Love for traveling, food, and whiskey

Dolsie’s Lunch Box Grille in St Cloud, MN

If you can find them and make your schedule work with their minimal hours, you will be blown away. Wow. My gyro was delicious. I heard the people around me going on about how delicious their food was as well.

You can’t leave without dessert! OMG these cupcakes are amazingly delicious! Pictured is the cherry almond. We also tried a caramel wedding cake. The moist cake melts in your mouth. The frosting was sweet but not a ‘crazy can’t finish it’ kind of sweet.

The Channel Bar & Restaurant in Outting, MN

We were out enjoying the beautiful, clear Roosevelt Lake and stopped in for an appetizer. We tried a Basket of Onion Petals with our drinks (which were great and refreshing). The sweet crispy onion chips had a light batter. It was served with a spiced dipping sauce, but small serving and not enough for the chips. Great service and good for a snack.

Beth’s Twin Bluffs Cafe

If you are looking for good home cooked meal that will fill you up, head to Nelson, Wisconsin. Whether you try the cheesy hash brown player or the stuffed hash brown special or the salmon benedict, you will leave stuffed full and completely satisfied. Oh and don’t let me forget the amazing staff and was hustling and keep the coffee full and a friendly smile. Great morning!!

Shogun in Mankato MN

Hard to go wrong with the standard hibachi meal. Salad and soup were the standard delicious.

The chef we had tonight made the food perfectly cooked and not drowned in sauces. I wish I could request this chef again by name. He definitely knows how to cook and season appropriately! Skill!

Perfectly seasoned and not drowned in sauces… delicious. Although I do appreciate when they cut in half since we only have a fork and no knife, but the taste outweighs the culinary art.

One thing that surprised me this evening was that the cook put all the meat on the grill together. Swordfish, lobster, scallops, and shrimp make sense in my brain. But when he added the steak and chicken also I was surprised. What you can’t see is that he also has the other side of the grill loaded with noodles. Regardless it all turned out delicious.

Daily Dose

https://dailydosegrill.com/lunch/#tacos

Arizona Conference

I have spent the last few days at the Catholic Youth Ministry Conference in Scottsdale AZ.

Today’s lunch started with a spinach, pickled radish and red onion salad, garnished with crasins. I added the vinaigrette as my dressing. It was a refreshing salad. The vinaigrette was a bit too strong though. I maybe just used too much.

BBQ pork, carrots, and roasted potatoes was our entree. Pork and potatoes were delicious. Carrots were undercooked and lacked flavor. Not bad for a catered meal.

Dessert was a layered chocolate cake. It was a thin slice so it wasn’t too rich. It was delightful.

Dinner was a garden salad (forgot to take a picture) and pot roast with mashed potatoes and green beans. Pot roast was good but needed more gravy. Mashed potatoes and green beans were cooked well and a great compliment to the roast.

Dessert was a lemon cake with strawberry filling. It was light and the lemon flavor was delightful. The strawberry wasn’t super flavorful but was still good.

Mabel Murphy’s in Fergus Falls MN

Rustic Irish pub built in memory of great grandma’s Irish hometown pub. The quaint atmosphere is unbelievable! It’s like a trip over to Ireland and that’s right in Northern Minnesota. If you are lucky, you will get Heather as a waitress! Her friendliness and humor is quite the treat.

The drinks were delicious. Everything from a black cherry hibiscus press seltzer to Jameson green tea signature cocktail to a Pendleton push-up signature cocktail.

We tried two different appetizers. First was stuffed mushrooms: mushroom caps filled with maples seafood stuffing, baked in wine and butter and creamy parmesan sauce.

The second appetizer we tried with seafood skins: a Mabel’s original appetizer of four large and crafted potato skins loaded with baby shrimp, crab meat, cream, alfredo sauce, and mozzarella cheese. Baked to perfection and topped with sour cream.

The velvety beer cheese soup was smooth. Going down with full flavor in it. Perhaps the best beer cheese soup I’ve ever had.

Fun fact: they make their own homemade dressings. Come and get a pint to go!

The prime rib melted in your mouth with the creamed homemade horseradish and au jus sauce. Unbelievably delicious. The broiled shrimp was perfectly seasoned with a butter sauce. For a side we tried both the loaded baked potato and garlic mashed. The garlic mashed potatoes were super garlicky and better than the loaded baked potato, but not by much.

The broiled walleye was lightly seasoned and flaky. With a side of steamed broccoli made for a perfect dish. Perfectly prepared.

The fiesta salad was a delicious taco salad. Not only did it have guacamole and sour cream among the other normal taco salad toppings, it was also served with Mabel’s homemade salsa!

The dessert was a salted pretzel bottom with warm to brownie, topped with ice cream, caramel and chocolate. The warm brownie was tantalizing with the ice cream to melt in top…YUM!

Strawberry cream cheese topped with whipped topping and shaved white chocolate made the perfect ending for dinner.

According to the Irish, if you’re lucky enough to be here, you’re lucky enough.

The Crow Bar and Grill

Drinks for the night were a peach crown with lemonade and unsweetened iced tea and then a peach crown with 7up and pineapple juice. Both were delicious and made for great summer refreshments.

Crispy chicken sandwich was fine. It was fully cooked and juicy but lacked flavor. Served with a side of generic potato chips. I would try something else next time.

Breaded asparagus with chipotle ranch was the hit of the meal. Lightly breaded and seasoned asparagus that paired so well with the sauce. We also tried the jalapeño poppers…. They were served with ranch. They lacked heat and flavor. We got a side of salsa to help give it a kick and that made them tolerable.

Classic grilled cheese sandwich is hard to beat. Crow Bar grilled cheese is two different cheeses melted together with buttery toasted bread. Absolutely delicious.

The Crow Bar and Grill

Drinks for the night were a peach crown with lemonade and unsweetened iced tea and then a peach crown with 7up and pineapple juice. Both were delicious and made for great summer refreshments.

Classic grilled cheese sandwich was two different cheeses melted together between perfectly golden, buttery slices of grilled bread. Something special about a classic on a bar griddle. Yum!

Neisen’s Riverside Bar and Restaurant of St Peter

Going for a prideful rainbow cake tonight. The cake was made with no pride and no joy. It was a tasteless waste of calories. So disappointing. Left more than half there. Only reason to ever order this would be for looks.

Don’t worry, the night was not a loss. The Crown Peach whiskey was delicious! Crown Royal never fails.

Caramel brownie cheesecake was our second attempt at a dessert. The cheesecake was deliciously smooth. The caramel was definitely a hot melted caramel that should be on a caramel apple. The small chunks of brownie and chocolate drizzle on the top definitely helped pull the caramel in. Overall I would give it a good rating and I would try again.