Stouts Pub at Snelling and Larpenteur opened as an English pub, serving bangers and mash, fish and chips, and Guinness beer on tap. Lately, with the cool wet weather, I’ve been feeling a need for comfort food. Mutton stew with thick warm bread. Maybe a shepherd’s pie.
But when I looked at their menu online today, it’s all trendy stuff, the kind you could get at Applebee’s or Chili’s. Spinach and artichoke dip. Cheeseburger with sharp cheddar and applewood bacon. Margherita pizza. Chipotle BLT. And all kinds of wraps and salads. Yuppie Paradise.
I don’t blame them, that’s where the money is. But what happens to us crusty curmudgeons? Where can I go to get my pre hibernation food?
Joe doakes
You got me. Most “comfort food” is well outside my diet these days.
But let’s hear it, hive mind. Comfort food sources in the Metro?
And sweet Mother of God, they tore down O’Gara’s. O’GARA’S!
It’s why I got the hell out of the cities and settled down in a place where you can still find tatter-tot hotdish served in every church basement.
Keegan still has Irish focused food.. Right across from Surdyks.
Also, if you’re doing keto, there’s a cauliflower tator tot available. Have made a few hot dishes with those. For cheat days mainly. Otherwise, soup is as close to comfort food I was able to find on me to.
Keto not Me to.
I know what you mean Greg, the local Methodist church does periodic Swiss Steak suppers they prepare with cuts from the local butcher, and the Amish Pancake breakfasts with homemade apple/blueberry pie draw big crowds as do the nearly weekly fish-frys at the VFW or American Legion.
Unfortunately you can’t just pop by for a bite, you have to watch your calendar and plan ahead for your moments of comfort. This week the Lutherans are doing a Chili and Apple Crisp feed on Friday followed by a roast beef dinner on Saturday.
MacArthur,
Some enterprising soul should start a website that lists all church basement, Legion and VFW fundraisers. Yeah, Facebook has its events calendar, and so do most local newspapers, but can you envision a pin-map of Minnesota titled, “Here is where to get tatter-tot hotdish today”.
BTW, for all you who grew up in Saint Paul, does anyone remember Booya?
My dad was a plumber and every year at the annual Plumber’s Picnic, we would have Booya. The park dept had big 30 gallon cauldrons and the ladies would show up the day before to begin the cooking.
Booya was a stone-soap of sorts, with everything imaginable tossed in: sausage, chicken, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and all kinds of secret ingredients.
Talk about comfort food….
Maybe not exactly what you’re asking for, but Tiffany Sports Lounge on Highland Parkway does a pretty good job of scratching my food itch. The bartender, Pat Daddy, is a long time O’Gara’s man. Sat/Sun brunch has bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys
The B-Dale Club is having Booya this Saturday, September 29th. Starts at 10:00 am, get there early, it generally runs out quickly.
The Penn Brewery in Pittsburgh screwed around with the food offerings a few years ago and became “trendy”. A quick glance shows that traditional German fare dominates once again, but that might just be a temporary Oktoberfest menu. It should be worth going once before they go yuppie on us again.
As a guy with ancestral roots that go deep, deep, into St. Paul’s white laborer class, I’ve never had booya. I’m sure it’s because I’m German / Irish and not Bohunk / Pole / Slavic.
A great comfort food for my family is either beef and turkey with egg noodles–real simple soup, just pepper/onion/salt to flavor it, but if you make the noodles yourself….
And I’m still trying to figure out how “bottomless” drinks would work. Seems that physics would impose a difficulty there. :^)