July 30, 2008 by chad.

Bloggers tend to read other bloggers so I think the audience to this site is wide enough for me to discuss one bloggers dirty little secret. I do not aspire to fame, but one must bend a knee to this amazing disseminator of information known as a search engine. I am sure I am not the only person that does this, but…I google myself. Yes, I am a googler. I google everything, but often I find that I google things I talk about in this blog and track how fast it gets listed. The answer is… between 5 minutes and a half hour. That’s how long it takes to get the word out to the masses. Simply incredible.

This was ever more evident when I was at a St Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce Chamber Connections meeting and talking to  Ray Cook, the owner of Mi Famiglia Restaurant.  I mentioned that I had reviewed his restaurant for my blog. He already knew that I did. In fact, he astutely pointed out that I said I was going to post a review and never got it up there. (Sorry, Ray, it really is coming!) As a business owner it is in Ray’s best interest to find out what other people say about you and there is nothing more accessible than words on the screen. Its what businesses spend millions of dollars for. The downside is that more often than not what you see on the web is more b*tching than complimenting. It’s definitely easy to find out when you did something wrong and not so easy to find when you did something right.

Back to my self-professed google addiction. I normally google my name, my business, and subjects that I talk about just to see where they fall in listing. There are times that I find my posts about a restaurant actually fall higher than the actual restaurants site. I have found food sites that have linked back to my reviews and the occasional owner has printed our posts and shown them in their restaurant (Thanks Zizzorts!) or told me what they thought of what I said. (I have yet to get any nasty 4 letter words thrown at me.) From a business standpoint, I like to see where the name lands. From a personal standpoint it probably gives me a glimmer of satisfaction knowing that my life is well lived through my civic involvement. Anyway, try googling yourself or your business. Do it often. After all, Edgar Watson Howe put it best when he said, “What people say behind your back is your standing in the community.”

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July 17, 2008 by chad.

Ok, briefly..Kieran and I are going out to the Riverbats game tonight, but I had to post something about this. I am a fanboy of this web series called The Guild because I do partake in online games and just camping yourself is so much fun. One of the actors from that series in in a small mini-web musical series called Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog. There are ONLY 3 acts to this thing and the last time it can be viewed freely is this Sunday. After that it is pay only. It’s a creation of Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame and it stars Neil Patrick Harris. Part 2 just came out today and part 3 (The finally) is due to come out Saturday. Well worth your time people. I am going to download the episodes off of iTunes after the free time is over because this is funny…and strangely geeky. Yay for geekiness!

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July 17, 2008 by chad.

I am by nature a positive person. The glass is definitely half full and if I have my way it will be overflowing. Call it tenacity, call it bullheadedness, but it stems from the truly American belief that with hard work, a little smarts, and a dash of luck anything can be achieved.I think this stems from my upbringing and the quintessential moment of my car accident when I was 5. I point back to that moment as a landmark moment in my life. Whether I knew it then, I was at the precipice of life and death and life had not really been experienced much yet. It is the source of realizing that there was more of a mission for me in this world and that my life should be lived to fulfill that mission what ‘ere it be. I am still trying to figure that out.

There are times however when my positiveness is challenged. These are the times when the world seems against me. Its these times that I feel a little like a Spartan at Thermopylae fighting overwehlming odds. Well, maybe its not so dramatic or will lead to my death via a sharp pointy object, but sometimes it feels like that.

Rather than fret over a mound of things that you perceive as YOUR responsibility, it seems more prudent to take those challenges on in pieces you can handle. In the end you are alive and kicking regardless of what happens and the most valuable thing you can have in this world is life. Over the last few months I have been dealing with a number of challenges both professional and personally that have kicked my positive nature in the can. The thing you need to always realize in those situations is that you are never alone and there are people out there that can help you through.

On the great news front, Robin and I will be celebrating our 10th Anniversary July 31st. Its amazing that we have been together for so long. You know you have something special when there are so many people in the US who get divorced. She really is a great person and my best friend. We do not always see eye to eye, but if we did it would be a boring marriage to live in. Incidentally, for those of you who may be reading this, know us, and have not gotten invited to our celebration… feel free to come to out anniversary party this Saturday, July 19th @ 6:30pm.

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July 8, 2008 by chad.

RJ’s American Grill

4221 Clearwater Rd

St Cloud, MN 56301

You know the old adage about the most important thing when buying a building for home or business? It’s all about LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! Well, in spite of this fact RJ’s American Grill has squirreled itself behind a truck stop in an out of the way strip mall presumably to make you look for it like a buried pirate treasure. The ground is not marked with an “X”, but it definitely holds a wealth of dining experiences.

Food: 9

RJ’s is definitely Americana, but dances to the beat of their own tuba. Tuba you ask? Well, their spin on American dining fare is so unique, I felt it needed more emphasis and what has more POW than a tuba…but I digress. The menu, which is online, is filled with very original accents to the traditional slab of meat. Rarely do you see such things as kalamata olives or Gorgonzola cheese on a menu anywhere around here. Very few things are as quintessentially American as a burger and, to be honest, it is hard to find new things that peak taste buds. That is just what happened though.

I had the RJ’s Crispy Cheddar Burger with the sweet potato fries and was pleased. The cheddar was shredded and the tactile taste of slightly crunchy slow cooked cheddar was amazing. During my cooking escapades I determined that given the right amount of heat everything melts, but it takes skill to cook cheese without melting it into a indiscriminate blob. Kudos. Sweet potatoes, which are usually relegated to some traditional holiday meal and bathed in melted marshmallows, was definitely a different experience to eat but very tasty. I even had cause to eat them without any condiments what so ever.

Also, eaten was a Black and Blue Burger. The slight Cajun flavoring sat in good contrast to the applewood smoked bacon and blue cheese. This burger is immensely sloppy to eat, or maybe that was just me.

The kids options for meals had a couple different options. Buttered noodles for the finicky toddler and mini burgers for small eaters. The mini burgers fit nicely when children refuse to eat well outside of the home. The second burger can easily be boxed up and taken home.

For desert? Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches with 2 chocolate chip cookies as bookends to a generous portion of ice cream. You can tell they were not prepared on the fly as they were thoroughly frozen, but not everything  that is called homemade is made on the spot.

Prices are a little over average for dining out and the menu is laid out with round numbers rather than $8.95. I for one have seem more restaurants do this on menus and it seems to be more of a true pricing. Every time I see .99 cents on the end of a price I think of the old commercials for “Viking Chevrolet in downtown Fridley.”

Service: 9

I am tough on servers. Never do I show even a small sign of discontent, but the relationship between the server and the patron can, and often does, outshine the food. If people feel they are getting great service they may feel like eating mediocre food again just so they can get that warm fuzzy feeling. I don’t care how good the food is or how neat the digs are. If the service is lousy, so will be your experience.

Our server was OUTSTANDING! That is a word that seldom comes out in a review. She was attentive, interested in serving our needs, watched for the appropriate time to visit the table, and even swooped in like Superwoman with crayons and pictures to color for our squirmy children. That was definitely the big thing. Its standard for a restaurant to have crayons and a pre-packaged menu for kids to draw on. These pictures she brought us where from a website that had no advertising and no menu. Someone actually took the time to deliver a unique drawing experience to my children. I was amazed!

Food was timely and spaced out perfectly between appetizer, entree, and desert.

Atmosphere: 8

A lot of restaurants are moving toward decorative stonework. The problem with that is unless it is decorated enough, it can appear cold and uninviting. This restaurant blends an original stone design on a focal wall with warm lighting, and contemporary decorations to produce an upscale eatery. Dining is compartmentalized enough so that the perception of intimacy or privacy is maintained from almost every point in the dining rooms. There is a good sized meeting room in the back of the main dining area for meetings.

Overall: 9

If looking for Americana, this place should definitely be on your short list of places to try in the St Cloud area. The triumvirate of Food, Service, and Atmosphere play excellently here and so few restaurants can say they have all the pieces working in unison. The only concern I have is the location, but that can be overcome with effort on the owner’s part. The presentation is spot on!

Check out their website for more information

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July 7, 2008 by chad.

Ciatti’s Ristorante

2635 West Division St

St Cloud, MN 56301

Normally I don’t touch anything remotely connected to a chain restaurant because they have their place in society some place next to fast food but a little better. Ciatti’s is a chain in the upper midwest with 13 restaurants, but Ciatti’s Ristorante may be a franchise. (The only one of its kind according to staff from there.) That being the case I felt it was ok to skirt the grey area and jump in to one of my favorite food groups….pasta.

Ciatti’s was located downtown St Cloud for a long time, but, due to a small construction boom around the restaurant, they decided to build a new restaurant and relocate to the more traffic heavy and retail friendly Division Street. For Italian food diners there has always been a dirth of variety but Ciatti’s always stood as a reasonably priced beacon of opportunity for those seeking quality Italian. Remember, we are talking Central Minnesota Italian here. It’s probably a fair bit different than that experienced in bigger metropolitan areas.

Food: 6

For years my favorite item on the list was Spicy Chicken Penne which is a complimentary dichotomy of tastes between the Cajun of the chicken and the creamy pesto sauce with sweet sun dried tomatoes. In the interest of seeing this as a new review for a “NEW” restaurant, I skipped over my traditional choice for something new and interesting. I ordered the Chicken Saltimbocca. It was definitely a different experience for me to be sure.

The grilled chicken was blanketed in a thin layer of prosciutto(ham) and capers and a sauce consisting of sag, lemon, and white wine. It made for a less dynamic and more subdued taste with a lemony tartness that was persistent throughout. Served along with the chicken was a healthy portion of vegetables mainly consisting of peppers (red and green) and squash.

Robin(my wife) ordered a more traditional meal of Manicotti. If I was not trying to sample more diverse tastes that day, I would certainly have chosen that over what I had. It was slathered with an incredibly generous amount of mozzarella cheese. It was literally a cardiac attack on a place, but, man oh man, it was just what my taste buds needed to wake up after the Chicken Saltimbocca.

Prices are a little higher than they used to be. (About 20 to 30 percent by my reckoning) Can you blame them? They build a new restaurant with higher property value and the whole economic situation has food vendors over a barrel and forced to raise their pricing. It also helps them define their clientele a little better. “Fine” dining is a rare enough beast in the central part of the state.In both cases the plate presentation was very classy.

Service: 7

Service was timely and light on the chattiness. I like to talk to servers because you can get a great primer on what the restaurant has to offer from their service staff. There of course is a too little and too much information threshhold that some people have a hard time judging. Our server was not one for chatting so I was not provided great insight. The hosting staff was friendly. The best experience with the staff came from the gentleman who visited each table once. I assume this person was a manager. He was engaging and sounding like he honestly wanted to know our thoughts on the dining experience. I have a habit of seeing through the “I really don’t care what you think as long as you eat here” mentality. It was definitely refreshing.

Food again was timely. This is timely in the sense that you are not going to go there for dinner and treat it like a quick stop. The time it took from ordering the food to getting the finished product was good for a casual meal. The appetizer and entree were a little too close to one another, but they at least did not arrive at the same time.

Atmophere: 8

I always liked the look and feel of the old restaurant with its classically designed wall painting, columns and all. The new restaurant is clean both in newness and in form. In the modern era of restaurant architecture it has a large high ceiling in the central dining area, separated bar are, and a pergola covered patio with a stone privacy fence around it. Walking through the main dining area I am reminded of that medieval churches found in Europe. The patio was comfortable. I could imagine how much more secluded it would feel if they planted grape vine and let them run up the pergola like a trellis. It exudes a sense of fine dining.

Overall: 7

Definitely will eat there again. Why? Why not. I saw nothing in the experience that would make me think twice about eating there again. Wait, there is one…if I had my children in tow I would not dine there. That is definitely not a children’s place to eat. Leave them with a babysitter for goodness sake and take your spouse, significant other, or a good friend out for a high quality meal. It is just the right place for a relaxed good conversation and a glass of wine.

Check out their website. Its not much, but they do post their menu.

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