Category: Burger (Page 4 of 4)

Keeping It Legendary At The Hodo’s Sky Prairie Rooftop Patio

May 8, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Each week we aim for two date nights.  One to interrupt the mid-week grind and one during the weekend.

This week, I was, once again, responsible for choosing Thursday evening’s dinner location.
As much as I adore Passage to India, we both agreed that it was time to take a break from spicy Indian food.  For a week, at least. . .
We headed to the legendary Hotel Donaldson to peruse the bar menu at the Hodo Lounge.
We’ve spent time at the Hodo Lounge several times.  I’ve always enjoyed its atmosphere and friendly service, but felt undecided about its food.  However, we were curious if their rooftop patio was open and I wanted to try their Wild Rice Burger, a dish highly recommended by the editor of the High Plains Reader.
Earlier, we had noticed Fargo establishments seeming lack of rooftop and outdoor patios which we now attribute to North Dakota’s fierce prairie winds.
This evening was beautiful and we happily hoofed it up to the Hodo’s Sky Prairie rooftop patio.  The cozy patio was green teemed with plant life and a grassy lawn.  We let the setting sun burn off the day’s work residue while sipping adult beverages.
The name of this cocktail remains a mystery to me, but it was tart and citrusy with a hint of ginger.
Jake ordered the Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Salad, $10, plus the Bison Burger, $10, while I ordered the Wild Rice Burger, $8, and a side of Pickled Onion Rings, $6.
Pre-Jeni, Jake didn’t eat beets but has since developed a hankering for them.  I divide the human population into two categories:  Those that love beets and those that don’t love beets, yet.
In this beet salad, tiny cubes of crimson and golden beets sandwiched a rich layer of goat cheese.  The beet tower was surrounded by an arugula and fig salad.  We considered this beautiful salad a reasonable portion size for one, given its $10 price tag.
Jake always orders the Hodo’s Bison Burger which has proven to be consistently good and cooked to Jake’s requested “medium.”
It’s covered in melted cheddar and accompanied by a fancy squirt of ketchup, grilled red onion, lettuce, tomato, homemade pickle chips, and pickled veggies.  The toasted bun perfectly supported the burger.  Not only do I think it was brioche but of high quality.
I’m happy to say that the Wild Rice Burger was every bit as delicious as I was told.  It was suggested that I order the burger with spicy mayo, but our waitress mentioned it was no longer offered.  So I settled on dipping it in the remoulade that accompanied the pickled onion rings.
My vegetarian burger came with the same, fresh veggies as the Buffalo Burger.  The wild rice patty was thick and covered in molten cheddar.  I enjoyed the wild rice’s nutty flavor and popping mouth-feel.  I can’t quite put my finger on its seasonings, but think I detected a faint hint of cinnamon.  Savory and wholesome like a Thanksgiving dinner.
I will most definitely order this again.
We split the Pickled Onion Rings.  They were well fried and non-greasy, however I think I actually prefer regular onion rings.  Jake preferred these pickled onion rings and their tart flavor over regular onion rings.
The Hodo’s food runs on the pricier side (the burgers are served a la carte), and I have found some of the other lounge menu offerings to be gambles.  However, the Bison Burger and Wild Rice burgers are solid offerings.
Keeping it legendary.

Weekend Culinary Overload: Passage to India (Again!), JL Beers, & A Gourmet Jewish Brunch

April 30, 2012 / / 0 Comments

I missed my blog’s birthday!  On April 7th, 2012, An Herbalist Eats turned one-year old.  I humbly thank each and every individual who has read my blog and/or provided feedback.

Since Jake and I missed our mid-week date night, we scrunched two into one weekend.  We planned that I would pick Friday’s activities and Jake would chose Saturday’s.  Having just eaten at Passage to India, I wracked my brain for my second choice.  Jake’s only input was that he wanted dinner to truly be my choice, also adding he wasn’t especially in the mood for Indian food.

I kept wracking my brain.

And agonizing, as we drove around town searching for dinner.

Finally, Jake observed that I was agonizing over dinner because I really just wanted to go to Passage to India.  Spicy food was the only food that sounded appealing to me, so we headed back to Passages where heat would be guaranteed.  I forgot my camera and used Jake’s iPhone for photos.  

I ordered this tart mango lassi, $3, while Jake ordered iced coffee which turned out to be a creamy, blended beverage, $3.

Unlike blended coffee shop beverages, this iced coffee was hardly sweetened and refreshing.

We ordered one order of garlic naan, $4, and bhindi masala, $10, to share.  As an entree, Jake chose the tandoor kebab platter, $18, and I chose the masala dosa, $9, a food I have never tried.

The garlic naan was pillowy and rich.

We enjoyed the bhindi masala per usual, fishing for the sweet pieces of okra.  Ordering the dish fresh, as opposed to as take-out made a world of difference regarding flavor and texture.

The tandoor kabob feast included chicken, lamb, shrimp, and kafta.  Jake enjoyed all of the components.  I tried a few bites and enjoyed the flavorful, tandoor spice rub and noted the chicken’s juiciness.  The dipping sauce reminded me of Passage’s tikka masala.  I slurped the remaining, spicy sauce with the serving spoon.

I always enjoy the combination tandoor meat and shaves of raw onion.


I received two dosas accompanied by two sauces. 

The thin, crispy rice crepes were slightly oily, in a pleasing way, and filled with a spiced potato mixture.

I ripped off pieces of crepe and dipped them in the cool and slightly spicy coconut sambol and second sauce that tasted like a daal.  

I found one dosa filling and happily packed the remaining dosa for another meal.  Passage’s also offers a couple of other dosas that I would also like to try.

The meals came with steamed basmati rice.  I enjoy Passage’s rice because it always has a nice texture and tastes of being cooked with ghee and salt.  The service was lovely and warm.

On Saturday, Jake chose dinner at JL Beers in downtown Fargo, followed by a viewing of The Hunger Games.  Usually I dislike viewing or reading anything twice, but enjoyed watching the film, post-book.

For a Fargo-Moorhead burger craving, I can’t really imagine going anywhere else except JL Beers.  Although JL Beers is tiny, it offers an extensive beer selection and high quality burgers that are cheap as hell.

I ordered the Rajun Cajun burger, $4.19, topped with pepper jack, caramelized onions, and creamy, Cajun lime sauce.

Jake ordered the Slaw Burger, $4.19, topped with coleslaw and barbecue sauce.  We split an order of Buffalo BLU Fries, $3.99.  Crispy, thin-cut fries lightly coated in buffalo sauce and sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles.

Our burgers were juicy and the bun was lovingly toasted.  Despite all of the toppings, I savored each bite’s subtle crunchiness provided by the toasted side of the bun.

And if this wasn’t enough of a culinary overload, I attended Temple Beth El’s annual Gourmet Jewish Brunch.  The line was practically backed up from the front door and many attendees mention they have been attending the brunch for years.  Temple Beth El offered a wonderland of offerings including chopped liver, pickled herring, smoked fishes, sweet noodle kugel, matzo brei, potato knishes, golden brown blintzes filled with a creamy mixture and topped with sour cream and jelly, bagels and lox, a whole table of desserts that I ignored, and steaming hot coffee with real cream.

I enjoyed learning a little about Temple Beth El and experiencing their hospitality.  I did not want to miss this unique opportunity to try home-cooked Jewish food in Fargo.  Having read Ruth Reichl’s book Garlic and Sapphires, I was excited to actually taste matzo brei after reading her enticing description.  I look forward to making this comfort food at home.

We’ll be taking it easy this week as I continue to experiment with work week cooking concoctions.  I foresee a matzo brei dinner.

Double F Weekend: Date night at Fasika & Fabulous Fern’s

August 17, 2011 / / 1 Comment

We spent our weekend alternating between Fabulous Fern’s and Fasika.

Friday evening, we mistakenly showed up at Jake’s 10 year high school reunion an evening too soon, to the confusion of Fabulous Fern’s staff.  As I alluded to in my last post, we found ourselves in Cathedral Hill, a neighborhood that I have, strangely enough, never visited.  Growing up, my family took us on rare outings to Minneapolis and St. Paul where we bravely crossed the river.  With our new-found date night, we initially ventured to Moscow on the Hill, noticed their $21.50 price point for Beef Stroganoff, and left for Fasika.  
How I fell in love with Chicken Dora Wat
During my internship at Redeemer Center for Life my first year out of college, I was introduced to Ethiopian food by a woman who was connected with the after school program for which I interned.  I assisted her in making a glimmering pot of chicken dora wat and she led me to a market in the Seward neighborhood where we bought injera.  She also introduced me to the hot, red spice mix called berbere and spiced butter called niter kibbeh which she pulled from her private stash.  She even gifted me with a small bag of berbere which I used to season everything.

Previous to this experience, I had never tasted injera and was under the impression one either had a “love it” or “hate it” reaction.  I loved injera’s soft and spongy texture and sourdough flavor upon my first taste.

Needless to say, the children and staff were enthusiastic about Aster’s chicken dora wat, rice seasoned with onion, garlic and cilantro, homemade hot sauce, and injera.  I have since visited Fasika once when I had a intense craving for chicken dora wat and have been yearning to return ever since.  This evening was the perfect opportunity to order a sampler platter with Jake who had never tried any version of African food before.

Fasika
510 N. Snelling Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55104
www.fasika.com
651-646-4747

Fasika is located in Midtown and you must park on the street since the back lot is reserved for another store.  We arrived on a Friday evening around 8 p.m. and though the restaurant was buzzing with customers, we were seated quickly.  The atmosphere was friendly and cozy and filled with individuals and families of various colors, ages, socioeconomic statuses, etc.  The women staff coo’d over a young family’s newborn baby and tenderly passed her around as they took turns holding her.

To begin, we tried a couple of Ethiopian beers.  Can you tell which beer was mine?  I got scolded for the bad pour job.

Jake ordered the Harar beer, $4, to the left which had a light flavor and pleasantly sour punch which mellowed after the first taste.  I ordered a Meta, $4, a variety that our waitress mentioned was one of her favorites.  I loved the mellow flavor of the beer, while Jake preferred the tanginess of his Harar.

The Ultimate Combination
We ordered Fasika’s Ultimate Combination for $36.50.  We both wanted to try whatever Fasika was willing to bring us.  I have enjoyed reading reviews from other local food bloggers who ordered combination platters such as You Care What We Think and Lazy Lightning.

This bad food blogger forgot to her digital camera. . . again. . .

Pictured above is the Ultimate Combination platter.  This platter included both vegetarian and carnivorous delights.  Most of the meat and vegetarian dishes were slow simmered.  Exceptions to the slow-cooked/stewy style included a crispy green salad that packed unexpected heat in addition to a lamb tibs dish that included small pieces of flavorful meat laced with crusty caramelization.  We enjoyed everything on the platter.  Some of the memorable samples included a fluffy and tangy white cheese, Chicken Dora Wot (which always includes a hard boiled egg), Beef Doro Wot, tender cooked greens called Gomen, small, spiced chickpea flour dumplings, a couple lentil dishes, and vegetable stew dishes.

Of the whole platter, my personal favorites included the Wot sauce, lamb tibs, and vegetable stew called Atkilt of which I picked out every velvety slice of cabbage.  Jake’s favorite dish was the lamb tibs and lentil stew.  Although he enjoyed the injera, he was surprised by it’s texture.  We both enjoyed eating with our hands, an experience I seek and recreate whenever possible.  I feel more happy and content when I can eat with my hands.

We pretty much polished off the entire platter, leaving the flavor-soaked mat of injera which our waitress happily rolled up and packed in a to-go box.  The next morning, Jake gave me a strange look when he found me enjoying these leftovers for breakfast with a cup of coffee.  
I would not hesitate to return to Fasika.  If I went with newbies, I would order the combination platters.  However, if Jake and I went by ourselves, we would probably order a few of our favorite dishes from the Ultimate Combination.  
Fabulous Fern’s Bar & Grill
400 Selby Ave 
St. Paul, MN 
651-225-9414
http://fabulousferns.com

On Saturday, we returned to Fabulous Fern’s for Jake’s 10 year high school reunion.  I played hooky from my high school’s five year reunion, feeling that five years wasn’t quite enough time to feel quite removed.  But I couldn’t wait to curiously observe Jake’s 10 year.  I had low hopes for the food since I couldn’t recall anyone speaking or writing of Fabulous Fern’s and I remembered the chlorinated smell that permeated the entryway when we stopped by the evening before.

A large popcorn machine lay near the bar for customers to serve themselves.  I love popcorn and rank popcorn in my top two favorite smells.  Fern’s popcorn was surprisingly good, salty, and buttery.  I will embarrass myself by digging around for the brightest yellow kernels of popcorn.

As we were mingling and spending time with Jake’s posse of high school friends, we ordered from the bar menu.

The large portion of fries were crispy and covered in a tasty seasoning salt.  I’m kind of a sucker for seasoning salts. They didn’t taste like handmade fries, but I was satisfied.  They were accompanied by a runny, creamy ranch type of dip.

I stole a piece of pizza from Jake and was pleasantly surprised.  Not only was it generously sized, but the dough tasted fresh and slightly sweet.  The cheese had nice blistered, chewy, and stringy quality.  It was more chewy than crispy and I wished for a little bit more tomato sauce, but was overall impressed with the quality of what tasted like a homemade pizza.  

I ordered a cheeseburger with onion rings.  I was half hoping/anticipating to receive small and crappy burger composed of one of those previously frozen and dense patties covered in a congealed slice of processed cheese.  Every so often, I will crave this type of crappy cheeseburger.  

What I received was a large cheeseburger, cooked to my requested medium rare, covered in melted cheddar cheese.  The burger patty was loosely packed and juicy.  Even when I microwaved the leftovers the next day, the patty was still juicy.  My only complaint is that the bun was too dry and crumbly to provide adequate structural support.  As you may notice, the top bun disintegrated apart when I tried to cut the sandwich in half.  
The onion rings were crispy and covered in some kind of abrasive bread crumbing and served with another cup of the runny ranch sauce.  The onions did not slither out from the batter when I bit into the rings.  Not bad, a little greasy, not as delicious as the onion ring tree from The Depot in Alexandria.  I prefer a smooth, battered, coating.  
I had a lovely evening spending time with Jake’s high school friends and observing the interesting 10 year reunion dynamics.  While Fabulous Fern’s bar food and happy hour menu exceeded my expectations, I don’t foresee myself returning for a meal.  Especially with my increasingly growing list of restaurants I would like to try and short list of restaurants of which we loyally include in our “rotation.” 

I just wanted a burger.

July 7, 2011 / / 2 Comments

This past week has been so busy that I could hardly breathe.

Do you ever have one of those days where you are working on something so frantically that you forget to eat, drink water, and go to the bathroom?  If Jeni forgets to eat, you know there’s trouble.

As a result, I sat through my morning class bleary eyed, attempting to convince everyone I was tracking.  Which was no easy feat during role plays.  By that point, I started to feel hunger pangs and literally daydreamed about cheeseburgers for three and a half hours.  (In college, I tried to show off by giving up meat for Lent while on a service trip to Savannah, GA.  Two weeks into Lent and two days into the service trip, I gave up because I found myself fantasizing about meat all of the time.  I never attempted Lent again.)

As I rushed to my next destination, I stopped by Andy’s Garage in Midtown Global Market for the first time, hoping to end to my relentless burger craving.

At the counter, I ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, $6.25, and fries, $1.25.  I just noticed on my receipt that I was charged for the soda I turned down, for an extra $1.50.  A good reminder to double check my receipts.  The service was friendly and my order was ready in about 10 minutes.

The fries tasted freshly cut, freshly fried, and nicely salted.  They were glistening with oil and hot with steam.  They weren’t the crispiest fries, but I enjoy eating fries that are a little soggy.  I also liked that the insides of the fries were creamy instead of mealy.

The burger was bliss and the meat patty was rather large and moist.  Either the griddle the burger was cooked on was well-seasoned, or Andy’s used a pleasant seasoning salt because I tasted garlic and/or onion.  The lettuce was crisp, the tomato was juicy instead of under-ripe, the bun was soft and didn’t crumble, and the american cheese slice was wonderfully congealed.  I also appreciated the three slices of juicy dill pickle.

This may sound strange, but I was thrilled that the burger held together cleanly when I picked it up and ate it in my car.  The sandwich was moist and flavorful without disintegrating into a drippy, greasy mess.  Very well structured.

The rest of this week will be filled with school work.  During busy weeks, I go into cheese quesadilla/salad/scrambled egg-mode.  As soon as I catch up, I would like to use and blog about some Restaurant.com gift certificates I won to obscure strip-mall type of joints in the south metro-ish area, medicinal salve-making, herbs I use every day that probably grow in your backyard (like yarrow and plantain), and celebrating my friend’s birthday at Wise Acre Eatery.

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