Rachael's Restaurant Reviews- Blue Door Pub Longfellow

Last night Andy and I were both craving burgers, fries and beer so we headed to The Blue Door Pub's new Minneapolis location in the Longfellow neighborhood.  We like to order two different things and then go half-sies so we can try two different menu items.  Just one of the reasons I love that man.

Blue Door Pub- 3448 42nd Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55406

Rating- 8.5 (Would have ranked higher if they had better fries and a larger tap beer list)

The Order:

The Humpty Burger with Fries- "Ellsworth cheese curds fill the inside, while a slow poached egg and Irish rashers huddle up on top."

 Ok, I had no idea what an "Irish rasher" was when I ordered this.  Turns out it's Irish Bacon which is probably closest to what we'd call country style ham. Great! Now when they serve this to you, they bring an egg still in its shell to your table, they have you lift off the bun and they crack the egg right on to your burger and then smash it with your bun allowing for all the amazing runny yolk to drip into the ham and the burger meat.  To me, this is an extremely soft boiled egg.  Delicious, yes. But not a poached egg. A poached egg is cooked by cracking it into boiling water.  Am I mistaken? Am I being too harsh? Honestly it doesn't matter because the end result is amazing. And if that isn't enough squeeky melty cheese curds ooze out of the center when you take a bite. Sign me up to eat this every day until my heart gives out. The fries were a bit under seasoned, good crispy texture but underwhelming overall.

The Jiffy Burger with Cajun Style Tots- "Crunchy Peanut Butter, a little mayo, pepper jack cheese, pickles and bacon." 

 Ok, stick with me.  You might be thinking Peanut Butter on a Burger?! With Mayo?! As the menu says "You've got to try it to be a believer." We almost ordered it without the Mayo because we were scared. I'm glad the bar tender talked us out of it.  The mayo is so subtle you can't taste it but it really adds to the experience by marinating the burger so that it stays juicy, balanced and the peanut butter doesn't become too sticky in your mouth.  This burger was such a crazy wonderful combination of salty, savory goodness with the bacon and pickles and then the subtle sweetness of the white bun and peanut butter just pushed it over the edge of deliciousness. The Cajun style tots were just what you want out of a tot.  Nicely flavored, good and crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside. 

Point is, GO! GO now if you want delicious, unique burger concoctions.  Andy and I decided we want to try every burger on their "Blucys" Menu, maybe you can join us!?

Rachael's Restaurant Reviews - Bone Yard

Hello Lady Bits! The reason I love to cook is mainly because I love to eat delicious food, so naturally I also love to go out and try new restaurants. And I've decided to start reviewing them for you!

Bone Yard: 2841 Hennepin Ave. S. Minneapolis 55408
Rating: 6.5 out of 10 (I'm pretty tough!)

Recently my best friend James and I tried the new Uptown restaurant, Bone Yard http://boneyarduptown.com.  It's a country-style upscale cowboy type atmosphere.  Think plaid western shirts and jeans, exposed wood beams and cast iron skillets on the wall. For you local folk, it's where the Old Chicago used to be. We arrived around 6:40pm on a Monday and were pleasantly surprised to find out they were still on happy hour! 4pm-7pm M-F for you thrifty bits.  So we went a little hog wild and ordered enough for the entire restaurant. We ordered the Fried Chicken Po' Boy with Cottage Fried Potatoes, Beef Brisket Tacos, Fried Mac N Cheese Bites, Crab Hush Puppies, Pit Ham Sliders, and Smoked & Spicy Dry Rub Wings.  When they brought out the food the two hostesses continued to pass by our table with confused looks until James and I spoke up and assured them that "yes all that food is for us. Yes, they did have the correct table number and yes we do plan on eating it all."

 The Brisket Tacos were the highlight.  The brisket was flavorful and juicy, the pickled onions added the right amount of acidic tang and the smoked chile ailoi gave the necessary kick to pull together a nicely balanced taco.  The Pit Ham Sliders were also quite delicious.  Nice thick smoked ham slices on cheddar biscuits with homemade hot pepper jelly.  The salty sweet of the ham combined with the spicy peppers all on top of a  fluffy but still substantial biscuit? Render this diner happy.  The wings were standard, nothing to write home about but certainly satisfying enough to order again.  The Fried Mac N Cheese Bites were disappointing, bland and in need of a sharper cheddar (and double the amount) as well as a dash of cayenne (or any spices really!).  The Crab Hush Puppies were also just so so, as the corn meal was nicely prepared but the crab meat was used so sparingly they might as well not used it at all. But the spicy curry mustard aioli dipping sauce the crab hush puppies were served with? Delightfully delicious. I'd order that stuff on the side forever!  I have to admit I didn't get to try the Po' Boy as my eyes were bigger than my stomach and I was done by this point in the night.  But I will say it was huge for a Happy Hour item. It came with a whole basket full of twice fried potato medallions (cottage fried potatoes) and two big pieces of fried chicken on top of fluffy white bread with lettuce, tomato and jalapenos.  I'm not sure Po' Boy is the right name for it, as it just looked like a fried chicken sandwich. but I guess I'll just have to go back and try it for myself.

All and all I'd say The Bone Yard is worth the trip especially on a Monday night when you feel like eating your weight in country fried food. Which I do, most of the time.

A check in with Infertile Myrtle

-- The following is a guest post from our secret lady friend who chooses to remain anonymous until a baby kangaroo is officially put into her mama pouch -- 

Since the last time I checked in, I tested positive as a carrier for a one genetic disorder, the mister’s swimmers tested positive for awesomeness, I started on hormones to make me ovulate, I signed up with a new pregnancy app called Glow, I ovulated (yay!), I convinced myself I was pregnant, and I convinced myself I was not pregnant.

I’m currently at the tail end of my “Two-Week Wait” – the 15 days post-ovulation before your period comes when all you can do is overanalyze every twinge in your abdomen and wonder what exactly is going on in there. I excitedly went through a list of early pregnancy symptoms with Hubs last weekend, fairly certain that I had enough of them to indicate I had a baby baking. Tiredness? Check! Bloatiness? Check! Lower back pain? You better believe it! His response was, “[Wife], you literally spend every night farting and begging me to rub your back before you fall asleep on the couch at 9:00.” 

Fair point.

After about a week of fantasizing about an adorable tot drunk-baby-walking through a beautiful meadow at sunset, I woke up on Wednesday feeling pretty certain this wasn’t my month. Nothing changed, per se; I just had a strong sense my womb was empty after all. This feeling was further validated by my plummeting basal body temperature, which is an indication Aunt Flo is on her way.

I just want to be done with this, you know? My insurance doesn’t cover infertility, so each doctor’s visit is hundreds of dollars out of pocket. Each ultrasound to check my follicle growth, despite lasting less than five minutes, is another $100 or so. We’re so fortunate that we can afford it, and that we’re not yet at the point where the visits are costing in the thousands instead of in the hundreds. But still. Boo.

The upside is that if I’m indeed not pregnant, I’ll be able to sign up for short-term disability insurance so I can have a source of income during maternity leave. I was completely naïve about how that worked… I had always assumed I would just get paid for the full three months I’d be out. Not so; my employer will continue to cover my benefits during that time, but I’d have to use up my sick and vacation time to get any cash money. Did you know that out of 185 countries surveyed by the United Nations labor agency, America is one of three countries (and the only western one) that doesn’t offer at least partially paid maternity leave? Call your representative and tell him/her that that shit is whack.

I’ll know for sure what’s going on in there early next week, but I’m steeling myself for another round of the hormones. Hopefully the second time’s the charm!

*****

Part of my infertility journey has been figuring out how much of it I want to share. As I mentioned in my last post, I feel strongly that if I had known how incredibly common it was to go through infertility issues, I probably would not have felt so devastatingly alone and scared upon getting diagnosed with PCOS. I’m not yet at the point where I want my name attached to these posts (though my identity is one of the world’s most solvable mysteries), but I still feel like it’s an important conversation to have.

I went to lunch on Friday with a coworker who struggled to get pregnant for several years before having twins this spring via surrogate. We talked about how lame it is that most people know nothing about infertility until they’re going through it. They don't talk about it in sex ed; that's for sure. She said it wasn’t until she miscarried that a whole cadre of women came out of the woodwork to offer their support.

Now, when people tell her how great she looks for having just given birth to twins, she’s very open about the fact that they were carried by a surrogate. She’s not ashamed – and why should she be?

We teared up several times during our meal, particularly when she said these two things:

“You have to keep sharing your story.”

And also:

“It was so worth it. Everything. All of it.”