Those of you that know Janet and I know that we love to go out for dinner, but what we love more than going out is supporting independent restaurants. Tonight we made a return to Broder's Pasta Bar. It's small. I mean really small. I can't imagine it holds more than 60 people or so. If you know 50th and Penn you also know it's basically set up around a neighborhood. It is the exact area and type of place Janet and I like to visit.
You walk in and it's dimly lit and I guess contemporary-ish looking, but casual feeling and has that old building feel to it. The four-tops are hard to get since it's a small place. We get seated at the bar. This is kind of a normal bar, but what is cool is that you can watch the chefs cook right in front of you. It's a u-shaped bar and then at the top of the U is the adjoining kitchen, which is open to see them cook and plate the food. It's fun to watch and makes things easy for deciding what to eat!
They make fresh pasta and have maybe 20 or so dinners to choose from on the menu. The prices are pretty standard $10-16 or so. But, like many places it can get expensive if you're drinking. Janet's wine was $8.50 per glass. Yikes. Continuing on with our high-roller ways...(just kidding). I got an ol' reliable (Summit EPA), $5, and the sever took some tongs and dug into a huge bread basket and filled up a little basket for us. Olive oil in front of every two seats at the bar. They actually put an assortment of breads in there - really fresh bread. Good stuff.
We were checking out quite a few entrees on the menu that looked good. I had my eyes set on one of my Grandpa's favorite dishes that I learned to like due to him introducing it to me. Linguini with clams in a white wine type of sauce. But then I watched some lasagna get plated up and it was all but over. Janet stopped the server and asked what it was - he obviously has had this happen many times from the smiling reaction to her question. This lasagna was the best lasagna I've ever had. It had homemade pasta, thin sliced lamb as the meat, but the best part was this thick tomato cream sauce poured over two thick wedges of lasagna. Man, sooo good. Janet got fettuccine with lobster pieces, herbs, lemon, and a cream sauce. Sounds expensive, right? $14 or something...probably a few bucks more than a chain restaurant and a decent amount of lobster pieces. I will always pay a few bucks more to support an independent joint. Let alone, the extremely fresh ingredients served here. Oh, and I think the lasagna was $13. We both had enough leftovers for another meal. I could hammer the rest of that lasagna right now after talking about it again, but it's 2 am.
We would go back here a 3rd time. By the way, I did get the linguini with clams on a previous visit and it's awesome. Last time we also got the Tirimisu (sp?) which is a mile high and just ridiculously good. All the desserts look awesome.
If you really want a fun night out visit some independent restaurants like Broder's. Not only is the food usually fantastic, but you're contributing to one of the best parts about living in the twin cities. Here are some other awesome restaurants...if you need an address let me know.
Dulano's Pizza - Total hole-in-the-wall, which Janet and I love. Live bluegrass music on the weekends and the best pizza only 2nd to Latuff's. Kick ass garlic cheese bread too. Lyndale to Lake Street and east a few blocks on Lake.
Bulldog N.E. (Hennepin Ave) - easily my favorite restaurant. Don't get me started. If you haven't been there and like burgers then go there and be prepared to kick yourself for not eating these burgers your whole life. I read something about how they cure the beef, then season it and grind it...twice. It's tender and ah man, just go there. Great beer selection too.
Ted Cook's - This bbq joint near Hiawatha golf course (off Cedar I think?) is take out only. But, it's worth the 20 minute drive each way just to get a hold of this gold. This is the real deal for bbq. I haven't had this for a while and need to go back real soon. Rib tips smothered in mild or hot bbq sauce crammed in a chinese take out carton. This is flavor country.
Being that it's close to 2am I can't think anymore. I know I have more to contribute. I'll write a part 2 later.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Oasis @ Target Center 12/10/08
Last night I got home from work around 630pm. After months of not being able to decide what concert to go see (The Black Crowes or Oasis - both 12/10/08) we sat down and said, “ok, we’ll go park in Garage A and take the skyway over to the ticket office at the Target Center. If seats are good, we’ll hit up Oasis. If not, we’ll cross the street to 1st Ave. for the Crowes show".
This was a hard decision. I generally hate stadium shows. I like small venue shows. The smaller the better, but I’ve seen the Crowes a LOT, and never seen Oasis. Stadium acoustics always seems horrid. And I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile by any means. Well, we ended up getting some great lower level tickets about 3 sections back half way up the section. Great view and I couldn’t pass them up. And the acoustics were really good, considering it’s a stadium show. I will now return to the Target Center for other concerts. My friend mentioned he heard the acoustics have been improved at the Target Center and even from my untrained ear, I’d say it’s true.
The vocals were a little muffled at times, but part of that is Liam smashing his mouth against the mic. I’ve never been able to understand him when he speaks anyway. Noel you could understand, but I’ve never had trouble understanding Noel. Anyway, it’s exactly what I expect for a stadium show. People stood there, bobbed their heads to a few tunes and generally stood around. Even on the main floor there wasn’t a lot of movement. Well, except sporadically in the first few rows. Later, Liam dedicated a song to the “three stooges in front right there”. Not sure what he was referring to other than a couple people who you may have thought had pogo sticks they were jumping so much.
Oasis I have often thought write some of the most melodic songs I’ve ever heard. And a few songs into the show I realized it is pretty amazing how they can hold those melodies together live even when Liam head butts his vocals into the mic and backs away like the mic is kryptonite, basically ruining the vocal melody…Noel as you can tell he’s done many times before compensates for it and everything is fine. Liam’s swagger on stage was full throttle (the cockiest walk and stances you’d ever imagine). Noel played around with the crowd a bit. At one point when Liam was off stage Noel started talking and asking the crowd why we live in MN. He said, “you do realize there is a state in your country called California, right?” The crowd booed in a playful manner. Noel retorts, “yeah, well, over there right now they’re wearing shorts and girls are in bikini’s while you’re over here freezing you’re ass off!” After the final encore (which was 4 songs) Noel said, “see you soon.” Then stepped away, and once more back towards the mic, “in California!” That got a good laugh from the crowd.
The show was definitely what others have mentioned of the ’08 tour so far; it’s more of a shoegazer performance. For those unfamiliar with shoegazing and for me not wanting to explain much, it is basically standing in the lime light playing your songs without much physical movement…gazing into the crowd. Sounds boring, right? Oasis has the ability to mix that gazing-stand-still with such great melody and raw british guitar rock n’ roll that it doesn’t matter. You’re still excited to hear it. And besides, there is always Liam to watch who for whatever reason never gets boring. I found myself smiling at the cockiness of Liam strutting around on stage, holding a tambourine in his mouth and standing still facing the crowd for the first minute he got on stage. He flicked off people a few times in the front rows in good fun, made yelling hand gestures to his sound man once (that even the sound man couldn’t have understood), but overall Liam was extremely nice to the crowd. Lots of thank yous and even some banter which I didn’t expect from Liam. The basic lead-singer banter, but honestly I only expected the banter from Noel. Noel got creative on a few guitar solo’s and the best description is effortless. It shows he not only can compose an amazing song, but he can improvise great as well. I don’t know the other guitar player, but he was fantastic. He is a very technique-strong guitar player. I was impressed.
Without a doubt the Dig Out Your Soul songs were the best of the night. Other things worth noting, Don’t Look Back In Anger was Noel on acoustic guitar, the drummer with a tambourine only, and the other guitarist on electric. It was a pretty cool version of the song. The crowd was belting the lyrics the whole time (to that and the other populars). Falling Down encore was awesome and I now have a new fondness for that song. Waiting for the Rapture is amazing. The way Noel sings that song is so cool. His voice was much better than Liam’s last night…but not really a surprise. Rock n’ Roll Star was a great opening song. Hearing Cigarettes & Alcohol 4 songs in was a nice surprise. On Morning Glory, Noel’s guitar sounded awesome – lots of energy there. Supersonic could have been the final song…and was until they came back for the 4 song encore. I will say that I think the Minnesota fans were a little ticked when they said Supersonic was the final song…that was at an hour and 10 minutes. I even turned to Janet and said “this is the quietest encore cheer I’ve ever heard.” They still came back and played another half hour. Total time was around 100 minutes. My Stadium show qualms aside, this was a 5/5 show.
Rock 'n Roll Star
Lyla
The Shock Of The Lightning
Cigarettes & Alcohol
The Meaning Of Soul
To Be Where There's Life
Waiting for the Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
Ain't Got Nothin'
The Importance Of Being Idle
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic
Encore:
Don't Look Back In Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am the Walrus
This was a hard decision. I generally hate stadium shows. I like small venue shows. The smaller the better, but I’ve seen the Crowes a LOT, and never seen Oasis. Stadium acoustics always seems horrid. And I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile by any means. Well, we ended up getting some great lower level tickets about 3 sections back half way up the section. Great view and I couldn’t pass them up. And the acoustics were really good, considering it’s a stadium show. I will now return to the Target Center for other concerts. My friend mentioned he heard the acoustics have been improved at the Target Center and even from my untrained ear, I’d say it’s true.
The vocals were a little muffled at times, but part of that is Liam smashing his mouth against the mic. I’ve never been able to understand him when he speaks anyway. Noel you could understand, but I’ve never had trouble understanding Noel. Anyway, it’s exactly what I expect for a stadium show. People stood there, bobbed their heads to a few tunes and generally stood around. Even on the main floor there wasn’t a lot of movement. Well, except sporadically in the first few rows. Later, Liam dedicated a song to the “three stooges in front right there”. Not sure what he was referring to other than a couple people who you may have thought had pogo sticks they were jumping so much.
Oasis I have often thought write some of the most melodic songs I’ve ever heard. And a few songs into the show I realized it is pretty amazing how they can hold those melodies together live even when Liam head butts his vocals into the mic and backs away like the mic is kryptonite, basically ruining the vocal melody…Noel as you can tell he’s done many times before compensates for it and everything is fine. Liam’s swagger on stage was full throttle (the cockiest walk and stances you’d ever imagine). Noel played around with the crowd a bit. At one point when Liam was off stage Noel started talking and asking the crowd why we live in MN. He said, “you do realize there is a state in your country called California, right?” The crowd booed in a playful manner. Noel retorts, “yeah, well, over there right now they’re wearing shorts and girls are in bikini’s while you’re over here freezing you’re ass off!” After the final encore (which was 4 songs) Noel said, “see you soon.” Then stepped away, and once more back towards the mic, “in California!” That got a good laugh from the crowd.
The show was definitely what others have mentioned of the ’08 tour so far; it’s more of a shoegazer performance. For those unfamiliar with shoegazing and for me not wanting to explain much, it is basically standing in the lime light playing your songs without much physical movement…gazing into the crowd. Sounds boring, right? Oasis has the ability to mix that gazing-stand-still with such great melody and raw british guitar rock n’ roll that it doesn’t matter. You’re still excited to hear it. And besides, there is always Liam to watch who for whatever reason never gets boring. I found myself smiling at the cockiness of Liam strutting around on stage, holding a tambourine in his mouth and standing still facing the crowd for the first minute he got on stage. He flicked off people a few times in the front rows in good fun, made yelling hand gestures to his sound man once (that even the sound man couldn’t have understood), but overall Liam was extremely nice to the crowd. Lots of thank yous and even some banter which I didn’t expect from Liam. The basic lead-singer banter, but honestly I only expected the banter from Noel. Noel got creative on a few guitar solo’s and the best description is effortless. It shows he not only can compose an amazing song, but he can improvise great as well. I don’t know the other guitar player, but he was fantastic. He is a very technique-strong guitar player. I was impressed.
Without a doubt the Dig Out Your Soul songs were the best of the night. Other things worth noting, Don’t Look Back In Anger was Noel on acoustic guitar, the drummer with a tambourine only, and the other guitarist on electric. It was a pretty cool version of the song. The crowd was belting the lyrics the whole time (to that and the other populars). Falling Down encore was awesome and I now have a new fondness for that song. Waiting for the Rapture is amazing. The way Noel sings that song is so cool. His voice was much better than Liam’s last night…but not really a surprise. Rock n’ Roll Star was a great opening song. Hearing Cigarettes & Alcohol 4 songs in was a nice surprise. On Morning Glory, Noel’s guitar sounded awesome – lots of energy there. Supersonic could have been the final song…and was until they came back for the 4 song encore. I will say that I think the Minnesota fans were a little ticked when they said Supersonic was the final song…that was at an hour and 10 minutes. I even turned to Janet and said “this is the quietest encore cheer I’ve ever heard.” They still came back and played another half hour. Total time was around 100 minutes. My Stadium show qualms aside, this was a 5/5 show.
Rock 'n Roll Star
Lyla
The Shock Of The Lightning
Cigarettes & Alcohol
The Meaning Of Soul
To Be Where There's Life
Waiting for the Rapture
The Masterplan
Songbird
Slide Away
Morning Glory
Ain't Got Nothin'
The Importance Of Being Idle
I'm Outta Time
Wonderwall
Supersonic
Encore:
Don't Look Back In Anger
Falling Down
Champagne Supernova
I Am the Walrus
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