly. It all feels honest and heartfelt, and somehow overcomes its own referentiality. And he sings like Bowie sometimes, too. I like Bowie.
Steve | 06-20-2010
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Failure Fantastic Planet Failure is releasing Fantastic Planet on vinyl, and I am in the mood to reflect. Fantastic Planet was, of course, possibly the single definitive album of my high school years, one that completely changed the way I listened to and judged music to this day. And yet on the rare occasion that I listen to it these days, I don't find myself enthralled by it in the same ways I did as a 16 year old. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. Really, when I listen to music I loved from that 1996-2000 era, there are a handful of albums that I'm much more impressed and inspired by here in 2010. Mind Science of the Mind. Downward Is Heavenward. The Ballad Of Hope Nicholls. Okay, maybe just those three. On Planet, some of the lyrics come off as a little trite and silly, and some of the compositions themselves are a little too of-their-era ("Pitiful", "Leo", "Saturday Saviour", et. al.). But listening to "Heliotropic", "The Nurse Who Loved Me", and "Another Space Song," with the gift of hindsight,prove that Fantastic Planet is, above all, a masterpiece of production, engineering, and arrangement. Even "Stuck On You," the most obvious and radio-friendly tune on the record, is unbelievably layered and sculpted, every sound and every chord placed precisely where it needs to be for maximum impact. Beautiful, really. Given where the members went post-Failure (Autoux, On, borderline-lame production jobs from Ken), I both wonder and fear what they would've recorded had they released one more record.
Steve | 06-03-2010
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Midlake Live in Minneapolis, 5-25-10 I'm going to be totally honest: I only went to this show to see them play "Roscoe." Don't get me wrong; I love Midlake, I think they're a fantastic band, and I certainly like more of their songs than just "Roscoe." But the fact is that I'm 28 years old, I haven't been to a show in a year and a half (Hum in Chicago on New Years 2009), and frankly I just don't have the patience for these things anymore. But Midlake is one of those bands that I always felt would be a must see act. Plus, Jason Lytle of Grandaddy was opening for them. Plus, I knew I could by Van Occupanther on vinyl at their merch table, since I've been looking for it for ages at records stores from here to Seattle to Brooklyn. So I went. And they were good--truly a throwback to a time when dudes with guitars actually paid attention to craft and detail. Seven dudes (and six beards) on stage, completely focused, every chord and note played solely for the benefit of the composition. A drummer and bassist truly acting as a rhythm section. It was a refreshing sight. And then they played "Roscoe." And then I left.
Steve | 05-25-2010
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The Black Keys Brothers I don't have too much to say about Brothers yet except for this: Listen to the first track and try to not sing T-Rex's "Mambo Sun" along with it. Can't do it, can you? Me neither. Also, it has kickass heat-sensitive ink printed on the disc. Take that, downloading!
Jamie Lidell Compass All this time I thought I liked Jamie Lidell. I got into him back when Multiply came out in 2005. Experimental electro guy realizes he has a kickass set of soul pipes, so he starts making electro-soul music. Awesome. Then Jim comes out a couple years later, and I'm super excited, because I loved Multiply, right? But I'm disappointed. Too bland. And now Compass had me all excited, because it sounded far more experimental, freaky, and unique than even Multiply. Cool. But again, I can't help but to be let down. This time, it's because the songs just aren't there. Bummer. This leads me to go down through my iTunes collection and take another listen to Multiply, only to find that--what? What's this song? I don't remember this. And this one? Hmm, this one's kind of annoying. And I just want to skip through that one. The title track is awesome, and it has a play count of 15. But every other song is only between 3-5. One only has 2! Could it be!? Did I never actually really like Multiply? It seems I just liked the title track of it so much that I convinced myself that I also liked the rest of the album. But the truth is in the numbers, I guess. And the truth is that Jamie needs to write better songs.
Steve | 05-20-2010
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New Pornographers Together Not as actively upsetting as Challengers, but still not up to the quality of their first 3 albums. I'd categorize this as SBTTMEE (Still Better Than Most Everything Else). The extra T is for 'Typo.'
Steve | 05-15-2010
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The National High Violet I bought this National album today. It feels like everyone loves this band, and I feel like a total outsider. They seem like a perfectly respectable if forgettable rock group, sort of like The Doves, or Elbow. But the amount of praise they get from every corner of the music world is pretty astonishing. So seeing this new one for 7.99 at Best Buy, I figured I may as well just dive right in. Wish me luck.
Steve | 05-11-2010
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Mando Diao Never Seen The Light Of Day Imagine my shock when I discovered that Mando Diao released a new album in 2009 that I never once heard about until this year. Are you imagining it? Now, like, quadruple that shock, and you can guess how I felt when I discovered last week that they also released a new album in 2008 that I also heard nothing about. That's two albums they've put out--granted, in Europe only, no American release--that have gotten zero attention on any of the music sites I visit on a daily basis. Not a peep! It's sort of sad to me, because I love these guys, and despite being part of a sort of trendy early 2000s garage rock genre along with the Strokes/Hives/Libertines, I think they are a uniquely talented and worthwhile band that deserves at least a little more attention than they currently get. Which apparently is none.
Harry Nilsson Harry Steve's Harry Nilsson Fandom Update: I've slowly been buying Nilsson's mid/late career "lesser" albums over the last few months, and all are mixed bags. It seems there's usually 2-3 good songs and a bunch of filler, and it all reeks of Harry just not trying too hard. But I'm surprised with Harry, which sounds a whole lot closer to Aerial Ballet than anything else, and much of it very good. But now that I'm looking at it, it seems Harry is from 1969, which isn't mid/late Nilsson at all. My mistake. It's not as good, or at least as immediate, as Aerial Ballet, and his vocals seem slightly passive. It has a more mellow vibe in general, I guess. But one great standout is a cover of the Beatle's "Mother Nature's Son," which is just as strong as the original. Less impressive is his cover of Randy Newman's "Simon Smith And The Amazing Dancing Bear," which seems a little too fluffy and tossed-off in comparison to anything on Nilsson Sings Newman. All in all, it seems that for as strong as this album would be in a vacuum, just about every track on it seems like a slightly inferior version of something he'd either already recorded, or would record in the future.
Steve | 04-19-2010
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Beach House Teen Dream I hate to say it, but this is growing on me. Just a little. I mean, it's still pretty hard to listen to the entire album without wanting to punch a wall, but two or three songs worth is actually a pretty nice listen.
Steve | 04-13-2010
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David Byrne Here Lies Love David Byrne deserves at least this much credit: He sees his art through to the end. A dadaist collection of PowerPoint presentations and corporate signage? Sure. An abandoned warehouse turned into a playable instrument? Check. A double disc dance opera about the life of Imelda Marcos? Why not? I'm convinced that this truly is a project, not necessarily an album. Judged as an album, on the same level we would judge Look Into The Eyeball or Remain In Light or even Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, Here Lies Love fails, because it simply isn't terribly enjoyable to listen to. I mean, we're talking an hour and a half of music here. The music is purposefully gaudy in its production, but simple in its composition. The sound is a combination of 70s/80s club and Broadway musical fantasy, and the lyrics are very much in line with the project's goal. This isn't some half-assed 'rock opera' that claims to be about something but isn't (coughgreendaycough). These songs are bluntly and unapologetically about Imelda Marcos and her childhood friend. The first track on the first disc and the second to last track on the second disc are both great songs, but sadly everything else is, musically, forgettable. But I really don't think David Byrne set out to make a great album here. He set out to create a piece of art, which just happens to take the form of two music CDs. And on that level, I think he nailed it.
Steve | 04-08-2010
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The Avalanches Since I Left You Well, it's decided: I think I'm going to buy the Avalanches album. 10 years of considering it is enough. I should probably just go for it before they release their second album in 2019.
Steve | 04-01-2010
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Grandaddy Just Like The Fambly Cat I think I remember liking this when it came out, but that might be a little cognitive dissonance on my part. All I know is that in the years since its release, I've mostly sated my Grandaddy urges with The Sophtware Slump and Sumday, which I still think is their best. But even though I've been passing off Fambly Cat as insignificant, listening to it right now, very loudly, on a good speaker system, might be changing my mind. More so than Sophtware Slump (their "art" album) and Sumday (their "pop" album), Fambly Cat is clearly Grandaddy's "rock" album, even if every song isn't a barnburner. I'd still place it at number three behind those other two, but I think I've been wrong to ignore it all these years. If anything, it gave us "Geez Louise" (seriously, play that song at max volume. Holy shit!), and "Where I'm Anymore," two legitimate Grandaddy masterpieces. And now that I'm thinking about it, the EP they put out before this album had a couple legitimately good songs on it too. In hindsight, they could've thrown a couple of those ("Fuck The Valley Fudge," specifically) onto Fambly Cat, and it could've been a much stronger album as a whole.
Steve | 03-30-2010
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Bonnie 'Prince' Billy The Wonder Show Of The World Bonnie 'Prince' Billy snuck another new one out this week. I haven't given it it's due yet, but I already like it better than Beware and The Letting Go. It's definitely a 'night' album, that's for sure. Or maybe a 'driving through the desert' album. Very morose, calm, not a lot of excess. Basically just what you'd hope for in a B'P'B joint.
Steve | 03-27-2010
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Brad Mehldau Highway Rider Hah ahaha ah ha ah ahah ahahaha! So much for not wanting the album to end. Turns out it's actually a double album and I was listening to disc two that entire time. Unbelievable. So now that I know how it ends, maybe I should go back and listen to the entire first half of it. My whole listening experience is ruined! Jon Brion would be pissed!
Steve | 03-25-2010
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Brad Mehldau Highway Rider This is the second album I've bought this year solely because Jon Brion has somehow been involved (the first one being an entirely disappointing and insignificant recording from Christina Courtin, who I'm sure is a lovely and well-meaning gal, but otherwise leaves me with absolutely nothing else to say). Brion is only (big fingerquotes on "only") credited as the producer, with no instrumental or writing credits at all, which is surprising considering usually he'll play an instrument (or five) on anything he produces. So obviously this isn't about Brion, this is about Mehldau. And let me say this about Mehldau: This kind of music usually bores the crap out of me on record. In person, sure, I can enjoy pleasant piano jazz, but recordings of it usually do nothing for me. The music on this record, however, is downright beautiful. I have absolutely zero insight about the modern jazz scene, and only the most basic historical knowledge, so I can't make any qualified statements about what Mehldau is doing or who he's channeling, or what makes this better or even different than the hundreds of other jazz pianists out there. But what I can tell is that there is a sort of spirit, a soul to this record that I just want to wrap myself in. It sounds like an April morning smells. Like coasting downhill feels. I'm still on my first listen, and scared that it might end.
The Morning Benders Big Echo All I keep reading about this damn Morning Benders album is how it was produced by a guy from Grizzly Bear, and how it's amazing and sounds like Grizzly Bear and everyone loves it and everyone loves Grizzly Bear. I don't want to take the time to elaborate my thoughts on Grizzly Bear, but the fact is that this album succeeds despite the Grizzly Bear production, not because of it. The songs are good, the performances are good, but it is insanely and unnecessarily over-produced, and would be a much, much better piece of work if it had more character of its own. Layers everywhere, reverb, tinkling pianos, doubled guitars, stuff, stuff, more stuff. At some point all this crap, when it hasn't been carefully and purposefully arranged (thank you very much, Sufjan), just gets in the way of the songs. And reverebed vocals--stop it! Just stop it! My Morning Jacket gets to do that shit. Maybe Andrew Bird and Neko Case. But as soon as Band Of Horses yawned their way into the picture, someone should've drawn a line. Anyway. Like I said, despite all my negativity, this is still an enjoyable listen. Better than Veckatamist at least.
Steve | 03-24-2010
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Kevin Barker You and Me Bought this sort of as a fluke. I heard a couple good things about it, then saw it get a pretty positive write-up in Vice Magazine (which is saying something for an album that is neither freaky nor angry nor anything else the least bit Vicey, which I suppose in effect makes it very Vicey.), and just decided to go for it. It is fun and nice for about 4 songs, but then hits a wall. Oh, and Joanna Newsom plays piano on it, which sounds exciting until you remember she's not a very good piano player. So, yeah. It pretty much makes me wish the Magic Numbers would hurry up and release their new one.
Steve | 03-24-2010
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Self Subliminal Plastic Motives Tonight I was flipping through the used new arrivals at Cheapo (often times a complete goldmine in this 'post-CD' era of ours), and noticed that clearly someone had gotten rid of practically their entire CD collection. That's pretty common, really, but in this case it was particularly funny because this person's collection may as well have been my own. It's happened before, but I for a quick second I actually do get a little scared, like, "Oh my god, I think someone sold my CDs!" But then a cooler head prevailed, and I was able to buy a copy of Self's Subliminal Plastic Motives, a huge favorite of mine from high school. I must've lost the CD a long time ago, because it never made it onto my iPod, and I didn't find it when I was doing a big CD ripping marathon thanks to my new 120gb iPod. (This post is going absolutely nowhere, sorry. Just rambling.) To close, I must say I still really like Self. It's sort of funny how they never really found a bigger audience. They were really not right for their time; too quirky (or about 2 years too late) to be big in the mainstream, and too 'commercial' to hit it big in what became the 'indie' behemoth we know today. Matt Mahaffey has done relatively well for himself since '99, I suppose, but man... they really got knocked around by the industry for an entire decade there. Hopefully they put out something new in the near future.
Steve | 03-24-2010
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Harry Nilsson Sandman Roadrunner came through again for me, this time with a pristine vinyl copy of Sandman, one of the latter-day Nilsson albums where he's pretty much completely wasted and not taking his music the least bit seriously, and yet still making some stupidly funny, smart, catchy numbers. Just listen to these lyrics to his song entitled "How To Write A Song": "If you write it on guitar, place your guitar upon your knee. If you write it on piano, don’t do that." The guy is making a total mockery of the very idea of songwriting, yet succeeding at it at a higher level than practically anyone else in 1976.
Steve | 03-23-2010
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The Decemberists Always The Bridesmaid EP "Valerie Plame" is still a great, great song. And listening to it today really made me long for the 'old' Decemberists, despite the fact that the song could probably be considered 'new.' (Are we looking at two Decemberists, like how we have two Metallicas? Pre-Crane Wife and post-Crane Wife? Seems fair to me.)
Steve | 03-22-2010
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Opeth Ghost Reveries I totally underrated Ghost Reveries when it came out. I think it's become possibly my favorite Opeth album, other than Still Life, Blackwater Park, Deliverance, and My Arms Your Hearse, of course. Sorry, Watershed.
Steve | 03-14-2010
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Pearl Jam No Code 1996. The year of the criminally underrated music release. Pearl Jam's No Code. Soundgarden's Down On The Upside. Alice In Chains' self titled. Stone Temple Pilots' Tiny Music. And Load. I could write an entire essay about the mistreatment of Load. Tragic. Anyway, in all these cases, these were bands that were already supposed to be past their prime, old fogey farts were part of a trend a few years earlier, and were now either just selling out or not being "true" to "themselves" because maybe they didn't "rock" as much as they "used to". Call me crazy, but with the exception of Metallica, all of those albums are the best thing those bands ever released. It was a perfect point on the venn diagram where they were still young enough to give a shit, but bored enough to experiment. They were rich enough to afford a ton of studio time, but not so rich that they blew it all on drugs (except Weiland, of course. And Staley). But beyond all that, in each case, their songcraft was at its peak. And also in each case, the end followed quickly. Pearl Jam has been treading water for 14 years. Alice In Chains got killed by Layne Staley. Soundgarden dissolved and Stone Temple Pilots tiptoed around Weiland until they gave up, and Metallica made the mistake of giving in to the critics and became a cartoon. But for one year in 1996, everyone brought their goddamn A-game. And I feel like I'm the only one that noticed.
Alice In Chains Jar of Flies It just occurred to me that I've never owned Jar Of Flies! "Wha-wha-whaat!?" As much as I liked Alice In Chains back in middle/high school (and today, even), my brother owned a copy of it, so I never bothered buying it. Next time I'm at Cheapo, I'm definitely going to pick up a used copy, which will cost me, what, $2.50? $2.75? It will also make me the last human ever to purchase a CD copy of Jar of Flies.
Steve | 02-27-2010
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Joanna Newsom Have One On Me I feel silly trying to write about this album on a music blog. I don't want to sound like a pompous jackass or something, but the fact is this: Have One One Me doesn't deserve to be critiqued on the same level as other music albums. There are songs here, yes. There is singing, rhythm, melody. But this is something new, and I don't know what it is. Theater? Literature? There's a purity here that is nearly impossible to come by in "pop" music. In The Aeroplane Over The Sea certainly comes to mind. Pink Moon. "Hey Ya." That's not to say that a year from now I'll want to listen to it, or that I'll even be able to read this write-up without feeling completely embarrassed for myself. But all I know is that right now, only a week into Have One On Me, I feel emotionally and physically taunted by it, and I've barely scratched the surface.
Steve | 02-26-2010
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Shearwater The Golden Archipelago Rook was and is a spectacular piece of work. And unfortunately for Shearwater, I think it was also the best they can do. Not only was it the best they could do, but it represented the purest epitome of their very particular sound. So they're not going to top Rook, and they're not going to go release a dance record or an electro-pop record, and we're left with a perfectly respectable Golden Archipelago, thinking, "Boy, I really want to go listen to Rook right now." Shame. (It comes with a cool book, though. Something about aborigines? I don't know.)
Steve | 02-23-2010
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Xiu Xiu Dear God, I Hate Myself Pretty much what I feared. They're back to being a two-man band, and their sound has reverted back to the infuriatingly inconsequential Le Foret days. A couple catchy tunes, but nothing as memorable as a "I Luv The Valley OH!" or "I Do What I Want, When I Want." And the only thing shocking on the entire record is a straight-forward cover of "Cumberland Gap," a traditional folk/bluegrass song. Also probably the most interesting thing here, too. Shame.
Steve | 02-23-2010
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Joanna Newsom Have One On Me This is like watching Magnolia, and an hour and a half through someone switches it with Andrei Rublev. I mean, they're both classics, but I'd rather watch Magnolia, you know?
Joanna Newsom Have One On Me I'm glad I was able to buy this two days early, because at this rate I will be able to have fully digested it by August 6th, 2017 instead of August 8th, 2017. I'll check in with you then.
Steve | 02-21-2010
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Bad Religion Stranger Than Fiction 3 days ago my waking mind was hijacked in an outright guerilla ambush by Bad Religion's "Stranger Than Fiction" (the song). It's played through in my head somewhere around 70 times since Thursday, and I've physically listened to it about a half a dozen. It. Won't. Go. Away. Sure, I liked it when I was a teenager and everything, but suddenly I can't get enough. What's happening to me?
Sade Soldier Of Love I really like this thing that Sade does. Call me crazy, but her (their?) music is just so smooth, so nice, so right. Everything is in its place, everything fits, nothing extraneous, nothing fake. All is sleek, efficient, and thoughtful. Granted, after the first two tracks, the album sort of dissolves into a pleasant fog, but those first two tracks are exciting and remarkable enough to make the whole package worth the price. (The first track in particular, "Moon And The Sky", has this little sped-up sample of her singing "Not gonna let you go" that pops up, out of nowhere, maybe 4 times in the entire song. They easily could've gone overkill and had it play every 4 bars or something, but it just comes in and surprises you, then disappears just when you're expecting to hear it again. Awesome.)
Steve | 02-18-2010
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Owen Pallett Heartland Sounds like: A very angry Danny Elfman remixing a box of long lost Christopher Cross demo tapes. I think I like it?
| 02-14-2010
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The Smiths The Queen is Dead Today being Valentine's Day and all, I want to take a moment and confess my love for Roadrunner Records. While the Electric Fetus, and to a lesser extent Treehouse and Cheapo, are all superior when it comes to CDs, I've found that Roadrunner constantly and consistently blows them away with their vinyl selection. In fact, I've found records there that I couldn't even find at record stores in Seattle, Brooklyn, and Greenwich Village. Take that, cool cities!. And today, it was topped off when they had a copy of The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead, which you wouldn't think would be so hard to find, but I've never seen it anywhere before (in fact, I've only seen a small handful of Smiths albums at all; Jive Time in Seattle had a couple EPs, and Treehouse had Meat Is Murder once). The Cheapo in St. Paul even has a big note on their Smiths placard that basically says, "You probably won't find any Smiths records here." But sweet, sweet Roadrunner had it there, in their New Arrivals section. I mean, it probably isn't a first-pressing, and it's a US version, not a British. But whatever. It's in great shape and was only twenty bucks. So not counting all the hard-to-find Nilsson record's I've found there, the Conlin Blunstone, the early copy of Meddle and the early pressing of Pet Sounds that was in stock there today, this alone was enough to cement my appreciation for what I used to think was a crummy little random record store on Nicollet.
The Unicorns Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? Two quick things:
1.) A while back, I wrote a quick little thing about how Ted Leo's Hearts Of Oak album sounds perfect when played out of cruddy laptop speakers. I'm now finding that this Unicorns album is another rare case of a recording that somehow sounds perfect when coming out of the tinny little din of a MacBook, like this is how it was supposed to be listened to.
2.) I'd been thinking something for a long time, and recently found some random dude's blog (a best of the decade list, actually), where he put the same idea into words. And that is this: The Unicorns' Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone is the perfect musical summation of the entire decade of independent music. A little dance rock, a little garage rock, a little twee sing-song, a slight hip hop influence, lyrics that are simultaneously goofy and deathly serious (and meta), lo-fi, singers that aren't talented but can still hold a tune, minor electronics, a hand-drawn cover (with rainbows!), and a "The" in their name. Plus, they're from Quebec! But best of all, despite seemingly doing what 1,000 other bands did last decade, they did it all better than nearly everyone.
Steve | 02-05-2010
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Midlake The Courage Of Others Hmm. I've been waiting for this album for a long time. It's probably the one record I've been anticipating most over the last year or two. So, as usually happens in these situations, color me disappointed. It starts off really nicely, with a great mellow tune called "Acts Of Man." But it never really builds up any steam. They've been touting it as a folk-inspired album, reaching back to old British Fairport Convention type stuff. But in reality it isn't too different (in tone, instrumentation) as Van Occupanther (an all time favorite of mine). The only problem is that for all its aesthetic similarities, the melodic creativity and basic energy just isn't there. But I'm sure I'll come back and listen to it a few more times this week, for sure. It might just be a slow-burner of an album. (I've even been giving Beach House its fair shake. The verdict: still boring..)
Steve | 02-02-2010
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Beach House Teen Dream Do you like quarter notes? Do you like vague, dispassionate background vocal harmonies? Do you like Mazzy Star or Low, but always wish they'd add about 4bpm to their songs? Then buy this album! It will completely wear out its welcome by the opening notes (quarter notes) of the third track, but Pitchfork gave it a 9.0, so it's great!
Steve | 01-29-2010
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Retribution Gospel Choir 2 I love this. When every eye-rollingly trendy band is releasing music that the Pitchforks and the Stereogums describe as either "drone-pop," "haze pop," "shit gaze," or any other asinine combination thereof, the guy partially responsible for all of it (thanks, Low) decides to take out his guitar, turn his amp up to 12, and blow every other bullshit "glo fi" band out of their beards. Shit. Maybe I'm just getting old, but in a world where every half assed band with a bad microphone and a reverb filter (and a good back story) gets to spend a month as the "next big thing," I'm glad that bands like this are out there doing it right.
Steve | 01-26-2010
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Mount Eerie Wind's Poem While it's otherwise disposable, a mere shadow of the former greatness of The Microphones, this album can genuinely freak you out if listened to under the right circumstances. Like being alone in a dark house after reading pages and pages of stories about mysterious disappearances, unexplainable lights, and human combustion.
Vampire Weekend Contra Okay, I was wrong. The album isn't completely useless. The last minute and a half of the last song is actually pretty nice. But then it's over.
Steve | 01-22-2010
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Vampire Weekend Contra It's like the first Vampire Weekend album, except instead of using their studio time to actually write catchy songs and tighten their performances, they apparently just f'd around on some new electronic music software and listened to Animal Collective albums (read: the last two Animal Collective albums). Yikes! This one's an "Oxford Yawna"!
Augie March Watch Me Disappear I worried, from the samples I heard a year ago, that this was going to be Augie March's nail-in-the-coffin album; they'd perhaps become a little big in their britches down in Australia, and are finally recording purely radio-friendly bullshit. And I was only half right. This whole album doesn't have nearly the soul or the humanity of Strange Bird (a perfect album, in my opinion, and one of my all time favorites), and every song could be played on the radio. Cities 97 maybe? But at the same time, it's a beautiful album. It's clear, too, that Glen Richards, the singer and songwriter, is an extremely talented musician. He writes smart, heartbreaking songs, and has a voice to match. I still think these guys should be a big deal over here in the US, and I'm really not sure why they aren't.
Steve | 12-30-2009
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Steve's Favorites of 2009 A List And so the year comes to an end, and I was unable to secure (and unwilling to buy online) the new Katatonia and the new Holopaw. So in lieu of either of those somehow blowing my mind, here's my list:
1. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
2. Antony And The Johnsons - The Crying Light
3. The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come
4. Maxwell - BLACKsummer'snight
5. Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
6. The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
7. Arbouretum - Songs Of The Pearl
8. The Antlers - Hospice
9. Bob Dylan - Christmas In The Heart
10. Mastodon - Crack The Skye
And I was going to write my 10 favorite songs, but it's pretty pointless; nothing was exceptionally great this year. Maybe I don't like music anymore.
Steve | 12-23-2009
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Bobby Birdman New Moods They finally sent me a download link. It's a promo download link. There are audio watermarks on it. The album isn't great anyway. I don't care anymore.
Steve | 12-23-2009
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Steve's Favorite First 3.5 Tracks of the 2000s A List I already made a list of my favorites of the 2000s. But in an alternate reality, where every album ends after 3.5 tracks, things look very different. Pointless? Yes. But...
1. The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
2. Dungen - Ta Det Lungt
3. Joanna Newsom - Ys
4. Animal Collective - Feels
5. Sigur Ros - Agaetis Byjrun
6. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
7. Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers
8. Opeth - Blackwater Park
9. Antony And The Johnsons - The Crying Light
10. Meshuggah - Catch Thirtythree
Steve | 12-22-2009
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Bobby Birdman New Moods I'd love to write a post here telling you how great this new Bobby Birdman album is (as he's been a favorite of mine since 2002), but since his record label/distributer/henchman is seemingly unable to send me an album (or even a download code for said album) I ordered from them a month ago, I am not able to do that. I bet it's great, too. I hate everything.
The Mountain Goats The Life Of The World To Come Despite the running joke of my supposedly unabashed love for The Mountain Goats, I had never actually owned any of their (his) albums until this one. At first I enjoyed it, but didn't think much of it. But after a week or two, I found myself constantly revisiting it, finding something there that kept me hooked. Now after a month or two, I can honestly say it's one of my favorite albums of this year, some songs being the most heartbreaking I've ever heard, and others being so stupidly catchy that they leave me with no choice but to enjoy them. It's all in the lyrics, as this guy is clearly a writer first and a musician second. But there are some gorgeous, stand-out lines in some of these songs. "Drive til the rain stops / keep driving." "People screaming when the engines quit / I hope we're all in crash position when we hit." "I remember seeing you / my tongue struck dumb / When you first came here from wherever it is you came from." But I'll stop that now, lest I become the kind of idiot who quotes song lyrics on the internet.
Stevie Wonder Songs In The Key Of Life Matt's has not only the best burger in town, but the best juke box. Pure class. And I dominated that thing tonight. "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder, followed by Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," and capped off by the lovely "More Than This" by Roxy Music. I saw four different people dancing or singing along to "Sir Duke" within the first few bars. They didn't know what hit them. And the burger was stellar as always.
Andrew Bird Live in Minneapolis, 12-10-09 This was going to be amazing. Andrew Bird. St. Marks Cathedral in Loring Park. Purely ambient PA setup. Entirely instrumental, mostly improvised. Something new. I was stoked, $40 tickets be damned (watch your language). Yet about halfway through the show, which I was enjoying, I couldn't help but think that it was a little disappointing. Not in the sense that he didn't perform well, or that the audio was bad, or anything like that. It was just, well, an Andrew Bird show. Nothing less, not a whole lot more. He plucked, he looped, he whistled (while he xylophoned), he played his awkward (in a good way) melodies, he sang big words. He bariolaged. It was all fantastic, yes. But we were in a church. I wanted glorious. He has a new 5-horn custom PA setup that was supposed to be a big deal for the show--using only those to produce sound that would fill the grand cathedral. In reality, they sounded fine, and you could get a little sense of reverb from the cathedral, but it wasn't much different than hearing him in any other venue. In fact, I'd almost say that those PAs weren't even very great. There was distortion at some points, and the generally had a very "PA" sound to them. And while he started the show with a nicely fleshed-out instrumental, he eventually just starting doing some of his old songs. He could've done one big hour-long shifting, meandering instrumental, which I was half expecting, but most of the pieces just randomly stopped. But here I am, complaining about a great show in a great venue (if you discount the numerous obstructed views and bad viewing angles), when I should just be happy that there's still someone out there with honest-to-God musical talent at leasttrying to do something new.
Steve | 12-11-2009
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Niobe Black Birds Echo This is a beautiful, sublime, life-affirming album. That is, as long as you're listening to it with headphones. At night. With the temperature between 29 and 49 degrees. And you're walking. And not concentrating on anything else. Otherwise, it's a little dull and occasionally embarrassing. But if you're listening to it with headphones at night while it's 29-49 degrees and you're walking and not concentrating on anything else, it's beautiful, sublime, and life-affirming. Trust me.
Lake Let's Build A Roof A regrettable purchase. I'm not sure what situation will lend itself to getting maximum enjoyment from this album. It probably involves making enough of a racket that the music disappears into the background. Something like charades. Or building demolition. I'm sure the members of Lake are perfectly nice people (and probably from Portland), but geez, guys. Loosen up a little bit. Just because you're on K Records doesn't mean you have to be a bunch of miserable louts wincing your way through a recording session. Project!
Steve | 11-29-2009
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Julian Casablancas Phrazes For The Young Boring story, but it totally made my day, and I need to tell it. Follow along if you'd like. So I really like this Julian Casablancas album. A bunch. I even like the packaging. But a couple weekends ago, I must've had it in my coat pocket, in the parking lot of the Lowes parking lot in Plymouth, where I believe it slipped out. The CD wasn't in the case, mind you, it was just empty. But since I actually enjoy having the cases (this one in particular), and I collect these things, I was pretty bummed about losing it. So this weekend, when I was at the Electric Fetus, I decided to just buy a new copy, since it was only $8.99. As I was checking out at the register, the girl asked me, "Hey, you don't want an autographed copy of this album do you? We have a bunch left." Well, yes, I would, in fact, like an autographed copy. Thank you. So she went back and grabbed a new case, sans CD, and gave it to me to keep along with the new copy I just bought. I then told her the funny and ironic story about how I was just buying it again because I lost the case, and I now have two CDs and two cases. Christmas gifts! It was then that she happily offered to just give me the autographed case, and return the real one I just paid for. It totally made my day! So not only did I get a free case to replace my lost one, but it was autographed, to boot! You don't see Treehouse going around doing nice things like that. They'd probably just make fun of me for buying a Julian Casablancas CD. Rather, they'd make fun of me for buying a CD.
Steve | 11-29-2009
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Bob Dylan Christmas In The Heart Ignore everything bad you've heard about this Bob Dylan Christmas album. It's awesome. Completely ridiculous. Completely unnecessary. But it somehow more legitimately Dylan that anything new he's released since who knows when. I don't know if he's taking it seriously, or if he's just messing with us. But either way, this is a classic and timeless Christmas album that will definitely be a mainstay in my (admittedly spare) Christmas music rotation.
Metallica ...And Justice For All Whether you want to picture Metallica's career as a pyramid, a parabola, or a preternaturally precarious precipice, it's hard not admit that the graph's paramount peak (pinnacle?) is precisely positioned (okay, I'm done now) at the 4:33 mark of ...And Justice For All's fourth track--that part in "One" where the drums start going "duddleuh-duddleuh-duh, duddleuh-duddleuh-duh." The whole song is a thing of perfection, but when that breakdown starts and you know all hell is about to break loose, it just doesn't get much better than that. And there isn't another 3 minutes in the Metallica catalogue that is as tight, focused, and flawless as the last three minutes of that song. I love every beat of it. In fact "One" is buried so deep in my consciousness that when I listen to it under just about any circumstance, it takes control of my entire nervous and circulatory systems. I think it must be the same thing that makes crazy Baptists speak in tongues and Himalayan monks keep from freezing to death. And that dual-guitar solo at the end. Holy moly.
Julian Casablancas Phrazes For The Young Julian Casablancas just released a solo album which combines the fluid melodies and impeccable arrangements of The Strokes with the danceclub energy and of instrumental dexterity of Ratatat. And one of the songs sounds like it could've been written by Randy Newman. Sign me the fuck up.
Steve | 11-05-2009
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Jack Drag Dope Box I sometimes think that my 17 year old self was way cooler then the 27 year old version. Nowadays I may listen to some "independent" or "lesser-known" bands like, I don't know, Midlake or Deerhoof or The Moore Brothers or whoever. But whoop dee doo, what college-educated, white bread, bearded 27 year old doesn't? But Jack Drag? Mind Science Of The Mind? Muscadine? Who the hell listened to any of that stuff back in 1997? Half the stuff I'd listen to I discovered simply by flipping through piles of random used CDs at Down In The Valley and listening to the ones that looked interesting. There was no tastemaker, no gatekeeper. No Pitchfork or Cokemachine glow saying, "This is good. This is bad." It was a crapshoot, but one with great returns. The Day I Fell Down, one of my favorites from that era (and to this day one of the few albums I'd dare say is "perfect,") wouldn't get the time of day in 2009, from myself or from just about any website who takes the responsibility to decide what deserves to get that time of day. And even though it's almost easier than ever to simply "browse", online rather than in the used bins, the returns now are constantly diminishing, as everyone and his brother is able to record music, however awful, and put it online. The gems are harder and harder to find. And those few left are already being recommended by someone, not simply left for you to find and critique on your own. To this day I don't know what anyone else thinks about Jack Drag. Maybe they were hated. Maybe they were local Boston darlings. I don't know and I don't care.
Steve | 11-03-2009
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Steve's OTHER Favorites of the 2000s A List I realized, after writing my previous list, that there are a handful of albums which I love, in the sense that I have listened to and enjoyed them regularly since their release, yet they simply aren't the type of albums that I would ever consider my "favorites." Why this is, I don't know. Perhaps they're all just too nice, not really standing up and making a statement that would allow me go get any emotional connection to them. Or maybe I'm just a pretentious, self-aware jerk that wants people to think he has good taste. But I still listen to them constantly, and always find myself saying, "Man. That's a really good album," then promptly forget about them.
1. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci - How I Long To Feel That Summer In Your Heart
2. Superdrag - In The Valley Of Dying Stars
3. The Magic Numbers - Those The Brokes
4. Summer Hymns - A Celebratory Arm Gesture
5. Grandaddy - Sumday
6. Benji Hughes - A Love Extreme
7. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
8. Hem - Rabbit Songs
9. Eddie Vedder - Into The Wild Soundtrack
10. Holopaw - Holopaw
Steve | 10-20-2009
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Baroness Blue Record Who would've thought that the best Mastodon album to be released this year wouldn't actually a Mastodon album? Baroness, ladies and gentlemen. Actually, they take more of the Skinnard-y, Zeppelin-y, Thin Lizzy-y stuff that Mastodon only hints at and run with it. This is the kind of metal that makes people who don't like metal admit that they might be wrong. Organic, musical, sometimes even funky. It won't go down as one of my all time faves, given that it sometimes gets too close to 'Mastodon ripoff' for its own good, in the vocals especially. But man, these guys know what they're doing, and are damn good at it. It is also a very late but worthy competitor to the Flaming Lips for Record Cover Of The Year.
Steve | 10-16-2009
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The Flaming Lips Embryonic The Flaming Lips have gone and made themselves an uncritiquable album. This thing is a textbook, and rare, case of a band making an album simply for themselves. Not for the fans, not for the record company, not for the critics, nobody else. They set out with an artistic goal, something they needed to strive to achieve. And they nailed it. It does absolutely everything it sets out to do, containing new sounds, a creative spirit, and pure energy. Unfortunately, it is absolutely no fun to listen to. It might make a good late-night road trip album (like a 3 a.m. driving through the middle of Nebraska road trip), but in terms of pure listenability, you're much better off with The Soft Bulletin, Clouds Taste Metallic, or even At War With The Mystics. But none of that matters, because that clearly isn't the point of this album. The Flaming Lips needed to hit the reboot button after a decade spent becoming one of the biggest bands in the world, and that's exactly what they did. It's got a sweet fucking album cover, too.
Langhorne Slim Be Set Free I think Langhorne Slim is just trying too hard nowadays. His old stuff is all pretty spare, just acoustic guitar, stand-up bass, drums and the occasional banjo, and yet it was supremely energetic and energizing. Since then, like on this new album, it's as if he's trying to manufacture the energy through some generic idea of, uh, epicness. Every song is the same sort of slow build, ending with pianos and strings and choruses, and I don't know. Watch this guy live and you'll see all he needs is a guitar and a microphone, and he's a force of nature. But now he's trying to make these grand statements, and it's all just coming out sounding the same.
Steve | 10-10-2009
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Steves Favorites of the 2000s A List Apparently the 2000's are ending. I know this because Pitchfork released a list of the best albums from them. Their list was wrong, of course, so here is a better one:
1. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
2. The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
3. Joanna Newsom - Ys
4. Augie March - Strange Bird
5. Opeth - Blackwater Park
6. Jon Brion - Meaningless
7. Jon Brion - I Heart Huckabees
8. Catfish Haven - Tell Me
9. The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
10. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther
11. Sigur Ros - Aegaetis Byjrun
12. Belle And Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
13. The Sea And Cake - Oui
14. Opeth - Deliverance
15. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
16. Langhorne Slim - When The Sun's Gone Down
17. Cornelius - Point
18. The Webb Brothers - Maroon
19. Joanna Newsom - The Milk Eyed Mender
20. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
Special bonus section for three perfect EPs which were nearly as good as to render their follow-up LPs unnecessary:
1. Catfish Haven - Please Come Back
2. Meshuggah - Eye
3. Aereogramme - Seclusion
And finally, because why not, my favorite songs of the 2000's:
1. Jon Brion - "Knock Yourself Out"
2. Belle And Sebastian - "Jonathan David"
3. Midlake - "Roscoe"
4. Xiu Xiu - "I Do What I Want, When I Want"
5. Catfish Haven - "Please Come Back"
6. The Fiery Furnaces - "Chief Inspector Blancheflower"
7. Opeth - "The Leper Affinity"
8. Super Furry Animals - "Juxtaposed With U"
9. Cornelius - "Brazil"
10. Little Wings - "Boom!"
And that's all because I could do this all day, and there isn't nearly enough day left.
Steve | 10-03-2009
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Deerhoof Offend Maggie I know this album came out last year, but I just had one of those "Holy cow" listening experiences with it yesterday. I mean, Deerhoof is Deerhoof, and you get pretty much exactly what you expect. But it really blew me away this time just how out there they are. Yes, this is rock music, and it's nothing more than drums, bass, guitar, and voice, but these guys are really coming from a different place. They're playing chords that are seemingly being invented on the spot, and melodies that are so devoid of comparisons and references that you'd think they're coming from a group of culturally innocent outsider savants who only discovered music the day before. Beyond that, the engineering and recording on Offend Maggie is some of the crispest and purest I've ever heard. You may as well be standing in the middle of their practice space. And that distorted guitar tone, wow! The whole album is really a thing of amazement, and I'm a little bummed I hadn't really given it the respect it deserves, since from afar it appears to be "just another Deerhoof album." Sure, you could try to create a comparison mixing Shudder To Think and Japanese pop and who knows what else, but you'd be better off to admit that, for better or worse, Deerhoof is simply operating on a different plane as everyone else.
Steve | 09-30-2009
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Brother Ali Us Man, some of this Brother Ali album is downright amazing. I wasn't kidding when I said it's a grower of an album. Whereas Shadows On The Sun came sprinting out of the gate and smacked you around from the first track, and other songs like "Forest Whitaker" and "Dorian" are very obvious and easy favorites, the great stuff on Us really takes a little bit of concentration. His wordplay isn't as tricky or explosive (save for one great double entendre using the word "Poppy"), but the stories he's telling are far more intriguing than anything most other rappers even attempt. One entire track has him telling his life story as a parable about a leper son of a slave owner being adopted by the slaves. And it works so well that I can't even make fun of how ridiculous it is. Another is a surprisingly touching story of his high school friend who was killed by a stray bullet in his house in Minneapolis. I don't know... I just think this Brother Ali guy is really something special. He has an amazing command of the language, both verbal and tonal, and has such a passion for his craft that every verse of every song, whether it's a battle or an ode to his mother in law, sounds like the most important thing in the world at the time he's saying it.
Steve | 09-23-2009
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Pearl Jam Backspacer "The Fixer" sounds exactly like some other song I've heard before. And I have no idea what that other song is. It might take me a full week of listening to every album I own, but I will find the doppelganger. You bet giant Cat In The Hat hat I will.
Brother Ali Us Only about 6 songs into this new Brother Ali album, but I think I can already just about sum it up: Fantastic production by Ant. Unique, interesting, exciting, all that stuff. Ali's rhymes are fairly strong, and his subject matter is varied and actually interesting (one song about moving apartments, another parallelling the dual-lives of Somali Minnesotans and closeted gay high school kids) but nothing so far is as explosively perfect as his first album. All in all, it is a rare "slow burn" rap album. You'll actually have to listen to this thing a couple times--slowly and patiently--to really appreciate it. Oh, by the way, did I mention that I saw Brother Ali eating lunch at The Cardinal a few weeks back? He ordered an ice tea. This somehow made me respect him more.
Steve | 09-22-2009
The Beatles The Beatles: Rock Band Even though I've been telling people it's the perfect "party game", I just got done playing Beatles Rock Band with guitar on expert for about an hour and a half by myself. It was a ton of fun. And I know I've ranted about this before, but this Beatles version of the game has absolutely strengthened my position on Rock Band as a whole. I read tons of stuff, mostly from online music critics, about how Rock Band is somehow bad for music. Either it stifles creativity, or cheapens artistic works, or keeps kids from actually playing real instruments. Those are the standard gripes. And that drives me crazy. I honestly think that not only is Rock Band not bad for music, but it is an immensely positive tool for learning about performance, composition, rhythm, and all that kind of stuff. Seriously. How many times have you listened to "Dear Prudence?" Dozens? Hundreds? But how many times have you really focused in on the guitar work at the end, the counter melodies and two-guitar harmonies? Probably not very often. And how close have you really listened to Paul's bassline on "Eight Days A Week?" These songs are so ubiquitous that they are barely heard, instead they are remembered, if that makes any sort of sense. But when you sit down with your plastic Wii guitar and are forced to follow along with every single little note George plays in "Something," you get a whole new appreciation for the music. It almost becomes new again. It's little things, too, like when the game suddenly makes you press three buttons at once when the guitar plays a 7 chord, but only two buttons for a 5; as a guitar player, it feels right. The standard blues riff on "Revolution" feels like you're playing a standard blues riff for real. The awesome lead guitar part on "And Your Bird Can Sing" has every little hammer-on and pull-off. The same can be said for regular (non-Beatles) Rock Band. What other reason would a 12 year old kid ever have to study the bassline to Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way"? Sure, this isn't teaching anyone how to actually play a guitar, but I'd argue that it's teaching you to feel the guitar, to feel the music and get inside of it in a way you can't do when you're driving down the highway with Kool 108 on the radio.
Steve | 09-18-2009
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Harry Nilsson The Point I don't know if I'm crazy or what, because I can't find a single written reference to it, but it sounds to me like Nilsson is actually using tape loops and electronic percussion on a few songs on The Point. Am I imagining this? Listen to "Me And My Arrow" and tell me you don't hear it. "Poli High" is the other one. And really, every other track is Nilsson's story narration, which features repeating bars of music in the back. Even those sound so perfect that there has to be some sort of looping happening here. I just don't understand why nothing I can find to read about this album talks about this. It was only 1971; electronic elements in music weren't exactly en vogue yet. In fact, according to most sources, 1971 marked the first time that any pop artist featured electronic percussion in a single, that being a slightly obscure cover of a Sly And The Family Stone track. I really need to dig deeper into this, because it's kind of blowing my mind.
BLK JKS After Robots (Ahem)... TV On The Radio, Vampire Weekend, Animal Collective, Television, The Cure, The Clash, Tool, The Mars Volta, The Secret Machines, Hella, Rush, The Stooges, Blue Cheer, Sleater Kinney, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Mogwai, The Fantomas but not Mr. Bungle, Black Flag, Konono No. 1, Fela Kuti, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, Fishbone, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Arrested Development, Motown, atonality, legitimacy, and, while we're at it, District 9.
Jon Brion Magnolia soundtrack I finally got my hands on a copy of Harry Nilsson's Aerial Ballet, a beautiful record that I won't waste my time slobbering over on this stupid blog that no one will ever read. But what I discovered on this record is something that really blows my mind. Blown like a Gary Anderson field goal, even. So a couple tracks into Aerial Ballet, there's a song called "Together." It's a fantastic tune, with this circular melody that is one of those that makes me wonder, "How does someone sit down and write something like this?" Anyhow, I'm listening to it and enjoying it, but there's something very familiar about the whole thing. And then towards the end, he sings the lines "Life isn't easy when two are divided / and one has decided to bring down the curtain / and one thing's for certain there's nothing to keep them together." Unbelievable wordplay, but more to the point: Holy shit, that's what Jon Brion sings as background vocals at the end of Aimee Mann's cover of "One" on the Magnolia soundtrack!. Of course it was only a matter of time until my long-time-love for Jon Brion and my newfound fascination with Harry Nilsson would collide in a way that makes me wonder why I haven't been listening to Nilsson for the last 8 years. But it gets better. I go online to just see what has been written about Brion's little reference (since "One" was written by Nilsson and is also on Aerial Ballet it makes a ton of sense that he threw it in, but is even more amazing in that the line fits perfectly, and caps off the song in a way that I would dare say makes it the superior version, apologies to Three Dog Night), and while there was no reference to Brion singing a part of "Together" on the track, it is referenced on Wikipedia that the very opening sample of "One" (the part that goes "Okay, Mr. Mix"!) is actually a sample from an earlier Harry Nilsson recording "Cuddly Toy"! But Wait, There's More! All that stuff got me really excited, and I went back and listened to the Magnolia version of "One" a few times, when at the 2:54 mark, there is this other memorable Jon Brion background part, essentially an un-verbal harmony that verbalizes into "Oo wa, oo wa, ow wow wow." At this point I'm thinking that it sounds an awful lot like how Nilsson would vocalize those notes. So I go back to Aerial Ballet, and right away on the first track, "Good Old Desk," Nilsson sings, "Oo wa, oo wa, ow wow wow." Jon Brion, you sly old dog! So now he's recorded an Aimee Mann cover of "One" that references 4 separate Harry Nilsson songs in a way that %0.001 of the listening audience will ever realize, all because he's Jon Brion and this is the kind of shit he does, and he's better than you and that's just how it is. And, oh yeah, the song "He Needs Me", that anchors Brion's Punch Drunk Love soundtrack and was originally written for Robert Altman's Popeye movie? Guess who wrote that one. Yep. Fuck.
Interpol Turn On The Bright Lights I'm going to come off as a big idiot dork loser for saying this, but here it is anyway: Interpol is the perfect band to listen to in New York City. Aside from being catchy melody-makers and a case study in a rhythm section perfecting the art of being a rhythm section, their music is a precise balance of rigidity, coldness, and fashionable cockiness that is very much of the city. When I was waiting for the train outside of the airport, I put on "NYC" just for kicks (and to continue my somewhat embarrassing tradition of choosing apt music when entering new states). It took about two measures to realize why people went crazy for these guys back in 2001; because New Yorkers decide what people get to go crazy for, and this stuff must've cut straight to the souls of New Yorkers. It also helped me realize why the Midlakes and Augie March's of the world will never get the Williamsburgy blog credit they deserve. Although it still leaves me confused about Antony. Oh, wait... the cross dressing thing. Fair enough.
Harry Nilsson Son Of Schmilsson I just wrote a big long post about Harry Nillson's Son of Schmilsson, but after reading it a couple times, realized it was completely useless. So in lieu of a new related article, and because I never programmed a 'delete post' function into this blog (among the many other things I didn't program into it), I'll simply leave you with a link to the song "Joy," which is all you need to hear to be as confused about the recording career of Harry Nilsson as I.
Olivia Tremor Control Black Foliage Play this album very loud and sit very close to the speakers and turn off the lights and maybe in your car and think about how some 20-something kid actually created it with some four-tracks and cassette tapes and effort and turn it up a little more and you're a failure.
Steve | 08-03-2009
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The Fiery Furnaces I'm Going Away The Fiery Furnaces will never top Blueberry Boat. This is a fact that I've stated before and will state again, and one that I am becoming more comfortable with. I know now that everything they release is of its own world and should be judged entirely on its own scale. That said, this newest one is easily the most listenable and memorable album they've released since EP. (By the way, is EP actually an EP, or a full-length? I'm really not sure. I'll just say "yes" and move on with my life). The minor problem, which I never would've imagined complaining about with an FF album, is that it almost isn't weird enough. One thing that makes the Furnaces great is when they go completely unhinged, taking their perfect little pop songs and skulling them with a baseball bat and a wah pedal. Blueberry Boat did this masterfully, making 90 degree turns and randomly exploding at the best possible moments; guitar solos, drum machines, tempo shifts, devils, whooping cranes. On I'm Going Away, for as good as the melodies and performances may be, the element of surprise is nowhere to be seen. This is really an experimental concept album of a very different stripe, the experimental concept being "we're a band playing music." And for as much as I've wanted these guys to make an album just like this one, I'm surprised to find myself longing for a few more curveballs thrown in the mix.
Steve | 07-28-2009
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Dinosaur Jr. Farm Can't. Stop. Listening. To. This. Album. Very. Loud. Makes me. Separate. Words. Very. Tediously. Wish. It was. 1990. Again. I'd be the coolest 4th grader ever. Way cooler than that one kid who wore Def Leppard t-shirts every day. Sometimes he'd wear a very loose mesh football practice jersey over the Def Leppard t-shirt. He seemed like a real rebel at the time. In hindsight, I think he was just a textbook case of white trash. But man, if I could've shown up to school with a Dinosaur Jr. shirt, things really would've been different.
Steve | 07-19-2009
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Dinosaur Jr. Farm Dinosaur Jr. has been around since 1985, are total critical and music-dude darlings, and are always on the shortlist of "bands that gave birth to grunge in the 90's". Seminal, one could say. And yet until yesterday, I never really had any idea what they sounded like--or so I thought. But when I was looking around at Treehouse, this song started playing on their speakers. It was a catchy and repetitive little distorted guitar riff, detached and melodic vocals, and some sweet solos. Simple, slightly dumb, but I loved it. And even though there was no way for me to know, I didn't even find it necessary to ask the guy behind the counter what he was playing. "Oh, this must be the new Dinosaur Jr. album" my mind told me. It was like that time I heard "Screaming Infidelities" on the radio for the first time, and thought, "Oh, this must be Dashboard Confessional.Yikes." After I got home, I checked into it, and yes. It was in fact the new Dinosaur Jr. album. So I picked it up this afternoon, and have a few thoughts about it already. First, these guys are a great band, and I feel dumb for having ignored them all these years. Secondly, this album, for being a sort of late-career reunion album, is shockingly good. And finally, it sounds like total shit. The guitars are completely dry and way to high up in the mix, the drums are too low, and the bass is seemingly nonexistent. It has all the subtlety of a kick in the ass. Maybe that's a lame critique to make of a band who helped invent the idea of sounding like crap on purpose, but the quality of their songcraft and technicality of their performance deserves a better mix than this.
Steve | 07-15-2009
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Fennesz Endless Summer There's an old joke. A guy sits down to listen to a Fennesz album, which he just purchased for three bucks because it's a little scratched up. And it's not until three minutes into the third track that he realizes the CD has been skipping the entire time. Well, that's essentially how I feel about IDM.
The Mars Volta Octahedron The Mars Volta are a fancy, wiggly rubber lure, and I am but a mere sunfish, enjoying a swim and looking for something to eat. Preferably something wiggly. And they get me every damn time. I always seem to forget that their previous album was borderline unlistenable, as was the one before that and the one before that. And yet I purchase every one of them, hoping that this time--this time--they'll hit the jackpot and produce the all-time classic that I've been waiting for them to produce for the last six years. This new one is a little closer; at least it has songs on it. But even though they've gotten rid of a lot of the "masturbatory" incoherence (by the way, that phrase as it applies to the Mars Volta is worthy of an entire essay someday), but in my mind it is the combination of this masturbatory incoherence and revelatory hooks and rhythms that made those--sigh---two songs on their first album so perfect. I probably need to stop kidding myself. They're just not going to get there. But mark my word, about 16 months from now, when they release their next album, with its fantastic artwork and press release hype, the Mars Volta will be pulling a bloody hook out of my lip and frying me up with some cracker crumbs and butter. And tartar sauce.
Steve | 07-07-2009
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The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin Let's face it: The Flaming Lips will never, ever record another album as good as The Soft Bulletin. Not even close. For as much as everyone wanted to like Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and for as much press as it got and for how much play "Do You Realize?" received, that album really paled in comparison. At War With The Mystics didn't even hold my interest for one listen. But The Soft Bulletin is just a perfect record, from beginning to end. It's one of those cases where everything just fit into place; the sound, the songs, the lyrics, the performances, the artwork, the live shows. Everything is just right. Like when you're sitting at a red light with your blinker on, and the car in front of you has his on, and then suddenly they sync up. But then before you know it, they're just slightly out of sync again, and the band is making Christmas movies about aliens and recording Madonna covers. Sure, they're cool and everything, and I'll buy the next thing they release without a second thought. But let's be realistic here. From the first drum fill in "Race For The Prize," they peaked, and it went slowly downhill from there. Luckily, it's a very large hill.
Steve | 07-01-2009
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Wilco Wilco (the album) This, more than Animal Collective, more than The Decemberists, and more than whoever else, was my most anticipated album of this year. Sky Blue Sky, in my mind, was their best album, and the couple times I saw them live made me a firm believer that Wilco is currently the Best Band In America (TM). Hands down. Not only was that last album great, but it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for the band to take its sound (although, really, they've done that on every album they've released). But, as everyone could've guessed, I'm a little let down by it. It's not a bad album at all. It just doesn't have enough of any one thing going for it to make it a great album. The songs are okay--"Wilco (the song)" is already a classic--but the compositions are often slighted by unnecessarily fussy arrangements. Nels Cline, their new secret weapon, has some cool guitar parts, but they never really get off the ground, or completely explode before liftoff. Really, they're existing in an awkward middle ground between Untouchable Singles Band (Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) and Experimental Jam Band (Sky Blue Sky, A Ghost Is Born), and not really excelling at either. But to be fair, I didn't like Sky Blue Sky after the first couple listens either, so we'll see where this goes.
Steve | 06-28-2009
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The Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca I'm only on the second track here, but I can already tell this is really something. It's some unholy (yet wholly original) combination of Shudder To Think, Battles, Ted Leo, Xiu Xiu... uh... The Blow... R Kelly... and, I don't know, that Esteban guy from the infomercials.
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Since I was in Seattle last week, I decided what better memorabilia to buy than the debut album of Seattle's hottest new band! And not unlike one of those "all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirts, I'll probably never take this out to listen to ever again. They seem to be trying really hard (too hard?), but it just doesn't work. I heard a great quote from Jon Brion recently, in reference to Of Montreal. To paraphrase, he said, "I like Of Montreal because they actually sound like they're making music, not just doing their impression of what they think music should sound like." Yes, yes yes. This perfectly sums it up for me. That is really the major line between the handful of great bands and the endless swarms of mediocre bands out there nowadays. And unfortunately Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band is just another part of the swarm.
Grizzly Bear Veckatimest This Grizzly Bear album is probably good, and I'm sure they're nice people, but thanks to the godless homosexual abortionists that planned the city of Seattle's senseless street configuration, I will never be able to listen to it again without getting a subconscious urge to drive (or, given the situation, hurl) myself into oncoming traffic.
Nine Inch Nails The Fragile Awesome awesome awesome awesome. I think I have a very similar post on my Myspace 'blog' section about this album, but I just have the same reaction every time I decide to dust it off and give it a spin. It just sounds so 'current,' even now. And for all the talk (and criticism) Trent Reznor gets for his music's "aggression," and "darkness," and "et cetera," what makes this album (both discs of it mind you, no small task) so perfect is its subtlety, grace, and flow. Yes, he can come off as Angry Dude, but it's clear when you listen to The Fragile, that this is a man while complete control of his art. Like hearing Otis Redding sing a soul song, or watching Joe Mauer swing a bat. Most of his work in the last couple years has been solid (and how bizarre is it that he's become this hugely respected independent music figurehead?) but I don't think it will ever get any better than this.
Steve | 05-25-2009
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Green Day Insomniac Despite the fact that I'm listening to it right now, I can't imagine the type of person that, when confronted with the question of "What should I listen to now?" would pull out Insomniac. I mean, if you're going to listen to Green Day, fine. But the obvious albums one would choose would be (in no particular order) 21st Century Breakdown (because it's the newest), American Idiot (because it's still awesome), Dookie (because some people like to reminisce), Warning (because it is still the best album they've ever recorded, according to this guy), Nimrod (because it's officially when Billy Joe became a songwriting behemoth), Kerplunk and/or 10,000 Something Or Another Slaphappy Something (because I'm sure there are a handful of "I knew them before they were big" Green Day traditionalists out there. And I can't imagine what they've been going through in the last 15 years). But Insomniac, despite having a few good songs on it, seems so insignificant compared to pretty much everything else they've ever released. Of course, as soon as I typed that, "Brain Stew" started playing and suddenly it's 1995 again. Holy cow. I had forgotten this song existed. And that it was awesome. And to think MTV played this WITH its tagalong song "Jaded" back in the day. A lot. But if it hasn't already, it will eventually disappear to history, overshadowed by everything else the band ever did. Speaking of which, I just remembered their video for "Redundant," off of Nimrod. That was pretty great. See, now I have to go find that album and give it another listen. Stop reading this. Leave me alone.
Green Day 21st Century Breakdown There's a good quote I read recently about Quentin Tarantino. I'll paraphrase here: "Quentin Tarantino knows more about movies than anyone I've ever met. But he has the worst taste in the world." I think the same could be said of Billy Joe Armstrong. The guy knows pop music. He can write a downright perfect melody without even trying. Just about every song he's written since Warning (and a high percentage before that) have had the potential to be "hits." And that goes for Green Day's "Foxboro Hot Tubs" side project as well. Hell, those were almost better than some Green Day fare. Yet, how does he, a 37 year old multi-millionaire, choose to present his borderline-genius pop sensibilities? By writing a pop-punk "political rock opera" about two rebellious teenage outcasts trying to make a world for themselves in this crazy mixed up country. And sure, it was new and exciting when he did it with American Idiot (that is, if you completely ignore the story and most of the lyrics), but did he really have to write a second one? Did anyone ask for this? Not only is it inferior to American Idiot in just about every way, but you couldn't even tell it was a "rock opera" if the press hadn't been salivating at the phrase for the last 3 months. Where are the 10 minute long song-suites? Where are the epic horn sections and choirs? Hell, half the songs completely rip off melodies from Idiot. If you're going to follow up a rock opera with another rock opera, you've got to at least try.
Badly Drawn Boy Have You Fed The Fish? Back sometime around 2003, this Badly Drawn Boy album was one in a stack of CDs that Jeff accidentally got stolen. And I didn't care too much, because I really, really disliked it anyway. But then last weekend, when Libby and I were at the Bryn Mawr garage sales, this guy was selling CDs for $3 each. Part of me thinks that this guy is the one who stole my CDs originally, because the stuff he was selling seemed straight out of my own collection. More specifically, it was straight out of the pile I would choose to sell if I needed to (really, someone else in this city likes Holopaw and The Incredible Moses Leroy?). Anyhow, the Badly Drawn Boy album was there, and since it was only 3 bucks, I figured I would buy it so I could at least have it back in my collection (and because in subsequent years, I realized that Jon Brion played some guitar and keyboard on it, so that in itself was worth the money). And guess what? I was totally wrong. It's a surprisingly good album. Yes, there are some embarrassing moments on it, but for the most part it is rock-solid. I think back when it first came out, I was just bitter because it is so much more heavily produced and arranged than Hour Of The Bewilderbeast, and that just turned me off. Listening to it now, with all this time to let that wear off, I realize that Bewilderbeast was practically a demo recording for what he really wanted to do, which is Have You Fed The Fish?. This really opens up a can of worms: Was Bewilderbeast merely accidental, and not truly a masterpiece? Can art be successful against its own intentions? If someone set out to paint the like Davinci, and ended up as Kandinsky, is he still a master? No matter how we answer those questions, this still remains: his next album really, truly, sucked.
Steve | 05-07-2009
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A Camp Colonia At first listen, I was pretty disappointed with this new A Camp album (A Camp being a "solo" project of Nina Persson from The Cardigans). And that disappointment came solely from the fact that, despite his full-fledged membership in the band and equally full-fledged marriage to Nina Persson, Nathan Larson's influence was nowhere to be heard on any of the songs. While his street cred comes from his days with Shudder To Think (I've read the phrase "guitar god" used at least once), he's more familiar to myself as the mind behind Mind Science of The Mind (now say it in pig latin!). Basically, the man is a wonderful musician who has created for himself a completely unique and recognizable style, some of which I was hoping would leak onto the A Camp album, but sadly did not. But after that initial let down, I keep coming back to it, and it's growing on me more and more. Stylistically, it's not too far from The Cardigan's "Long Gone Before Daylight" album... lush, organic adult pop rock. But some of the songs are almost theatrical in nature; the lyrics are smart, melodies don't always end up where you'd guess they would, choruses don't necessarily show up in the standard spots. Kind of like how Nathan Larson would write them. Hmm. Anyhow, the first track is like the opening number from some demented Disney musical (in scope, not execution, sorry). There's also a duet where Nina and a dude singer actually use each other's first names. That's always cute.
Colin Blunstone One Year Oh, speaking of turning into an obnoxious record collecting jerk: On that same trip to Roadrunner as my previous post, I also convinced myself to pay $25 for an obscure 1970's singer songwriter record that I've never actually heard before. But in my own defense, it was the first solo album from Colin Blunstone, lead singer of The Zombies, an album that I've kind of been looking for, but have had no luck finding until tonight. It's a great record, too, lucky for me. Totally one of those "They don't make 'em like this anymore" records (Antony notwithstanding), beautiful music from beginning to end. But I could listen to Blunstone sing from a goddamn microeconomics textbook and it would be worth whatever price I paid for it. Hell, it probably also would've helped me pass microeconomics.
Steve | 04-27-2009
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Harry Nilsson Nilsson Sings Newman I don't know what's happening to me, but I've very recently found myself thoroughly obsessed with Harry Nilsson. He was always one of those "People like him, maybe I'll check him out someday" guys, until that "someday" finally came a couple months ago, when I picked up Nilsson Scmilsson for a couple bucks at Circuit City's going out of business sale. Funny thing is, I wasn't even that impressed with it after my first couple listens. But it slowly grew on me, until I finally realized that this Nilsson guy really knows what he's doing. Then a couple weekends aqo when she was in Phoenix, Libby bought me a copy of A Little Touch Of Schmilsson In The Night at a Goodwill. We listened to it the other day and I was suddenly completely won over. Great voice, great taste, great songwriter. Weirdo. How could it get any better? Oh, how about the fact that he recorded an entire album of Randy Newman songs with Newman on piano! As soon as I read that, it became my life's goal to find a copy of that record, listen to it, and then live out my remaining years sitting quietly waiting for death to come. My grand search lasted all of two days, because when I walked into Roadrunner Records today, and the first record I saw, in the front of the first pile of new arrivals, was Nilsson Signs Newman. It was as if God had simply floated it down to me, all glowing and gilded and whatnot. But like that guy in the Twilight Zone, who finally got all the time in the world to read, only to have his glasses accidentally and irredeemably destroyed, the album was a cheap re-release, with different cover art and no liner notes. So there I stood, faced with the greatest ethical dilemma of my adult life: Do I buy this lamer, lesser album and still go home and enjoy the music at face value, or do I make the final transformation into an unbearable record collector prick and wait to find an original pressing? Not unlike Robert Frost before me, I decided to buy the damn record and live with it. And it's not too bad, although I think I like his other stuff better.
Steve | 04-27-2009
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Arbouretum Song Of The Pearl I bought this album a couple weeks ago, but keep forgetting that I have it. I can't speak for Arbouretum's older work, but this album sounds a little like Built to Spill jamming Bonnie Prince Billy songs in their practice space. And while that does sound like a great thing, the album comes off like a less-amazing version of Shearwater's Rook album from last year. It's growing on me, though. We'll see if I'm still listening to it a couple months from now.
Steve | 04-20-2009
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Piebald We Are The Only Friends That We Have I mentioned earlier, regarding the Webb Brothers, that their Maroon album would be on my imaginary list of Favorite Albums That I Would Never Consider My Favorite Albums. Well throw this one right behind it. Piebald's previous album was okay at best (save for one unbelievably amazingly astounding song, "Grace Kelly With Wings"), and after this one their lead singer got some crazy major throat surgery, and completely changed how he sings, so their later stuff isn't quite up to par. But this album is so much fun, and so smart and well-constructed that I'd hate to meet the person that doesn't like it. And while Piebald isn't anything close to being "forward thinking" or "experimental," I have no idea how one would even classify them. Pop punk? Power pop? (Sigh...) Emo? Whatever. They wrote a love song about their tour van that takes place 10 years in the future, so they're better than I'll ever be.
Gomez A New Tide Pretty much every review of this new Gomez album says the same thing: "Blah blah blah Gomez won the Mercury Prize in 99 blah blah they've released many good and varied albums blah blah blah blah this one is totally dull durp durp durp but 'Airstream Driver' is an awesome song." And they're all totally right. I have nothing more to add.
Superdrag Industry Giants Superdrag and the Smoking Popes. Bear with me. Both formed in the early/mid 90's. Both played above average power pop. Both scored a minor hit in the mid 90's. Both released one practically flawless album in the late 90's. Both saw their singer become a born-again Christian in the early 2000's. Both subsequently broke up because of it. Both singers released surprisingly good and embarrassingly cliche faith-based material during their Christian periods. Both bands released best-of compilations in the meantime. Both eventually got back together to tour. Both then released shockingly boring and sub-par, though not terrible, 'reunion' albums in the last year, this Superdrag one being so forgettable that I don't even care enough to be mad about its stupid cover art. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Mastodon Crack The Skye Now here's an album that is not only a heavily conceptual thinkpiece and a stylistic left turn for the band, but also a successful one. You can tell I'm serious because of all the italics. Are you taking notes, Decemberists? I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone unfamiliar with Mastodon to make this their starting point with the band, as it lacks a certain Je Nous Se Qua (translation: that thing that makes you want to tip over a police car and sacrifice a goat... but my French might be a little rusty). The whole thing has more in common with the Mars Volta than it does with early Mastodon, but unlike the Mars Volta, you actually want to go back and listen again once it gets to the end.
The Decemberists The Hazards Of Love Well, it seems that they've done it. The Decemberists have released an album that I just plain don't like. You can read my previous post about the album if you really care about why I don't like it, because my opinion hasn't really changed since then. Hell, you could read just about every other Decemberists post on here, because the theme has remained the same: They're just a better band, and Colin Meloy a better songwriter, when they stick to more humble pop songs. I don't mean that to bash them or something; their "humble pop songs" are exponentially better than 99% percent of their peers'. But it seems to me that they've already proven with The Tain that they can do a hard rockin' conceptual song set, but have also proven with The Crain Wife that they maybe shouldn't stretch that into an entire full length. I'm already just about tired of listening to it, and I can't imagine coming back to it much in the future, which is something I can't say for any of their other releases. Oh well; six out of seven isn't too shabby, I guess.
Steve | 03-26-2009
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The Decemberists The Hazards of Love 11 tracks into the new Decemberists record and I've yet to actually hear a song. Lots of intros, a couple choruses, a handful of bridges, and a vamp here and there, but nothing that I would qualify as a "song." If you told me 5 years ago that the Decemberists would release a dark, heavy, experimental rock opera, I would've taken an entire bottle of sleeping pills and set my alarm for March 2009, because it just sounds too perfect. But now that it's here... I don't know. At least I have my new Mastodon album to look forward to. I just hope it's not a collection of anachronistic folk pop ditties about sailors and scallywags.
Steve | 03-24-2009
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The Webb Brothers Maroon Sorry, whoever you are reading this (most likely Libby), that everything I ever post about music basically boils down to, "This album is good and I like to listen to it," or variations on that theme. That said, I've been listening to this old Webb Brothers album for the last couple days. I happened upon these guys back in early college, and was a little shocked at the time that they weren't popular at all. The released one (less great) album a year or two later, and pretty much disappeared into thin air since then. But this Maroon album is all I ever really need from them anyway. It's a big--and successful--concept album about partying and drugs ("But isn't every rock album a concept album about partying and drugs?") that is filled with perfect songs, smart lyrics ("All the cocaine in the world can't bring back the girl"), and sweet vocal harmonies (there's something about siblings that harmonize. These guys, the Moore Brothers, The Magic Numbers, The Goddamn Beach Boys. There's a whole other post to be made about that, I think). It's probably one of my all-time favorite albums that I would never actually consider to be one of my all-time favorite albums (get that?). It is good, and I like to listen to it.
Steve | 03-22-2009
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The Beach Boys Wild Honey I'm not going to sit here and make some outlandish claim about how Wild Honey is better than Pet Sounds or something like that, but man--I just love it. All the songs seem to just end after two minutes or so, and it probably could've used another couple months of tightening up in the recording studio, but it's fresh and fun and lightweight and there's not a bad tune to be found on the entire record. "Darlin'" might even be my all-time favorite Beach Boys song, aside from, well, "God Only Knows," "Caronline No," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Surfs Up," "Good Vibrations," "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder," and "I Know There's An Answer." But beyond those, it's #1.
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Beware I don't know if I'm too excited about this one. Will "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" Oldham (just wanted to do the quote thing!) is still one of my favorite people in America right now, but this album just seems not-quite-right. He's sort of going for a straightforward country western sound, with pedal steels and cooing female background vocals, and all that stuff, but there's just something dead about the final product. It's neither upbeat or sad, energetic or calming, scary or funny; it's the musical version of that weightless, textureless, floating gray orb that Scott and I have oft discussed (in an entirely different context). I mean--there's a jazz flute solo in it! It should be awesome, right? I don't know. Check back in a few days and maybe my mind will be changed.
Steve | 03-15-2009
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Yes Relayer Everything I've read about Relayer positions it as being the album that made everyone hate prog, and a shining example of everything wrong with the genre as a whole. And while I can't argue with that stance, I have to say it's not so bad. It's got everything on it that makes Yes cool, except for, you know, songs.
Steve | 03-14-2009
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Neko Case Middle Cyclone I don't have a single complaint about this album, yet I don't like it nearly as much as Fox Confessor Brings The Flood. Maybe it will grow on me. I don't know. Really, all I need from Neko Case is one CD with 17 tracks on it, all of which are "Hold On, Hold On".
The Moore Brothers Aptos I can't believe I almost missed this; The Moore Brothers put a new album out today! And one of the songs features Joanna Newsom on harp! And suddenly I have no more reason to drive a car into the Mississippi (other than the fact that I don't have a car, and that driving a car into a river is a terrible, terrible idea). The Moore Brothers are a fantastic folk duo, who you can't help but compare to Simon and Garfunkel, but in the most positive way possible. Their music, while beautifully composed and performed, could probably be considered "humble," or worse yet, "meek," meaning they'll never break through to the "big time," unless some seismic shift occurs in how the music press (and blog-o-something) reacts to new music in the near future. Of course, the little I've read about this album today all frames it as "Hey, it's a band that toured with Joanna Newsom, and she plays on their record she has a funny voice isn't she great!" That's all well and good, I guess, but for now, consider The Moore Brothers our little secret.
The Magic Numbers Those The Brokes Listening to the Magic Numbers right now. These guys are so underrated and unrecognized it makes me sick. Sick. Okay, not that sick. But they're really, really good, and all I can think of is when they opened for the Flaming Lips at the State Fair (well, middled for them is more like it, but that's a long story), and everyone around me in the audience seemed to be downright annoyed by the fact that they were the openers. Sure, they're not the most experimental or outlandish band, and their music can occasionally border on "cute," but they're incredibly talented and honest, and with two full lengths under their belt, have yet to write a sub-par song. I can't think of many other bands that make me feel so nice when I listen to them; every song is sunshine and blankets, free of dissonance and cynicism, yet still smart, studied, and well-crafted. And however their guitarist manages to get that electric guitar tone, I want to eat it for breakfast and bathe in it at night.
Antony & The Johnsons The Crying Light Okay, I know this is my third post about this album, which is a little ridiculous, but I just can't help it. In the last few weeks, it's gone from "Boy, this might actually be better than his last album," to "Holy crap, every second of this thing is amazing and I can't stop listening to it." Antony's voice is the obvious focus the first few times listening to it, but lately I've been paying attention to the instrumental arrangements, which are incredibly subtle, restrained, and, if I'm not too macho to use the word, downright lovely. Between this and Joanna Newsom's Ys, it's nice to hear contemporary "pop" musicians use chamber instruments honestly and unapologetically, as opposed to dragging them out once in a while as signifiers of "drama" (Sufjan?) or some post-modern deconstruction of "tradition" (Godspeed!).
Steve | 02-24-2009
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...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead Century of Self I'll cut to the chase: This album kicks ass, lots of it, and in ways that it seems rock bands just aren't familiar with anymore. The sound is raw; guitar strings squeak, snare drums rattle, and the occasional synth parts it contains actually sound like they were recorded in the midst of the chaos instead of being layered flat on top. But beyond that, the music is classic AYWKUBTTOD, in that even the ballads make you want to destroy something with a baseball bat. All that said, it still isn't as good as Source Tags and Codes.
Steve | 02-23-2009
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M. Ward Hold Time Oh, just listening to M. Ward's newest: Hold Time
It's a little more happy and jangly than his work in the past - more along the lines of She & Him, his side project with Zooey Deschanel. I'd be happy too, if i was engaged to Zooey Deschanel (or so I heard). That's really what I think of while listening to cute tunes like "Never had nobody like you," on which she sings. They just seem like they would be so cute together in person and in love and in love with making music together and what fun! I'd like to marry them both, together and we would be a tripod of love and music and peanut butter pancakes on Sunday mornings (if they don't like peanut butter, chocolate chip is fine or I'll bust out the wild rice blueberry to really impress them).
The second part of the record is more mellow. I don't know how to be a music critic.
He's coming to town at the end of April. Let's go!
Dan Auerbach Keep It Hid The singer of the Black Keys has a solo album out. It sounds like B-sides from the last Black Keys album. Not bad, but not too exciting. People seem to like it though. Libby thinks he's cuter than me.
Steve | 02-12-2009
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Mind Science Of The Mind Mind Science Of The Mind The year is 1997. Or maybe 1996. I don't quite remember. The place is the Down In The Valley in Golden Valley. Or maybe Crystal. I don't quite remember. But there, in the "Used cutouts" bin, sits a record by a band called Mind Science Of The Mind. A young man by the name of Steve Marth, having never heard of Nathan Larson, having no interest in Shudder To Think, and considering The Cardigans nothing more than than that annoying group who plays that stupid "Lovefool" song, picks up this record, and is thoroughly intrigued. The music is like nothing else; heavy, sure, but equally soulful and jazzy and dissonant. Well, it's about 10-11 years later now, and not only is "Lovefool" one of my all-time favorite songs, but this Mind Science Of The Mind album still kills me, every time I listen to it. Knowing now what I didn't know then, that it was just a vanity side project between Nathan Larson from Shudder To Think (who, 10 years later, I still don't really care about) and Mary Timony from Helium (ditto), I never would've hoped for a follow-up. But it's probably better that they never did one, because as far as I'm concerned, it's a practically perfect album. Nathan Larson went on to marry the chick from the Cardigans, release a surprisingly respectable R&B/soul album, and Mary Timony probably kept playing a violin or something. I'm sure neither of them care one bit about their 1996 collaboration anymore. But right now in 2009, I'm probably the only person in America who is listening to Mind Science Of The Mind, and I'm still enjoying the hell out of it.
Steve | 02-10-2009
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Opeth Ghost Reveries Hey you: go grab your copy of Ghost Reveries (I can wait), go to the last 1:40 of "Reverie/Harlequin Forest," and sit back and listen to it. Then maybe go back and listen to it again. And again. Is there any other metal band that has the guts and the patience to pull that off? No, there's not. As an aside, I almost felt like writing an entire rant about how this album is Opeth's soul album (Mikael Åkerfeldt could be on Scandinavian Idol, I swear), but I'll save that for later.
Steve | 02-04-2009
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The Fiery Furnaces Bitter Tea My love of The Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat album is well-known and unabashed. In fact I would almost go as far as to classify it as a "They should've quit right there because there's no way they can top it" album. The official follow up (as the grandma album doesn't really count, and EP was, uh, an EP), Bitter Tea, let me down just about as much as an album can let someone down. I felt like they were trying to be as "weird" as Blueberry Boat, but totally forgot about all of the "not weird" stuff that album had to offer--great songs, great instrumental performances, and even greater songs. So needless to say, I haven't listened to it much since it came out. Last night, however, a song from Widow City (their most recent album, which I liked a fair amount more than Bitter Tea upon its release) came up on my iPod, and I decided I should give Bitter Tea another spin. And while it's still not their best (or second best) work, I have to say I judged it all wrong. It's actually a much better album than Widow City, at least, and has a lot more character than I originally gave it credit for. It was probably the first time I actually got enjoyment out of listening to it, now that my expectations weren't nearly as sky-high as they were back in 2006.
Jon Brion Of Montreal Remix EP Okay, so technically this is Of Montreal's Jon Brion Remix EP, not the other way around, but 'tomatoes tomatoes,' right? Wow, that phrase doesn't really work when typed. Anyway, I'm just not sure about this one. Jon Brion can do no wrong usually, but these remixes seem barely even remixed. Honestly, the first track left me wondering what even made it different than the original. The second is an 'acoustic' version of the same song, which is cool, but at the same time it's really not very special by Jon Brion's standards. A couple of the instrumentals at the end are a little more jubilant and Briony (although they focus heavily on bloopy bleepy 8-bit electronics, which aren't really his cup of tea), but still not to the point that convinces me that this EP needs to exist. I'm never going to complain about an official Brion release of any sort, since they're certainly not easy to come by, but this one seems a little phoned in to me.
David Bowie Station To Station With a recently purchased (like, 3 minutes earlier) Station To Station LP under my arm, I walked into French Meadow to buy some chocolate cake (hey, this could be in the Food section, too!). Enter waitress with hip haircut:
Waitress: Hey, great record.
Me: Oh, actually the sleeve is empty. I just carry it around with me so people think I'm cool.
Waitress: ...
Me: ...
Waitress begins to form a response, but instead chooses to walk away.
That's why I never got dates in high school. Or college.
Steve | 01-29-2009
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Antony & The Johnsons The Crying Light So after 4 or 5 listens, I've decided that I really like this new Antony album. In fact, even though I first thought it to be good but inferior to I Am A Bird Now, I'm now convinced that The Crying Light is actually a fuller, stronger album as a whole. The high points may not be as great (come on... "Hope There's Someone"), but every single track is successful here, whereas the last one contains a lot of eye-rollers. I'll even go out on a limb and say Antony's singing is much stronger this time around. Instead of just depending on the oddity of his warbling falsetto, he really stretches it now, proving he's a legitimately good singer, no matter the musical circumstance.
Steve | 01-23-2009
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Umphrey's McGee Mantis So here's the thing: I like Umphrey's Mcgee. And I'm only partially ashamed to admit it. If you've never heard of Umphrey's McGee (and if you're my friend, you probably haven't), there are three things you need to know. First, they are a jam band. There is no way around that. I have seen them in concert, and they extended songs to 10-15 minutes of endless guitar noodling and keyboard humping, and the crowd, o how they did dance and twirl. It was a terrible experience. Which leads me to the second thing you should know; their fans have a name. Umphreaks. I could not make that up. And if I did, it would be too stupid to type. The third thing, however, is that despite those first two huge warning signs, I think their music is often very good. Their records (at least their first one and this new one... their second album was pretty bad) are actually borderline prog rock, not the stupid Phish/Dead/Rusted Root bullshit you'd expect. So when I heard that this new album Mantis was actually more "proggy" than their earlier work, I was actually pretty excited. And about halfway through it here, I'm pretty happy with it. This is the kind of music that it's hard to recommend to people without first apologizing, but really, it's pretty good. And you have to appreciate the musicianship and general disregard for "cool" that is all over it. And still, while it's not Liars or Xiu Xiu or something like that, it still contains some subversive and "experimental" elements, especially for the scene that it exists in. However, I doubt anyone like Antony (see below) will be taking them on tour any time soon.
Antony & The Johnsons The Crying Light I have no coherent, worthwhile thoughts about this album yet (although my gut reaction after one not-so-intense listen is that it might be even better than I Am A Bird Now), but I can say this: Rarely does an album cover so perfectly suit the music an album contains as much as this new Antony & The Johnsons record. Spooky, dramatic, theatrical, sparse, and with lots of gender issues. Of all the albums I bought this week, this is the one I'm most excited to go back and give my time to. Now if only I could convince Libby to go to his Valentine's Day show at the Pantages...
AC Newman Get Guilty One of these days, someone is going to stand up and say, "Hey, every song AC Newman ever writes is exactly the same. What a hack!" Then most of the world will respond with "AC Who-man?" And then about 100 other people will say, "Yeah, you're right, semi-anonymous internet blog! Neko Case, too!" But guess what? Today isn't that day. Nor will tomorrow be. Because Get Guilty, despite having the worst cover ever, is just as great as his previous solo album, and just about every New Pornographers album. Hell, it's probably better than Challengers. And just because you probably couldn't distinguish its songs from any other AC Newman songs on your special shuffled "All A.C." iPod playlist, I can guarantee you that it is one hell of a playlist.
Steve | 01-18-2009
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Andrew Bird Noble Beast After a six year delay, Andrew Bird has finally released the full-length follow up to his debut solo EP, Weather Systems. It's just what I've been hoping, for, but I can't help but to feel a little... bored? He needs to squirt some fun juice into those songs! Maybe his pal Dosh should help him out next time around, get some beats in there. That'll do the trick.
If you can't tell, I'm being ironic.
Steve | 01-18-2009
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Mastodon Remission I'm listening to Remission right now, which I don't do often because Libby is allergic to music that totally rocks. The last two Mastodon albums have both been so good (particularly the last one) that I sometimes forget how ass-kicking and unique their first one is. They've gotten a lot more "musical" and "traditional" on the last two--in a good way, mind you--but Remission is something I can only describe in language that should only be used by guys with Slayer tattoos. Like, say, "brutal," "sick," "devastating," and, I don't know, "ferocious." With help from the thesaurus, I could also describe it as "lupine," "sanguinary," and yes, even "truculent." Hell, the first track is called "Crusher Destroyer" for cripes sake! How much more truculent can you get?
Joanna Newsom Ys I never choose to listen to Ys. It chooses me. No joke. The first time I listened to the album (and you've heard this story before) was while driving alone in the pitch black wooded mountains of rural West Virginia. I can imagine no better circumstance to listen to this record. So when I'm scanning through my iPod to find something to listen to, I always zoom right by the "Joanna" section. Because, really, will I ever enjoy it as much as those first few times (yes, I listened to it about 4 times in a row that first night)? But every once in a while, like tonight, I'll put my iPod on shuffle, one of her songs will start playing, and I turn into a big pile of mush. But only at night. I don't think I've ever even listened to it during the day, which sounds stupid and pretentious and asinine, but it's true. I almost hope she never releases anything else, because there's just no way she can top it.
Steve | 01-12-2009
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Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion Okay. I was a little too harsh the first time around. It's growing on me, but a lot of my original criticism still stands; it needs more ups and downs, louds and softs, and less of a constant synthetic din of noise (and where's the guitar and drums?). Otherwise, once I've thrown my expectations out the window, I'm starting to enjoy it a little more.
Steve | 01-07-2009
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Ted Leo & The Pharmacists Hearts of Oak I've just discovered that Ted Leo & The Pharmacists are the perfect band to play out of your crappy laptop speakers. This album in particular is so tinny and rough to begin (in a good way, mind you) with that there really isn't much difference when it's channeled through a tiny little set of speakers. Hell, I bet you could just play it really loudly out of your headphones and it would still sound perfect.
Steve | 01-06-2009
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Animal Collective Merriweather Post Pavillion This really frustrates me. Completely. I first heard these guys back when Sung Tongs came out, and Pitchfork went totally head over heels for it. I listened, was mostly like, "Huh?", and pretty much ignored it. But one song on that record, "Who Could Win A Rabbit" totally blew my mind. I couldn't understand how four human beings could sit down and write a song like that; it's just so far outside of anything else out there, and yet completely catchy and singable. So my interest was peaked. Then they released Feels, and completely won me over. I actually told a friend once, "If they play their cards right in the next couple years, Animal Collective could seriously be the best band in the world." But wow. They've totally blown it. Strawberry Jam, I thought at the time, was a throwaway electronic experiment. So I've been unbelievably excited for Merriweather Post Pavillion, ready for them to get back to their more organic, acoustic foundations. But that didn't happen. This new one is just as soulless and electronic and unrelentingly harsh as the last one. And what's worse, at least one time through listening, is that there aren't even as many memorable tunes. It's just 60 minutes of unceasing pounding and hollering. Well, okay, that's a little harsh, but still, when compared to the best parts of Sung Tongs and Feels, it's absolutely not up to par. And thus, the Animal Collective joins The Microphones, Augie March, and Andrew Bird in the BTCHBBTJ club. And I'm sorry, but I don't feel like typing out that entire acronym. Just take your best guess.
Steve | 01-05-2009
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Andrew Bird Useless Creatures The new Andrew Bird album doesn't come out for a couple weeks now, but he has an EP (which I think comes with the real album) called Useless Creatures up on his website to listen to in full. I have to say, while it's just a suite of slightly rambling "experimental" instrumentals, it's much more in-line with where I think his music should have been focusing for the last 2 albums. By which I mean it's almost entirely violin-based, has hardly any guitar that I can hear, and no electronic drum loops. In fact, the little percussion it does have comes from Wilco's drummer Glen Kotche (who is dreamy). As I've been complaining about for a couple years now, Andrew Bird is a genuinely talented violinist, and yet it seems he's pushed that aspect of his music to the back, playing second fiddle to his slightly okay guitar playing and impressive-yet-redundant whistling. Part of me worries that he's put all his violin chops on this bonus disc and the album proper will contain more of the same as the last two. At least Dosh isn't involved.
Hum Live in Chicago, 12/31/08 After listening to (and obsessing over) them for over a decade, Scott and I finally saw Hum perform live, on New Years Eve at the Double Door in Chicago. Such a momentous event in ones life should really bring about thoughts and feelings worthy of many paragraphs of reminiscence, critique, and joy. But all I can really say is this: It was very, very loud. And good. But loud, also.
Steve | 01-01-2009
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Chad VanGaalen Soft Airplane Chad VanGaalen is a singer songwriter basement-recorder guy from Calgary (home of the Saddle Dome!). Cokemachineglow.com gave him a bunch of praise in their year-end round-up last week, and I really liked what I heard of him. After listening to the album a few times, I think he has a lot of potential to record an amazing album sometime, but this one isn't quite it. Still there are some good songs on it, and the video for "Molten Light" is really... really... something.
Yes Fragile Simon And Garfunkel's "America" is a great song. There is no doubt about that. But have you ever listened to Yes's cover version of it? Holy cow. It might just be my favorite cover song. The first time I heard it (as a bonus track on the end of the CD version of Fragile), I didn't know it was the Simon And Garfunkel song at first, since, you know, their version doesn't start with a 5 minute psychedelic jam interspersed with portions of "America" from West Side Story. Then suddenly the guitars and keyboards drop out, and the vocals start, and the next 20 minutes or so (possibly exaggerating there) are just pure bliss. The best part of all is in the middle section, when the band suddenly decides that, even though they're an uptight British prog band, the best way to sing a song about America is by turning themselves into fucking Lynyrd Skynyrd. The whole thing is beyond awesome. And then their keyboard player quit the band to produce a ice-skating musical about King Arthur.
Steve | 12-25-2008
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Metallica And Justice For All The criticism of Metallica's 1988 ...And Justice For All album is the awful, awful recording quality. Specifically, its noticeable lack of bass. Cliff Burton had recently died, and whether it was out of spite, remorse, or whatever, they just pushed the new guy's bass back practically to zero in the mix. Basically, it sounds like it was recorded with cardboard microphones. In the last week or two, I've been snooping around the net a little bit to find if anyone has ever actually gone through and re-recorded the bass parts over the existing record (like a guy did a few years back to a White Stripes album), just to hear what it might sound like. And wouldn't you know it, thanks to the ease of digital audio nowadays, there's a lot of it out there. Some guy actually posted a bunch of recordings on YouTube with "enhanced original bass" on them. The bass is actually way too loud in the mix, but it's incredibly interesting to hear the parts that are supposed to be on the real record. Then tonight I downloaded the entire album that some guy "remastered" himself; basically he beefed up the sound, added some reverb and a little bass (but didn't re-record anything or use any master tracks). While that was fairly interesting to hear, it really makes me hope that some day the band decides to take the master tapes of the album and do a legitimate remastering job on it. But really, as long as the album has "One" and "Dyers Eve" on it, the other seven songs could be kazoo solos recorded with a Fischer Price cassette tape recorder and it would still be better than just about every metal album recorded before of since.
Steve's Favorites of 2008 A list 1. Shearwater - Rook
2. Lambchop - OH (Ohio)
3. Max Tundra - Parallax Error Beheads You
4. Black Keys - Attack and Release
5. Xiu Xiu - Women As Lovers
6. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Lie Down In The Light
8. David Byrne And Brian Eno - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
8. Benji Hughes - A Love Extreme
9. Randy Newman - Harps And Angels
10. Opeth - Watershed
Steve | 12-16-2008
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Xiu Xiu Women As Lovers The first track off of Xiu Xiu's Women As Lovers album, which came out way back in January of 2008, is a little tune called "I Do What I Want, When I Want." And for the last 12 months, I've been completely in love with it, though I haven't really talked to anyone about it, or made anyone listen to it. The reason for this is because I think most of you would hate it, and then, in turn, hate me after I recommend it. But this song absolutely hooked me, all year. Song of the year, by far, hands down, no contest. The melodies are just everywhere, and they flow and move and cascade and stop and start, and sounds come out of nowhere, sounds that seem to have no business suddenly appearing. And while the whole song is very pop-structured (and catchy as hell), no 10 seconds of it sounds like any other 10 seconds of it. The bass drum will play a bunch of notes in a row and then stop. A descending distorted keyboard line just keeps descending until it turns into mush. A zombie saxophone. 4 bars (and no more) of female vocals. And those stupid little "do do do do do do" vocal parts keep popping in to anchor the whole song, just to prove that Xiu Xiu is better than you. Anyway, the point it is, I can't contain my enjoyment of this song. And the best part is that Women As Lovers is, as a whole, the first entirely listenable album Xiu Xiu has put out since Knife Play (and how listenable that album is can certainly be argued).
Lil Wayne Tha Carter III Apparently this Lil Wayne guy is a big deal. I'd heard of him, of course, but I had no idea until the last few weeks that he was pretty much the #1 everything this year. Everyone from Source to Pitchfork raves about how he's practically the best rapper in the world, and this newest album of his has been on just about every top-10 list I've seen this year. Stuff like this drives me crazy, because I could've walked by Lil Wayne on the street, while he's rapping his hit songs and I wouldn't know who he was. So I gave in and listened to some samples and thought he actually sounded pretty good (and the "Andre 3k" reference certainly won me over), so last night at Target I bought it on a whim. And after almost getting all the way through it (stupid 70 minute rap albums!), I have to say I'm still curious, but a little disappointed. Clearly, the guy can rap. He's smart, witty, good with words, has a good voice and uses it well. But the beats and the songs themselves mostly don't interest me at all. It's just so scattered and random and--uh--dumb. But I tell you what, if someone can take the beats and music from the new Heiruspecs album (which are really fantastic) and get Lil Wayne to rap over it, sign me the hell up. Otherwise, I might just have to stick with thoughtful, sensitive pop rock.
Vic Chesnutt Dark Developments I finally got around to buying a Vic Chesnutt album. It's good stuff, but I can't get over the fact that I simply don't like him. Not as a singer or a songwriter... but as a person. This is especially difficult to say considering he's a recovering alcoholic who is paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair. But when I listen to his songs, I get the same feeling I get when I listen to Jim O'Rourke and the Super Furry Animals--no matter how nice and well-crafted the music is, it is far less enjoyable when the words come from the mouth of a cynical jerk.
Heiruspecs Heiruspecs So the new Heiruspecs album is finally out, and I gave it a listen this morning. My first impression is that while there's nothing inherently bad about it, there just wasn't any one track that really stuck with me. And with 21 tracks on the damn thing, you'd think the odds would be in its favor! I think it all comes down to hooks, or the lack thereof. The rapping is solid, the lyrics are fine--if a little too self serious, and the band's backing beats are top notch (except for some questionable "hard rock" experiments), but there just aren't any hooks that do the job as well as, say, "Heartsprings" or "5ves." Both of those tracks are setting the bar incredibly high, I'll admit, but it's still a bummer that they can't get back up to that level. But oh well, maybe it will grow on me after a couple more listens.
Steve | 12-12-2008
Autolux Transit Transit Autolux really drives me crazy. They've been around for 8-9 years now, and yet they've only released one album. Now, 4 years after that first one, they're finally (maybe) getting around to releasing a second one. A year ago, they said it would be "mid summer." Then in April, they finally released a single and said the album would come out "soon enough." Now they're saying it will be "after New Years." Obviously. I guess I just don't get what could possibly take them so long. Oh well. There's a new instrumental up on their Myspace page to listen to, anyway. It's called "Fat Kid." But it's not going to be on the new album, so who cares.
The Decemberists Always The Bridesmaid: A Singles Series After looking for weeks to find it, I finally came across the Decemberists' "Always A Bridesmaid" records at the Cheapo on Snelling. It's a series of three vinyl-only singles (and B-sides) that aren't on any other albums or EPs, and are well worth the somewhat ridiculous pricetag. They all have beautiful die-cut and silver leafed packaging, and (as usual) cool illustrations by Carson Ellis. But beyond all that, the music is all really solid--especially first song "Valerie Plame," which is probably the best song they've done since "The Sporting Life." Most of the songs really prove a point I made on my previous Decemberists post; for all the focus they've put lately on big "proggy" arrangements and epic, quirky historical English-major lyrics, they might be at their best when sticking to simple pop tunes with much simpler lyrical themes. I mean, really, would you rather spend your time listening to "The Infanta," or "Grace Cathedral Hill"? And no, the answer can't be "neither."
Jon Brion Synecdoche, New York Soundtrack I finally gave in and bought Jon Brion's Synecdoche, New York Soundtrack on iTunes last night (I know, I know), and my first impressions were pretty much correct. It's very score-y. BUT, the last song on it is this little 40's-50's sounding ode to Schenectady, that was quaint and cute at first, until I realized that the male choir that was singing was entirely Jonny Boy Brion himself! Totally singing in this put-on archaic-choir-guy voice. I couldn't believe it. And then I listened to the lyrics, and they were all about death, and regret, and those sorts of things, which is pretty amazing, given the tone of the song, and the themes of the movie, it was yet another Jon Brion triumph!
Steve | 12-02-2008
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The Decemberists Castaways And Cutouts Enough years have past now that I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I think Castaways and Cutouts is the Decemberists' best album. Yes, everything they've done since has all been excellent in its own right, but there's something about Castaways that lets it dodge some of the potholes that their later albums occasionally hit. Since it was their first album, there's a certain lack of self-consciousness that makes all of the ridiculous lyrics seem just a little more honest, and the arrangements are interesting, upbeat, but never overblown. Basically, they weren't trying to outdo themselves yet. Funny how when it came out, everything written about them compared them (favorably and otherwise) to Neutral Milk Hotel. And now, listening to the record years later, that comparison doesn't enter my mind for a second.
Steve | 11-30-2008
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Randy Newman Little Criminals In August I bought Libby a record player for her birthday. It's a new Sony turntable that has a USB port to connect to a computer, so you can import your records onto your iPod or whatever. So today I finally experimented with it using a copy of Randy Newman's Little Criminals that I bought last night. I'm having annoying problems with it so far; after about a minute of recording, it turns into a mess of distortion and doubled audio. I haven't figured out why that's happening yet. But, the little bit that it did record is surprisingly high quality... the hisses and pops are minimal, and the sound is full and beefy. There's also something a lot more personal and engaging about the process of importing from a record that you don't get when just ripping a CD into iTunes. Despite the time and effort it takes, your copy of the music will sound entirely different than anyone else's. Plus, while you're importing it, you have almost no choice to to sit and actually listen patiently to the music while it's being recorded. Imagine that.
John Legend Evolver Dammit John Legend. Your new album is not very good. Motherfucker. And yet Andre 3000's appearance on the second track makes it almost worth the 8.99 I paid for it.
Steve | 11-27-2008
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The Fireman Electric Argument Paul McCartney just put out a new album with a dude from Killing Joke, who now produces for U2 and some other big bands. From what I've heard of it so far, it sounds better than it actually is. Literally. When you hear it, it sounds like it has to be great; a return to some of McCartneys heavy hitting rock stuff with that other band of his. But then when you stop and really listen, the tunes just aren't there. Like his last couple albums, it's so, so close to being great. But it just doesn't get there. I need to give it a more thorough listen, though.
Steve | 11-25-2008
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Kanye West 808s & Heartbreak As much as I want to hate Kanye West, I just can't do it. Because despite his cartoonishly narcissistic public persona, when it comes to music he clearly gets it. And not only does he get it, but he actually is out there trying to do something interesting with his career. So he had a huge debut album, and how does he follow it up? "Oh, I'll hire Jon Brion to record a bunch of orchestral swells and organ ditties." And then decides to be the third Daft Punk for a while. And now, out of nowhere, he's like "Hey everyone, I'm Kanye West and I'm going to release an entire album of minimalistic, electronic, Peter-Gabrial-inspired songs, where I don't rap, and channel all my vocals through a vocoder." And not only did he do it (pretty well, might I add), but he did it on a whim! This guy is one of the most popular and biggest-selling artists of this century, and one day he just decided to forgo the typical months-long gestation, record company approval, and peer pressure, and recorded an album of music he just wanted to record. And then slapped some beautiful artwork on it, and released it a matter of a month or two. Forget Radiohead (they weren't the biggest music celebrities in the world when they slaved over Kid A), Kanye is the goddamn Beatles.
Steve | 11-25-2008
Untitled Document
Shearwater Rook Shearwater's Rook is probably my favorite album that came out this year. If I was the kind of jackass who made lists of such things (which I am), it would be right up there on the top. I listened to it last night while sitting in the Target Center watching Kevin Garnett and the Celtics kick the Timberwolves' collective ass. It's the perfect soundtrack for the Kafka-esque internal struggle that is a Minnesota Timberwolves game.
Gomez Bring It On Gomez just released a 10th anniversary collectors edition version of their (still awesome) first album Bring It On. Two which I respond: "What!?" It's been 10 years? This blows my mind. I'd never really been hit by the shock of a anniversary edition of an album I've liked before, so this is a new feeling. I can so clearly remember hearing Gomez for the first time on 120 Minutes, going out and getting their album at Down In The Valley (used, nonetheless) the next day. And the fact that 10 years has passed between then and now is something I can't quite fathom. And now that I think about it, Failure's Fantastic Planet has to be 11 or 12 years old by now! Kids who were covered in placenta when it was released are now awkwardly talking to girls and, I don't know, swearing! We're all getting old.
Randy Newman Sail Away I know I posted about Sail Away already, but I hadn't gotten all the way through it until this morning. And let me tell you, the final cut on the album, "God's Song," is unbelievable. If you ever wanted proof that Randy Newman is more than just hokey Disney soundtracks, listen to it. The piano work--despite being a basic 12-bar blues pattern--is beautiful, and the lyrics are equal parts cynical, scathing, and funny. (The Youtube version linked to here is okay, but the album recording has a much better pace).
Max Tundra Parallax Error Beheads You I've listened to this Max Tundra album about 4 times in the last 24 hours. It's total insanity, but I can't stop. Not that it's totally mindblowingly amazing or anything... I just feel that my life is a little bit better when I am listening to it.
steve | 11-20-2008
Untitled Document
Max Tundra Parallax Error Beheads You You probably already heard this from E! News Daily, but the new Max Tundra album came out today. I'm excited. Max Tundra is this British dude who makes electronic pop music that openly laughs in the face of other electronic pop music. He is stupidly talented on both the "electronic" and "pop" halves of the genre, and basically makes a mockery of every other artist who has every tried to combine a melody and a cut-up beat. That said, I think this new album is really good, but becomes complete overkill at some points; it's like listening to The Jackson 5 on your walkman in the middle of a rave while chewing on sugar cubes... and then getting punched in the face.
Supertramp Breakfast In America As I was listening to Supertramp this evening while nearly stepping in front of an oncoming light rail train on a slick sidewalk, it occurred to me that if there's anything you wouldn't want on your iPod as the medical investigator scans through it to piece together the situation, Supertramp would have to be pretty high on the list.
Jon Brion Synecdoche, New York Soundtrack We went to see Charlie Kaufman's new movie Synecdoche, New York on Saturday, and while I haven't glued enough pieces of my exploded skull back together to give any reasonable critique of the movie, I am pleased to say that my boy-toy Jon Brion did the soundtrack for it. The music wasn't too prevalent in the film, but from what I heard (and the clips I listened to on iTunes) make it seem like a pretty nice listen. I'd say it's more similar to Eternal Sunshine than to Punch Drunk Love or Huckabees. Very score-y, although there doesn't seem to be any one overarching melodic theme. And it's topped off with a couple of jazzy pop songs he wrote, which are (unfortunately, in my opinion) sung by a female jazz singer. Pretty good stuff nonetheless. And the movie is a thing to behold.
Metallica The Black Album Wherever I May Roam came up on my iPod's shuffle function today. It really reminded me how unjustly the Black Album is criticized by people nowadays. So your Coors-drinking, high-school-dropout second cousin likes it--so what! Have you really listened to it lately? It's crisp, pristine, and HUGE. But if it isn't suddenly 1994 again, I would guess that answer to that question would be no.
Randy Newman Sail Away After voting on Tuesday, Libby and I poked into Treehouse Records really quick, and I picked up a used copy of Randy Newman's Sail Away. I had never heard the title track before, but when I cued it up to play when I got home, it ended up being pretty much the perfect post-election song to listen to. In America you'll get food to eat / Won't have to run through the jungle / And scuff up your feet / You'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day / It's great to be an American. How very true.
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Midtown Farmers Market Hot dog, steak taco South Minneapolis Libby dragged me, kicking and screaming and kvetching even, to the Midtown Farmers Market. This was a compromise of sorts, after the previous Saturday's trip to the downtown Farmer's Market, which had all the human cattle of the State Fair, without the upside of having actual cattle. (I can ignore the inhumanity of the State Fair only for the potential that I might get to touch a mammal with multiple stomachs. Libby can ignore the same inhumanity of the Farmer's Market only for the potential that she might find some good lettuce. Which elsewhere is currently making its way to a cow's second stomach. A free range cow, mind you, that will someday be sectioned off and sold. Possibly at a farmer's market.) The Midtown Market is much more negotiable than the big downtown one, and actually had better on-site lunch options to boot. We shared a hot dog from the Magic Bus, which is a worthy competitor to the Chef Shack in the much-appreciated world of gourmet traveling food trucks. I'd still give Chef Shack the slight edge, not only because their food is a little more well-conceived, but you also don't have the indignity of ordering from a human cartoon in a Grateful Dead shirt and a flower crown. We also got a steak taco from Taco Taxi, which I've never seen around town before, but was quite delicious. Good steak, cilantro and onions and radish, and fresh, spicy salsa, and for just $2, which at the farmer's market is the same amount it would cost you to buy a bunch of cilantro, 7 onions, 12 radishes, a jar of homemade salsa, and two cow stomachs.
Steve | 07-24-2010
Grocery Stores 5th Avenue bar South Minneapolis You know the feeling you get when you eat a Butterfinger bar? That feeling like you just ate something magical, yet your teeth are coated with quick-dry plaster? Awful. As much as love Butterfingers, I hardly ever eat them, because I don't consider physical misery to be part of a pleasant eating experience (* see: Lotus of Siam). So shame on me for never having tried a 5th Avenue bar. You've probably seen them before: they're in the Sadness section of your local grocer, decked out in the same packaging they've had since 1930, in between the RC Cola and the 100 Grand bars. But these things are great! They taste just like Butterfingers, but without all the baggage. I think the chocolate/peanut butter ratio is much closer; they're about the same width, while 5th Avenues are only half the height. And the crispy, crunchy, peanut buttery (TM) inside is just slightly less sweet and sticky, and therefore more easily masticated than a Butterfinger. I need to stock up on some crates of these things, because I get the feeling that Hersheys is waiting for the last of America's 70+ set to die out so they can finally stop making these things, because I'm not sure if anyone born after the depression buys them.
Subo Some stir fried noodle thing Downtown Minneapolis "Subo" is Filipino, I guess, for "eat". Or "food". Or something like that. I don't really remember. But their logo has a fork and a spoon in it, so that's gotta be close. Anyway, I didn't find it to be nearly as exotic or impressive as the press has made it seem. Which is too bad, because I was hoping for something new and good downtown. It wasn't bad, but it was just nothing to write home about. Mostly small plate offerings; "tapas style," the waiter said. I'd complain about it being some cheesy attempt at fusion, until I remember that the Philippines itself is a bit of a fusion nation, thanks to our old Spanish pal Ferdinand Magellan. Oh wait--he was Portuguese. The point is, I tried three different things: Green curry potato cakes, pork spring rolls, and a dish that was sort of a combination of pad thai and paella. Considering the fire and passion displayed by the Filipino people that brutally killed Magellan with rocks and clubs on the shallow shores of Mactan, you'd think they'd have a little excitement in their cuisine. But mostly it was just salty.
Kokomos Jamaican pork something Bloomington I had to walk past the front entrance about 5 times before I built up the courage to actually walk into Kokomo. You know the place, right? Up on the third floor of the Mall of America? Across from the Forest Gump restaurant? Looks like it was designed by the gay brother of a cartoon witch doctor on an ether binge? Yeah, that's the place. I probably don't need to tell you how the food tastes, or what led me to eat there to begin with, but I will quote for one of their menu options: Bob Marley's Soup Of The Day. Just ask your beach staff for Bob’s favorite bowl of soup! Lobster bisque, if you were wondering. Wow.
Uptown Cafeteria Chicken and waffles Uptown Minneapolis Uptown is stupid. So stupid. Urban outfitters is stupid. North Face and Columbia and the Apple store are stupid. Calhoun Square is stupid. Chino Latino and Stella's and Il Gatto are stupid. The Uptown Cafeteria is stupid, and everybody that was there on Thursday was stupid. It's all stupid. The chicken and waffles, however, were fantastic. Dammit.
Steve | 06-20-2010
Szechuan Boiled beef in szechuan sauce Roseville City Pages named Szechuan the best Chinese restaurant of 2010. I can't say that it's not. But what I can say is that you shouldn't order the boiled beef in szechuan sauce if you actually plan on enjoying yourself the day after.
Pop! Steak sandwich Northeast Minneapolis First time back to Pop in a long, long, time (years?), and I was not disappointed in the least. In fact, I realized that I've never had a bad meal at Pop. Everything has been somewhere on the scale of good-to-great, this steak sandwich approaching the 'great' part. The only minor gripe I have is that they need to consider changing up their menu; it seems to be exactly the same as it was last time I went there, whenever that was.
Steve | 05-30-2010
Wagners Drive-In BBQ beef sandwich Brooklyn Center Totally worth the drive. It's a real, honest-to-god drive-in, and the service is friendly and the barbeque sauce was actually homemade. It's too perfect.
Steve | 05-22-2010
Brasa Beef and chicken St. Paul It is believed that about 1.8 million years ago, random genetic mutations in a series of generations of Homo Erectus (or, arguably, Homo Antecessor) led him to find himself with a larger brain and smaller teeth than his ancestors, which in turn led him to heat his food over fire in order to more efficiently chew and digest it. Some scientists may argue the timeline of this genetic and behavioral shift, many believing that it happened closer to 700,000 years ago, while many others, mostly those of a hard-line Christian faith, believe man was placed on this earth with inherent and unquestioned knowledge about the cooking of our food only 4,000 years ago by a singular, omnipresent creator. And now we have Brasa.
Steve | 05-22-2010
Al Vento Lamb bolognese South Minneapolis It somehow took us 6 months, but Libby and I finally at dinner at Al Vento last night. Yes, I've had it quite a few times before (mostly lunches), but this was our first official dinner there as neighbors. And it was super good. Even better than my bolognese was the blue prawn appetizer we had. Despite the fact that prawns look like freaky little aliens, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Some sort of white bean sauce with citrus. Who knows. It was great though, and respectably affordable. And I spilled all over my shirt, too, so that's cool.
Steve | 05-20-2010
Colossal Cafe Eggs and sausage South Minneapolis So Libby and I decided to try out the Colossal Cafe this morning for breakfast, only to find a camera crew filming for an episode of Drive Ins, Diners and Dives on the Food Network. At first I figured maybe we'd just be in the background while we were waiting in line, but after we sat down outside waiting for our food, it became clear that they were definitely going to do something with us. Libby ordered some fancy pancakes with apples and brie, and I ordered a plain old eggs/hash browns/sausage plate. As soon as the food came, we were swarmed by a camera, boom mic, and jovial producer who immediately started making small talk with us (he was clearly a master of making small talk with complete strangers). And they filmed us eating. So weird. I'm fully aware that I eat like a slob, but suddenly when there is a big professional HD camera 10 inches away from my plate, following my every move, eating became some sort of controlled, choreographed mission to keep my damn fingers out of the ketchup. I think I succeeded. So then after they left us alone to finish our meals, they came right back for the interview portion. Now, I was comfortable with the idea of speaking on camera, but I was sort of intimidated by the speed and certainty of the film crew. It wasn't really a case of them asking if we wanted to talk and giving us time to think... they simply surrounded us and started questioning. And I was awful. I kept looking at Libby and looking down the street, and the producer guy (bless his heart) kept reminding me to look at him. And I had nothing to say. Which is funny, because I sit and write crap about food all the time on this website. But the meal I ordered was so normal, that the only thing I could manage to talk about was the homemade sausage. And how it was homemade. They make it there, I think. Like, homemade sausage. WIth fennel in it, maybe? Idiot. What I really wanted to talk about was how I'd thought for years that the Colossal was a vegetarian/vegan diner, and it was only last week that I was informed otherwise. But all I could get out was "sausage good." Oh, I also described the toast as "beefy." Jesus. Libby was much better, and I'll bet she makes the final cut. I certainly won't.
Burger King Cinnabon(tm) cheesecake South Minneapolis Bite #1: o-kay!
Bite #2: o...kay...
Bite #3: o-kaaaaaaaaaay?
Bite #4: ohhhhh. kay.
Steve | 05-07-2010
Target Field Pork Chop Downtown Minneapolis (Yet another) Target Field Update! J.D. Hoyt's Porkchop On A Stick: You're better off eating the stick.
Steve | 05-06-2010
Target Field Chili Downtown Minneapolis Target Field Update! The Loon chili totally had steak in it this time! No ground beef! And it was spicier than it was last time, too. So good.
Steve | 05-05-2010
Hogan Brothers Corned beef sandwich Northfield Hogan Brothers seems to make a decent sandwich. Fine. But more importantly, the city of Northfield really does smell like Malt-O-Meal. I always thought that was some sort of rumor or joke or wive's tale. But no. It's like sticking your face into a newly opened bag of Marshmallow Mateys. Crazy.
Steve | 04-26-2010
The Sports Page Cheeseburger Bloomington Well, the old Sports Page is gone, but not entirely. Turns out they just renovated and expanded it, not move it completely. And while it's a little bit of a bummer to not have the same Sports Page experience with all the newly painted walls and much larger bar and kitchen, the food is still good, and the prices are the same. Still, the same joy I used to experience at the place is gone. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.
Target Field Everything Downtown Minneapolis - Loon Cafe chili
We all know that I love the Loon's chili. Best in the city. So I was pretty excited when I found out they'd be using the Loon recipe for Target Field's chili. With a couple understandable exceptions (ground beef instead of brisket/roast, no sour cream or other garnishes), it actually tasted quite good. Also, for $6, you get a pretty good sized portion. They definitely don't skimp.
- Kramarczuk polish sausage
Paul and I tried finding a Kramarczuk booth before the game, which was no easy task given the insane amount of human traffic in the main concourse. But when we eventually spotted it, the lines on both sides were zonkers. At least 50 people deep. I eventually found another one in the 2nd inning, and got a polish sausage with fried onions. It was clearly a good quality sausage, but unfortunately wasn't as well-done as I'd like. Still, for the price, it's definitely worth finding a Kramarczuk booth instead of going with the lame house dogs.
- Nachos
Totally decent. Far better than Metrodome nachos.
- Cuban sandwich
Ahh. The surprise winner (or leader, at least) in the Target Field food-off. There are only a couple tiny little carts labeled "Tony O's," named for Tony Oliva, an old Cuban Twins superstar who is known for his love of cuban sandwiches (and for Victor's 1959 Cafe). I didn't buy one myself, simply because they were clearly produced by the generic Sportservice food people, and not by someone who, you know, makes Cuban sandwiches. But Katie got one, and was nice enough to let me try it. Well color me shocked at how good this sandwich was. Like, wow. I've had plenty of Cubans at various restaurants around town, and this was actually one of the best. Crazy, right? Obviously it has nothing on Victors, but considering it's being sold at a random cart at Target Field, I could barely believe it tasted that good. Its only competition could be the Vincent burger, which I still haven't tried. Maybe next time?
All in all, I really think that Target Field probably has the best food of any of the 15-16 ballparks I've been to. Some have better hot dogs (Milwaukee, Boston, Los--well, a lot have better hot dogs), and some might have the random great item (Baltimore's barbeque, or San Francisco's garlic fries. And does KC have an Arthur Bryant's now?), but I haven't seen anywhere that comes close to the sheer quantity of quality choices as Target Field. Now if they could only do something about their damn scoreboards...
Steve | 04-20-2010
Hot Plate Bacon glazed doughnut South Minneapolis I don't have much more to say about Hot Plate's breakfasts after my third trip there (still good-but-underwhelming). But, this time around there was an added bonus: Glazed doughnuts with bacon sprinkles. It's exactly what it sounds like; a homemade fried doughnut topped off with fresh bacon bits and glazed, Krispy Kreme style. The first bite is a little curious, but by the end you're thinking, "Wow. I want another one." I asked the waitress if they'd have it every weekend, since it was listed as a special. She wasn't sure, because it was the first time they ever tried them. Apparently Hot Plate's owner saw a place on "Drive Ins, Diners and Dives" that served them, and thought he'd give it a shot. I gave her my official vote that they keep them on the menu. So we'll see.
Steve | 04-18-2010
Joys Pattaya Basil duck Richfield In order to prolong an otherwise brief and destinationless bike ride, I decided to eat tonight at the Calico Elephant, a Thai restaurant in what used to (pretty obviously) be an old American diner on Lyndale near 494. Not surprisingly, when I got there I found that the Calico Elephant was gone, but in its place was Joy's Pattaya. I don't know what a Pattaya is (or who Joy is for that matter), but since I just rode nearly 7 miles to get there, I said "what the hell" and got a table. And wouldn't you know, it was actually pretty darn good. I mean, maybe not as great as my last meal at Sen Yai Sen Lek, or even close to as good as the Thai Restaurant Of Death in Las Vegas, but you could tell they know what they're doing. Aside from standard Thai fare, they have some interesting items like a pumpkin curry (which, rumor has it, is actually served in a pumpkin), and spring rolls with avacado and mango (which weren't my cup of tea, but I bet Libby would love them). My duck stir fry, for example, included fresh green beans and bok choy, which I don't really see in Thai food too often, but gave it a certain unique flair. My only qualm was that there was maybe a little too much skin and fat on the duck, which was otherwise tender and tasty, so I'll let that slide. I'll definitely be going back to this place in the future (it's small and cozy, too). I just hope they last a little longer than the Calico Elephant.
Steve | 04-13-2010
Sen Yai Sen Lek Pad kee mao Northeast Minneapolis Awesome lunch at Sen Yai Sen Lek today. Last time (the first and only time) we ate there, I went away with an opinion that one could describe as "optimistically disappointed," in that it was probably my own fault that I didn't love it; I just didn't order the right dish. This time around, I went with the Pad kee mao, which is essentially stir fried noodles (very wide ones) with lots of basil, peppers, mushrooms, and chicken. A simple dish, I suppose, but it tasted fantastic. Pretty much exactly what I always hope for when I try new Thai places. Really, it's probably ruined Sen Yai for me, because I'm never going to order anything else again.
Steve | 04-10-2010
Crave Pulled pork sandwich Bloomington Like the funniest character in a Cormac McCarthy novel, or the most personable TSA agent at the airport, I've decided that the pulled pork sandwich at Crave is the best food item at the Mall of America. Congratulations.
Steve | 04-06-2010
Millside Bacon cheeseburger St. Michael On the drive from Minneapolis to Park Rapids, there is scant little opportunity for a good meal. You'd think between all the small towns you pass, and the 'funky' potential of St. Cloud, that you'd be able to find something other than Perkins or Culvers to eat on your way up north. But despite always being on the lookout for such a place, I've found practically nothing. That's why I've always been intrigued by one highway exit food sign a few miles before Albertville. Big, bold, unadorned black letters spell out "MILLSIDE," and the black silhouette of a burger and fries look so perfect (in a Wes Anderson sort of way) that there'd be no way it could be bad. So on Friday, Libby and I (having already given up on the Maple Grove vortex as a dining possibility after even TGI Fridays had a line out the door) decided to just go for it. Turns out the place is like 3 miles off the highway, and really is tucked away by a the side of a mill. But the unpretentious purity of their black and white sign was spoiled right away by a big, brand new log-cabin style monstrosity, and an overly fussy sign. Oh well. The inside was a no frills small town food hole (but not in a good way). At this point, I don't have much more to add. It was the Friday night fish fry. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and chili. It took a half hour for the food to show up. Other than the insanely long time it took for our food (an experience we clearly shared with a handful of impatient-looking diners sitting near us), I really can't complain about much. The burgers were fine, and the chili even tasted homemade, in a Minnesota chili sort of way. But it didn't live up to the expectations set by its own unassuming exit sign. And now I'm afraid there are no more mysteries to be discovered between here and the North Country.
Steve | 04-05-2010
The Cardinal Patty melt South Minneapolis I just ate a patty melt so perfect that it might have been grilled by God himself. Though since it was just a patty melt we're talking about, it was probably just cooked by one of the Cardinal's meth addict cooks.
Steve | 03-29-2010
Gandhi Mahal Buffet South Minneapolis I finally popped into Gandhi Mahal (near Lake and Hiawatha, sort of by the Town Talk) for their lunch buffet on Sunday. It was fairly cheap, $9.99, and everything I had was good, if maybe not quite as good as Bombay Bistro, and not quite as much to choose from. Plus the chicken tikka masala had tons of little bones in it. But it's the closest Indian place to us, and it was good enough to go back in the future, at least.
Steve | 03-29-2010
Target Field Murrays Steak Sandwich Downtown Minneapolis Today was the Target Field 'preview' game, where you could pay $2 to get in to watch the U of M get their asses kicked by Louisiana Tech from any seat you want. It was a great deal, really, because you could go sit in the $77 seats, go up into the off-limits suites, all that stuff. So it was really fun to go see the place without being confined to your seat, and without having to deal with 40,000 other people. It was so exciting I nearly forgot to try the food! But in the 8th inning, I finally discovered where the sell the infamous Murrays steak sandwiches. They're $10, which seems steep, until you remember that an actual Murrays steak sandwich at the actual Murrays is about $12. And while this ballpark version isn't exactly what you'd get for that $12, it's still surprisingly good. Two thin-ish pieces of steak on a grilled, buttered bun, topped with caramelized onions and provolone. Other than a somewhat scant pile of onions, there really wasn't anything to complain about. I ate it all without dipping it in ketchup, if that says anything. So thumbs up to the steak sandwich!
And three more pieces of Target Field food discoveries that I hadn't heard about previously: 1.) They have Vincent burgers! Jucy lucies stuffed with cheese and short ribs, like at Vincent on Nicollet! I don't know if I even want to try it, since I've never had a "real" one at Vincent yet. It's sort of like saying you've seen Psycho, but only the Vince Vaughn version. 2.) They have Loon chili! From the Loon Cafe! The best chili in the city! Didn't try it, but if it's even close to as good as the "real" stuff, then count me in. And 3.) Kramarczuk has a little booth! They sell brats and some other sausage. I'd imagine it's 10 times better than the crap you'd get at the concession stands. Definitely seek it out.
Steve | 03-27-2010
Dairy Queen Oreo Blizzard South Minneapolis The new Dairy Queen by Minnehaha Park is architectural AIDS. Full-blown. There is no denying that. It's tacky, awkwardly placed, and 10 feet taller than it needs to be. It's a big stupid clown airdropped into a Judi Dench garden party. And also other metaphors. But--but--they actually put a reasonable amount of chunks into their Blizzards now, so maybe I can look the other way.
Steve | 03-23-2010
Bill's Garden General Tsos South Minneapolis We stopped getting Bill's at work a year or so ago after, well, I don't even know what. But after having it for dinner (and leftovers) this weekend, I really think that Bill's is sort of the best cheap/crappy Chinese place in the vicinity. Plus they sell big glass dragon statues and furry tiger ornaments! Can Xin Wong say that? 绝对不会!
Steve | 03-22-2010
Mon Ami Gabi French onion soup Las Vegas Oops, I forgot to post about Mon Ami Gabi. Not a whole lot to say, I guess. It's one of the Paris Hotel's "French" restaurants on the ground floor of their hotel, where Libby and I stopped in quick for a fast pre-dinner. We shared a fantastic cup of French onion soup, and a less-than-fantastic grilled cheese and short rib sandwich. Oh, and some top-notch fries. The place was not too dissimilar to Salut, really. Sort of an American steakhouse/bar with a few French touches. Better atmosphere, maybe. But if I had to choose the better French onion soup, I'd have to go with Salut. Basically, if you were on the strip near Paris and wanted a decent lunch, you could do worse.
Steve | 03-15-2010
Bouchon Bread pudding french toast Las Vegas We ended our Vegas trip with breakfast at Bouchon. Usually I'd imagine a place like Bouchon being a little too upscale for dirty old me, but I'd read their breakfasts were casual and reasonably priced. And Thomas Keller is sort of a deity to some people, the French Laundry and whatnot. Okay, deal. So we traveled up to the 10th floor of the Venetian, away from all the hubub and inanity of the strip, and found ourselves actually in what seemed to be a real, honest-to-god restaurant. Not the Vegas caricature of the "real" Bouchon, but what could honestly just be considered "One of three real Bouchons". It wasn't huge. It wasn't glitzy. The waitstaff was friendly and courteous. And the food, despite not really being my 'cup of tea' was all tremendously crafted. I ordered "Bouchon French toast," which was more like a bread pudding with custard and apples. A little too sour and mushy for my tastes, but you could tell it was correct. Libby liked it a lot more than me. She had some egg bake thing, which was also delicious. Top that off with some great potatoes, house-made blackberry jam, and unquestionably fresh orange juice, and you've got yourself an truly respectable French breakfast, all for the same price as the stupid buffet in your "French" hotel (who make you wait 10 minutes for a table even though you can see, as clear as day, at least 7 open tables within 30 feet of you, but they keep you waiting just so next time you'll pay 5 bucks extra for "VIP" seating, those jerks!).
1. The make-your-own burger concept. This place is the brainchild of Hubert Keller, a legitimate French chef who thought it would be fun to have a burger place. So why is it that there are only like 3 pre-composed burgers on the menu? Why would I be left to choose my own burger's ingredients when a guy named Hubert could've done it for me!? The guy won the burger challenge on Top Chef Masters, for cripes sake!
2. For the price, it really wasn't all that great. I built my burger with organic beef, prosciutto, provolone, and a red wine reduction. It cost me $20 bucks. The sauce tasted fantastic on its own (it would be great on a duck breast or lamb shank or something), but you could hardly taste it on the burger. It was just overwhelmed by everything else. Even the prosciutto sort of disappeared under all the beef. And the fries. They were just pre-made standard sports bar fries, but like $4. Can't you make some real french fries!? Just cut some potatoes and fry'em up! Maybe soak them in malt! I don't know, do something! I understand they're going for the whole "no BS sports bar" schtick, but the fries just seemed cheap. And the cole slaw literally tasted like nothing. Not even worthy of discussion. But speaking of the sports bar thing...
3. The atmosphere.. Awful. Just awful. Again, I'm sure they're just going for the "fun times sports bar" thing, but the interior of this place is just plain lame, especially for Vegas. Like a sub-TGI Fridays. You could pick up the place and move it into downtown Minneapolis and it would still be lame. So consider that's now in the glitz and glamour and over-the-topness of Vegas, and you wonder who ever approved of any of it. Oh, and the logo is horrible and all the waitresses were over-tanned, low pantsed, bitchy skanky Vegas chicks. They selled Burger Bar thongs! What!?
Don't get me wrong. The burger wasn't necessarily bad. The place was just so disappointing that it actually made me mad the more I dwelled on it. Ugh.
Lotus of Siam Nua Yum Katiem Las Vegas Never in my life have I had an experience like this. In my mind, it's an epic tale, but in reality, it's borderline embarrassing. So what happened is this: Lotus Of Siam is a Thai restaurant in a dirty strip mall a mile off the strip, on Sahara Ave., east of the Sahara Casino. After spending only a few minutes on Chowhound's Las Vegas boards, it became clear to me that Lotus was a must eat destination; practically every thread on the board recommended it without hesitation. There have even been national food magazines that have claimed this place to be the best Thai restaurant in North America. Whether this is true or not, I honestly can't say. Not only have I not eaten at every Thai restaurant in North America, I didn't even eat at Lotus of Siam. It ate me. So here's a tip for when you're ordering food at a "real" Thai restaurant: You know how here in Minneapolis they ask you how spicy you want your dish, from 1 to 5? Well I usually go with a 4. Spicy, sure, but very manageable. So when the waiter at Lotus asked me about spice on a scale of 1-10, I did some math and decided on 7. "That's like a 3.5, really." Logical, right? So they bring me my dish, which was pretty much char-grilled skirt steak with garlic and peppers and some lemon juice sauce on a bed of cabbage. After just one bite, I was already impressed. Perfectly cooked beef, fresh cabbage, a sauce tha--Oh my god. Oh my god. Ohmygodohmygod. I can't feel my tongue. Deep breath. Deep breath. It will cool down in a sec--no, no. It's getting worse. It's getting worse! Where's the water, where's the water!? Rice! Rice will help! Oh god the rice just burns more! Libby, Libby let me have a bite of your Pad Thai. Please! Oh god it's like there's an angry cat in my mouth!. And so forth. You get the picture. Easily the spiciest thing I've ever eaten. By the end of the meal, I could actually feel my body temperature rising. I was sort of light headed, and felt even a little nauseous. And yet I ate nearly 3/4ths of my dish, because it was so damn good! And Libby's pad Thai was probably the best I've ever had. And yet I could barely enjoy any of it, because I was just trying not to cry like a girl. In the end, I gave in and asked the waiter for something to help with the spice, and they brought me a tea with cream that worked miraculously, despite setting off an obscene chemical reaction in my stomach. It was truly an event. So in the end, I really wish I could've given it another shot, and next time I'm even anywhere near Las Vegas, I'm going out of my way to eat there again (maybe at like a 4/10 this time). But it might take a while before the night terrors end.
'wichcraft Pork sandwich Las Vegas Our first real food destination in Vegas was a lunch at 'wichcraft, Tom Collicchio's sandwich joint hidden somewhere back in the dark recesses of the MGM Grand. The first thing I noticed about the place (other than the line of 20-something photography convention attendees curling out the door), was that the place had a very chain-like feel to it. I didn't know at the time, but after doing some looking I see that there are 7-8 'wichcrafts in New York, one in San Francisco, and one in Vegas. So this is definitely a big operation. And while the food was certainly at least respectable, you could tell that the 'operation' aspect of it overwhelmed the 'Tom Collicchio' aspect of it. In fact, Collicchio's name is nowhere to be seen, be it on the menus, under the logo, or anywhere else a restaurant would usually want to splash the credentials of their celebrity chef owners. Very curious. Anyway, the food: Good, but not terribly memorable. My pork was a little dry and crispy (in a bad way), the cabbage did nothing for it, and the mustard was all sort of on one side of the thing. Libby had a turkey sandwich with balsamic onions and avocado, which I actually thought was much better than mine. And we shared a chicken corn chowder soup, which was surprisingly bland. I mean, from what I know about Collicchio, he's all about fresh, natural, local foods, and letting the ingredients sort of do the heavy work. No fancy sauces, crazy spices, or anything like that. And you could sort of see that in 'wichcraft; the pork, despite being dry, tasted like pork. You could really taste the corn and chicken in the soup. The problem, I think, is that you have 5000 people (Exaggeration? No idea.) coming through those Vegas doors every day, in only a few short lunchtime hours, and their expectations probably aren't terribly high. How are you supposed to keep quality control in check in the situation they're in? All while keeping prices (to their credit) very reasonable. I don't know how much business the New York locations do, but there's no way they pump as many people through as this one. I wonder also if that's why his name is nowhere to be seen.
Steve | 03-14-2010
The Cheesecake Factory Asian chicken thing Las Vegas I know, I know, I know, I know, I know. "You went to Vegas and you ate at the Cheesecake Factory?" Yes. Look, we were there with my family. And it wasn't even their choice, it was my dad's cousin's choice. He lives in Vegas and offered to take us out for dinner, and that is what chose. The Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's Palace. Maybe he doesn't know it's a chain. Maybe that's the only one in Vegas. I don't know. But... but... ready for this? It was actually really good. Maybe not the best, but at least the most satisfying meal I had in Vegas. I know, I know, I know, I know.
Steve | 03-14-2010
Home Beef in barolo South Minneapolis Libby and I made this Crock Pot beef roast thing the other night, from a recipe in a slow cooker cookbook. Beef in barolo, it was called. Not too complicated, just some chuck cooked in crushed tomatoes, red wine, some garlic, sugar, onions, and rosemary. Oh, and a bay leaf. And Libby made some awesome horseradish/garlic mashed potatoes with it. The first night we had it, it was fine. The rosemary was pretty much the only flavor going on in it, and the beef turned out a little tough, but it was nice. But tonight, three nights later, the leftovers were amazing. Everything really just needed to sit and stew a little longer, I guess. Anyhow, that's all.
Steve | 02-27-2010
Korean Garden Bul go gi St. Paul It's official. I totally like Korean food. Sweet beef? Pickled everything? Absolutely. (I'll note that I tried going to the more-respectable Mirror Of Korea tonight, but they're closed on Tuesdays! What!?)
Steve | 02-23-2010
Sen Yai Sen Lek Beef curryish thing Northeast Minneapolis I finally, finally, finally got to Sen Yai Sen Lek tonight. And I'm happy about it. I had the Khao Soi, which sounded exciting because had pickled mustard greens, and was "curried," instead of "curry" (which I interpret to mean it's more of a dry curry seasoning, not a soupy coconut milk thing). So I was a little bummed at first when it showed up and was basically a yellow coconut curry. However--however--it was extremely flavorful, spicy, and impressive enough that I'm not too bummed that it was essentially a yellow curry. Libby had some cold shrimp salad which I actually thought might've been better than my dish, even. Which is amazing considering, you know, it's a cold shrimp salad. So while I'm not going to say the King And I has a new competitor, I'm definitely excited to go back there again (pretty much everything on the menu looked great). Plus, we had a coupon!
Steve | 02-20-2010
McDonalds Chicken McNuggets Bloomington Olympics advertising convinced me to seek out a McDonalds to try their new sweet chili dipping sauce. So I took the train to the mall in order to do just that, only to discover that--get this--the Mall of America McDonalds has Pepsi instead of Coke! What the hell?
Steve | 02-16-2010
C&G's Smoking Barbeque Pulled pork sandwich South Minneapolis I'd never heard of C&G's, nor was I seeking out barbeque, but my bus today missed my stop, then dropped me off at the next one, right across the street from this place. It was sort of in a strip-mall type situation, connected to a gas station, a cheap Chinese place (Xin Wong, actually), and a glucose-free bakery. It seemed like it might be alright, so I gave it a shot. It's not all that different than a Ted Cook's or Rooster's, in that it's a small little place with an order counter, and maybe 4 tables. Their menu has mostly standard pulled pork, ribs, brisket, cole slaw, that kind of thing. But they also have Coney dogs, "loose beef" sandwiches (sloppy joes, I assume), chili, and some other stuff. I went with the pulled pork and fries, and walked away neither disappointed nor blown away. I think there might've been something weird going on back in the kitchen, like something wasn't working right, and they were rushing to get out people's orders, which might've affected the food a bit. The fries are fresh-cut, but a little soggy, and the pork was tender, but maybe a little fatty (which mushed up the bun a bit). The sauce was fine, but nothing to write home about. I'll definitely go back in the future, since it's a short bike ride away, and there are plenty of menu items to try. But in the end I'd say it's maybe a little better than Caps, about equal to Rooster's, but nowhere close to Ted Cook's. But what is?
Steve | 02-14-2010
Masa Duck enchiladas Downtown Minneapolis Holy mole! The space is a little loud and overly formal, the prices are a little high, and I think the maitre d' made fun of me at one point, but this was the best meal I've eaten in months. Braised duck and a little crema and cheese in a tortilla topped with mole and a few dehydrated apple slices. It was barely even Mexican, but it was muy pinche delicioso.
Steve | 02-10-2010
The Baker's Wife Rolls South Minneapolis Whenever I buy rolls at the Baker's Wife, I am overcome by a clear feeling of guilt. "This shouldn't be so cheap," I think. "They must've made a mistake when they rang me up." It feels like I'm stealing, just walking out the door with caramel rolls and bread pudding I didn't pay for. If they go out of business some day (and let's hope they don't), it's all my fault.
Steve | 02-01-2010
Chickwich Chicken sandwich Bloomington Look, I know you're really excited about Chickwich. It's not a Chick-Fil-A, but it looks like the next best thing, right? Fried chicken? Waffle fries? Cartoon chicken in the logo? Considering the only Chik-Fil-A in Minnesota is a tiny little kiosk in Coffman Union on campus, the fact that it has a second-rate doppelganger in the Mall of America food court sounds like a cause for celebration! Well, guess what? It sucks.
Steve | 01-20-2010
Crave Happy hour stuff Bloomington There was no way this was supposed to be good. First of all, it's called Crave. If you follow Steve's "Happy Chef" rule of restaurant naming, you'll know that any restaurant that needs to put a qualitative statement in its name is likely compensating for its own low quality. Secondly, it's in the Mall of America, with second and third locations (which all opened magically around the same time) in the Galleria, and that new stupid shopping complex in St. Louis Park. No good can come of this, right? But holy shit, were we surprised (shocked, stunned, stupefied, even) when it turned out their food is actually really, really good. Everything from their Korean chicken nuggets to their mini sausage pizza and their sushi was all high quality, well-conceived, and extremely tasty. But their pulled pork sandwich--my god. In terms of "nice restaurant pulled pork" (i.e., not Ted Cooks), this sandwich was head and shoulders (pork shoulders!?) better than similar pulled pork at Pop!, Citizen, Town Talk, or anywhere else I've tried the pulled pork. The secret is that they aren't afraid to make it sloppy and tangy. No subtlety here. And the pickles were chopped up and mixed in instead of just perched on top. Magnifique. Their happy hour deals were all pretty reasonable (mostly $4 and $5 appetizers), but they absolutely did not skimp on portions. Considering we went to this place with pretty much zero expectations, it was actually a joy to sit there eating this stuff. I'm still in shock. It was like going to going to a Sandra Bullock movie and walking away talking about Oscars (well, Golden Globes at least). It isn't going to compete with The Modern or 112 or anywhere like that, but until they give us any reason to think otherwise (we haven't tried any entrees yet, which seem a little on the pricey side), I see no reason to eat anywhere else at the Mall of America. At least during happy hour.
Steve | 01-16-2010
Town Talk Diner Meatloaf South Minneapolis You'd expect something like meatloaf would be a no brainer at a place like Town Talk. Well you'd be wrong. They could definitely do better.
Steve | 01-08-2010
Pizza Joes Pizza South Minneapolis Pizza Joes (not related to Hiawatha Joe, I think, I hope) is a new-ish pizza delivery joint down the street, which has always seemed a little too "questionable" to actually order from. Plus, when you're in Fat Lorenzo's delivery zone, why bother with anything else? But for those times when you don't feel like paying for pizza by the pound or having to put on your fly fishing waders to eat it, you need an alternative. That's why we gave it a shot tonight, and it wasn't too bad. There's still something creepy about the place; it seems to be some sort of chain, but not actually a chain, but maybe? And the pizza had a certain frozen pizza vibe to it. But, like, really perfectly cooked frozen pizza. Now I'm just making it sound like it's horrible, but it's not. I think. I hope.
Busters Brunch South Minneapolis Asian pork soup: amazing. Beer braised beef sandwich: dry (again). Breakfast burrito: tasty, but greasy. Steak eggs benedict: undercooked, but still delicious. Omelette: Apparently good, because Jake actually showed signs of happiness and appreciation. All in all, quite impressed by Busters' brunch menu. But there was a curious lack of pancakey, french toasty, sweet flour-based breakfast items. And they still need to work on their grease levels.
Steve | 01-01-2010
Kings Korean buffet Fridley It took nearly until 2010, but I finally got around to eating Korean food (Oh give me a break... it's not like there's a surplus of Korean restaurants in the cities. Hell, I had to drive past the edge of civilization [i.e. north of 694] to do it). I'm not sure I could tell you what I ate, or how much of it was actually Korean. But there was bulgogi, and there was kimchi, so I have those bases covered. Both were wonderfully delicious, and I will certainly try to eat more of it in the future when my surroundings allow it (i.e. when I am stuck in a bad part of St. Paul or a good part of Fridley).
Steve | 12-30-2009
Cooper Happy hour stuff St. Louis Park St. Louis Park opened a stupid new movie theater in a stupid new shopping complex, where we went yesterday to see a stupid new movie about stupid blue rasta otters. Surprisingly, the least stupid thing about the entire even was our time spent at Cooper, killing two hours before the movie. It's a new Irish bar/restaurant (I refuse to say "pub") by the dude that owns The Local and Kierans and every other , well, "poob" in the cities, and everything I ate was at least as good as the Local. Maybe... dare I say it? Better? I'll just say this: Rueben bites. Imagine biting into a piece of falafel, and finding it stuff with corned beef, sauerkraut, and cheese. Yes, please.
Steve | 12-26-2009
Cantina #1 Noodle thing with chorizo Bloomington Remember when I said R. Burger wouldn't make it until March? Well, scratch that. We tried to eat there last night and it was closed because, to quote the manager, "We haven't been doing too good on Monday nights." Alright then. So on to Cantina #1, where Libby had some decent enchiladas, and I had this weird sort of Mexican spaghetti. Noodles in a tomato sauce with chorizo and crumbled cheese and avocado. Hell if I know if that's a traditional Mexican dish, but honestly it was kind of good. That's two trips to Cantina #1 now, and if you ignore the kind-of-depressing vibe in the place (4th floor of the MOA, mind you), it really isn't that bad.
Steve | 12-22-2009
R. Burger Burger Bloomington There's this new place on the 4th floor of the Mall Of America (cited by Lukas as "The Bermuda Triangle of Commerce") called R. Burger. It's connected to the new comedy club, and is now my go-to place at the Mall for a decent meal. Not because it was the best thing ever, or because it's cheap or convenient. But I was there on Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas, mind you), and while every other restaurant in the mall was swimming in people, lined up out the door and whatnot, the R. Burger was host to myself, two other couples, and one guy at the bar. Totally dead. I loved it. At one point, a family of 6 came and sat down, then mysteriously (and sneakily!) left before ordering. It was very awkward. The waitress said she heard them arguing about something. Anyway, their burger was pretty good (a little greasy), but their big thing is that you can basically build your own burger, with kobe beef and horseradish and jalepenos, or whatever. You could even put tartar sauce on your bacon cheeseburger! Yowza! Basically, let's hope the comedy club can keep this place alive, or else it won't last past March.
Steve | 12-21-2009
Matts Jucy Lucy South Minneapolis Matt's has not only the best burger in town, but the best juke box. Pure class. And I dominated that thing tonight. "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder, followed by Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," and capped off by the lovely "More Than This" by Roxy Music. I saw four different people dancing or singing along to "Sir Duke" within the first few bars. They didn't know what hit them. And the burger was stellar as always.
Town Talk Diner Kitchen sink burger South Minneapolis Is 2:30 too late in the afternoon for a restaurant to serve only brunch? Or is that standard? Call me crazy, but I was very disheartened when Libby and Katie and Paul and I went to the Town Talk, after a long morning of moving couches and dressers and trombones and large rocks, only to find their brunch menu was our only option. Not seeing many lunch (the "unch" part, see) options, I submitted to the kitchen sink burger practically by default. But get this: it was easily the best burger I've had at Town Talk. Maybe the best anything I've had at Town Talk. Nothing fancy, just cheese and bacon and a special sauce (like 1000 island, but with umph), but it was just made perfectly. Not swimming in grease, not lacking in sauce, thick bacon, well cooked burger. And garlic fries. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I just won't be going back to Town Talk during "unch" again.
Nick and Eddie Pot roast Downtown Minneapolis We sort of went to Nick and Eddie as a fluke, trying to get a fast bite to eat before the Andrew Bird concert at St. Marks, dealing with horrendously slow bus service and horrendously cold weather. Joe's Garage was too much of a wait, so we ended up at Nick and Eddie, and were not the least bit disappointed. I have to say I was surprised by their prices; while it wasn't cheap, it was all very reasonable, and the restaurant in general was far more informal that I have always thought. Granted, the menu isn't terribly exciting, but we both enjoyed what we ordered. I had pot roast (short rib, I believe) that had a fantastic jus (I think with some cider in it), and Libby had lobster mac and cheese, which she enjoyed. Throw some perfectly good pierogis into the mix, and we left happily (and quickly).
Steve | 12-11-2009
Pannekoeken Huis Bacon pannekoeken St. Louis Park Pannekoeken, if you didn't know, is Dutch for "clinical depression." They don't tell you this in the menu, but it's easy to figure out once you step foot into the Twin Cities' last remaining Panneloeken Huis. The place has all the charm of an abortion clinic, and is staffed by waitresses who just couldn't cut it at Perkins. They still make a tasty Dutch pancake, though.
Butcher Block Short rib sandwich Northeast Minneapolis I ate so much food this weekend. So much. I won't bother with the full list here (as not to embarrass myself) but let's just say I'm not proud. Not proud at all. The climax was Saturday night, when we finally got out to Butcher Block for my birthday (because I'm not going to pass up a place who's menu contains 14 flavors of chicken wings and beef carpaccio). Any worries we had about a lack of reservation were replaced with entirely new worries when we walked into the door to find the place entirely empty, save for one table of loud U of M students, and about a dozen employees gossiping and joking at the bar. I don't mind being in an empty restaurant, but man, there's something about having all these staff members just sitting around that made me uncomfortable. And they kept walking back and forth from the kitchen (where there must've been something hilarious going on) to the bar, right past our table. Our waitress, while she did a fine job otherwise, seemed like she would rather hang out with her co-workers than actually wait on her only table. But the much-anticipated food? Fine, I guess. I tried two flavors of chicken wings. The sambal chili was the best, but I've had better wings. The short rib sandwich tasted good, but was drowning in grease. The fries were fried well, and were coated in some interesting spice mixture (five spice?). Our beef carpaccio was nice enough, and Libby's ravioli, according to her, had a very homemade quality to it, in a good way, but could've used a little more... flavor? Something like that. I'm not complaining, mind you; it was all good, and the service was fine despite the off-putting exploits of the staff. But considering they don't start serving the sandwich/wings menu until 9pm every night, I'm not sure how soon I'll be back there. Their menu looks fantastic though--plenty of good options for next time. In the end, the Butcher's Block gets a big, hearty "Could've been worse."
Busters Butt steak South Minneapolis Finally, a fully satisfying meal from Buster's. A butt steak (not sure what that means, but I can guess) wrapped in bacon and leaks and served on top of garlic mashed potatoes. I'm starting to think the entree route is the way to go at this place, since every sandwich I've had ends of making me a little sad inside.
Hot Plate Breakfast burrito South Minneapolis Second time at Hot Plate. Not as good as the first. In fact, my breakfast burrito was actually kind of gross. I'm going to continue to give them the benefit of the doubt (thanks to their pumpkin waffles), but considering their ability to screw up something as unscrewupable as a breakfast burrito (covering it with that nasty sauce from cans of chipotle peppers? Guh.), and the obvious frozen-ness of their fried potatoes, I'm a little wary of what this place has in store for our future.
Steve | 11-29-2009
3 Tiers Meatloaf sandwich South Minneapolis There are two anecdotal rules to sandwich-craft that I know in my heart to be true. One is that the addition of pickled onions on a sandwich will make that sandwich at least 20% better. The other rule is similar, in that adding horseradish to a sandwich makes your sandwich 20% better. So if we do the math, 3 Tiers has created a sandwich that, even if the meatloaf was replaced with, oh, wet paper towels, we already have a 40% edible sandwich. The fact that their sandwich also contains competent meatloaf and homemade bread (this being a bakery, and all), we're looking at like a 95% sandwich. That missing 5%? A little chewy. A little chewy.
Steve | 11-16-2009
Busters Beer braised beef sandwich South Minneapolis Ignoring, for a moment, the time that I ate their chicken wings and soon after found myself violently hurling by a tree on the parkway, I've never had a bad meal from Busters. Unfortunately, I've never had an amazing meal, either. They have a great menu, in theory, but in the end there's always just that little wisp of disappointment, that feeling that there's something just not... quite... right. But they're only a couple blocks away from the new house, and they have elk pizza. So I'll be back.
Steve | 11-12-2009
Singapore Some sort of curry South Minneapolis I don't even know where to begin with tonight's trip to Singapore. Like. Hmm. It was really one of those experiences that demands not a little blog post, but an entire short story. Perhaps a series of graphic novels. Or a puppet show. If we were in a hurry or had places to be or were generally impatient and humorless people, we probably would've gotten up and left at any of about a dozen different points in the evening. The place was mostly empty when we sat, was practically overflowing when we left, and the entire time there was only one waiter: The charmingly nerdy but cartoonishly bewildered Melvin, the teenage son of the restaurant's owner (who also happened to be the only cook, and could occasionally be heard screaming in her native language from behind the kitchen doors). And did I mention he seemed to be in the midst of a nervous breakdown? Food was burnt, orders were forgotten, to-go boxes were accidentally thrown away, incomprehensible statements were uttered. Frequently. There was running. There was yelling. There was Celine Dion. Lots of Celine Dion. And somehow in the end, we found the whole experience fun, and somehow not at all infuriating, because for as crazy as the night was, and for as out-of-his-element the waiter appeared, he was apologetic and clearly trying his best. And the food was nearly as good as "old" Singapore, back when chef Tee ran the place. There's a certain charm here that makes it feel like you're eating Malaysian home cooking in the dining room of your neighbors–-your crazy ass, dysfunctional, welfare-cheat neighbors. Recommended!
Steve | 11-07-2009
Hot Plate Pumpkin buckwheat waffles South Minneapolis Funny that you don't hear about Hot Plate more often than you do. Granted it's in a random little part of the city, 52nd and Bloomington, but I never even would've heard of it had my boss raved about it a couple years ago. But since we're moving into the neighborhood, we poked in this morning, and were shocked to find a busy, bustling, quirky, fun little place who's apparent popularity is matched by its delicious food (and borderline obsessive paint-by-numbers collection). While I may not strike you as a pumpkin buckwheat waffle kind of guy, it seemed like the perfect choice for a November morning, and it was absolutely worth ordering. It was pretty much everything you'd think it was, but came topped with caramelized walnuts and whipped cream. If anything, it was maybe a little too sweet; I could've eaten just one instead of two, with a side of sausage or something, and been happy. But as it stands I was perfectly content with the waffles and the experience as a whole, and we will certainly be going back there many more weekends in the future.
Steve | 11-07-2009
The Bulldog The Southern (something) Dog Uptown Minneapolis Pinto beans. Cole slaw. Bacon bits. Cajun seasoning. On a hot dog. I don't know who conceptualized this thing, but I think it works.
Steve | 11-04-2009
Rudolphs Pulled pork sandwich Uptown Minneapolis "Sweet. I'm going to go to Rudolphs like twice a week now that I live three blocks from it," I said to myself as I moved all my stuff into this apartment on Aldrich. A year and a half later and a month away from moving out, I hadn't once gone there. So I went over there tonight, sat down at the bar and ordered a pulled pork sandwich and read my book. That was nice until the mentally unstable "regular" sat down right next to me and starting hitting on all the waitresses. Then the sandwich came and was fine, if a little greasy. I love their sauce, though, and it has pickles on it, which is a definite plus. But I at least did the late-night Rudulphs thing once, and now I can look forward to being only a few blocks away from Ted Cook's, who's pulled pork is heads and (pork) shoulders above Rudolph's anyway. If only they had a happy hour.
Steve | 11-01-2009
Cheeky Monkey Meatloaf sandwich St. Paul I was told by multiple people who are "in the know," that Cheeky Monkey, despite its awful, awful (awful) name, makes the "best sandwich in town." Better, even, than B'Wiched (though we could argue all day about who chose the inferior name). "Dubious," I thought. "Dubious." And since today I was finally in a position, both geographically and spiritually, to try it out, I did. My opinion is as follows: Cheeky Monkey is very good. Outstanding, even. As good as the sandwiches were, the chili was even better. Easily the best chili I've eaten all year. The kind of chili that I wish I could make, so people could say, "Man, I hope Steve brings his chili to the party!" And the price on everything was reasonable-to-cheap. But really, the two are incomparable. Cheeky Monkey is hearty and loving, while B'Wiched is technically savvy and secretly hates you. And yet. I dare say, with apologies to Andrew and Craig and Lucas and whoever else carries an understandable sense of St. Paul Pride: In the battle of gourmet Twin Cities deli sandwiches, a battle which nobody asked for which the outcome affects even fewer, I choose B'Wiched.. If they ever move out of Cathedral Hill (which may as well be rural Budapest as far as I'm concerned), I would probably eat there about six times a week. But as good as it is, I feel like other places could equal what they're doing. B'Wiched, on the other hand, is in their own little world, charging more, yes, but also leaving me like I just experienced something great. They also don't have a cartoon monkey in their logo.
Steve | 11-01-2009
moto-i Braised pork ramen Uptown Minneapolis Apparently "moto-i" is not meant to be capitalized. Though it brings me physical pain to not hit the shift button, I will, out of respect for the restaurant and its proprietors, follow moto-i's brand guidelines and keep it all lowercase. There. Now that that is out of the way, I have to say that while I wasn't necessarily blown away by it, I'm very intrigued by moto-i. I had a very tasty pulled chicken bun, a satisfying-but-could-be-tastier bowl of braised pork ramen, and a plate of fried donuts coated in a mixture of sugar and 5-spice that was most likely sent from whatever omnipotent and benevolent being created life and love itself. (I liked them). I am by no means an expert on Japanese cuisine, or ramen bowls specifically, but I feel like you could make a better one than this. I liked it, don't get me wrong. It just could've used little more something. But considering that they had about 20 more things on their menu that I wanted to eat, and the fact that there simply aren't many other places in the Twin Cities serving this kind of food, I'm excited to go back again sometime.
Steve | 10-28-2009
Kindee Red curry Downtown Minneapolis God, I'm so over Thai coconut milk curries. The one at this Kindee place was fine and everything, but, well, blllluuuuh. It all just tastes the same to me now, wherever I get the stuff. Their fried spring rolls with chicken and mushrooms, on the other hand, were wonderful, and very unique compared to any other Thai place. They were good enough to convince me to go back again in the future, at least to try something other than the curry.
Steve | 10-24-2009
Roat Osha Red Curry Noodles Uptown Minneapolis I think I've finally decided that Roat Osha just isn't very good. Oh, wait, I decided that months ago. Nevermind.
Steve | 10-22-2009
Harry Singh's Lamb curry, chicken wings Uptown Minneapolis Go to Harry Singh's. It's on Nicollet and 27th. It's a perfect little place; between the food and the atmosphere and the service, you couldn't ask for anything more. I won't even try to explain the food, since it's Caribbean (i.e. "Indian meets soul food meets hell if I know what else"), but it is unbelievable. Real jerk chicken wings. A big pile of fresh and hearty (and very green) lamb curry. I'm just going to stop now, because I still don't know the first thing about Trinidad or Tobago, but I can tell you that every good thing you'll ever hear about this place is 110% true.
The Blue Door Pub Jiffy Burger St. Paul The Jiffy Burger seemed like one of those things that sounds gross but then you try it and have your mind blown. Seemed like. In actuality, it tasted like a burger with peanut butter on it. Nothing more, nothing less. The bites with pickle actually weren't too bad, but the pickle distribution on this particular burger wasn't what it should've been. It certainly wasn't bad enough to alter my opinion of The Blue Door (which is high), but I think next time I'll steer clear of anything that mixes peanut butter and beef and City Pages recommendations.
Steve | 10-11-2009
Sauce Rigatoni Uptown Minneapolis Good: I got a 50% off coupon to Sauce. Bad:The place was completely empty except for us. Good:It's in a "How could anything fail here?" location, replacing the recently-failed La Bodega Bad: The decor is a sort of lame combination of music club, upscale sports bar, and graffiti-clad teen hangout. Good:The food was exactly the kind of rich, hearty homey Italian food this city has been lacking. Bad: It all felt a little bit like leftovers. I'm pretty sure they made the meatballs yesterday, and even the sauce, despite being the kind that is slow cooked over the course of a day, seemed somehow stale. Good: Despite that, I have to say this is the closest thing I've ever tasted to my grandma's spaghetti sauce and meatballs, which is possibly my favorite food in the world. So they have that going for them. Bad: Thirteen bucks for a plate of rigatoni. A little steep. If this was like 8 or 9 bucks at a little place like Broders Cucina, my mind would be entirely blown. But for $13 at a sit down restaurant, I feel like I need something else. Meatballs? Fancier plates? A salad? Good:Someone took some letters off the "Seat Yourself" sign so it read "Eat Our Elf." Very clever. Bad:Is anyone really going to sit down and eat a big filling plate of rich, spicy red-sauce pasta before going to a rock show? Conclusion:I think they have some potentially great food here, but have chosen the wrong venue for it. A cozy little hole in the wall would be great for this stuff, and they could knock a couple bucks off it and everyone would win. But once you throw in graffiti'd walls and hipster jukebox choices and a bar and live music that doesn't involve mandolins, it just don't make sense. But, man, if you stick that plate of rigatoni in front of me again, I'll eat every bit of it and then lick the plate.
Steve | 10-10-2009
Brits Pub Shepherds Pie Downtown Minneapolis After spending nearly five hours in the emotional gauntlet of Wednesday night's baseball game, and coming out on the side labeled "Euphoric," I decided to stay downtown for a while and treat myself to some food. I ended up going to Brit's (because how better to celebrate America's Pastime than with the food of the British Isles?), where I seated myself and waited about 10 minutes before going up to the front and alerting them to my presence. 5 minutes after that a very uninterested bloke took my order, very uninterestedly. I went with the shepherd's pie, this being Brits and all. It wasn't very good. In fact, I would actually characterize it as "Completely lame." I've only had shepherd's pie once before, so for all I know this was the world's most perfect plate of pie. But as far as I'm concerned, The Local's version is far superior. But in the end, despite the terrible service and only slightly better food, I didn't care one bit, because I had just witnessed The Greatest Game In American Cricket History.
Lyndale Deli Lamb chops Uptown Minneapolis One thing I'm actually going to miss about living near Lyn-Lake is being 30 seconds away from the Lyndale Deli. Two years ago it was just a regular old convenience store deli next to Treehouse Records, where you could order a surprisingly good gyro, and not much else. But in the last year, they have been slowly expanding their menu offerings, mostly as daily/weekly specials. In the last couple months, it even appears as if they are phasing out their store shelving entirely, at the same time stretching their culinary offerings to places where you'd never expect such a place to go. We're talking Moroccan chicken stew, cornish game hen, that sort of thing. Lots of legitimate Middle Eastern stuff that I've never heard of, too. Tonight they had marinated, grilled lamb chops. No frills, but shockingly good, and cheap. They came with their standard basmati rice, hummus, and fantastic 'Greek' salad. If you would've given me this meal on a nice plate at a "real" restaurant for twice as much money, I would've been perfectly happy with it. The fact that it came from a junky little convenience store on Lyndale is mind-boggling. I'd guess they'll eventually try to convert the place into a full restaurant, but unfortunately I will be long gone by then.
Steve | 10-04-2009
VFW Bacon cheeseburger St. Cloud As I am not myself a veteran of a foreign war, I was not aware that it is possible to simply walk into a random VFW and order a burger and chili. But apparently you can. And we did. And it was okay.
Steve | 10-03-2009
Arby's Not Enough Roast Beef Uptown Minneapolis It's time now for Music And Food And Math. Get out your slide rules. So tonight I ordered a regular roast beef combo, which comes with a small drink and small curly fries. The combo was $5.01. Since I'm never content with a single sandwich, I ordered one additional regular roast beef for something like $2.50. This total comes to $7.50. Already, I'm pissed because Arby's is always about two bucks more expensive than it has any right to be. So then as I'm eating, I'm studying their menu and doing a little math. See, they're offering their 5-for-5 deal right now. That's 5 roast beef sandwiches for $5.00. If you get this deal, you can also get a small drink and fries for $1.00 each. That's $7.00 for five sandwiches, a drink and fries. If you remember correctly, I had just paid $7.50 for two sandwiches, a drink and fries. That is fifty cents more for three fewer sandwiches. Now, if this was a one-sandwich difference, I'd be a little bummed. A two-sandwich difference, and I'd be borderline depressed. But three entire sandwiches? Pure insanity. Shit. I actually went entirely beyond "depressed," and found myself entirely empowered to do something about it. And anyone who knows Steve Marth knows he's not the "empowered" type. So I brought my receipt to the cashier, who clearly had nothing go do, and he actually (albeit humorlessly) refunded me 50 cents and gave me three more sandwiches to go. I don't know whether to be glad that I got the deal, or confused about which ancient Mesopatamian god Arbys' financial officers consult when creating their menu.
Jasmine Deli Stuff with fish sauce in it Uptown Minneapolis I don't eat at the Jasmine Deli as much as I probably should, but I've had it twice in the last week, so try to follow along; Curry beef noodle salad: Awesome awesome awesome. Pork and shrimp spring rolls: Too much cilantro and/or mint, and too peanutty dipping sauce. Stir fried chicken noodle salad: okay, but should've gone with the char broiled. Pot stickers: unbelievably amazing dipping sauce. Mock duck sandwich: It's mock duck. Gimme a break. All in all, the curry beef noodle salad is the winner.
Steve | 09-16-2009
Mainstreet Bar And Grill Buffalo steak sandwich Hopkins Apparently it was Bingo night at the Mainstreet Bar And Grill in downtown Hopkins, where I randomly biked to on Tuesday. I knew this because when I walked in the door, the bartender was reading off Bingo numbers, and people were all checking their Bingo cards. "I can't read my book if there's all this hubub," I thought, so I walked across the street to the Hopkins Tavern (as seen on the TV commercials). Unfortunately it was also Bingo night at the Hopkins Tavern. So I walked across the street back to the Mainstreet Bar And Gril, where I ordered the most outlandish item on their menu: The buffalo steak sandwich. No, not buffalo steak like bison steak. I mean a ribeye steak sandwich slathered in buffalo wing sauce and fried onions and mushrooms. I love the classic sports bar mentality at work here; "Steak sandwiches are good, but we need something else. I don't know, maybe throw some buffalo sauce on there?" And voila. You have a "special." Actually, it was very delicious, and was something I have never seen on anyone's menu before (probably because it theoretically sounds awful). Best of all, it gave me a good excuse to not order buffalo wings and a steak sandwich. Mainstreet Bar And Grill, your home for Tuesday night Bingo and pragmatic solutions to menu-based indecision.
Steve | 09-16-2009
Red Lobster All you can eat shrimp Roseville All you can eat shrimp. Aaaall you can eat shrimp. All. You can. Eat... shrimp. What can I write about this? What timely anecdotes or hints of wisdom can I extrude plate after plate of shrimp and rice pilaf? Well, some of it was teriyaki shrimp. Some of it was cajun. Deep frying and coconut even got involved. There were biscuits as well. All that we could eat.
Steve | 09-13-2009
Chins Asia Fresh Mongolian chicken Minnetonka This is so stupid.Who am I? What am I doing here? And why is there pesto on my potstickers? I mean, really. You can cover up the potstickers with whatever substance you want, but the fact remains that they are still bland, wet potstickers. And you can put my Mongolian Chicken with brown rice on a fancy black porcelain plate, but it's still goddamn Leann Chins. Only I'm paying twice as much for it.
Steve | 09-06-2009
Kinh Do Holy Basil with chicken Uptown Minneapolis I know it's probably not some legitimate traditional Vietnamese dish, and I know it's nothing but jalepenos, basil, chicken, and a bucket of fish sauce and sugar, but hot damn this is a good pile of food. Sure, it's not better than the King and I's 34 with beef, but it's at least in the top 3 of my favorite Asian dishes around town. Quang could probably make it better, though.
Steve | 09-01-2009
The Duplex Hangar steak Uptown Minneapolis Call me crazy, but I don't love steak. It always sounds good, and I imagine how good it could be, but no matter where I order it, how it's prepared, or how expensive it is, I almost always walk away underwhelmed. The same goes for Tim Burton movies. So last night, imagine my shock when I took a bite of a hangar steak at The Duplex and actually said, "Wow, I really like this." Granted, a hangar steak is a very different cut of meat than a strip or a T-bone or whatever, and it was swimming in a tasty dijon mustard demi glace, but hot damn it tasted great, was cooked perfectly and there was enough of it to fill me up. The carmelized onion potato au gratin was too much "carmelized" and "gratin" and not enough "onion" and "potato", so that was a bit of a let down. If I was sitting at a judge's table ton Top Chef, I'd probably more quickly throw out words like "A total disaster," or make a reference to bricklaying or something, but I'm not so I won't. All in all, the Duplex is still holding up well. They need to change up their menu pretty soon here (I can only convince myself not to order the duck sloppy joe so often), and their space will always be noisy and awkward (same goes for the service... ZING!), but it's good to know there's a place to walk to for something like a birthday dinner when the Hour Car doesn't give us enough time for the Modern, and Alma is too full (or unwilling to deal with our gift certificate?) to visit on a Saturday night.
Steve | 08-30-2009
Katz's Deli A pile of money on rye Manhattan Katz's is supposedly one of the last original non-chain Jewish delis in New York, so of course we had to go give it a shot on my last day in the city (since I wasn't going to have time to fulfill my dream of throwing a trash can through the window of a racist Brooklyn pizza joint). It was delicious. There is no doubt about that. And the restaurant, while very large, certainly had a legitimate charm and history to it. But holy cannoli, look at those prices! Given the swarms of people that must eat there every day, it's probably completely reasonable for them to charge $15 for a single sandwich with no sides, or $4.50 for a side of cole slaw. They do brine their own corned beef and pastrami so it's incredibly fresh, and I assume they make their own cole slaw and potato salad as well. But if I lived nearby, I can't imagine wanting to go there too often. It was probably better than Cecil's (very different, at least), and at least as good as Mort's (and now that I think about it, Mort's certainly isn't for penny-pinchers), but I'd bet if you're living in Manhattan, you probably have a handful of places that you can get a comparable meal for half the price. Although I doubt you'll find better potato salad.
Oasis of Williamsburg Shawarma sandwich Brooklyn I've had chicken shawarma before, and I've had plenty of gyros before, but this thing I ate at this randomly chosen Williamsburg deli was something else. It started as a standard pita stuffed with sliced shawarma--lamb and turkey in this case--but on top of that was a pile of red cabbage, some sort of peppered pickles (which, according to my research, may have been pickled gherkins), mystery onions, a tzatziki sauce unlike any I have ever seen, and a substance that can best be compared to Chipotle's hot salsa. It was like Egypt, Germany, and Mexico all crammed into one unfortunate pita. The meat, I'm sad to report, was a little bit dry, and the meat/veggie distribution demanded some creative bite-taking. But as I made my way to the middle, it was juicy and delicious and different. And just five bucks. I can't imagine finding a much better and equally filling five dollar meal anywhere, be it New York or wherever. Okay, so I could probably get a better deal on it if it was "Oasis of Cairo" (where it would likely be served to me by the immigrant deli owner, a guy from Kansas City named Andy), but the more I think about it, I don't know if I could ever find a similar sandwich in the Twin Cities. As soon as I get home, I'm storming into the Lyndale Deli and demanding gherkins, dammit! Gherkins!
Steve | 08-24-2009
Random gyro cart Chicken gyro Manhattan Having been in New York for two and a half days now, I have already noticed a major and disappointing fact about the city's famous street food vendors. See, for years, I've been under the impression that the sidewalks of Manhattan are rife with roving street carts selling any and every kind of food--from hot dogs to burgers to tacos and maybe some barbeque ribs and duck confit or something. But in truth, it seems that there are only about four options. We have gyro and kabob carts, hot dog carts, ice cream carts, and hot dog and ice cream carts. And they all seemed to be operated by the same 2 or 3 companies. If you're in Central Park near the Upper West Side, you're stuck with the same exact gyro and ice cream sandwich as down south in Battery Park. I was hoping for some surprises, the occasional fancy/good/cool cart selling, I don't know, elk sausages or tikka masala or something. But all day, up and down Manhattan, are the same carts, the same signs, same prices, and the same processed meats.
(Speaking of processed meats, Ben and Justin mentioned on my first night how it's practically impossible to find bratwurst in New York. While that seemed unbelievable at the time, I really haven't seen it anywhere all weekend, counting all the concession stands at the Mets game. I mean, I'm sure you could find it at a good grocery store or meat market or something, but as far as casual sausage consumption goes, Italian Sausage is really the cased meat of choice in this part of the country).
Steve | 08-23-2009
Egg Cheese omelette, candied bacon Brooklyn The obvious first thought: "Oh god, someone opened a breakfast joint in the middle of Williamsburg and decided to call it Egg? Why don't you just shoot me in the head and feed my body to some free range chickens and get it over with? However, after eating there, I have nothing to complain about. For having the gall to name themselves "Egg," there was little or no sense of self-importance or preciousness in either the menu or the interior itself. The space was small and contemporary, but inviting--white walls, unfinished wood ceilings, reclaimed wood tables, that sort of thing, but lived-in enough that you wouldn't get kicked out if you spilled ketchup all over the floor (which I didn't do, thank you very much). The food was perhaps a little too pricey, but really no more than eating at French Meadow or such a place (and cheaper than Cafe Maude, although you should expect to pay a premium for suchcivilized leisure). I suffered major ordering regret--cognitive dissonance, if you will--about my omelette. I should've went with the biscuits and gravy, which Ben ordered and were spicy and just how I like them. The omelette was okay, a little too mushy in the middle, but the hashbrowns were fantastic. Very different, as well; they were basically a big ball of potato hash deep fried into what could easily be confused as a giant falafel ball. Crunchy on the outside, hash-browny in the middle. And of course, I wouldn't dare eat at this place without ordering their candied bacon, which sounds a lot more ridiculous than it really is. Basically, they cook up their bacon coated in maple syrup to create a nice layer of sweetness on the outside. Very tasty. All in all, it was probably a little too expensive, and it can be an awfully long wait to get in if you don't get there early enough. But I'd certainly go back there in the future if its space isn't taken over by a cupcake shop or discount keffiyah outlet. (Oh, and also, free homemade donut holes when you are seated.)
Steve | 08-22-2009
Grimaldi's Pizzeria Sausage and red pepper pizza Brooklyn For the second time this year, I found myself standing in line with a horde of bitter people for a unusually long amount of time outside a highly-regarded pizza place in a very large American city. But unlike my experience with Gino's East in downtown Chicago, this time I actually left satisfied. Granted, Grimaldi's is a completely different beast than Gino's East; we're talking about a one-off, family-owned, coal-fired pizza joint who's popularity is based solely on its reputation and quality, not a mythic regional institution who filters millions of customers a year through its several locations in search of a pizza the size of a tractor tire. The fact that it is located practically underneath the Brooklyn Bridge (very impressive, by the way) certainly doesn't hurt, either. Thin, chewy, and fresh, the pizza was much more similar to something you'd get at Punch than any big greasy pie you might find somewhere (anywhere) else. And to be honest I have a hard time finding anything particular that distinguishes it from Punch. But if you were to set a Punch pizza and a Grimaldi's pizza in front of me right now, I'd choose Grimaldi's, hands down. It was just a perfectly enjoyable pizza with good sauce, good crust, and good cheese. As we were finishing up, we were kindly greeted by who I assume is the owner, a cartoonishly Italian Brooklynite who managed to disparage Bostonians, Asians, gays, children, and himself in about 1.5 minutes, in a way that would've been charming even to gay Asian children from Boston. I believe the staff of Gino's East simply turned the lights off and spit in our to go boxes as they pushed us out the door.
West Indies Soul Food Jerk chicken South Minneapolis Every time I go to the Midtown Global Market, I see the West Indies Soul Food place after I've already eaten, and tell myself, "Next time, I'm going to eat there." And then the next time comes and I just eat Safari again. But this time...this time...I remembered it right away. And I didn't go away too disappointed. The odd part is that I asked the lady for a sample of the stewed oxtail, and she only would give me a sample of it if I ordered something else, which sort of defeats the point of samples, if you ask me. The oxtail was good, but I was stuck with the chicken. It was very dramatic.
Steve | 08-21-2009
Craftsman Bacon filled venison burger South Minneapolis We're looking at a house on 42nd and Lake, and in my scouting of the neighborhood, I saw that the highly-recommended Craftsman was less than a block away. One could quite literally throw a stone to hit it (and since this is Lake Street we're talking about, one most likely already has). I sat down at the bar to eat while killing time for the light to go down (my neighborhood scouting is just that thorough), and ordered a bacon filled venison burger. The burger itself was practically flawless; great taste and texture, the bacon didn't overpower the venison, the bun was a good match for the meat, and the chili ketchup had a nice tang. But there was one major problem: Bleu cheese. I guess I just don't like bleu cheese. And the stuff they used on this burger, while not a large quantity, was very strong, and made what should've been a fantastic burger a struggle to finish. But I won't blame the Craftsman, because it was everything they said it would be.
Steve | 08-16-2009
Banh Thai Panang gai Plymouth Back when I was a bratty little snot-nosed loser kid who didn't like Chinese food, there was this Chinese restaurant next to Marcellos in the Four Seasons Mall (the magnetic epicenter of all the sadness in the northwest suburbs*). The only memory I have of being in there involved me ordering a cheeseburger, which tasted funny because it was probably coated with MSG and cooked in a wok. Now, 20 years later, that creepy little Chinese place is a creepy little Thai place. It was unflatteringly decorated and completely empty. And the chicken curry was the best I've had in over a year. I'll make no claims of this being some hidden gem in the middle of a half-abandoned strip mall, as the menu looked a little boring, and Libby's pad thai was fairly unexciting. But I will say that, well, this place is actually worth investigating if you're north of 394. High praise.
* Libby would claim that the Down In The Valley location in Crystal truly holds this title, but I think since there's an Axe Man and Half Price Books within spitting distance, that the Four Seasons takes the cake.
Steve | 08-03-2009
The Modern Stewed pork Northeast Minneapolis For only the second time ever, I left the Modern tonight slightly disappointed. I blame the stewed pork. It wasn't terrible, just not necessarily up to par. To get technical for a moment: it needed more crunch. That would've done it. However, I had a cup of red bean and ham soup which was so good that I don't even have the heart to really complain about the pork.
Steve | 07-31-2009
Fitgers Rueben, homemade root beer Duluth Something I've noticed about Duluth on my last few visits is that, in terms of its shopping and dining choices, it's become a sort of Minneapolis Two (or "Minneapolis Too!" as some savvy marketing brain would likely render it). Pizza Luce. Grandmas. Hells Kitchen. The Electric Fetus. The Global Village. These are all perfectly fine establishments, some of them even got their start in Duluth, but when I'm driving three hours to get to a city, I want some options! And while I'm sure there are a number of hidden little gems sprinkled around town, there doesn't seem to be any one place that says "Hey everyone, I'm an amazing restaurant that is easy to find and entirely original to Duluth! Eat at me and tell your friends about how great I am!" Hells Kitchen would be one of these places if it wasn't an arm of the Minneapolis one, and Luce would certainly be one if it never left Duluth. But as it stands, I can only really think of two places that even come close: Pickwicks and Fitgers. Pickwicks, I have never been to. Someone told me the other day that it's very good, and it will certainly be on my list in the future. But this weekend, when killing time on the drive back from the Upper Peninsula, Libby and I ate lunch at Fitgers. More specifically, we ate at the Fitgers Brewhouse Brewery & Grille (points subtracted for the 'e'). Fitgers, you see, is really a big newly-renovated shopping complex which used to be a brewery, and now houses a mini brewery and a Life Is Good store. The restaurant itself, just a fairly standard bar and grille, and was actually, given the circumstances of its creation and surroundings, good. I had a grilled reuben, which suffered from none of the potential problems which ruebens often suffer from, and all-in-all was a great sandwich--well deserving of the little "chef's choice" icon next its title on the menu. Thanks chef! We also got onion rings, which were perfectly acceptable, and chips and salsa, which was seemingly homemade and not bad for being free with the sandwich. But the best part of my meal, easily, was the root beer, which they brew on site with all their beers (Libby liked her beer, too). I've had plenty of brewhouse-brewed root beer (Herkimer, Town Hall, that old Hops place), but this was probably the best I've ever had. Right up there on the list of best root beer I've had, home-brewed or not. It was like drinking pure velvet, cut from the finest robe of the most charming king, regal but just. Our waitress, however, was a female douchebag.
Steve | 07-28-2009
Barbette Bison ribeye Uptown Minneapolis Everyone is surely at the edge of their seat to see what I'll write about the ribeye special at Barbette Thursday night. So for the sake of being a contrarian jerk, I'm just going to link you to a photo of a barbette hat.
Barbette French toast Uptown Minneapolis Barbette is currently winning the "Best French toast in town" contest that, until this morning, didn't even exist. Someone tell Sunny Side Up that it's on.
Steve | 07-19-2009
Chang Mai Thai Spicy noodles with chicken Uptown Minneapolis What's the deal with Uptown? Like, Uptown Uptown. Lake and Hennepin Uptown. I mean, really. For a part of town that prides itself (lives and dies, really) on being the place to be, it seems every time I want to get something to eat around there, I find absolutely nothing. A few days ago, at 6:30 on a Thursday night, I actually tried going to Chino Latino. Chino Latino! I was that desperate. "How bad could it really be?" I asked myself. Without getting even five feet past the front door, I was so overwhelmed by guys in unbuttoned shirts and gold chains, and girls in high heels and all sorts of elaborate scents, I didn't even want to try squeezing into the bar. And to think that the place serves guinea pig! How on earth does a place that will prepare and serve you a a whole guinea pig also attract dudes with Ed Hardy shirts and girls with eyelash implants? And where are these people coming from, anyway? It's not I see them walking around on the sidewalks on Aldrich, or hanging out by Minnehaha Creek on weekends. But I digress. This is a Chang Mai Thai post. Because I ended up giving up and going there tonight. It was good. Try the curried beef spring rolls. Stupid Uptown.
Whitey's Roast beef sandwich Northeast Minneapolis After a long, grueling 14.5 holes of golf, Paul and Luke and Scott and I, completely by default, ended up eating a late dinner at Whitey's Saloon in Northeast. Now, I've always been aware of Whitey's existence (in the sense that if you were to say, "Hey Steve, let's go to Whitey's," I wouldn't respond by saying "WHAAA"?), it has never once crossed my mind that it might actually be a place where a human being could sit down and eat food. It's like Woody Allen and his relationship with the state of Maryland. (Think about it). Anyway, it was shockingly non-busy for a Saturday night, and everything I ate was remarkably good and reasonably priced. We got some spicy pork tostadas as an appetizer, which were as good or better than any such thing you could get at a real Mexican place. My roast beef sandwich, which they claim is slow cooked in garlic and wine, was right up there with Mayslack's roast beef. Maybe a little... better? Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with this place, and their menu is huge, so I feel pretty certain that it's going to quickly become my default Northeast Hennepin/Central eating spot.
EPILOGUE: So I left my hat there last night. Of course. When I stopped in this morning to pick it up, they had a sizable breakfast crowd. And judging by the few plates of breakfast I spied, it looks like it might be a great weekend morning haunt as well.
Steve | 07-12-2009
Burger Jones Bison burger Uptown Minneapolis While, after three visits, Burger Jones has yet to entirely blow me away, tonight's bison burger was the best I've had so far. Only $15 to go until I get $10 from my Parasole Dining Club card! (Why they didn't call this the "Frequent Fryer Club" is beyond me).
Steve | 07-08-2009
Olive Garden Braised beef tortellini St. Louis Park Libby and I just love the Olive Garden. It's such a great place to sit back with some friends, share some stories, drink some wine, and enjoy all the wonderful pasta dishes by the chefs from the Tuscan Culinary Institute. (Libby likes the endless breadsticks, too!). And the service is so friendly; you really are family! It's like going to a Tuscan villa without leaving the 394 frontage road!
Aaaaaand, done. Okay, serious time now. Libby got a $25 gift card to the Olive Garden for Christmas, and we decided to use it tonight. It wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. My short rib tortellini had a tasty sauce, though the meat was a little weird. Libby had a chicken pasta thing that seemed to be about 93% cheese to me, but she liked it. All in all, it was pretty good, but surprisingly expensive. If you're going to pay that kind of money for Italian food, you're better off going to Broders or Rinata or Al Vento or any other legitimate Italian joint, which are all very comparable in price. If the entrees were about 2/3rds the price of what they are (which is what I expected), I would actually be very willing to go back. As it stands, I'll keep the Old Spaghetti Factory as my go-to lame generic chain Italian restaurant, thank you very much. At least they give you free spumoni.
Namaste Chicken curry Uptown Minneapolis I've yet to have anything but a great meal at Namaste. That cannot be denied. But holy High Holiness, is their service slow. Ex-cru-ti-ating-ly slow. And not that I want to generalize or judge (HAH!), but it seems that as a Nepalese restaurant, they went out of their way to hire the kind of waitress that really wants to work at a Nepalese restaurant. Nay, nay; the kind of waitress that wants to be in Nepal. The waiting table part sort of becomes secondary to the collecting of prayer flags and the wearing of Asian symbol tattoos. I mean, like, why do they even have to wear shoes just because some ignorant city inspector says so, and they'll come take your order in just a minute, so calm down. Great place, though.
Steve | 07-03-2009
Five Guys Burgers and Fries Bacon cheeseburger Edina We have a winner in the Great Minneapolis Burger Wars of 2009! And a surprise one at that. Five Guys narrowly but decisively defeated Burger Jones in a hard fought trench battle that tested the gumption and wherewithal of both sides. But in the end, like Hitler marching into Russia unprepared for Stalin's scorched Earth defense, Burger Jones simply overreached where Five Guys pulled back to basics. A reasonably priced burger, pattied fresh with free fixins of your choice, cooked to order and piled high, yet surprisingly manageable, Five Guys is simply the better value. It's very comparable to In And Out Burgers out west, but I found it to be far easier to eat; In And Outs always seemed to fall apart and end up all over my shirt by the time I was finished. Throw in hand-cut fries (cooked in peanut oil!), and free peanuts, and you've got yourself a decent little burger chain. Even though it's a couple months old by now, it was still incredibly busy tonight, with no seating to be had. Luckily, there is a lame little man-made pond and corporate campus park across the parking lot, which, judging by the amount of people sitting on benches eating burgers and scattered ketchup cups littering the ground, seems to be acting as the de facto outdoor seating area for the time being. So congratulations, Five Guys. Now I'll see you again in about 4 months, when maybe I can actually find a place to sit .
Busters on 28th Chicken wings South Minneapolis Not that I want to slander a perfectly respectable local eating establishment, but I do believe that something I ate from Buster's on Thursday made me vomit so hard that I still have a piece of my own appendix stuck in my teeth. On the plus side, I think I can finally fit into my wedding dress again!
Steve | 06-20-2009
Burger Jones Bacon cheeseburger, chili Uptown Minneapolis After months of anticipation, I finally ate at Burger Jones this afternoon. And while it didn't exceed my expectations, it also didn't fall short. So that's something. The first thing to point out is to be very careful ordering. They really nickel and dime you with extras ($2.99 for a side of fries? Really?), and once you get a malt and an appetizer, you're looking at a very pricey meal for a burger joint. That said, everything we ate was worth the hefty pricetag. The chili was short rib chili, and obviously fresh and homemade. Not quite as good as the Loon's, but definitely in the same league. I just ordered a bacon cheeseburger, which is terribly unadventurous for a place like this, but I wanted to start basic and move up over time. When it came, I was a little disappointed that it had no pickles or onions. But then the waitress showed up with a bowl of homemade pickles (and pickled onions) which made the burger. I usually don't like sweet pickles, but these things were from some other world, and I can't even begin to guess what made them so great. There was almost a hint of apple cider in them. Who knows. Either way, these pickles are the key to making Burger Jones burgers worth the extra couple bucks you're paying for them. Overall, I'm excited about the potential this place has (the menu has plenty of options on it to keep you coming back). They'll definitely see more of me this summer, that's for sure.
Doug Fir Lounge Burger, chowder Portland We made a quick, whirlwind stop in Portland on the way home from our Pacific Northwest trip. As part of it, we stopped to eat at one place I had eaten at my previous whirlwind stop in Portland a couple years ago: The Doug Fir. If you're ever in Portland, it's worth visiting for the ambiance alone; it's like Jetson's retro-future meets log cabin diner. Very cool, but surprisingly welcoming. Anyhow, our food was quite good as well. I had a bacon and gruyere cheeseburger, which was a solid burger, and Libby had some fancy chicken and cornbread, which she was also happy with. But the best part in my mind was the seafood chowder, which was a close second to the Market Grill's for the best chowder of the trip. We also had a caesar salad with a crab cake on top, that was light but satisfying. There were also three guys wearing matching leather jackets who all ordered the exact same meals (coffee, salad, salmon, asparagus). They were probably in a band. How cute, Portland. How cute.
Steve | 06-14-2009
Market Grill Halibut sandwich, chowder Seattle Based on a kindly Chowhound recommendation, we made a quick stop at the Market Grill, a little dirty-looking stand in the middle of Pike Place Market. And while it was so loaded with tartar sauce that I could barely tell that the fish was even there, the sandwich was really delicious. The sauce seemed to be homemade, and the fish was blackened with some good spices. The chowder was even better. Probably right up there with the best chowder I've ever had. All in all, this place came highly recommended, and I certainly wasn't disappointed.
Steve | 06-10-2009
Safeco Field Sushi, Hot dog, chowder Seattle It seems the rumors of Safeco Field's supposedly endless supply of sushi stands and other exotic food delights have been much exaggerated. In the couple laps I took around both concourse levels, I only found a single concession stand, hidden back in a little nook behind a hot dog place, that served sushi. The selection was fairly limited, and the prices (obviously) were embarrassingly high. But I wasn't about to go to a Mariners game without eating any of their famous stadium sushi, so I bought some. "Seattle rolls", they were called. Not sure what that entails, but I think there was salmon in it. I found them to be bland and mushy, but Libby, who's sushi palette is far more sophisticated than my own, said they weren't too bad. We also shared a cup of Ivar's chowder (huge local chain, a "Seattle institution", if you will), and a hot dog. I had much better chowder on the trip, although it wasn't bad, but the hot dog was actually quite good. Probably in the top 3 or 4 stadium hot dog's I've had. Maybe there was fish in it.
Paseo Pork sandwich Seattle Holy shit. If this place existed in MInneapolis I would see no reason ever to eat anything else. I won't go into details, because they won't do anyone any good.
Mee Sum BBQ Pork Hom Bow Seattle The best cheap treat (well, treat, period) when you are making your way through the throngs of tourists at Pike's Place Market (*coughcough* you'reoneofthem *cough*) and hippies selling bad art and beaded items; dodging the tossed fish by the hot dudes in orange overalls; withstood the lines inside the original Starbucks to get your Starbucks-obsessed roomie a souvenir as you watch the baristas drop your cup for your iced coffee on the ground but make your drink in it for you anyway.* Then you come upon this Chinese bakery place smashed up next to this Chinese juice bar and here, delicately made golden rounds of hom bow, a filled sweet bun, sit next to sesame balls and other wrapped treasures. Order a BBQ Pork hom bow and it will slide into it's bun paper sleeping bag and you will hand them $2.50 and you will be intensely satisfied. Add a fresh-squeezed lemonade from the juice stand next door and go forth. A small moment where the stars align and everything is in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
*The barista that took my order at Starbucks asked where I was from and when I replied she goes - "Oh she's from Michigan!" and I say "Nice!" as in, holla for the Midwest! The Michigan girl says, "Not really." Excuse me? Be proud of where you're from, Michigan barista girl! Despite the greatness of Seattle, I'd like some love for the Midwest.
Monsoon Lamb stir fried with bean sauce Seattle Very high on my list of places to possibly eat in Seattle is Monsoon, a slightly high-end Vietnamese restaurant that prides itself of giving a Pacific Northwest twist to Vietnamese fare (South Pacific Northwest?). I will spare you the infuriatingly long story about how we got lost trying to find another place, then got lost again, then punched a Seattle city planner in the gut (driving in this city is like watching the second season of Twin Peaks), but suffice it to say that we ended up at Monsoon in the Capital Hill neighborhood, and couldn't have been any happier. The waiter (who probably thought I was an idiot) talked me out of getting a crispy pork belly dish, and instead convinced me to get this lamb dish. The sauce could've used a little more zing, but the lamb itself was outstanding; perfectly cooked and packed with enough flavor to make me not care about the lack of zing. But the best part were these beans. I don't know what kind of beans these were, but I know one thing: They were marinated high upon a forested mountaintop, in the sweat of the world's only remaining unicorn. Libby's meal was almost even better. She had black bass or cod or some such thing, with shitake mushrooms and fantastic sausage and lily roots and more of those beans. I usually don't get excited about fish, but the couple bites I had of hers were outstanding. And the sausage was perfect for the dish. All of that, plus some shockingly good egg rolls and desert made up for all the hassle it took to actually get there.
Smashburger Smashburger Northeast Minneapolis Since Burger Jones has been too busy for me to make it there yet (despite dreaming about it every night), I had to make Smashburger my first battle in the Great Minneapolis Burger War Of 2009 (TM). While I found my burger to be perfectly enjoyable, I can't think of a lot of reasons to go out of my way to eat there in the future. It wasn't much better than Culver's (or some such place), and is in a depressing little fake-town in St. Anthony Village. However, I could see what gives it a slight edge over other fast food places:
1.) They have beer.
2.) They have garlic/rosemary fries. Which are fine, but at some point it's like "Enough with the goddamn rosemary."
3.) They have beer.
I get the feeling Five Guys Burgers And Fries is going to win out on this duel, but we'll have to see if the Burger Jones A-bomb takes both of them out in one big greasy burger Hiroshima.
Steve | 05-28-2009
The Sports Page Bacon Cheeseburger Bloomington The Sports Page is one of my favorite places to eat in the cities, not only for the tap root beer and surprisingly-above-average cheeseburgers, but for its goddamn charm. Wood paneled walls. Softball trophies behind the booths. An owner that tends the grill and tells dumb jokes and is named Moose. Moose. Not only is the inside stuck in some sort of late-60s-early-70s time warp, but it's located in the Great Bear Center, a little strip mall off of Lyndale and 80-somethingth that was seemingly untouched by the hands of time since its inception 40 years ago. Like the Golden Valley Center, but far, far cooler. Something out of a Coen Brothers movie, really. But today, when I drove up for the first time in months, to my shock and horror, they're renovating the Great Bear Center! The sweet, lovely Great Bear Center is being torn apart and given a new, generic, lame strip mall facade. This really pisses me off. Really. Say what you will about suburbs or strip malls or this or that, but in my mind the Great Bear Center was a little Brigadoon, a place stuck in time beyond the mists of Bloomington. But now they've paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Okay, yes, there was a parking lot there already, but you get the point. But let me tell you... if they even try to tear down the sign... I'm going to go all Joni Mitchell on their ass.
The Modern Cafe gnocci Northeast Minneapolis Now, we all know how Steve and I feel about the Modern. No real need to go over this again, but if I must remind you it's probably our favorite dining establishment in the Twin Cities. We don't go often enough to try everything on their menu before they switch it up (but God, I wish I could've eaten this one meal from last summer a thousand times: gnocchi with sweet corn, bacon, dates, creme fraiche and whatever else. The flavors complimented each other perfectly. Now, I order pretty much anything with creme fraiche), so it's always a treat to visit. This time I had the gnocchi with edamame, oyster mushrooms and lemon fondue. It was excellent, albeit a little chalky at first. Light and bright and super delicious. That was me, the youngest nerdy girl on that Tmobile commercial with the glasses and great striped sweater: The Modern is Super Delicious!
The Duplex Duck ragu Uptown Minneapolis We ate at The Duplex this evening, for the first time in a while. I had a duck ragu on rice. It was pretty good, except I couldn't help but notice that it was exactly the same as the stuff on their duck sloppy joe (as seen in my previous Duplex post). Only it came with plain rice instead of fries, and nothing instead of a bun. Oh, and it was about $6 more. Duplex? More like the Dupe-lex!
The Vegetarian Aloo gobi Columbia Heights We had a little get together for Dustin's birthday at The Vegetarian, an Indian restaurant on Central Avenue that, true to its name, is 100% vegetarian. And maybe like 50% vegan. Once again, I must admit that I have little knowledge of what makes good Indian food better than not good Indian food, but I can confidently say that, despite its lack of lamb (not to be confused with rack of lamb), my meal was superb. It was basically cauliflower, onions, potatoes, rice, and a bunch of spicy stuff. The garlic naan would've been delicious on its own, but was even better along with my entree. And even though the service was comically slow, you couldn't really complain, because everyone who worked there seemed so nice. The owner even referred to online reviewers as "a bunch of alcoholics." It was very funny at the time, but in hindsight I have no idea what it means.
The Modern Lamb burger Northeast Minneapolis The Modern can do no wrong. I'm assured of that at this point. After passing on it numerous times, then seeing it made (entirely from scratch, meat grinder and all) on Drive Ins Diners And Dives, I finally tried their lamb burger. And it was amazing. It was more Moroccan or Middle Eastern in flavor than I expected, but that was a very good thing. Tomato chutney, tzatziki, french fries. And love, I assume? Oh, and chicken wings. Chicken wings. It's enough to make me want to bleach my hair, grow a goatee, and throw on a bowling shirt.
The Blue Door Pub Cajun Blucy St. Paul We finally got around to getting all the way inside the Blue Door, which I've heard nothing but good things about. From everyone. In the world. But once you've actually eaten one of their Juicy Blucys (get it?), it's obvious why this place has already completely outgrown its space. It's good. Really good. I got the Cajun Blucy, which has jalepeno and pepper jack inside of it. Even if it wasn't stuffed, it would be a fantastic burger. So, as always, the question becomes: "How does it compare to Matt's"? And my answer is a total cop out. They're both extremely good, but it's like comparing boxing to ultimate fighting. The Blue Door's burger was big, exciting, perfectly cooked, and comes with a variety of stuffing options. But Matt's lucy's are classic. No frills, fried onions, cheap buns, but they taste so perfect you just want to cry. The Blue Door may be a big bloody UFC championship match, but Matt's is still the sweet science. Now someone just tell the Blue Door to build a damn waiting area.
Steve | 04-27-2009
Tuggs Juicy lucy Northeast Minneapolis With time to kill and a belly to fill (ugh...) before going to a play at the Guthrie (Caroline, or Change, highly recommended!), I wandered across the Stone Arch Bridge into St. Anthony Main. I've never really eaten at any of the handful of restaurants over there, but the fact that I never hear of any of them makes me think they're not necessarily the best restaurants in the world. But despite that, and based on a half-remembered (possibly imagined) recommendation from a co-worker, I stopped into Tuggs for a burger. All I needed to see were the words "stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon" and I was sold. While my expectations were low--something about the place weirded me out, possibly the fact that I was surrounded by TV's showing Lou Dobbs--I walked away satisfied. Not blown-away, mind you, but satisfied. The burger seemed fresh, and the fries, while not hand cut, were well done. But it was lacking a few key elements which my usual juicy lucy of choice (it rhymes with "Pat's") has: Fried onions, mouth-searing heat, and yes, juice. Overall, it was pretty tame, but better than I feared. Subtract 4 points for the warm and flat Coke, and Tuggs scores a 17 on my patented scale of 0-to-whatever.
Steve | 04-24-2009
The Loop Steak sandwich Downtown Minneapolis My last day of bachelorhood, and I decided since I was so worn out from yesterday's Shakopee trip, I'd just ride over to Leaning Tower for my traditional ballgame/book/chicken wings. But then I somehow ended up at Joe's Garage in Loring Park, who inexplicably wasn't playing the Twins game (although they were playing the Mets-Padres game instead. Good for them). So I left there with the intention of turning around and going back to Leaning Tower, but then I somehow ended up in the Warehouse District. Part of me had always wanted to go to this Loop place, even though I have never heard much about it, so I went. Aaaaaaand, it was alright. The steak sandwich was almost a carbon copy of the one I had this winter at the 508 (as were the fries), but somehow not as good. They must partake in some sort of steak sandwich exchange program. I also had some wings that were comparable to Green Mill's (in a good way), and the ass-hat bartender forgot my Coke until halfway through my meal and then charged me for it anyway even though I didn't even want it anymore. But on the bright side, I did get to hear a 50 year old business guy in a nice suit describe the entire plot of Bad Lieutenant to his buddies. "Oh you gotta see Bad Lietenant! This guy's a New York cop, but he fuckin' breaks all the rules!" I wish I was paraphrasing.
Taqueria La Bamba Pork combo Shakopee, MN So I decided to ride my bike to Shakopee today. It was Easter Sunday, Libby's out of town, my family wasn't doing anything, and it was a nice day, so I figured 'why not?' I believe I'm actually the first person in the state to make that ride without wearing spandex pants or a tiny little cap. Anyway, when I got to downtown Shakopee,I found that Wampach's, the place I was hoping to eat at, was closed. This makes sense, of course, because it was Easter. There were a couple of bars, but one had no food and the other only had frozen pizzas (or so I was informed by the dude hanging out outside of it), and another restaurant had a bunch of families eating an Easter brunch buffet which was going to finish in 10 minutes (meaning: lame cold food). But then I spotted Taqueria La Bamba, a seemingly new Mexican restaurant that seemed oddly out of place in this quaint Minnesotan riverfront main street. Plus, it was open! When I went in, the entire staff (and/or family) were all around a long table eating what I assume was their big Easter lunch. I asked if they were still open, and a lady got up to happily take my order. She spoke practically zero English, but her 7-ish year old daughter helped translate. It was very sweet. The food was delicious--and dare I say "authentic". This place was straight off of Lake Street, really. The pork was red and slow cooked, the chips and guacamole were homemade, and the cheese, good crumbly white stuff, and was neither "gooey" nor "melty". All in all, it was everything I could hope for after riding a used bike 20 miles without spandex pants. After I left, I rode around near downtown Shakopee a little, and was surprised to see a lot of other glaringly Mexican places; a church, a supermarket, and even a car dealership. Something tells me there have been more than a few late night discussions at the Shakopee VFW about this phenomenon, and I'd be willing to bet they're not talking about how lucky they are to have La Bamba.
Evergreen Chinese Boiled peanuts Uptown Minneapolis Since Libby is away in Phoenix, I decided to paint the town red and live it up in the big city. So like any happenin' bachelor, I went to Evergreen and had a plate boiled peanuts. They tasted like how I imagine China smells. Read into that how you will.
(I also had the the pepper fried mock pork again. And it was still good).
Steve | 04-10-2009
Oxendale Market Dill chicken pasta Grocery Stores I'm completely addicted to the dill chicken pasta at the Ox. I can't stop eating it. Every lunch. Every day. I'm not even sure what's in it. Chicken, dill, noodles, a few red and orange chunks, and white stuff. I'm not even sure why I bother getting anything else to eat with it, really. I wish I had some right now.
Steve | 04-08-2009
Home Lemongrass chicken Uptown Minneapolis Libby and I made lemongrass chicken the other night. The only lemongrass chicken I'm familiar with is Quang's, which is awesome and practically the only thing I eat there. I happened upon this recipe for it, and it seemed simple enough--nothing but chicken, fish sauce, sugar, peppers, garlic, and yes, lemongrass. I picked up fresh lemongrass stalks at one of the Asian grocery stores on Nicollett, and it turned out pretty well. Super cheap, super easy, and tasty. And who would've guessed: lemongrass smells just like lemon! I won't go into detail about the horrific bottles of fish sauce the store had, but suffice it to say, I'll stick with the less gross, less chunky fish sauce brand you can pick up at Kowalski's.
Leaning Tower of Pizza Pizza Uptown Minneapolis I don't care what you say; I like boring old Leaning Tower. I like their boring pizza and I like their boring buffalo wings and I like their boring cheese sticks and their boring hot hoagies and I even like the boring ambiance and the boring waitstaff. Sure, you can't get mock duck on your pizza, and you can't have it cooked over the embers of ancient Japanese pine trees, but it tastes good, it's a block away, and I like that they cut it in triangles. I also like Everybody Loves Raymond. So what?
Sawatdee Masaman curry Downtown Minneapolis Another Thai restaurant, yes. Sue me. Sawatdee on Saturday was really good. I've had plenty of mediocre Thai food lately, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Sawatdee compared to any of those other places (King And I notwithstanding). My masaman curry was good, although it could've been a little bigger helping, but I was happiest with the chicken satay (which is usually dry and boring, but this time was practically perfect), and their stuffed chicken wings. Stuffed with what? I don't know. I could've been fish bones and eel goo for all I care, because it was tasty.
Steve | 03-24-2009
Peninsula Lamb shank Uptown Minneapolis My second trip to Peninsula, and it was just as good as the first. I was a little hesitant to get the lamb shank, as it was a Sunday night, and I feared it wouldn't be as fresh as on a Friday or Saturday, but I went for it anyway. I was sort of right; it clearly wasn't as fresh and perfect as it could've been, but it was still awfully tasty, and not too fatty. In fact, the coconut milk (etc.) sauce on it made me rethink my "I'm totally over coconut milk curries" stance. But the best part (again) was the roti canai, a fried thin bread/pancake and spicy curry sauce which is super cheap, super simple, and probably the best $3.95 you can spend in the city.
Steve | 03-15-2009
Señor Wong Sir fried noodles St. Paul So when you add up the flying dragon in the logo and the little squiggle above the 'n,' it's pretty obvious what's going on here. Funky, wild, creative combinations of Mexican and Asian dishes! Well, you'd be wrong. The menu isn't fusion, it's fission; some Mexican dishes and some Asian dishes (Vietnamese, mostly), and never the twain shall meet. So while that lack of creativity was a little disappointing, I'm happy to report that the food itself was all very good. Libby's fish tacos were much better than than the average cruddy Mexican place, and my noodles were much better than the average cruddy Vietnamese place, and I couldn't really ask much more than that (except, jalepeno cream cheese wontons notwithstanding, a little more mixing of Wong and Señor.)
Blackbird Cafe BLT Minneapolis I'd like to give a quick shout out to my favorite corner cafe, Blackbird. It's right next door to work and for that I am thankful because I often have very good lunches and too many fries. I will probably write a post about every delightful meal I've had there (The Longhorn beef brisket! The flatbread pizza! The Mister Crunchy!) And everything's made from scratch. But let's focus on the most recent, shall we? Today I had the BLT for the first time (the re-added it to their menu recently) and it was dee-lish all Rachel Ray style! Delicious and simple: Good bacon, crispy lettuce, creamy mayo and what sets it apart - tomato chutney. God, I should've gotten their tomato basil soup instead of fries! This just came to me now, but I have no regrets. I just know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.
Spoonriver Lamb burger Downtown Minneapolis Funny story: Libby and I met her coworker Anne and Anne's sister at Spoonriver this morning for a quick brunch before going over to the Guthrie for a matinee of Two Gentlemen Of Verona. But... get this... it turned out that there was no matinee today, so we had to come back for the 7:00 show! Can you believe it!? What a mix up! Anyway, my lamb burger was downright awesome. It was made of lamb and I think there were currants and dill seeds and other stuff like that in it. And it came with some sort of gourmet Arby's sauce, which was just as good as one would imagine a gourmet Arby's sauce to be (which, as far as I'm concerned, is "very good"). So Spoonriver is 2 for 2 in my book so far. To quote Speed, charmingly silly sidekick of our hero Proteus, "I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton, and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour."
True Thai Red curry South Minneapolis The original post I wrote here was dumb and pointless. Moreso. Basically, the main points were as follows: 1.) Everyone likes True Thai a lot. 2.) I thought it was okay, but I've had better. 3.) I'm totally over coconut milk curries. 4.) I must have a tattoo on my forehead that says, "Give me the worst table in your restaurant."
Steve | 03-07-2009
Maverick's Beef brisket sandwich Roseville At least 6 times a year, for the last couple years, I find myself with a car in the vicinity of Rosedale, saying to myself, "Hey, I should go try Mavericks for once!" Mavericks, you see, is a little hole-in-the-wall roast beef joint hidden in a random strip mall in Roseville, which I have continually heard nothing but good things about. The problem was that I had no idea where it actually was, and I never had the forethought to actually plan on eating there. So those times when I was in Roseville, and it would suddenly occur to me to seek out and eat at Mavericks, I was left without a clue. But today, desperation finally took over, and I called Little Jake (a sort of Judi Dench to my Daniel Craig) so he could look it up online for me--this being especially desperate, considering he is 2000 miles away in Los Angeles, looking up a restaurant for someone in suburban Minneapolis. Anyhow, we eventually found it, and ate there. And it was quite good; like Arby's for people who hate Arby's. They're known for their roast beef, but they have pulled pork and beef brisket and that kind of stuff too. Very basic. The best part is they have a very thorough condiment selection, from ketchup and BBQ sauce to hot peppers, horseradish dijon, onions, and pickles (dill and sweet!). Overall, it was good, but not the best thing I've ever eaten. In fact, for my money, and even though they're completely different kinds of establishments (and cuts of meat), I'd sooner recommend Mayslack's roast beef as the superior beef (that's what she... nah.)
The King And I Thai 34 with beef downtown minneapolis Just so everyone knows, the 34 with beef is just as good with brown rice as it is with white. Just, you know, so you're aware. Thanks.
Steve | 02-25-2009
The Modern Meatloaf Northeast Minneapolis Because we are (or should I say, 'I am') so cynical about "Hallmark Holidays" and life in general that we go completely full circle and become cynical about the idea of being cynical at the idea of Valentine's Day (deeeeeep breath), Libby and I went to our favorite place, The Modern, to have an early Valentine's Day dinner before taking in some 20th century Scandinavian symphonies at Orchestra Hall. That last part was supposed to be read in a funny voice. Anyway, The Modern is one of my absolute favorite places to eat, and is right at the top of the list of "places I'd bring friends from out of town," that is to say if I had friends who were from out of town. I have never had a less-than-great experience there, though Saturday's was awfully close. It was fairly empty when we were seated, we ordered, got our soup, ate our soup, and then waited. And waited. And waited. It was one of those horrible feelings where everyone else in the restaurant who sat down after you were all eating their meals, and you were left wondering if maybe the waitress died. But she didn't die, of course, because she was giving food to all those other people. Eventually we got our meals and a minor apology (and free wine), so that was cool. In the end, the meatloaf was great, and I couldn't feel too bad about any of it because we weren't late for anything, and the service at the Modern had been nothing but fantastic up until then. So don't worry Modern. I still love you.
Steve | 02-16-2009
Salut Pork chop Edina Tried the Thursday special at Salut last night--a double cut pork chop with an apple-based sauce and some (pickled? appled?) cabbage. Not only did it taste great, but the whole plate looked like it was straight out of a magazine ad. Oh, it also came with a whole apple stuffed with brie, but I think that was just to show off.
Barrio Two tacos, soup Downtown Minneapolis Barrio, from what I gather based on their "totally sweet tattoo, bro" brand aesthetic, probably isn't much fun at any point after 6pm, at least for someone who does not own any hair gel. But since I've heard lots of good stuff, I gave it a shot for lunch this afternoon. They do their menu "tappas style", meaning (based on my extensive knowledge of Spanish) a bunch of small, cheaper dishes, and a few large expensive ones. I decided to splurge a little, and go with two tacos (one carnitas, one potato and chorizo) and a bowl of corn chowder. The tacos were both above average; the potato and chorizo was the better of the two, tasting downright foreign (I wonder if it was more "South American" or "Spanish" than "Mexican", because it certainly had a different taste than I'm used to). The corn chowder, however, was a big soupy bowl of cream and cheese, and not much else. Very disappointing. Really, the tacos would've been enough for a lunch, and at $3.50 a piece, it's a pretty good deal. But the soup was way too expensive, and not nearly worth it. In the end, I'd go back there for lunch, perhaps, but for dinner I don't know if it would be worth fighting off the crowd who see the words "tequila bar" as a good thing.
Manny's Tortas Chicken torta South Minneapolis Yesterday I ate my first ever less than good Manny's Torta. Up until then they had been a pillar of high-quality consistency. Probably my fault, though, considering I called in the take-out order to the wrong location. So when I showed up to pick them up at the Lake/Hiawatha location, I was alerted to my mistake and had to drive over to the Midtown Global Market and pick them up. So I'll just blame it on them for now. But I suppose I should've been more careful considering that all three of the Manny's locations are within about a mile and a half of each other on Lake Street.
(By the way, I also have to point out that Denny's was giving away free Grand Slam Breakfasts yesterday morning/afternoon. When I went to Manny's to pick up the non-existent food, people were line up out the door and around the block at the Denny's next door. I guess their promotion was truly a grand slam.)
Super Bowl Party 2009 Chicken wings, etc. Uptown Minneapolis While this side of the blog is for "food" as a general concept, I'm sure you'd agree that the title of "restaurants" would be more apt, given the subject matter of most of the posts. This is because, frankly, I'm just not good at cooking. So while I feel like I can go to a restaurant and feel strongly about one thing or another, I don't feel that any opinion I can give about my own cooking would be worth the effort of typing in this forum. This was proven once again tonight at our Super Bowl "party," when I tried to make some chicken wings for the first time since last year's Super Bowl party (which was attended by myself, two vegetarians, and Libby, who refuses to eat chicken wings. They were a big hit). I made three types: Two with pre-made rubs (and lime), and one with a red curry sauce. They were all bland and under-seasoned and terribly unexciting. Thankfully, Libby made her famous salsa, and some taco rolls, which contain nothing more than cream cheese and taco seasoning, yet are possibly the tastiest Super Bowl party treats in the world. Luckily the chicken wings were too bland, instead of too sticky and spicy like last year's, so I can still go back and douse them in some sort of sauce that was made by someone (anyone) but myself.
Axel's Bonfire Beef brisket sandwich St. Paul I don't want to turn this website into an annoying outlet where I complain about chain restaurants (see post below), but the subject is necessary to bring up when talking about Axel's, since it is slowly become a huge chain around the Twin Cities. Now, I've been to the Grand Avenue location (the first one, I think?) a handful of times, and I've always liked it, though I couldn't tell you what I've even eaten there in the past. So it hasn't left much of an impression. But this weekend we went there again and I had the "Cowboy brisket sandwich", which was beef brisket and a spicy sauce and poblano pepper. And it was great. The brisket was very well cooked, and lean, which is surprising for brisket. And how often is a sandwiched topped with a poblano pepper? It sounds so simple, but it really made the thing. Libby had a walleye benedict (best of both worlds for her), and also really enjoyed it. So at this point, I'm all for Axel's taking over the suburbs. I welcome them, even. And you just watch, because I'll bet the Chatterbox is right behind them.
Steve | 01-26-2009
Good Day Cafe Corn beef hash Golden Valley After two failed attempts, we finally got around to eating breakfast at the Good Day Cafe this weekend. The previous two times it would've been about an hour wait, which is pretty insane considering this place is on a frontage road of 394 in a commercial section of Golden Valley. Between the unqualified successes this place and Fat Nat's, I really wonder why there aren't more "mom-and-pop" (I hate that phrase too, but it's better than "independent") restaurants in the northwest suburbs. Clearly people go out of their way to go here, and they have cars at their disposal. So why is New Hope and Plymouth still overrun with Applebees and TGI Fridays and Perkins locations? Oh wait, probably because people don't want to pay way too much money for corn beef hash and toast after waiting for an hour and a half. That sounds as if I didn't like it, which is incorrect. It was pretty good, and the atmosphere (while crowded with people) was very nice. It was maybe just a little pricey for food that didn't blow my mind in the way that a much cheaper place could do, and has done. And come to think of it, I don't even like corn beef hash! Why do I always insist on ordering it?
Steve | 01-26-2009
Cue Shrimp downtown minneapolis Appetizers before a Guthrie show. "Chilled wild caught shrimp with yellow curry cocktail sauce. $13" It wasn't terrible, but come on. If you hadn't told me there was yellow curry in the cocktail sauce, I never would've guessed. You're really pushing your luck here, Cue.
Steve | 01-23-2009
Roat Osha White ginger curry Uptown Minneapolis Roat Osha is a new Thai place where Sawatdee and Other Nameless Thai Restaurant used to be. Supposedly it's owned by the people who own Tum Rup Thai, but don't hold me to that. They've fancied up the interior and jacked up the prices by a few bucks, but at least based on my one entree and appetizer (shrimp basil rolls), I would honestly put it at #2 behind King And I for my favorite Thai places in town. The white ginger curry was comparable to King And I's red curry (the non-coconut milk kind), and just as good, although you get less of it. Combine that with two big HD TVs that play sports in the bar, and I think I could see myself going back there.
Steve | 01-18-2009
Barbette Duck breast, sea bass Uptown Minneapolis Had dinner at Barbette tonight. I ordered the duck breast special (with sweet potato stuff, bok choi stuff, and cranberry-kumquat chutney). It was okay, but a little disappointing. Halfway through, I switched with Libby, who had some sort of sea bass dish with curry muffins and yogurt sauce. Or something like that. It was also okay, but a little disappointing. That makes 3 meals I've eaten at Barbette now, and every one has left me feeling okay, but a little disappointed. I have no particular complaints, I just wasn't really excited by any of it. But, I had a couple bites of Libby's appetizer, which was better than okay and not disappointing in the least. In fact, it was downright surprising. Two wild rice pancakes with cranberries, topped with real maple syrup and three seared scallops and some green herbs. I never would've considered pairing scallops and pancakes (classic breakfast pancakes, not some fancy fennel and squash Top Chef bullcrap), but they tasted perfect together. Not terribly dissimilar from pancakes and sausage. But the texture and herbs took it out of breakfast land and into "Holy crap, I could eat this all day"-ville.
Steve | 01-16-2009
Cantina #1 Shrimp tacos, chicken wings Bloomington A Mexican restaurant owned by Corona located on the fourth floor of the Mall of America with a second location in Kansas City? And they have their own gift shop? Count me in! Actually, it wasn't too terrible. It was just completely stupid. The decor, the menu descriptions, the fake Mexican staff (oh wait, they were real). "Famous Mayan pork chops"? It's a meal and a history leson! And of course, "Margaritaville" played in the background at least once while I was there. Recommended!
Peninsula Kambing rendang Uptown Minneapolis I can't claim to know the first thing about Malaysian food, but I can tell you that my meal tonight at Peninsula (on Eat Street) was fantastic. I've seen it a thousand times on Nicollet Avenue, but it's never crossed my mind to try eating there. But tonight I was on my own, Evergreen and Morelos were closed, and I said "what the heck" (because I'm from Minnesota). For an appetizer, I had Roti Canai, which is a very Indian-like flatbread, served with very Indian-like curry sauce (which contained a single potato and a single chunk of chicken--not that I'm complaining). I could've eaten just this appetizer, and would've gone home happy. And it was only $3.95! Amalayzing! My entree, a red curry lamb was sort of curious at first, as it seemed sort of bland compared to the roti canai's sauce I just ate, but after a few bites, I got a better idea of how it tasted, which just surprised me, because I'm so used to straight-up Thai curries. This was closer to a Nepalese style curry you'd get at Namaste. But it was both spicy and non-overpowering, and the lamb was cooked perfectly--lean, tender and flavorful. Maybe just about 2 dollars too expensive. But the super cheap flatbread made up for it. In the end, I'm totally excited to go back there, because there were at least a half dozen other things on their menu that I still want to try (Lamb shank! Duck breast!). Oh man, what if scientists managed to create a mutant lambduck? Count me in.
Lito's Empanadas Empanadas Chicago An empanada is a delicious little fried pocket of dough, stuffed with fillings of your choice. "A Hot Pocket?" Yes. But a Columbian Hot Pocket. Everyone really enjoyed theirs, but my personal favorite was filled with ground beef, potatoes, olives, raisins, and dipped in homemade jalapeno, onion, and cilantro salsa. It was our last "meal" (heavy snack, really) in Chicago, and made me want to find a good empanada source in Minneapolis. Or I'll just buy a Hot Pocket and tell the cashier about how much better the real ones are.
Wishbone Andouille sausage hash Chicago Wishbone is is what Sunny Side Up would be if it wasn't a total dump. Great breakfast food, based on 'southern-style' cooking. Grits, corn muffins, catfish, all that stuff, and my andouille sausage hash was probably the best thing I ate on this trip. I'd wanted to go there the whole weekend, and we finally found some time to do so. Plus, it's only a block away from where Oprah films her show! OMG!
Chicago Diner Black bean burger Chicago It's hard to believe that, of all the diners and eateries in Chicago, the one that actually gets to be called "The Chicago Diner" is located in a classic old diner space in a big gay neighborhood and is entirely vegetarian. And yet their menu contains buffalo wings, Philly cheesesteaks, bacon cheeseburgers. Entirely fake meat, yes, but as I recently learned with the fake pork at Evergreen, this can totally work--and it pretty much did. The buffalo "wings" (their usage of quotes, not mine) were weird at first, but then once you realized that the sauce contained no butter (50% of wing sauce, really), and the chicken obviously wasn't chicken, they were pretty tasty, and very spicy. My black bean burger was good, and had a great mustard sauce on it. Everyone else had good to great food, and were all impressed that such a place can even exist. And in a city as ridiculously large as Chicago, it actually does a ton of business.
Steve | 01-04-2009
Eleven City Diner Chicken Sandwich Chicago This was the second time eating at Eleven City Diner near downtown Chicago, and it was nearly as good as the first. In a place where you need to order corned beef or pastrami or something of that meat family to really get the full experience, I was worried about the potential of a cajun chicken sandwich, but it ended up being a well-above-average cajun chicken (which can often be pretty boring). The bread really made it. Big, fat, soft, and almost french-toast-like. Well worth the 5 hour wait. Or maybe a little less.
Steve | 01-04-2009
Gino's East Deep dish pizza Chicago Because eating a big deep dish pizza is a required activity for anyone who ever visits Chicago, we finally got around to getting to one of the standard deep dish spots (which are, in generally-accepted order of quality: Lou Malnati's, Gino's East, Giordano's). The actual experience of going to the downtown Gino's East was something akin to waiting for the cable guy. You wait and wait and wait, get yanked around and treated like crap, and then you watch hours upon hours of Bravo and think to yourself, "What am I doing?" Then you get the bill. And yet, in the end, you are really glad you got cable. Yeah, that's about right.
Steve | 01-01-2009
Dao Stir fried basil and beef Chicago Our first meal on our New Years Chicago trip was at a random Thai place right by our hotel, called Dao. We had to kill 45 minutes to get our room ready (ack...), and just happened upon it while walking away from some of the more ridiculous Miracle Mile mega-restaurants. It wasn't a hole in the wall, by any means, but probably at about one step below a Sawatdee (in size and decor, but certainly not taste). My beef dish was simple, but very tasty, just beef, basil, peppers, and sauce. Libby's chicken curry was above average (and subtly unique). And our potstickers (not Thai, but whatever) were honestly some of the best I've had anywhere. But best of all is that it was surprisingly cheap, considering its location in between Michigan Ave and Navy Pier. And there were cool hole-in-the-ground booths that made it look like you were sitting cross-legged on the floor, without actually having to do so (because that would be totally un-American).
Steve | 01-01-2009
Evergreen Chinese Pepper mock pork Uptown Minneapolis After eating one bite of this mock pork dish that Jeff had a couple months back, I was convinced that if I'm ever forced to sit and eat fake meat, this would be my choice. So tonight I ordered it at Evergreen, and it was even better than I remembered. And so simple... just breaded fried mock pork, garlic, basil, hot peppers. But that mock pork of theirs really does it. I'd almost say I'd prefer it to having real pork in that dish; there's no way Chinese restaurant pork could've stayed that tender after being fried. The interior, while basically a fluorescent lit white box, is surprisingly calm and welcoming. I could see myself sitting there and reading without feeling awkward. And bonus points for the the Chinese owner speaking Spanish to one of the customers as he ordered "Los seaweed" and "Tofu frito." Ah, Nicollet Avenue. Melting pots, and what have you.
Convention Grill Bacon cheeseburger Edina Hey, Merlin's Rest... this... (dramatic pause...) ... is how you make a cheeseburger. Granted I haven't been ordering burgers a lot lately, but this one was the best I've had in a long time. Big, thick, juicy, good bacon, perfect grilled onions, hand-cut fries, and a hot fudge malt to top it off. The Convention Grill is one of those places that I've been hearing about for ages, but never really had any reason to go to. But today I had time and was in the area, so I went for it. And at 2:30 in the afternoon, it was absolutely swamped with people--each one of them ordering burgers. And the interior of the place was surprisingly true to what it probably felt like in 1934, and not in some cheesy fake way, either. The only thing cheesy was the smoked cheddar on my awesome burger! (And that closing line).
Merlin's Rest Vadalia burger South Minneapolis Really nice little neighborhood bar. Cozy. Inviting. Lots of seating. Seemingly nice patrons. Totally lame cheeseburger. Although the onions were cooked in the meat. Magic. The menu is mostly 'Irish'. Shepherds pie, fish and chips, that kind of stuff. They also have a surprisingly large vegetarian menu, including a walnut burger, and vegetarian bangers and mash. I'd totally go back in order try the Guinness stew (which I overhead was good), but there's 100 other places to get a better burger. Thankfully I finished before the band started performing, because we all know how I feel about Irish folk music.
Steve | 12-17-2008
Citizen Cafe Biscuits and gravy South Minneapolis We had breakfast at the Citizen Cafe on 38th near Hiawatha this morning, after reading some positive stuff about it. And as a whole I'd say it was good, but maybe not so great that I'd want to go out of my way to go there for breakfast in the near future. I had the biscuits and gravy, which were cheese and chive biscuits instead of plain old boring biscuits. The gravy was better than some that I've had elsewhere, but there wasn't anything terribly special about it. I'll take Fat Nat's any day. All in all, considering how the place positions itself ("Citizen" title, constructivist logo and hip menu), I expected the food and atmostphere to be a little less timid. Homemade ketchup, chive biscuits, and lox benedicts are a good start, but if you're promising a revolution, you've gotta blow up some cars and knock down some statues and maybe use some fennel or something.
Indio Huarache Azteca Uptown Minneapolis After a second time eating at Indio, my first opinion still stands: !Muchos muchos el qualite food des Mexicanos! Last night I tried the Huarache Azteca, which was steak and peppers and cheese and other stuff on top of a flat, thick, corn-based tortilla (which was part cornbread, part pita). I assume that is the "huarache" part of the equation, although according to Google, a huarache is a sandal. But it was one tasty sandal. And surprisingly spicy!
Common Roots Roast beef sandwich Uptown Minneapolis As much as I really want to love Common Roots--their heart is certainly in the right place, and it's just down the block--every time I go there, everything seems only about 75% right. The cashiers never seem to care, the food is never quite as good as it should be, and I can never tell where to stand in line. Oh, and the water from the cooler is usually lukewarm. This time, I was ordering my food, and right after I say "potato salad..." the cashier walks over and starts scooping me some of the potato salad. I didn't even finish giving my order! Can't she wait until she's placed the rest of the order (including Libby's) and take our money before she goes over and gets the potato salad? Do I really need it that soon? She just walked away! Anyway, then it took forever to get our food, and it was good but not great. All that sounds totally catty and dumb, but it's stuff like that that happens all the time... yet it's never bad enough to stop going there entirely.
Steve | 12-11-2008
Quang Lemongrass chicken Uptown Minneapolis Birthday meal #3. Does anyone else, when reflecting late at night in their music and food blog about a meal they just ate at Quang, think to themselves, "Why isn't every restaurant in the city like this? How come it seems they're the only ones to make good, honest food, for a cheap price in a welcoming environment with a friendly, competent staff?" Because I do. There's really nothing not to like about the place, and it seems that everyone and their cousin (and Nate from Six Feet Under and Mayor Rybek) likes eating there. There's just something nice about being there; the interior doesn't try to convince you that you've magically traveled to the Orient, or that you're in a fancy restaurant with low lights and black napkins. They just pack as many tables and chairs as they can into a big well-lit room and give you a hastily printed menu of simple, cheap dishes, none of which are anything but classic Vietnamese food (i.e., no chow mein or sesame chicken). And in the end, you've had a big, tasty, satisfying meal for less than you'd pay at Khin Do or Lotus, and you actually feel welcome to come back any time.
Steve | 12-06-2008
Heartland Wild boar chop St. Paul Heartland was outstanding. Pheasant wild rice soup with squash and apple cider base, wild boar chop glazed with maple and cider, walnut vinegar roasted cauliflower, goats milk cheesecake with caramel and apple compote and a mini apple fritter--and that's just what I ate. So while I was slightly (and superficially) disappointed that the boar roast with homemade BBQ sauce wasn't being served tonight (which would have been three meals of BBQ pork in a row, covering every possible BBQ pork scenario from "working man's" to "rich bastard's"), the food all tasted even better than it sounds. And it sounds like something a 16th century king would eat. Not only that, but we actually received friendly service and were seated at a good table! What is this, my birthday?
Steve | 12-05-2008
Ted Cook's 19th Hole BBQ BBQ Pork Sandwich South Minneapolis We got Ted Cook's at work this afternoon for my chosen birthday lunch, despite the fact that I just had a BBQ pork sandwich at Hell's Kitchen last night (and not a bad one, either), and that I would be eating a big fancy birthday dinner tonight. But Ted Cook's is just too good to pass up. And today, for some reason, the barbeque gods were smiling down on Ted, because it was somehow even better than usual. The meat was free of fat, the jojos were crisp, and the coleslaw was slawed just right. And to top it all off, they've added gumbo to their menu. As a man who has had very little gumbo in his life and is totally ignorant on the subject, I can honestly say it was the best gumbo in the history of mankind.
Hell's Kitchen BBQ Pork Sandwich Downtown Minneapolis As part 1 of my 2-day birthday extravaganza, Libby and I stopped in for a quick dinner at Hell's Kitchen last night before going to see the hah-larious comedy stylings of Stella, three guys who used to be on The State. I knew that Hell's Kitchen had recently moved to a new location downtown, but I didn't know until yesterday that they're actually serving lunch and dinner there now, along with their infamous (and amazing) breakfast offerings. And while my BBQ pork sandwich, albeit a little soupy, was tangy and delicious (right up there with Town Talk's and maybe better than Pop's), I couldn't help but feel that their sandwiches and dinner entrees just weren't nearly as interesting or original as their breakfast fare (sausage bread!). Mostly just standard stuff, although a lot of their sauces--the delicious BBQ sauce, for instance--are homemade, so big bonus points for that. The other thing I have to say is that their new space is HUGE. It has three separate dining areas, two bars, and a take-out window. Between that and their big location smack-dab in the middle of Duluth's Canal Park, it amazes me how they're able to make enough money to not only stay in business, but to balloon to such a large operation without, it seems, having taken a second step.
Steve | 12-05-2008
Shish Chicken Shawarma St. Paul We just got lunch here at work from a Mediterranean place near Macalester called Shish. I ordered a chicken shawarma, which is basically a glorified chicken gyro. But by "glorified," I should really say "glorious," because this thing put every chicken gyro I've ever had to shame. The meat was slow cooked, tender, swimming in spices, and plentiful enough of it to feed a small camel. There might have even been some lettuce or onions on it. I don't remember and I don't care. I just wish I was still eating it.
Tandoor Chef brand Biryani chicken Grocery stores I am a newcomer to the wonderful world of Indian food, so I can't say my judgement is all too valid on the subject. However, I can easily say that the frozen microwave biryani chicken I had for lunch today was by far--by far--the best frozen microwave meal I've ever had. The rice was cooked well, the chicken was juicy, tender, and downright fresh-tasting, and it was legitimately spicy. If you would've put it out at the Bombay Bistro lunch buffet, I would be none the wiser. But best of all, for only four bucks, it actually filled me up and thoroughly satisfied me. Take that, Hungry Man!
508 Steak sandwich Downtown Minneapolis Not to be confused with the 112, 331, or 128, the 508 is a bar/restaurant on 1st Avenue downtown. While their usual nighttime clientele is dudes who couldn't get into Drink because it "was too fuckin' busy, but it fuckin' sucks balls anyway," it was pretty quiet on a Sunday afternoon. But let me just say--the food was surprisingly good. I had a steak sandwich, which was sort of Philly cheesesteak style with jalapeno cheese sauce. And the fries were hand-cut garlic fries! Da-umn, 508! Not too bad considering we went there because an ad on KFAN said it was "your downtown fantasy football headquarters."
The Duplex Duck sloppy joe Uptown Minneapolis Yes, a duck sloppy joe. And while that sounds like the best of all possible food combination possibilities, the reality is closer to, "Yeah, it was a sloppy joe, with duck." I would be raving about it if it had either more duck, or a better bun (which was sort of cheap and soft), but it was only $9, so I can't feel too disappointed. But I really should've gone with the bison chili (the second best of all food combination possibilities.)
Steve | 11-22-2008
Cue Happy hour Downtown Minneapolis We went to Cue at the Guthrie for some quick "happy hour" drinks and food after seeing tonight's performance of A Christmas Carol (SPOILER ALERT: Scrooge has a change of heart in the end). As we could've guessed, everything was too expensive, and some shaved-head dipwad waited on us. But the pulled pork sliders were tasty--cooked in a pretty strong and sweet sauce and topped with pickled onions--and the bittersweet chocolate cake was certainly bitter, sweet, chocolate, and cake. God bless us, every one.
Steve | 11-20-2008
The Loon Cafe Dirty pork stew downtown minneapolis I've been raving for a while now about The Loon's chili-- best chili in town. Seriously. They have 3 or 4 different kinds of chili, and one of them is called "Dirty pork stew." It's like a cross between chili and soup, and has pork in it (clearly). Anyhow, I thought it would be cool to find a similar recipe to make it at home, so I looked it up quick on Google. And sure enough, the first thing to come up is the actual Loon Cafe recipe! Hot damn! So I made it last night, and it's delicious and very easy to make--although not quite as perfectly delicious as it is at the restaurant. Plus, there's beer in it!
Indio Chicken flautas, shrimp and scallop ceviche, pork taquitos Uptown Minneapolis Saturday roommate dinner at Indio last night. My meal was pretty delicious (and just as delicious nuked the next day). The chips that came with the ceviche were housemade and nice and salty. The taquitos were tasty (but a little too juicy).
I'm almost more picky about the vibe and the service at a restaurant than I am about the food. Here I feel like we were left hanging a few times. It took our server awhile to make her way to us after we were seated to make the first contact and take our drink order and it took much too long for us to get them after we ordered (just two beers!). However, the owner or manager later mentioned that he noticed we were cold because we were putting on our scarves (we were seated by corner windows) and asked if the temperature had improved after he adjusted it. I thought that was a very nice gesture because we hadn't complained.
Overall, a nice meal. I'd definitely go back, just not on a Saturday night.
Indio Lechon, other stuff uptown minneapolis Indio is a somewhat new high-end Mexican restaurant across the street from Cheapo on Lake Street. Aside from Masa downtown, I'm really not sure what over comparable Mexican places there are around town, so it was a pretty new experience for me. And I have to say, it was all pretty tasty, and certainly worth the extra couple bucks you're paying compared to Pepitos or Pancho Villa or wherever. My "Lechon" was basically a grilled pork tenderloin served over a bed of mashed-corn-stuff and topped with anaheim peppers and some creme sauce and pickled onions. It was a south-of-the-border taste explosion! And despite some less-than-perfect service (see Libby's post), I'd definitely go there again.
Rinata Pasta with braised duck and goat cheese uptown minneapolis So this new place opened up where Giorgio's used to be, on Hennepin and 25th. It's owned by the guy who runs Al Vento, which is right across the street from Spunk, so I've had it a good handful of times. I had a pretty darn tasty duck pasta, with a red pepper based red sauce. Libby had a shrimp pasta, which she liked but I thought was a little fishy. It was a pretty nice place overall, and not terribly expensive, so I can see going back, even though they sat us at the dumbest table in the restaurant.
Steve | 11-12-2008
Salut Tuna steak sandwich Edina Had the tuna steak sandwich at Salut last night. It wasn't too bad. Just too small for the bun. Thankfully, I know* the head chef there now, so next time I have a bun that is too large for my tuna steak, I'll know exactly who to complain to. Their French onion soup is still awesome, though.
Amazing Thailand Green curry uptown minneapolis I finally ate at Amazing Thailand in Uptown last night. I had green curry. It was okay--nothing amazing, but not terrible. The leftovers this afternoon, however, were almost better than it was last night!
