Norton "The Nabbitect" L.'s Profile

Johnny Rockets is your typical greasy burger joint.  They are unique in that it's 90% counter service, but the service is good and fast.  The cool thing is that they give you three nickels when you sit down to pop into the juke box selector at your seat.

The good was good, but not superb.  I might go here again if I was in the mood for a burger while at the Mall, but there are so many other choices, I probably won't be back again for a while.

An old friend brought me here for their lunch buffet a few weeks back.  The food was ok, but nothing special.  I guess I expected more from a hole-in-the-wall strip mall Thai place.

The owners of the Tea House opened a fourth location a few weeks ago right next to the U of M campus.  I had the pleasure of attending their opening "Friends and Family" night with a friend of the owners.

They continued their tradition of excellent Szechuan style dishes in this newly remodeled Baker's Square building on the corner of University and Washington Aves.  The transformation of the building was amazing.  The decor has a much more elegant style than their St. Paul location, the only other location I've been in.

The food was just as good as their other location.  We selected a spicy chicken, a spicy fish (that was in an earthen bowl swimming in a bit more sauce than I'd like, but still very good), and a spicy asparagus.  Being a Szechuan style restaurant, they only had one or two choice that weren't spicy, so if you don't like spicy food, I'd be aware of that.  I had my 5 year old son with me and since they were out of the non-spicy lo mein, they were very gracious in creating a noodle dish specifically for him.

They are located right in front of the Days Inn and part of their lease agreement is that they had to sell breakfast for the hotel guests just as the Baker's Square did before them.  They will be starting that in about a month and will be a mix of American and Chinese style breakfasts.

The old Baker's Square only ever really had students in it when parents were with them.  This new restaurant will probably be the same way.  With this remodel, the Tea House folks are obviously catering to a higher end clientèle rather than the college students literally within a stone's throw of the building.  They are only open until 11pm at their latest so it will be hard for them to compete with the likes of Hong Kong Noodle and Village Wok just down the street.  My colleague paid for the meal, so I don't know if they are priced within a college student's range either.

However, with most of the better Chinese restaurants South and West of Minneapolis, this will be a welcome addition closer to those of us in the North and East part of town.  It will yet be seen whether they can fare better than Baker's Square.  I hope they do.

In my Yelp zealousness two years ago, I wrote a review for Seafood Palace without having been back for a while.  My apologies to anyone that has gone their according to my recommendation because I was there this weekend and it is now off my list as one of the best Chinese restaurants in the Cities.

The food is still decent.  Taste-wise, the food is still probably one of the best in town, but the service was absolutely horrid.  First, we had to flag down someone to take our order.  The place wasn't even busy.  Then we had the salt and pepper quail for an appetizer (which wasn't as good as it used to be) and because it is so messy, I asked for new plates for everyone.  I went to the restroom to wash my hands and when I came back, not only had none of my party's plates been exchanged, *my* plate was missing.  I couldn't find anyone to get one new plate, let alone six.  I ended up using a catch-all plate under one of our dishes.  At the end of the meal, they shorted us a dessert orange.

Apparently, they are under new management since I had been there years ago and it really shows.  While the food was still good, I can get good Chinese food from a restaurant with magnitudes of better service.  Between that and the parking hassles of South Minneapolis, it's just not worth going back.

I had purchased a TV from Ultimate Electronics that had a mechanical problem and they eventually referred me to this shop because the model I bought was not being made any more.  The staff was friendly, cordial, and always called ahead of time before showing up at our door.

The actual repair tech impressed me in two ways.  First, when he did our repair, my 4 year-old son sat and watched and asked him all kinds of questions.  The tech was patient with him and answered all his questions.  Apparently, he had a son the same age so he understood and knew how to deal with kids.  Even I get impatient when I'm asked too many questions by my own son, let a lone a stranger's kid.

Secondly, the initial repair broke something else.  When we called the next day, the tech made a special trip between his scheduled jobs to come out and take a look.  I don't know where his other jobs were in relation to my house, but I was pleased he took the time to stop by.

We eventually got a replacement TV, so we won't be needing their services any more.  But if ever I need an electronic repair in the future, these guys will be the first people I call.

Before I get into my diatribe about why I won't shop at Ultimate Electronics ever again, I would like to point out that they did a decent job of customer service--the only reason I gave them two stars instead of one.  I bought a TV from them in mid-December and due to my dissatisfaction, they upgraded me to a higher end TV.  But that was the only good thing about my experience with them.

My main beef with this chain is their policy of paying salespeople on commission.  The best thing that ever happened to Best Buy was their discontinuation of such a policy.  If you don't walk into an Ultimate with the impression to buy, the people in the store immediately turn off.  They are not rude, per se, but you get a distinct feeling that they just want to get rid of you so they can sell to someone who does intend to buy something.

When I traded in my defective TV for the upgraded one, I had to do it at the Woodbury store.  The salesperson behind the desk (a sales manager, I might add) gave the air of not even wanting to deal with me.  He didn't appear to appreciate that an exchange was being done at his store from another store.  I can understand that that probably affects his bottom line, but he could at least be cordial rather than have an air of disgust.  He wasn't even that pleasant to the salesperson at the Roseville store when he had to call to get confirmation about the exchange.

Every once in a while, Ultimate has a good deal, but most of their electronics are overpriced to begin with.  I pity the fools that don't price check before buying from them.  A basic comparison shop will reveal their inflated prices.  It's amazing to me that they are still in business.

On our second night of a family reunion, we bought a bushel of crab from this little store.  My uncle made a reservation and picked it up just before dinner.  I tagged along to see what the store was like.

The shop was small, but to the point.  They had fresh seafood on ice in the middle of the store and the edges were lined with wine, cheese and crackers, and gift knick knacks.  All of the seafood looked very fresh.

My family usually likes to cook their own seafood, but since the price of the prepared and live crab were the same price, we let Carawan do the cooking and clean up.  My uncle ordered the cajun style and it was fabulous.  We all chowed down the first night and had plenty left over for several meals after that.  There were 17 of us and I think all but the two little kids had one or two that first night.  Plenty of yummy crab to go around.

I was in OBX for a family reunion and on our first night, we all got in late and didn't want to fire up anything in the kitchen of the house we rented.  So one of my uncles suggested a seafood place nearby that he ate at for lunch.  We all got in our respective cars (convoy of 4 vehicles) and followed him to his suggestion.

After 20 minutes of driving around with wrong turns, losing cars, and people not paying attention to where cars were going (I'll post the story if people are interested), we ended up at Cosmo's Pizzeria.

It's a small joint where the 14 people in our party (we lost 3 of them) pretty much filled half the restaurant.  As we were all hungry, we went simple and ordered a cheese, a supreme, a sausage/pepperoni, and a sausage/mushroom.  It was plenty for all of us plus leftovers.  We all inhaled them as we laughed about what had just transpired on the way over.  It wasn't the best pizza I've had, but better than average.

My only complaint is that the drinks tasted funny.  My cousin had lemonade with a funny aftertaste and my Sprite left the same remnants in my mouth.  We figures it was the water between the lemonade and the ice used for the Sprite.

I stopped in here with my daughter on the way up the Gunflint Trail one Friday night.  Our first choice was the Angry Trout because I've always wanted to try it, but there was a long wait and we wanted to get up the trail as soon as possible.  We ended up here where there was only one other table occupied.

I was here once years ago when it was called the Harbor Inn Cafe.  Made sense since it's in the same building as the Harbor Inn Hotel.  But they renamed it and upgraded the decor.  The furniture was classic Northwoods furniture made out of old trees and the paint on the walls was much more modern and less... cafe-ish.

My daughter had a corn dog kid's meal and I chose the Trout BLT.  It was FABulous.  The trout was cooked and seasoned perfectly, the bacon was cooked crisp (just the way I like it) to add texture, and there were some pieces of red onion that added just the right amount of zip.  The whole thing was on a french roll.  Delicious.

My only complaint is that it was really expensive.  The kids meal was $6 andmy sandwich was $14.  Fortunately, we just had water to drink to keep the bill under $25.  $25 for a meal for two people where one is 8 years old???  Crazy.  I cut a star for the prices, but to be fair, many of the places in Grand Marais have gotten just as expensive.  It's become somewhat of a tourist trap.

While the food was first class, I don't think I'll come back again.  I just can't afford it.  But if you're willing to spend a pretty penny, I would recommend it.

I came here last weekend to check out my latest lust, a Hobie Mirage Pro Angler kayak (http://www.hobiecat.co...).  They are the only listed dealer of Hobie products in the Twin Cities.

The shop is small with a lot of products packed in, but not so much that you can't get around.  They make good use of wall space.

When I walked in, there was a young lady in her late teens/early 20s that got out of her chair from behind the counter to tell me about the Pro Angler when I told her what I was there for.  She spent a good few minutes telling me about the kayak and was very knowledgeable when I asked her questions.

They sell the full line of Hobie products and even have free on water demos where you can try out a Hobie kayak to see if you like it.  They alternate between White Bear Lake, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Minnetonka.  The schedule is kind of hidden on their site, so here is the link, http://www.hitempokaya....  They sell the demos at the end of the season for a discount.

I was very impressed with the young attendants of the store.  They knew what they were talking about.  It was obvious that the owner let's them try out products so they can talk about them.  It was also obvious that they have a passion for water sports, so you weren't talking to a teenager who was just there for the job.  They were there because they wanted to share their passion.

When I'm ready to buy, I'll be back.