Megan and I had a rare night of going out to two different places in the same night (usually we’ll just head back to one of our places for a bottle of wine). We were able to take in some of the best burgers in the twin cities, and some of the best sake that I’ve had.
I was invited to go to the pre-opening party at the new Smashburger in Roseville (map | site | twitter). As usual the burgers there are by far the best fast food burgers, but they aren’t your typical fast food. They aren’t like the arches and trying to get you your food as fast as possible, it’s more about quality and experience. There aren’t the large overhead menus behind the cashiers, just a poster on the wall next to the registers with the choices. I’ve been to three of the restaurants in the metro area now and have not been disappointed at any. The burgers are fresh and have the taste of a night out grill flavor with spices. You definitely need to try the smashfries or the veggie frites (asparagus, beans, carrots fried sans breading). They also serve beer and wine and have really good malts. Also make sure to try the root beer floats.
Megan and I weren’t quite ready to call it a night (it was 7:30) so we headed to uptown and ended up at Moto-i (map | site | twitter). They brew their own sake and they don’t mess around with it. We started out wanting to go on the roof, and made it up there ok, but after sitting down at a table for almost 10 minutes without service we headed back to the deserted first floor bar. Once there we were greeted by a very knowledgeable bartender. She was the best part about the visit. We found out why sakes are named the way they are and we were given a chart to see what the differences were (you get this chart when you get a sake flight). We had already eaten at smashburger so we didn’t have an appetite left, but we did find some room for the Orange Blossom Panna Cotta and the Sata Andagi. The Panna Cotta is a Berry Coulis with chocolate pearls on top, it was very delicious and had a great mixture of flavors with the pearls adding a great texture to the rest. The Andagi are basically mini donuts, but made to order. Because they are freshly rolled and seasoned they have a very light texture and the cinnamon-sugar coating topped it off. We are definitely going back. More than likely it will be a place for us to go and have a few drinks with a few appetizers. We were told that the noodle dishes had more quantity for a dinner type meal, but this place seems to be better for having some appetizers and some drinks with friends in a casual setting. I did notice that there were some couches on the second level. One thing I should note that starting in September they are going to start showing Sumo wrestling on the tv’s. One of the cooks mentioned that the idea of a fantasy league being tossed around. I hope they do, I’d be there for that.
