After spending a few previous outings with our friends Vicki and Justin, Eileen and I decided to invite them out to a non-stressful/athletic night. - (past events of ours have included sandbagging in Fargo, moving, and Wii boxing)

Last time we were at MOA, I had noticed signs all over for a place called Cantina #1, and figured it was a typical Corona bar tucked up in one of the locations empty since 2007 when Bloomington enacted the smoking ban at the same time the contracts renewals for the MOA entertainment had the prices jacked up, and subsequently non-renewed their leases.

We arrived about 6:30 and walked right in to be seated at a hi-top in the bar to wait for Vicki and Justin. The bar area is decorated a bit like a tiki bar with fake-palms all over, music playing and bamboo themed seating. There is an entire dining area on the other end of the location, separated off by the main entrance/shop with a variety of Corona merchandise. Overall, a pretty inviting place. There appeared to be a DJ booth in the bar as well, which I could only assume meant music and/or karaoke at some point during the weekend.

I decided to splurge and order the Cadillac Margarita to start with, because we were planning on going over to Moose Mountain for mini-golf after supper (ok, so I guess that’s kinda athletic, but not compared to sandbagging right?) Eileen got the Cherry Limeade, which was good, but strong, but not too strong, as she quickly found the bottom of the glass. My drink, I sipped a bit slower, as I knew there was tequila in it, but it was pretty smooth as it didn’t turn my nose up when I got it.

Vicki and Justin arrived and they ordered drinks, and we decided on our meals. Vicki ended up ordering something in a bowl, what I think was an enchilada bowl, but it was hard to see over what I’ll describe shortly as the large f**king burrito I’ve ever seen. Yes, we ordered what was called the ‘Maximus Burrito’ with steak, rice, beans, etc, all the trimmings in it (but I opted for no beans, ick!) In the menu, they looked like a good sized meal, and for the price of $15.00, they sure better be a good burrito.

Our waiter (who I forget the name of, but a great server) snapped up our orders and headed off to the kitchen, and returned about 15 minutes later, with as I said above, three of the most ginormous burritos I have ever seen in my life. The three of us, must have had a least a YARD of burrito between us, if not more. These were monsters. You cannot compare these to any other burrito I’ve seen or eaten, not from Ol’ Mexico, Don Pablos, Chipotle, nothing.. The thing was as long as my forearm and as big around as my bicep in the middle.

We dig into these things, and wow, were they good. Filled with steak, wow, just an amazing burrito to try and plow my way thru. Now, Vicki, who ordered something different, which I wasn’t able to see over my burrito, said it was good, but a bit spicy, not a bad dish though. Sadly, I was able to finish my burrito, which means I eat too damn much, but wholly crap it was GOOD. This thing would have fed a family of 4, I cannot explain how large this thing was, you could wrap it up and say it’s your newborn, yes it’s THAT BIG.

I happen to spot an another friend getting supper there as well, but didn’t feel like disrupting their evening to get a food review, so I used the next best option, Facebook!

I ordered the Swiss Enchiladas. It came with verde sauce or green sauce that just didn’t have a good flavor and all in all somewhat bland in taste. My stepmom got the shrimp tacos and she was unhappy with hers as well. Basically a fried shrimp thrown in a tortilla shell and call it a taco. Not sure what she was expecting though…. These two things were also listed as their “Signature” items I believe she said. Sangria was tasty and 4 people had the burrito (split it of course) and they loved it. ~ Courtesy of A.H.

So, I guess you can see the mixed reviews on how they liked the food. Our table was 75% happy, and the other table had mixed reviews on different parts of the meals. It seemed that the drink menu came back with 100% favorable results, while the dinner menu was on both sides of the fence.

After we stuffed ourselves on food, we stammered over to Moose Mountain for some mini-golf, which was actually pretty fun. I thought it would be a random thing to do, and even more fun after a few drinks, and it was just that! The course had some really plain holes, and some that were a little more challenging. A few had random sound effects, like horses and other animals that after awhile became comical, or the 17th hold that was an outhouse - Key is to hit the middle hole to make it ‘flush’

I think, the 4 of us spent around $80 total for the evening including big meals, two drinks each, and 4 rounds of mini-golf. Granted, it’s a chunk of change on paper, but we had a good few hours out together, and it was a great time.

Cantina #1
406 E Broadway
Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 854-6500‎

I was out in Hudson a few weeks back shooting some real-estate photography, and the weather was nice, so I figured it would be a great night to stop by Pier 500 and give it a review. Having been there a few times in the past, and enjoyed the food each time, I felt it was a great opportunity to shoot a few photos since I had my camera with me, and give it a proper review. I gave a quick shout out on twitter to see if anyone wanted to join me, and my buddy Will said he’d stop out too.

I arrived shortly after 6pm and picked up my beeper, as there was a 30 minute wait for a sunny Tuesday evening. I expected this, seeing as Pier 500 sits about 100 yards off the St. Croix River. While waiting for Will I picked up a Captain and Diet, which was mostly Captains, so there were no complaints there. Will arrived and got a drink as well as we talked and waited. There is plenty of space on the deck area near the bar, in addition to the maybe 30 or so tables on the deck. Certainly a great spot to stop by for a happy hour, or in off the river for a bite to eat.

Will and I got our table and sat down, waiting for our waitress. It wasn’t more than two minutes before she appeared and made sure our drink orders were OK. Glancing at the menu, I had forgotten how many different items they listed. The one thing I saw running out left and right but not on the menu was this huge freaking pile of nachos. I asked our waitress, and while they weren’t listed on the dining menu, they are part of the bar menu. Will and I quickly snapped up an order of these things, with chicken, and went back to drinking and catching up.

When the nachos made it out, they looked awesome, and tasted even better. With a great balance of meat, cheese and veggies, we sure as hell didn’t /need/ to order an actual meal, these would have filled us up quite well. The cheeses were melted and gooey, and not crunchy as if they’d spent 20 minutes under a heat lamp. The chicken was juicy and full of flavor, not dried and in bits as I’ve seen other places. - Overall, I would go back to Pier 500 for these alone!

When our meals did come out, Will’s steak salad looked pretty damn good, with big hunks of steak on one side of the plate and large sheets of parmesan to crack over the salad. The lettuce, looked to be a little higher than grocery store grade, so that was a little bit of a downfall. Will said the steal was great, but maybe not worth the extra $8.00 the steak addition put on the bill. The ceasar dressing was good, and overall he was content with the salad, possibly not worth the full price, but pretty good none the less.

I got the BBQ Burger with house made B.B.Q. sauce, home town cheddar and smoked bacon, and fries, nothing terribly exciting to eat, but I was really in the mood for a burger. The burger itself was actually pretty flippin’ good, the presentation was a little plain, so that was a little throw off. Once I got into the meal, the meat was nice and moist, cooked to my liking and full of flavor, so I really had no complaints on the taste.

Overall, Pier 500 is a good place to get together with friends for a drink after work, a good dinner, or a good place to take that special someone for dinner on the patio. I recall our bill coming to about $60.00 with a few rounds of drinks, the app and the meals, but well worth it in my mind. I don’t venture out too often due to cost and trying to watching what I eat, but this stop was certainly worth falling off the wagon for a night. The waitstaff is friendly, and if you don’t mind a little wait on a sunny day, stop in! Their website now lists online reservations available, so maybe check that option out if you aren’t in the mood, or cannot wait for 30 minutes. (it’s well worth it if you have to)

Pier 500
500 1st Street
Hudson, WI 54016
(715) 386-5504

One of the places I visited while I was in Florida awhile back was this little hole in the wall, and by hole in the wall I mean Deliverance hole in the wall.

Off the beaten path from I-75 lies Snook Haven, a mix-match of biker bar, what had the potential for a good hot-spot, and a place where the geriatric crowd dined, this place was pretty, well.. unique to say it best. In addition to the restaurant/bar, they also had a little shop to pick up random trinkets, a few ‘cabin’ looking shacks and canoe/kayak rental. They also chartered pontoon boat tours up and down the waterway, which I sure had more than it’s share of gators, so I was a bit hesitant to go for the kayak rental.

Off to the side of the lot, was an outdoor stage area with a dance floor which at the time of my visit was inhabited by a one man band doing cover songs in a full array of genres. Scattered about the ground were little lizards, geckos and random wildlife, nothing to threatening tho, which was good since I was in flip-flops.

When we got our seat on the patio, we looked thru the menu, both for food and drinks. Snook does not have liquor papers, so I went with a safe Bud Light, Dad had a margarita (premixed) and mom lushed it up with an ice cold water. The outdoor seating area was pretty decent, right on the water, on a long deck area, so there were certainly nature sights to be seen.

We placed an order for our meals, and poked a little fun at the place, with it’s, well. almost inbred looks, with tree’s growing out of the roof of the inside dining/bar area, and what looked like a truck hit the side of the building, but not in any place a truck could get to.

Dad ordered, I think some sort of Po Boy if I recall correctly, Mom played it safe with a salad and I went with a pulled pork sammich. We decided to split an order of sweet potato fries. Our food arrived, about as I expected. It was all served on foam plates, with plastic utensils. Mom’s salad looked like iceberg lettuce chopped up with the dressing on the side. Dad’s po boy looked interesting, and edible, and my pulled pork sammich looked pretty good. It also came with homemade potato chips.

Mom’s review of the salad wasn’t anything special, and Dad was pretty neutral on his po-boy, I could tell he was being a little nice, but he finished the meal so it wasn’t all that bad I guess. My sammich was pretty decent, the pork was good, moist and pretty tasty, but the bun was pretty basic, oh well.

What we did all find very good were the sweet potato fries, and my homemade chips. My chips were really thick cut, and not super crispy and fried to death, but just enough to make them firm and damn good. The sweet potato fries were also awesome, just as you would expect, a little sweet, and not completely crunchy like the bottom of the bin at your local fast food chain.

Overall, I think the bill was about $35, which wasn’t too bad for three meals, an app, and two drinks, all served on foam. The service was prompt and very friendly. While the food isn’t anything to write home about (seeing as it’s taken me two months to finish this post) it’s certainly worth the trip to check out the whole package.

Snook Haven
5000 Venice Ave. (Off I75)
941-485-7221