Grand Marias, MN: Dinner at Gunflint Tavern

For our one and only dinner in town, we decided to take in some local flavor. We had originally planned to go to The Crooked Spoon, whose eclectic menu choices were a surprise for this small town, but unfortunately they were packed! We were too hungry to wait so we wandered down the street and strolled into the Gunflint Tavern. This wasn't your typical tavern food!
While they offered your usual burgers and sandwiches, they also presented some gourmet items like pesto mussels, brie en croute and barbacoa pork flautas. Despite the obvious flare on the menu, this place was au-natural and as down-home as taverns come.

We sat at a communal wood table for dinner. The dining room was no frills - dark wood, assorted chairs and simple table settings. The bar was aglow with neon beer label signs and dimly lit hanging tin lights.

To top off our experience, there was live music at the tavern. Two fiddlers, dressed in the proverbial jeans and flannel, sang bluegrass and folk songs. They even had one member who played a whole back beat for a song on his thighs! It was almost hard to watch his thighs get redder and redder throughout the whole performance.

We ordered a round of drinks and two of us, myself included, made a cardinal no-no when ordering drinks at a bar. Never order a specialty fru-fru mixed drink.

I got the Roja Margarita and one of my friends ordered the Mojito. Both tasted like watered down juice. Oh well - live and learn. Or well, let's hope I've learned this lesson by now. We moved on to beers and two of us split a bottle of wine. Hey, it's vacation!

For dinner, we ordered up the brie en croute for an appetizer. A small wheel of brie hides inside a ramenkin topped with phyllo dough. The plate is decorated with assorted nuts, some preserves (raspberry I think) and apple slices. It was a good start to take the edge off our hunger.

My friends ordered the pesto mussels with toasted ciabatta, the chicken gyro and the fried tilapia sandwich. I opted for the jalapeno bacon burger. The mussels came in a generous portion and swimming in a green pesto broth.

The chicken gyro was pretty standard. Chicken chunks in a soft pita with cucumber, tomato, onions and a sour cream sauce. They served the sandwiches with a choice of potato chips or tortilla chips drizzled with southwestern sauce.

The fried tilapia was cooked well - crispy yet juicy - and a nice sized piece for the sandwich.

The jalapeno bacon burger was very good. They must marinate the bacon in jalapeno juice because the bacon is what imparted that hot and vinegary jalapeno flavor. This burger was spicy, so probably not the best thing to eat at 9:30 at night, but hey, it's vacation!! And I did enjoy it. I did suffer for it all night long and into the morning however. Oh well.

Overall, a great experience taking in the local nightlife and food in Grand Marais. Next time I visit Lake Superior though, which hopefully happens, I'll try out The Crooked Spoon.

The Pie Place on Lake Superior

After a long, invigorating hike along the Kadunce River, we all figured we earned ourselves a nice, hearty lunch. The Pie Place fit the bill.

Modest, homemade food and a delicious assortment of fresh baked pies for dessert. From fruit pies - cherry, berry, apple, peach and rhubarb to cream pies filled with banana, coconut, rum raisin and lemon meringue. And even that southern favorite maple pecan pie found it's way onto their menu. But we had to eat some real food before we could pick out our pie.

For me I ordered the Mexican corn soup and the Landslide Special - which consisted of a small salad and a tomato and goat cheese quiche with fresh basil. The soup was spicy and chock full of juicy, sweet corn kernels. A great way to warm up after hiking on that damp morning.

The quiche was light and fluffy with just the right amount of tomato and goat cheese. It also gave me a sneak peek at the flaky, buttery pie crust that is used for the dessert pies as well as the savory pie.

Then came the fun part. We each ordered a different type of pie and then went round with all our forks. And we had to order everything a la mode because you need vanilla ice cream with warm fruit pie.

I ordered the cherry praline pie - bright red cherries sat underneath a crunchy sweet praline crumb topping. I finished every bite.

The dutch apple crumb pie was just like grandmom used to make. Sweet apples, lots of crumbly topping and a nice scoop of ice cream melting down on top.

The mixed berry pie sported blueberries, blackberries and raspberries if I remember correctly. It actually ended up being my favorite because it was sweet and tart - a great combination. The three berries blended nicely and left you with a party of flavors.

Finally, my friend Kathie ordered the Maple Pecan Pie. She had been thinking about it all morning long on the hike. Then when we got to the Pie Place, it was the first question she asked our server, who told her that unfortunately they didn't have the maple pecan pie ready for lunch that day. She was crushed! Then he returned saying they had just taken it out of the oven so perhaps they would be ready for serving once lunch was finished. Fortunately for Kathie, the pie had cooled enough for them to serve her a much anticipated piece.

It was quite sweet and buttery, but had a nice layer of crunchy pecans. I'm not a huge pecan pie fan, but as far as pecan pies go it was pretty good. And Kathie was very happy she got the pie she hiked so long for.
Here's a pic of Kathie with her piece - look at that grin:

Trip To Minnesota's North Shore

I haven't been able to cook much lately - it's been a busy summer of traveling. Two weeks ago I went to Lake Superior on Minnesota's north shore for a girls weekend with my college friends. Here are some photos of our beautiful trip!
Our first stop - Split Rock Lighthouse on Lake Superior's shore.



The Lighthouse keeper's desk.

Scenes from our Hike Along the Kadunce River




These stones make up the bed of the lake and the shore - how pretty!



The Harbor at Grand Marais





Coming up next - a feature on the Pie Place restaurant at the North Shore!