Saint Dinette - December 19, 2015
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned it before in a dining post, but I’m a fan of roller derby. Last year I had season tickets to both of the women’s leagues in the Twin Cities, but due to some poor planning on my part, I only renewed season tickets for my favorite of the two leagues, the Minnesota Roller Girls. Due to more poor planning on my part and a party I wouldn’t miss, I ended up missing the first couple bouts of the season. I finally remembered to put the remaining ones on the calendar and I think I’m only potentially missing one more due to some travel, yay. One of the things I’ve struggled with about roller derby is that I wasn’t super familiar with St. Paul, I’ve lived in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities for the majority of my life and they’ve all been slightly west of 35W, so Minneapolis was the easier, thus preferred, destination.
From hitting up the Hard Times Cafe when I was 16, to the terribly missed Laughing Cup when I was 18, to previous post mentioned El Meson which was my favorite restaurant before and briefly after my enlistment, to some of my new standards, Minneapolis has been where I go to eat. This is fine for most days, but roller derby happens on Saturdays in Saint Paul at the Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium.
The only restaurants I was familiar with in the stadium’s vicinity until recently were a family style Italian spot and an Irish pub, nothing wrong with those, but I feel carbed out and tired after a good Italian meal, and Irish pubs mean a little too much fried food and a fair amount of beer. Thankfully I’ve been expanding my dining radius this year and I’m a little more versed in some of Saint Paul’s gastronomic offerings.
Strip Club isn’t open early enough to eat dinner and get to the bout in a comfortable amount of time, besides, it’s a place you don’t want to leave. Strip Club’s sister restaurant, is equally tough to leave, but on Saturdays, given their proximity to a lot of destinations, is open all day, that made it a good choice for my pre-bout dining destination.
Fried Smelt with remoulade, watercress, and lemon: I used to be really averse to fried small fish until a trip to London in 2009. One of the bar snacks there was a small whole fish that simply floured and fried, meant to be eaten whole. I’ve been much more adventurous when it comes to little fish ever since. Smelt also hold a spot in my memory from when I was younger because my dad and grandfather would always tell me about “smelt runs” and how people would do “smelt fries.” As previously mentioned, my dad wasn’t adventurous when eating, I think a fish with the scales left on would be far too much for him. Thankfully it’s not too far for me. These were great, the cornmeal batter added a nice crunch and the remoulade was good. I might skip the greens next time, I don’t think they sat well with me.
Duck Tartar with celery, ritz crackers, and hot sauce: Tasty. If you’re a fan of the texture of tartare and flavor of duck, I recommend it.
Bologna with cheddar and house pickles: A lot of praise gets heaped on this and the cheeseburger. Having now had both I can see why fans of each are big fans. This is well executed. A great salty bologna with a slight amount of crisping from the grill, I prefer cheeseburgers, so I think I’ll stick to that one, but if you’re a bologna fan, this is definitely worth seeking. Just enough time on the griddle for a nice toast on the bun.
Bread Pudding with mission figs and egg nog: I added the optional bourbon kicker since the egg nog used is alcohol free, but I don’t think it’s entirely needed. I think that, while this was well executed, I prefer Saint Dinette’s custardy desserts more, their panna cottas and flans have been some of my favorite not Spoon and Stable desserts this year.
So, if you’re looking to hit up some roller derby, or any weekend event in Saint Paul really, and you need to catch an early bite, definitely check out Saint Dinette. Just like the rest of the menu, their bar style fare is a notch above, and definitely worth checking out.