Road Tips

Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse - Waite Park, MN

Over the years, I've found that sushi in the Midwest, especially in smaller cities, is usually a hit or miss kind of thing.  That's why when I agreed to meet with the co-owners who run an audio/video dealership we sell to in St. Cloud, MN over sushi last year, I was a little less than eager to meet up with them at the place - Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse.  However, the sushi was surprisingly excellent, as was the hibachi steak that we had, as well.  When I was in the St. Cloud area earlier this summer, I set up another lunch appointment at Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse.   This time, I was actually looking forward to the meal.  

In May of 2010 when a lot of restaurants were closing up due to the downturn in the economy, Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse opened their doors on the corner of S. 2nd St. and S. 2nd Ave. in Waite Park, a small connected suburb to St. Cloud's Southwest side (see map).  Pat Rogosheske is the managing partner in the place.  Rogosheske was born and raised in Japan and had about 25 years of restaurant experience before opening the doors to Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse.  The restaurant has thrived on the strength of great food at a good price.  Rogosheske does a lot of promoting of the restaurant through in-house specials and discounts.  

The entry way of the restaurant features a cozy waiting area and hostess stand.  The bar is off to the left as you walk down the hall to the main dining room.  There's a sushi bar opposite the regular bar with a number of booths in a lounge nearby.

The main dining room features six hibachi stations where the chefs give diners a "Benihana"-type experiece, complete with all the hibachi chef's food tricks.  As I said, we had both sushi and hibachi last year and it was very, very good.  On this visit, we opted to sit at the sushi bar, conduct some business and have some lunch.

We took a look through the menu, but one of the guys told me they had some killer lunch specials.  As I said, one of Pat Rogosheske's marketing plans is offer discounts and specials - especially during lunch.  One of the daily lunch specials that is your choice of two sushi rolls with a cup of the miso soup for $9.95.  Now, that's a killer deal.  I remembered their spicy tuna rolls were very good from the year before, so I ordered two of those with the miso soup.  One of the guys from my dealer ordered a couple rolls on his own with the soup while the other guy ordered a the sushi roll and five pieces of sushi special.  The time to make the rolls and sushi gave us ample time to go over programs, numbers and get caught up with what was what.

The sushi/sushi roll was the first thing to come out.  The presentation was very nice with the roll in the middle with the five pieces of sushi spoked out from the center.  Remarkably, the sushi is as fresh as fresh can be for a sushi place in St. Cloud, MN.  It doesn't have a fishy taste to it - something I've run into in much larger cities.  

After finishing the miso soup, our sushi rolls came out.  The spicy tuna rolls were, once again, outstanding.  They had a nice texture to the bite and a nice little spicy zip to the taste.  I was overly happy with the rolls, but I was thinking I wanted to try something else.

The other guy who got the same special as me also thought he needed a couple pieces of sushi, so we ordered up about 8 more pieces that we shared between the two of us.  The smoked salmon was delicious, as was the maguro tuna.  I remarked, "This is so unbelievable that you guys can have this good of sushi in St. Cloud.  I'd put this place up against sushi places in much larger cities."  

One of the guys said, "Oh, yeah.  We've had sushi in a lot of places and we think this place is one of the best we've ever had.  I'll tell you, it blows away most of the sushi places in the Twin Cities."  

Thanks to these guys, I've had some pretty good and memorable meals in St. Cloud over the past few years, but it's tough to beat Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse for great sushi.   The lunch specials are a bargain, but the sushi can be a little high priced.  But, still, to get sushi that good in a small market is worth the extra price.  After two visits to Fuji Sushi and Steakhouse, I can't say enough good things about the sushi at the place.  It's truly remarkable and - surprisingly - very good.  

5th Ave. Grille - St. Cloud, MN

So, I told you about House of Pizza in St. Cloud, MN on Monday, so I could set up this entry for today. 

I'd been promising my dealer in St. Cloud, MN, Audio Video Extremes, that I'd come up to take them out for a nice dinner for quite almost two years.   The co-owners, Rich and Jay, suggested I take them back out to dinner at House of Pizza.  While the return trip to House of Pizza was tempting, especially with a chance to get one of their Italian Conglomerate sandwiches, I wanted to do something upscale.  In the Minnesota northwoods, there are a number of little supper clubs that offer great food.  I asked the guys if there was anything like that in the area.  Rich, who lives about 15 miles outside of St. Cloud, said, "No, there really isn't anything like that around here any more.  There used to be a few of them around that were a 15 to 20 minute drive from town, but they've all gone away."

The problem now was, where is there an upscale restaurant to go to in St. Cloud?  Jay said, "If I'm looking for a good meal, I'll drive into the Twin Cities."  He did suggest one place, 5th Avenue Grille, located in the Radisson Hotel in downtown St. Cloud.  I said it was a date and we'd meet there that evening.  

5th Avenue Grill is billed as an urban contemporary restaurant.  While the setting is elegant and looks very similar to an upscale steak house in a larger market, they have a relaxed atmosphere.   It's the main restaurant for the Radisson, so there is a fair amount of out-of-town travelers that use the bar and restaurant.  

I found the Radisson in downtown St. Cloud and was able to park in the ramp next to the hotel (see map). I was a little late in getting in from Minneapolis, so I found Rich and Jay seated at the bar with one of their installers.  I grabbed a seat next to them and enjoyed a couple drinks and a couple appetizers before we were seated for dinner.  It gave us some time to talk some business and to go over details of a few things that we had going.  

Their installer couldn't stick around for dinner, so it was just the three of us when we grabbed a table.   The waitress was a friend of theirs - small town acquaintances, no doubt.  Jay introduced me to her and he said, "This guy has eaten in some of the best restaurants around.  You can't let him be disappointed in this place."  She said she'd try her best.

We were given menus and I looked through the wine list to see what they had to offer.  Actually, it was a pretty small list, but they did have a few reasonably priced bottles of wine.  One that sort of jumped out at me was the Provenance Vineyards Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon.  I'd seen that same bottle of wine for well over $100 bucks a bottle at other restaurants.  The 5th Avenue Grille had it for $70 bucks.  I ordered a bottle of that. 

Since we'd had appetizers at the bar, we were ready to jump into dinner.  Even though they offered items such as fresh seafood, pasta, and even ribs, Rich said that the steaks at 5th Avenue Grille were very good, quite possibly the best in the city.  So, that's what I went with.  I got the 8 oz. tenderloin filet, rare plus.  The waitress knew exactly what I was talking about.  "Not quite rare, but not medium rare. Right," she asked. 

They also gave me a choice of homemade sauces.  I thought it would be kind of nice to try their brandy peppercorn sauce.  But they also had a roasted garlic sauce that sounded good, as well.  I asked if I could get both on the side and our waitress said, "Absolutely!"  I also ordered a side of the restaurant's au gratin bacon, cheddar cheese and herb potatoes.  I knew I wouldn't have much of them, but a couple bites would give me an idea as to how good they were.  

Rich ordered a ribeye, medium rare.  Jay also ordered the 8 oz. tenderloin filet, medium rare.  Our wine was poured and it was very good.  I was having a nice relaxing evening with two good guys whose business with me is growing.

Our steaks and sides were brought to the table in about 20 minutes.  My steak was a very large 8 oz. cut and it was cooked perfectly - still red rare in the middle, but warmer than rare.  Jay was also happy with the way his steak was cooked.  The tenderloin filet was juicy and tender.  And his cut, too, was pretty good sized.  Definitely bigger than the 8 oz. advertised on the menu. 

Rich's steak, on the other hand, was way overcooked.  He cut into it and it was pretty tough.  He looked at how it was cooked and you could easily tell it was nowhere close to medium-rare.  He had a couple bites and he said, "Oh, man, this is WAY overdone." 

I said, "Let's get you another steak."

He said, "No, no.  That's OK."

I said, "Look, we're spending some money in this place tonight.  Let's make it right."  I motioned for the waitress to come over.  She slid over to our table and said, "What can I get you?"

I pointed at Rich's steak and said, "He needs a new steak."

Rich said, "Yeah, this is a little overdone."

She looked at it and said, "Oh, my gosh!  I'll say it's overdone!"  She took the plate and ran back to the kitchen.  Jay took a phone call from a client who was having problems with controlling a system, so I shut down my eating while waiting for things to get back to normal. 

After a little over 10 minutes, the waitress came back out with Rich's steak.  He cut into it and declared it to be "much better."  A little while later, the manager came over to ask if Rich's steak was better.  He said it was and she apologized for the screw up.  "I think what he did was cook it along with the filets.  It took a little longer for the filets to cook because they're so much more thick.  I think he just spaced off and threw all three on the grill at the same time.  I certainly apologize for the problem."

Rich said, "It was no problem after I got this steak." 

By the way, the bacon cheddar au gratin potatoes were pretty damn good.  They were flavorful and cheesy with the great taste of caramelized cheese on top.  And the brandy peppercorn sauce was very good, but I was disappointed in the roasted garlic sauce.  It was sort of bland.  I expected more of a garlic "zip" to the taste. 

Overall, the experience at 5th Avenue Grille was above average.  My steak was very good, I enjoyed the au gratin potatoes - the two or three bites I had of them.  And our service was very good.  The waitress, being friends with the guys, had a good sense of humor and was a good sport in some of the guff they were giving her.  The atmosphere at 5th Avenue Grille was relaxed, but the decor was very classy.  All in all, it was a pleasant dining experience.  But if this is the best of what St. Cloud has to offer, I can see where it's worth the hour or so drive into the Twin Cities to get a good meal.

House of Pizza - St. Cloud, MN

In cleaning up a few things on the Road Tips blog recently, I came across this half-written entry from 2007 that I completely forgot I had.  Sometimes I'll start on an entry, but get to working on something else and then forget about the one that I'd started.  And I'm rather embarrassed to come across more than 2 years after visiting this place because the House of Pizza in downtown St. Cloud, MN had an excellent pizza.

The co-owners of Audio Video Extremes in St. Cloud, Rich and Jay, had been raving to me about the House of Pizza ever since I first began to call on them in 2005.  They both had literally grown up on the food from House of Pizza since it had been established in 1964.   They described the pizza as thin crust, plentiful toppings - including the big chunks of Italian sausage that I crave on a pizza - and great to drink beer with.  That's one of the hallmarks of a great pizza for me - does it taste good with an ice cold beer.  I promised that I'd take them out to House of Pizza on a visit.

The House of Pizza, as I said, has been around for 45 years serving beginning as a small pizza and soda shop in downtown St. Cloud.  Over the years, it evolved into one of the more popular pizza places in the state of Minnesota.  Thousands of graduates from St. Cloud State have come back for a taste of House of Pizza, like many former Luther graduates do for Mabe's Pizza in Decorah.  For the last few years, House of Pizza has been run by Brandon Testa, a local man who also owns the Pacific Wok restaurants in the area.  Testa recently opened a second House of Pizza location in nearby Sartell, MN.

I met Rich and Jay at House of Pizza one evening as I was driving back from a day trip to Fargo.  I was able to find parking in a lot not far away from the restaurant (see map).  The interior of the place was clean, but it looked like it hadn't been updated much since the 70's.  The booths were heavy vinyl, the tables and chairs were big and comfortable and it was well lit in the place.  It had been a long day and I was ready for a beer, so we immediately ordered up a pitcher of beer to drink while we looked over the menu.

In addition to pizza, the House of Pizza also offers appetizers, pasta, and hoagies.  I was really intrigued by their Italian Conglomerate hoagie.  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I have an hankering for the old Pizza Hut hoagies.  That would be the only reason I'd ever go into a Pizza Hut these days, but they did away with their hoagie years ago.  I've been on a quest for one ever since.   House of Pizza's Italian Conglomerate features grilled Canadian bacon, salami, pepperoni, sautéed mushrooms, onions, green peppers and black olives and then topped melted mozzarella and American cheese.  It's actually a little more involved with the toppings than what a Pizza Hut hoagie offered, but it definitely caught my eye. 

But we were there for pizza that evening.  Jay said, "The crust is thin, but they pile on the toppings.  It's expensive, but you get a lot of pizza for your money."  In addition to the traditional toppings, House of Pizza also offers a number of "gourmet" toppings such as sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and feta cheese.  The signature pizza at House of Pizza is their House Deluxe - sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and onions.  Green peppers and onions on a pizza doesn't usually agree with my digestive system, but I do like the taste of them.  We ended up ordering a 12" House Deluxe, then got a 12" sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - my old staple.  More beer was needed, so another pitcher was order, as well. 

Jay and Rich told me stories of coming to House of Pizza while they were growing up.  Both had first dates with girls at the place, both had gotten late night pizzas there after drinking at bars in the area over the years, and they both claimed they had never found a better pizza than the House of Pizza. 

Now, I live in the Quad Cities where the locals claim that Harris Pizza is the best they've ever had.  Harris Pizza - or the Quad City Style of pizza, as I call it, is weak.  Harris Pizza spawned a number of similar styles of pizza with a thicker crust and ground sausage rather than the large sausage chunks that "real" pizza has.  So, I get a little leery of locals saying that "their pizza" is the best they've ever had.   

Our pizzas came out and from the first bite, I was hooked.  Oh, my God, was it delicious!  And Jay was right - they load the toppings on the pizza at House of Pizza.  And it tasted great with a cold beer.  I tried a couple of the party cut pieces of the House Deluxe and the peppers and onions didn't overpower the taste of the other toppings like they can on other pizzas.  That's probably because there were so many large chunks of sausage, along with tons of slices of pepperoni and fresh mushrooms.  And the cheese was thick.  And the grease pooled in the center of the pizza.  No wonder it was so popular with the college students who had a good drunk on.  Oh, man - I've just found another great pizza.

As we were eating, I just kept saying, "Oh, my God!", or "Jeez, this is great!"  Rich stopped for a second, looked at me and said, "Did you think we were lying?"   I'll never doubt their word again. 

 House of Pizza was out of this world.  That's all I can say.  There are no words to describe the feeling I had while I was eating the pizza.  I've had some very good pizzas in my travels and I'd put House of Pizza up against the best.  It was a great find.  But I will go back for an Italian Conglomerate hoagie at some point.  But it may be tough to pass up another House of Pizza pie on my next visit. 

Westside Liquor - Waite Park, MN

On my recent trip thru Minnesota, my dealer in St. Cloud was telling me about a wine place in called Westside Liquor.  Knowing my love for wine, good beer and great Scotch, he told me I had to check the place out. 

Bob Feuling gave up the life of being a dairy farmer and selling dairy equipment in the late 70's. With his wife, Linda, they bought a small bar called the West Side Bar in Little Falls, MN that included an inventory of off-sale liquor products.  Bob noticed that people didn't like to come into the bar to buy liquor, so he opened an adjacent liquor store in the early 80's and he called it Westside Liquor. 

Bob moved to a larger location in Little Falls in the mid 80's and then bought a spot in the St. Cloud suburb of Waite Park in 1991 and opened a second store there.  Today, that location is the headquarters for the now 8 Westside Liquor locations across north central Minnesota. 

I went to the one in Waite Park on the advice of my dealer (see map).  It's the largest of the Westside Liquor stores (20,000 sq. ft.) and promised to have a large selection of wines and beers to choose from. 

By the way, each Westside Liquor store features special lighting and cool temperatures to help keep the wine and liquors lasting longer on the shelves.  Some of the workers were walking around in light-weight jackets in the store. 

And the selection at Westside Liquors was impressive.  There was a large area of wines from all over the world.  And the prices were very good, as well.  I picked up a bottle of the Ferrari-Carano 2003 Cabernet for just over $30 bucks.  It's around $36 to $39 dollars back in the Quad Cities. 

The beer area had a number of the typical domestics, but also had a large number beers from upper Midwest small breweries such as Summit, Capital, Schell and Lake Superior.  Actually, I have a lot of beer in my garage that I have to drink up, so I didn't see anything that I absolutely needed. 

But, true to what my dealer told me, Westside has a large selection of premium Scotch whiskys (he's a BIG Scotch aficionado with over 25 bottles of premium Scotch in his bar at home).  Once again, I found myself drooling over some of the 18 and 25 year varieties, but couldn't bring myself to buying anything more at this time. 

The prices were good, the selection was impressive, the presentation was excellent.  Westside Liquors was one of the best overall wine and liquor stores I've ever been in in the Midwest.  And seeing that my dealer in St. Cloud continues to grow his business, I'm sure to be back there.  But only when the weather's warm.    

Granite City Food and Brewery

Granite City Food and Brewery is a chain of about a dozen restaurants/brew pubs in the upper Midwest.  By now, you know that I usually try and stay away from chains like the plague.  But Granite City is still small enough that each restaurant has a little bit of local character to it. 

Granite City started in St. Cloud, MN in 1999 by Steve Wagenheim and brew master Bill Burdick.  Both had been involved in the restaurant business for a number of years prior to opening their first Granite City restaurant.  They just opened their 12th Granite City this month next to the Kansas Speedway in Northwest Kansas City.

Now, most brew pubs - I've found - are brew pubs first and the food is somewhat of an afterthought.  That's not the case with Granite City.  The food is really what brings the people in, the beer is so-so to OK.

Their beers are a little too sweet for my taste.  The Northern Light Lager has a smooth taste, but the aftertaste reminds me of a sweet beer along the lines of Falstaff.  Their Duke of Wellington Pale Ale is also a little too sweet for me.  It doesn't have that good pale ale bite that I like when I finish a swallow.

But as I said, the food is what brings the people in. 

They had just announced they were going to open a Granite City in Davenport sometime in 2003.  I happened to be up in Sioux Falls, SD one evening and just down the street from my hotel was a Granite City.  Turns out it was the second Granite City restaurant in the chain.

Granite City - Sioux Falls

As I found with all the Granite City's I've been to (4 so far), the Sioux Falls Granite City was spacious and well-appointed on the inside and the building looked attractive on the outside.  The one in Sioux Falls has a nice outside patio that overlooks a little pond with a fountain.  Nice touch.

I ordered the meat loaf for my first meal.  When they brought me my meal, I couldn't believe the size of the portions.  In fact, it was too much.  But that's been the trademark - and one of my largest complaints - of Granite City's food service.  There's just too much food. 

I do like their Honey Rosemary Filet Mignon, a filet marinated in honey, garlic and rosemary, then broiled.  Their meat loaf is an old stand-by for me - they grill the cooked meat loaf giving it a nice little flavor that you don't expect out of a meat loaf. 

Granite City's blue cheese peppercorn burger is pretty good.  And their Chicken Florentine lasagna is a good get, too.  They also have pretty good garlic mashed potatoes that you can get when you get a steak. 

And ask for the onion straws instead of french fries if you get a sandwich.  They usually use the onion straws - which are thin onion rings - as a garnish on burgers and other sandwiches.  They're much better than the fries.  And don't let them tell you they can't substitute the onion straws - they can.  I still don't understand why they don't have them available on the menu. 

In addition to the one in Sioux Falls, I've been to the one in Lincoln, NE, Cedar Rapids, IA, and, of course, the one in Davenport.  I've never had a bad meal, the service is always good, the beer is, well, it's OK.  Drinkable, but nothing outstanding.  And the one in Davenport is so popular of an eating destination that the wait can be upwards of 45 minutes to an hour on a Friday or Saturday night.

It's probably a good thing that Granite City says "Food and Brewery" rather than "Brewery and Food".  As I said, it's the food, not the beer, that makes Granite City good.