This weekend The Spouse and I decided to use 2 of our online coupons (LivingSocial and CrowdCut - therefore not Groupon so I cannot call them that) for two restaurants we rarely go to: Jax Cafe and Boca Chica. It was a great use of our Friday and Saturday night. Friday night was Jax and Saturday was Boca Chica.
I love the online coupon deals. I usually buy them months before I actually use them. So when I do get around to using them it feels like I have just received a gift card for each restaurant. I think I bought the Jax's coupon back in April and Boca Chica I think I bought a month or so ago. Seeing how I cannot remember, that must mean I bought it more than two weeks ago.
Jax Cafe is an old-time steak restaurant in NE Minneapolis. Some of the best steaks in the area. The steaks are always cooked perfectly and served with a baked potato. What I love about this restaurant is the waitresses understand the meaning of taking your time eating. The waitress first came over and asked us what our drink and appetizer order was. Once we placed that, we took our time enjoying our drinks (wine for me, old fashioned for TS). A little while later, basically right before the appetizer came, the waitress came back and asked for our dinner order. We both got the filet mignon with a side of asparagus. Our appetizer came out (their famous crab rolls) and it was yummy, crab, cheesy goodness. It was delightful. We finished that and then waited, what I felt was the perfect amount of time to savor the appetizer but then get a bit hungry for dinner. Right at that perfect point, our steaks came out - perfectly medium-rare. The asparagus was served with a side of hollandaise sauce. Mmm. We ate our meals and then came the dessert tray. All the desserts looked fantastic, but we were so stuffed from the crab rolls and the steak we decided against dessert. It was a lovely relaxing dinner for a Friday night. I love date night with TS.
Saturday night we ventured through the snow (yes the first accumulating snow of the year) to South St. Paul. We were headed that way to take Ish out to dinner. Since he is in St. Paul we normally stay on the east side. He LOVES (and so do we) Mexican food. Boca Chica is probably one of the better Mexican restaurants in the area. I was smart this time (or thought I would be) and made a reservation for us. Normally, when we go to Boca Chica on a Saturday night we wait an hour for a table. We got to the restaurant and the parking lot was virtually empty; so, no need for a reservation. I know, had I not made the reservation, we would have wished we had one. Anyway, I had the tilapia with mango salsa, TS had enchilladas and Ish had shrimp diablo. Ish really likes spicy food, but the shrimp diablo was so spicy he was crying. He said he loved this food because it warmed him up on a cold day. My tilapia was very enjoyable and I will probably order it again. Needless to say, it was the perfect food for a cold, snowy night.
Overall, a weekend of good dinners. While TS and I went out to dinner both nights, I decided to make breakfast on Saturday. Here is where it gets interesting. If you don't know, I collect old cookbooks. I don't mean my mom's cookbooks, but more along the lines from my grandmother and earlier. I have my grandmother's Settlement Cookbook. It was given to her as a wedding shower gift. It contains just about any recipe you may want, including pancakes. Yes, I made pancakes from a recipe book that is almost 80 years old. See, I have given up buying pancake mix because I am determined to learn how to make the worlds best pancakes from scratch. The pancakes I made this weekend were good, but a little to dense for me. I like my pancakes light and fluffy. Since, the recipe was not up to my standards for great pancakes, I am not going to post it. But one thing I am going to try soon are the Bohemian pancakes. TS's grandfather is of Bohemian descent and I would love to treat him to what the Settlement Cookbook says are "Bohemian" pancakes.
I love cooking! And here is to good cooking!
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