The 5-8 Club - Bloomington, MN

After my visit to Matt's Bar in Minneapolis to have a "Jucy Lucy", I was watching "Man vs. Food" with Adam Richmond on The Travel Channel.  This one particular episode he was in Minneapolis and did a segment on Matt's Bar and their chief rival in town for a cheese-stuffed burger - the 5-8 Club.  Richmond wouldn't say who had the better version of the "Juicy Lucy" (as the 5-8 Club correctly spells it), so I thought I'd have to try a 5-8 burger for myself.

The history of the 5-8 Club starts back in the 1920's during the height of Prohibition.  The original stucco house that was literally out in the country just south of Minneapolis was used as a "speakeasy" for patrons to enjoy illegal beer and whiskey and to get a small bite to eat.  After Prohibition was ended, the 5-8 Club continued to sell a variety of beers along with their famous hamburgers.  With Minneapolis expanding to the south, and the construction of Wold-Chamberlain Field as the main airport for the city, the 5-8 Club became a favorite place for generations of families who have come for their "Juicy Lucy's" for over 80 years.  In subsequent years, the 5-8 Club opened satellite restaurants in suburban Maplewood and Champlin.  But I wanted to go to the original place.

The 5-8 Club gets their name from the street they're on - 58th St.  Actually, they're at what was once the corner of Cedar Ave. and 58th St.  But Cedar Ave. became a freeway in the 1960's, carrying people out to the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington to see the Twins play baseball.  Getting to the 5-8 Club is sort of tricky these days, especially if you're coming from any direction other than the north.  Even then, if you miss the turn off of Cedar, you find yourself passing the Mall of America before you figure out you've gone too far.  If you're not familiar with the area - and you don't have a GPS - it's best to take a look at this map to get to the 5-8 Club.

Wold-Chamberlain Field is now known as the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the 5-8 Club is right under the approach for Runway 12R.  There's tons of flights passing low over the place, but the sound is negligible so it's not all that bad.  I was in there around 1:30 one afternoon during a recent trip to the Twin Cities.  The place was nearly full from the late lunch crowd, so I found a table in the small bar area - the original "speakeasy" area of the 5-8 Club from back in the 20's and early 30's. 

The menus were on the table and there were only a couple waitresses running about trying to keep up with everyone.  I noticed on the table next to me a couple guys grazing on a large basket of some good looking onion rings.  I wouldn't mind trying some of those, I thought. 

My waitress came around and I ordered up their version of the Juicy Lucy.  She asked me if I wanted the basket with fries or onion rings.  I looked over at the big basket of onion rings and I said, "Sure, I'll take the onion rings like those." 

The burger took exceptionally long - almost 20 minutes.  The waitress brought out my burger and a large basket of onion rings.  I said, "Wait a minute - I thought I was getting the burger and rings basket." 

She said, "Oh, well, you pointed at the basket of onion straws.  That's what I thought you wanted." 

I said, "Well, there's no way I can finish all of these - even if I were two people.  I thought when you said 'basket', it was the burger with a side of fries or onion rings. 

She said, "Well, yes.  That's true.  But these are onion straws, not onion rings." 

She pointed at a table of three guys near where I was sitting and she said, "He has the onion rings basket."   It was a burger basket with the traditional round onion rings.  She asked if still wanted the onion straws and I said that I ordered 'em, I'd eat 'em.  At least some of them. 

But I was more interested in the burger.  It looked a little more plump than the "Jucy Lucy" at Matt's Bar, but the cheese had literally cooked out of the burger.  I soon figured out that one of the problems with making a "Juicy Lucy" - you have to cook the burgers to well done in order to cook them through to the cheese.  Well, I don't think you have to cook them *that* well done - but this one was WAY over-cooked

The onion straws were OK - also a little over-cooked and very, very salty.  I made a dent in them before they started to upset my stomach from the combination of grease and salt.  In fact, my stomach was upset the rest of the afternoon.  I had to stop at a drug store to pick up some stomach tablets later in the day.  They helped, somewhat. 

 

 

While I wasn't impressed with Matt's Bar during my visit there last fall, I was very unimpressed with the 5-8 Club during my recent visit.  I would say that Matt's Bar had a better "Jucy Lucy" than the "Juicy Lucy" at the 5-8 Club.  OK, I'm on a mission - I'm going to find the best stuffed cheeseburger in the Twin Cities.  And now that the area has become a much more important area for me, I'll be up there more often than I have in the past. 

Comments

[J.J. Hawley]

Matt's and 5-8 are way overrated. Runyan's and Blue Door Pub are the best in town.

[Bloomington Used Cars]

Never tried onion straws before; they look pretty food from the picture. I will have to try that next time I drive by.

[Matt Casey]

5-8 Club is either hit or miss. Sounds like you got a miss on your visit. I like them better than Matt's.