Krik's Picks

A few weeks ago, a friend at work, who’s not originally from Minnesota , asked me for a recommendation of a good fish and seafood restaurant. The first two that came to mind were Oceanaire and Blue Point . They are very different. Oceanaire has become a high-end, expense account restaurant. Blue Point is an exclusive locale in a western suburb. Almost as an after thought, I suddenly remembered another – Three Fish in south Minneapolis . “I’ve only been there once,” I said. “But it was really good.” Not too long later, my wife and I were making plans to go out with another couple. Where should we go? “Three Fish,” the other couple suggested. Wow. Was I glad they did. Three Fish is a gem of a place. It’s located at the south end of Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis . It’s this unpretentious restaurant that serves consistently good fish and seafood. Somewhere, once, I heard an explanation for the name. Three fish = seafood, ocean fish, and freshwater fish. I don’t know if that’s accurate. B...

I travel a fair amount for work. I travel enough that occasionally, I qualify for an upgrade to First Class. However, my most common destination is Washington, DC . There are so many ‘elite’ travelers to DC that you have to be platinum or at least gold to get an upgrade. My measly ‘silver elite’ status usually doesn’t cut it. The last couple of times I got an upgrade were for personal, vacation travel. I let my wife have the first class seat. (I may be dense, but I’m not stupid.) But on my trip to DC this week, I got an upgrade. It must have been a combination of time of day (mid-day) and the fact that I was flying to Dulles instead of Washington National . It’s been a long time since I’ve been served a meal on an airplane. I just can’t imagine being hungry enough to buy those snack boxes they sell for an outrageous price on airplanes these days. But they were serving a lunch in first class on the flight to Dulles. I was curious to see what a first class lunch consisted of th...

( Guest post from Patty Miller) Before Arby’s, before KFC, before the Golden Arches, there was the Convention Grill. Tucked into what was once the “downtown” for the village of Morningside , the Convention Grill has been drawing customers with its no-frills, top-notch “fast food” since 1934. While many a retro café has tried to duplicate the look, the sleek, stainless-steel-and-neon exterior of the Grill is the real thing. And so is the interior. Step into the front dining area and you’ve stepped back in time. Dark-brown wooden booths line the walls, which are painted a rather sickly shade of golden yellow – or maybe it’s the greenish glare from the fluorescent lights that makes them that color. Brown-and-gold patterned linoleum is underfoot, and against one wall, there’s a jukebox loaded with pop favorites of the past 70 years, so you never know what’s going to be playing. Tonight, it’s Iron Butterfly’s Inna Gadda Davida. Red vinyl-covered swivel stools fac...

I don’t eat at fast food restaurants very often, probably no more than five times a year. I usually find that it’s almost as easy and almost as quick to stop in at a café or casual restaurant and sit down to a quick meal as it is to swing through a fast food place. On the rare occasion when I do eat at a fast food place, it’s almost always when I’m traveling – like on a short layover at an airport. When I do eat fast food, I have to admit, my decision where to eat and what to eat usually is driven by some kind of ad or promotion. Examples: I ate at a Quiznos at the Denver airport because I wanted to see if a toasted sub really was better. I thought it was. It’s been a really long time since I’ve eaten a fast food burger, maybe two or three years. The last time I remember eating one, Burger King had a promotion for three slices of natural cheese on the burger – cheddar, Swiss, and provolone. I always support serving natural cheese instead of processed cheese. But in t...

If you’re driving by Clear Lake around lunch time, skip the fast food joints at the I-35 intersections. Drive into town; it’ll only take you an extra five minutes. You’ll find a local café or a deli where you can get a sandwich and a cup of soup and a slice of homemade pie. I grew up in southern Minnesota , about 40 miles from Clear Lake . When my mom and dad were young, they used to go to dances at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake . Buddy Holly , Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” died when their plane crashed while trying to take off in a snow storm after playing a show at the Surf. That was early in the morning of February 3, 1959. I was 7 years old.