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Dive Night ~ Psycho Suzie’s (the old one)

November 12, 2010 by Sara

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about Dive Night with Ruthie and Ray because, well, it’s been a while since we’ve done it.  You know how life gets sometimes.  That’s what’s been happening with us.  Because it has been a while since the last Dive Night we decided to do it big.  The best place to find a dive in the Twin Cities?  None other than Nordeast!

I’m not too familiar with the northeast Minneapolis, but I don’t get out much.  Those of you who know anything probably know about the place we chose as our monthly dive.  Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge.

Psycho Suzi’s used to be an A&W Rootbeer stand.  They’ve given the old drive-in quite a substantial makeover.  Think tiki.  We went the Friday before Halloween, so the place was decorated for the holiday and some of the patrons were in costumes.  All of that just added to the fun.

 

The employee of the month is featured prominently next to the restrooms.  I especially liked her quote.

And the bathrooms were aptly labeled.

They even serve exotic Polynesian drinks in volcano cups.

But enough about the decor.  Let’s talk about the food.  Oh, the food.  We started with appetizers, fried cheese curds and Brown Sugar Babies.  The latter are bacon-wrapped smokies with a bourbon brown sugar glaze.  OMG.  And the cheese curds had the most delicate, tempura-like batter that was unlike any I’ve had before and were served with a marinara sauce.  Personally, I thought the dipping sauce was unnecessary.

On to the main course.  I’ll confess I was a little disappointed that everyone wanted pizza.  Pizza?  Well, little did I know that Psycho Suzi is known for her pizza.  I went along with the majority’s consensus and each couple chose a different one.  I’m so glad we got pizza.

These may look like ordinary pizzas, but they were far from it.  The crust was deliciously thin and crispy.  Ruthie and Ray ordered the Four Barrel pizza, which has spicy sausage, red onions, roasted red peppers, and feta and mozarella with the house red sauce.  Husby and I ordered The Barris with caramelized onions, sun-dried tomato, oregano and goat cheese.

It’s been a while since I’ve had a pizza that diverts from the standard Domino’s-type.  Not that there’s anything wrong with Domino’s, but they don’t roast peppers, they don’t caramelize onions, and they sure as heck don’t use feta and goat cheeses.  All of us sampled each pizza and all of us liked both.  Well, I more than liked.  I wondered where this pizza had been all my life.  At Psycho Suzi’s all along.

Check out Suzi’s website ~ it’s as entertaining as the ambiance, service, and clientele of the restaurant.

We couldn’t end the evening with Psycho Suzi’s.  After all, we’d been having that life thing I was referring to earlier, and it had been so long since the four of us had been out.  We found a way to ward off  Stay tuned for Part 2 of this Dive Night post and find out where we partook in a little nightcap.

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Dive Night ~ JD’S Dining Establishment

September 10, 2010 by Sara

Well, even though the Minnesota State Fair is over, its essence lives on, especially on this my humble blog.  Ruthie and Ray were in charge of finding this month’s dive.  Much to everyone’s pleasure they chose one on the State Fairgrounds.

I’ve been going to the fair since I was one year old.  I won’t tell you how many years that adds up to, but I will say it is more than ten and less than one hundred.  I’ll also say “many, many” years I’ve been going to the fair.  In all those years I never ate at this place.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Our first instructions were to go into the Food Building and get an appetizer to share with the group.  Husby and I got potato skins, Ruthie and Ray got the spiral chips.

Both were fine.  One thing I’ll say about fair food ~ there’s an abundance of liquid cheese.  Or should I say cheeze?  Plus, this was actually too much potato, even for a potato lover like me.  But we didn’t consult on the appetizers like we would in a regular restaurant, so it was a risk we took.

Then, on to the main event.  The draw to JD’s Dining Establishment is that there is “Definintely Nothin’ On A Stick.”

Admittedly I was a little nervous about eating here.  After all, it had been avoided for many years of my fair going.  Turns out I was missing out on some decent food!

Husby, Ruthie, and Ray all had chili.  It was a blustery day and quite brisk, so a hot bowl of chili sounded good to them.

Along with a bowl of chili, Ray had a hamburger and Ruthie had a fish sandwich.  Both look good and were reported to taste just fine.

 

I decided to pull out all the stops and get the pork dinner.  I was pleasantly surprised!

Included in the dinner was a hefty portion of pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, coleslaw, corn, and bread and butter.  All for $7!  It was tasty and hot.  Normally I don’t eat regular food at the fair, gravitating toward the unusual and unusually unhealthy choices.  But I would totally recommend eating at JD’s Dining Establishment (located across the street from the Butterfly House and next to Choo Choo Bob’s) if you want a decent hot meal while visiting the fair.

Another really nice thing they served on that cold night (and every day and night) is coffee and hot chocolate.  Lots of people stopped by for a cup of something hot to take off the chill.

I can’t wrap up this report without mentioning that the service at JD’s was outstanding!  Yes, we were actually waited on!  And the waitress checked back with us several times to make sure our dinners were satisfactory and to see if we wanted anything more.

What a fabulous dive!  I wish I had been able to get this post out before the fair ended so you could all try JD’s great cuisine.  Please remember it for next year, just in case you don’t want to eat your food off a stick at the fair.

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Dive Night ~ Miller’s On Main

June 10, 2010 by Sara

Apparently Ruthie was running around the metro area not too long ago, far away from where she lives or works.  I didn’t ask why she was gallivanting around because, well, Ray was sitting right there and I didn’t want to put Ruthie on the spot.  Who knows?  She might have been on the hunt for a pair of $400 shoes or something.  It doesn’t really matter, because during her little road trip she saw this…

She figured Miller’s on Main in Lino Lakes, MN would be a good spot to share for Dive Night.  She was right.  Divey?  Yeah, kind of.

This is the skinny bar area.  It had a lot of character, compared to the eating area…
They tried to make it homey with some country-flavored prints on the walls, but basically we were surrounded by walls of beige with big TVs propped up at the ceiling at each of the four corners of the room.  TVs in restaurants are just uncouth.
No matter, here come the appetizers!
These appetizers were fabulous!  First were the stuffed mushrooms.  Mushroom Poppers, to be exact.  They were stuffed with beef and pork, had a marvelous texture and were seasoned to perfection.  Also delicious was the Artichoke Spinach Dip.  Roasted artichoke hearts, pepper cheese and spinach in a very zippy, spicy sauce.  Really cheesy and really good.  I was sad to have to share with the others.

Our entrees were delicious too.  We ordered quite a variety at our table ~ bison burger (Ray), walleye sandwich with BIG onion rings (Ruthie), spaghetti sandwich (me), and taco salad (Husby).

Husby would have preferred a corn tortilla bowl instead of flour for his salad, but that’s just a matter of taste.  Both Ruthie and Ray had nothing but good to say about their meals.  I ordered a spaghetti sandwich just to try something different.  The spaghetti and sauce were good, the meatballs were good, the bread was good, but for my taste they should not all be combined in a sandwich.  A) You can’t pick it up and eat it, and B) I’ve got a weird thing against bread with sauce on it.  But my it was good, when eaten in its little subsets.  Plus, fries with spaghetti?  Well, they came with the meal and were delicious, so I couldn’t turn them down.

Despite my quirky preferences I’d have to say the food at Miller’s on Main is superb, the service was wonderful and I’d definitely go there again.  The menu is very extensive, and if everything on it is as good as our meals were, then this place is definitely a winner.

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Dive Night ~ St. Clair Broiler

May 6, 2010 by Sara

Back to the old neighborhood it was for me on this night of Dive hunting.  I love the old neighborhood.  The suburbs can be so drab.  I miss the old restaurants in the city like this one on the corner of St. Clair and Snelling Avenues in St. Paul, MN.  The St. Clair Broiler has been broiling up bugers and mixing up malts since 1956.

Husby and I were in the mood for something other than burgers, so we thought this would be a good place to get a variety of food.  This guy was our “maitre d’…”

Yes, that was pretty much the expression he kept on his face the whole time.  I think he’s been in the business forever.  This is an example of some fun you could find inside the menu…the very large and diverse menu.

As always we started out with some appetizers.  We ordered walleye cakes and turkey quesadillas, which were both very good.  The walleye cakes came with a delicious honey mustard drizzle and the quesadillas were packed with turkey, cheese, and salsa, served with sides of guacamole, more salsa, and sour cream.  I also got a cup of clam chowder, which was just about the best chowder I’ve had in a very long time.  Appetizers were a score.

For our entrees we all ordered something different.  From left to right there was all-you-can-eat fish fry with what looked like to-die-for steak fries (Ray), beef tips with garlic mashed potatoes (Ruthie), salmon burger with seasoned kettle chips (Husby), and beef stroganoff (me).  Everyone was very happy with their meals.  I had a bite of Husby’s salmon burger and it was very good.  My stroganoff was really good too, although it was so rich I had to take most of it home.  (Don’t forget I also had appetizers and soup.)

Oh, and plus, I couldn’t resist ordering a piece of homemade red velvet cake to go. It was scrumptious when I ate it two days later. I probably would have passed out from joy if I had eaten it fresh that day.
There were only two minuses in this dining experience. 1) I originally ordered a pork cutlette dinner, which apparently is no longer available…ever. I was pretty disappointed to hear that. 2) There are no automatic refills of pop (soda) or ice tea. Ruthie and I both ordered soft beverages and our waitress did not offer refills. However, if we had asked for some maybe they would have been provided at no cost.
The place itself is a typical old-fashioned diner.  It’s clean and well-lit.  It’s actually a lot bigger than it seems.  There are three rooms in which to dine.  And guess what?
The first room even has a counter!  I want to go back again, maybe to try their breakfasts.  I also want to have a burger and malt someday too.  I’d recommend the St. Clair Broiler for some good, substantial food made by people who have been in the food business for decades.
As an aside, after our dining experience we went back to Ruthie and Ray’s house for a nightcap. Husby really loves to do this because he can bond with their dog, Hoover. He must have found Hoover’s g-spot because he was sprawled all over, loving Husby’s scratches. This is what I got to look at for the majority of the evening. Lovely.

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Dive Night ~ Neumann’s

April 10, 2010 by Sara

Ruthie and Ray outdid themselves this time.  (I think I say that every time they pick the restaurant.)  They took Husby and me to the most interesting place – Neumann’s,  located in North St. Paul, Minnesota.

As out of it as I am, I had no idea this is the oldest bar with the oldest fixtures in the State of Minnesota.  I know it’s true because the sign said so.
It has been a hard couple of months for all of us.  The trials of getting older were getting the better of us and a night out was just what we needed.  Ruthie and I were much more verbose in this opinion, but I could tell Ray and Husby were happy to let loose too.  Because we were so grateful to be out, and even more grateful to be in a place that caters to people our own age (albeit much more biker-type – I was embarrassed to be wearing a cheery yellow sweater among all that leather), the food wasn’t a big priority, for me at least.
Ruthie and I had the seafood special which was a fish filet, a few shrimp, and a crab cake, served with french fries.  I’ll have to admit, the seafood all came from a box, but I love that stuff.  Plus, it was fried in a frier and not baked in the oven, which makes it that much better.  The fries were fabulous (if they were from a box I’d love to know what brand they use) and we shared them with our husbands.  They ordered gyros, which didn’t come with any sides.  According to Ray and Husby, they were very good.  Of course we got an appetizer too.  Onion rings that were absolutely perfect.

The most fun thing about Neumann’s is the ambiance.  I’m sure its charm could be lost on some, but for us, two couples who had been there done that but not in a long time, it was very refreshing.

Not only is it quaint, it has marvelous fixtures.  Well, the oldest of any bar in Minnesota, as the sign said.

 

Look at that copper ceiling!  I don’t know if it’s copper, tin, or what, but I want to believe it’s original to the joint.

Check out that mounted alligator head in the upper right of the photo.  It’s wearing sunglasses and from its jaws hangs a pair of child’s tennies.  My kind of place!

These lovely photos were hanging in the women’s bathroom.

If you’re in the mood to hob nob with with a crowd that’s a little rough around the edges (but sweeter than pie) and be waited on by a waitress with biceps as big as your thigh (but wouldn’t hurt a fly) I would highly recommend Neumann’s Bar.  Fun food, great atmosphere, and interesting crowd.  If you own a motorcycle, even better.  Don’t wear a cheery yellow sweater unless you want to stick out like a sore thumb.

A special thanks to Ray, who provided the pictures in this post.  It had been such a hectic day I forgot to bring my own camera.

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