Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews

by Marilyn Hagerty

  You’d think one trip would have held me for a while, but those crisp, crunchy fruit pizzas called me back to Happy Joe’s for another go-around the next day. Happy Joe’s all-you-can-eat smorgasbord is served from 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. Monday through Saturday for $3.89. Your beverage is extra. So you can kiss a fin (that’s what CC and I call $5 bills) goodbye.

  I always used to think of smorgasbord as Scandinavian, but the Shangri-La long has had a Chinese smorgasbord. And if Happy Joe’s wants to have an Italian smorgasbord, it’s OK with me.

  Uff da.

  You enter Happy Joe’s spacious dining room through the red-and-white-striped ice-cream parlor. You go clear to the back and pay up. Then, you get a plate, your silverware, a napkin and your beverage. After you have passed go, you proceed to the buffet—or smorgasbord—line. You find first those luscious apple, cherry and blueberry pizzas, and an extra special cinnamon glaze creation.

  This may be a little backwards, because next you come to the other pizza—two or three kinds. You take a couple of slices and move on. Next you find three pasta dishes, three soups. Garlic bread. Beyond it, there is a salad bar with the usual assortment.

  You do not need or want all this. So, the game is to pick and choose. We found the pizza to be fresh and warm and much to our liking. The pasta, too, is good. We found lasagna, spaghetti and a taco pasta.

  There are a few shortcomings. The salad bar needs more tender loving care. Some of the items seemed a little tired. That is, they didn’t appear to be fresh. I wondered why places with small staffs don’t limit their salad bar offerings to a few items and keep them freshly restocked.

  Another disappointment was finding pasta dishes almost empty. They would be far more inviting if they were replenished more often.

  The booths at Happy Joe’s are as spacious as the dining room, so it’s possible to have a rather private conversation over lunch here. I insert this note because a reader recently suggested it is nice to know of places where you can hold a conversation.

  Here at Happy Joe’s, there is happy music playing in the background. In fact, the ambience is what I would call happy. There are Happy Joe hanging lamps, a big homey fireplace and a deep red carpet. During October, there were pumpkins all over the place.

  The service, in general, was adequate. One waiter, Tom Koppenhaver, does an extra nice job of making you feel welcome. He is friendly, but not too friendly.

  Happy Joe’s has been under new management since Jim and Janice Marter acquired the franchise in September. They are trying to bring back the good old days when you fairly often stood in line to get into Happy Joe’s. Among their moves is an Italian night each Wednesday. They are striving for cleanliness and take pride in serving what they call “real food.” They say that means fresh pizza dough every day.

  With the Marters, Happy Joe’s of Grand Forks is beginning a new chapter. The establishment has been a part of the eating scene here since 1977. It is one of the original Happy Joe restaurants.

  Happy Joe’s Pizza and Ice Cream continues to operate in Grand Forks.

  Big Sioux Is Surrounded by Trucks with Engines Idling

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  DECEMBER 27, 1989

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  Outside, on a cold day, there may be anywhere from 30 to 70 trucks with motors idling. Inside, there’s a faint smell of diesel fuel. If you come during the noon hour, you may have to hunt for a place to sit down in the Big Sioux Truck Stop Cafe.

  We chose Big Sioux because I wanted to check out more about the lutefisk dinner for $5.75. It’s served from Nov. 15 to Jan. 1. I didn’t want to eat it, I just wanted to ask about it. And I learned the cafe sells about 400 pounds of lutefisk each year. It’s not the biggest item on the menu, but there are certain people who count on the Big Sioux for their lutefisk each year. They probably are people of Norwegian heritage, with mates of German or Italian background. Our waitress, Mary Jo Carey, says sometimes she’ll have six orders during a dinner hour. But, she says, when Southern truck drivers ask about it, she doesn’t encourage them to order it.

  We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of food at Big Sioux. I ordered a 7-ounce sirloin steak special ($4.50), which comes with a bowl of soup or fries and toast. Constant Companion ordered the pork dinner special ($3.95). It came with a cup of soup, coleslaw dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and a dinner roll. That’s an amazing amount of food for the price, we thought. Especially since it was excellent food.

  The potato soup was thick and hot with nicely diced potatoes. You could tell they were fresh. And the soup did not have the pasty consistency you sometimes get with restaurant soup. Along with potatoes, it had finely diced carrots and ham and snipped parsley in it.

  The coleslaw passed the test. It was crisp. The dressing was light and not sloppy. There was a tiny paper cup of applesauce with the pork. Service was prompt and pleasant. No pretenses here. No coming back six times and asking if everything is all right.

  The Big Sioux exceeded my expectations with its outward appearance of cleanliness and professionalism. Waitresses wear black-and-white checkered blouses with black vests. Kitchen help, whom you can see through the window, wear clean, white shirts and trousers with blue aprons and red caps. So do those who bus dishes. The caps certainly must impress the city health department inspectors. They have an awful time getting restaurant employees to restrain their hair.

  It’s fun sitting in a place where truck drivers mingle as they wait for a load of potatoes to carry south, or east. Sometimes, they daydream as they stir their coffee and wait for a page from the message center. Sometimes they swap tales with other drivers. Most of them wear plaid shirts and heavy trousers. They have heavy outer vests and caps. They peel back their outdoor gear as far as they can.

  Big Sioux continues to operate in Grand Forks.

  VFW Diner Offers Publike Ambience and Basic Menu

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  JANUARY 10, 1990

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  We had heard mixed reports on the food served at the VFW Diner in South Forks Plaza. So Thursday, I said to Constant Companion, “There’s one way to find out. Let’s meet there for lunch.”

  He was agreeable, and I was glad. I want to make the rounds of the clubs in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks this winter to find out about their food. This gives me a start.

  At first, it didn’t seem too promising at the VFW Diner, but we found our way into the clubrooms and to a table where we could sit. Nothing fancy, but not bad at all in here. There were signs saying the luncheon special was soup and a Denver sandwich for $2.25. In places where food service is limited, I tend to take the special. I wasn’t born yesterday.

  CC got a little fancy and asked for the Philly sandwich he saw on the menu. But when he found out they didn’t have any roast beef, he settled for the Denver and a Michelob.

  The more we looked around the VFW Diner, the more it seemed like a neighborhood pub. Sort of a comfortable, unassuming place to drop in for lunch or dinner. There were several tables of people quietly eating. One gentleman came in and sat in a booth and read while he had a sandwich.

  There were a couple of people at the bar cracking jokes and passing the time of day. The lone waitress on duty that day was Kristy Speckman, who was helping out temporarily during the holidays. She was moving around at a steady pace, taking care of everybody but not breaking any speed records. That suited me just fine, because I get dizzy when waiters or waitresses rush the food to me and whisk the plate away before I have time to swallow my last bite.

  I chose a golden chowder from four soups offered Thursday. It was thin—the way I like cream soup—with a nice, mild flavor. The Denver sandwiches were just fine. Sort of like you would make them at home. I had plenty of ketchup with mine and enjoyed the dill pickle slices and crisp chips on the plate. The twist of orange slice that garnished the plates sent a message: The cook cares.

  All in all, the food was a favorable experience. However, the soiled menus should be replaced.

  Quarter-poun
d hamburgers, which are $1.75 plain, are popular items in the VFW Diner. Weekend specials include a walleye dinner for $5.99 on Fridays. A sign in the entryway says steaks are $1 off on weekends.

  The club is open to members of the VFW and those who sign the guest book. Business is bolstered by the Tuesday night bingo games with meat as prizes, a Thursday bingo session for women and a Saturday afternoon bingo game for men.

  The VFW continues to serve food in Grand Forks.

  Dacotah Passes the Poached Egg Test with Flying Colors

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  FEBRUARY 14, 1990

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  John Shaft blew my cover when I sat down for lunch at a table in the Dacotah Restaurant Thursday.

  “Here’s Marilyn Hagerty,” he told the waitress in jest in a loud voice. “Tell Terry not to serve her the same slop you serve everyone else around here.” Terry Jensen is the chef and operator of the Dacotah.

  Usually, I prefer to be low-key in restaurants I’m reviewing for Eatbeat, but in a city this size, it isn’t always possible. So, I just carry on bravely and try to describe each eating place as I find it.

  For me, the Dacotah is an institution—a part of my Wednesday morning routine. I go there to have my hair done at Kato’s at 9 A.M. Then, I stop in the bank and deposit or extract money for the week. After that, I buy a USA Today and go into the Coffee Shop for breakfast. It’s the same every week.

  My order always is the same. I think the waitress would faint if I varied it. I have a poached egg with whole wheat toast and a cup of coffee. Sometimes, if I haven’t had fruit at home, I have a glass of orange juice.

  The best thing about it is the Dacotah turns out a perfect poached egg. There is no other place that I know that does it as well. The egg always is cooked, but not overcooked. I take it from the little dish and put it on top of a half piece of toast. It’s a ritual.

  But last week was different. I went into the restaurant dining room for lunch and waited for Constant Companion to join me. This is the room that used to be the Dacotah Lounge and it still has the same gorgeous red drapes that went up when the lounge held a grand opening several years ago. The room without the bar is restful and comfortable. There is space between the round, square and oblong tables. The carpet is thicker than that in the Coffee Shop.

  Each day, the Dacotah has a luncheon special. These are more like dinners, for less than $4. The dining room no longer serves Mexican food, which was the big feature when it opened after the lounge closed. Now, it serves specials and short orders from a long menu that has a good variety of choices. You find everything from breakfast items to desserts.

  CC arrived at 12:15 P.M. and we got down to the serious business of ordering. I asked for a cup of chicken dumpling soup (80 cents) and a monster burger ($2.35). Later, I decided I needed a Diet Coke (50 cents), too, because the chips that came with the burger were salty.

  CC started out with only a bowl of chili ($1.25). He had been having some dental work done and chewing wasn’t his long suit that day. He nodded and said the chili was the way he likes it—hot and spicy. It also had diced cheddar cheese on top. When he finished, he still was hungry, so he ordered a piece of Dutch apple pie (95 cents) and said it was OK.

  My chicken dumpling soup was everything chicken dumpling soup should be. My monster was likewise and I still look to the monster as the Grand Forks version of a hamburger with everything on it but the kitchen sink. The chips were plentiful. Too plentiful. But I ate them all. The little bowl of beans was an unexpected bonus that I had to leave on the plate. After all, you don’t ask for a doggie bag to take home a bowl of beans because you’re full, do you?

  At any rate, our check, with tax came to $6.95. More than reasonable for a lunch for two. CC left an 85-cent tip and took the check.

  New restaurants have cropped up to make for stiffer competition downtown, but the Dacotah manages to hang on to its steady customers. These include residents of apartments in the building, now known as Dacotah Place, formerly the Dacotah Hotel. Other constant customers are downtown businessmen, and customers and employees of the Valley Bank located in the Dacotah.

  There are many good features about the Dacotah that draw me back to it each week. However, it would be nice to see new tablecloths—maybe be even cloth tablecloths—in the dining room to replace the rather wrinkled plastic covers. And fresh new menus are needed.

  Luncheon Buffet Sports Nifty Spaghetti Sauce at Shakey’s

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  MAY 2, 1990

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  Shakey’s was the gathering place when a bunch of us got together for lunch Thursday. We found plenty of food left on the luncheon buffet, even though it was after 1 o’clock and there had been a couple of buses of schoolchildren there.

  What we found at Shakey’s was a salad bar, pizza, spaghetti and meat sauce, fried chicken, garlic bread, mojo potatoes, soup and dessert pizza. All of this for $3.95. And that includes a beverage.

  So, we staked out a table for seven. Then we found our way to the cashier, where you pay first to eat later. We looked over the customary salad bar fare of iceberg lettuce, macaroni and potato salad, grated cheese, sunflower seeds, sliced peaches. Well, you know, the usual.

  Beyond that, though, we found an assortment of fresh, hot wedges of thin-crust pizza. I took three.

  In the next section, I fiddled around trying to get some wiggly spaghetti onto my plate. Just a little, I thought. Enough so I can try the sauce. Then, I saw the mojo potatoes, which are slices of Red River red potatoes breaded and deep-fried. So, I took one. And a half.

  It was interesting to see what everyone selected from the buffet. Gerry Vaaler thought the spaghetti sauce was very good. Joyce Pond liked the mojo potatoes. The soup was OK, but no one turned cartwheels over it. Barb Lander thought the garlic bread was good. Donna Gillig, Donna McEnroe and I sampled the blueberry dessert pie with a pizza crust and thought it was quite tasty. The others showed no interest in it.

  Along with the Grand Forks Shakey’s, Dennis Farley also owns the Shakey’s restaurant in Fargo. It is managed by his son, Brian Farley. Shakey’s restaurants got their start more than 25 years ago when Shakey Johnson and his partner, Big Ed Plummer, opened the first one in Sacramento, Calif. They wanted a plain old beer joint with something unique. So, they decided to serve pizza and beer and provide live Dixieland music. From those beginnings, Shakey’s Pizza grew into family restaurants with a varied menu.

  While many pizza restaurants use imitation cheese or cheese substitutes, Shakey’s claims to use only real cheese, and lots of it. Recently, Shakey’s has added a new hand-tossed “Classic” crust to its lineup of pizza. It’s somewhere between a thin and a deep-dish crust.

  Shakey’s no longer operates in Grand Forks.

  Palace Casino Offers Excitement with Burgers and Salads

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  MAY 9, 1990

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  It’s different, all right. It’s alive.

  All over the large Palace Casino Sports Bar at the Westward Ho Motel, there are screens—16 of them in all—showing live action. You see tennis, bowling, ball games. The sound was on loud for only the car race on a big screen over the bar when Constant Companion (CC) and I dropped in for lunch Friday.

  There were pennants, posters and sports pictures everywhere. The quiet and plushy red velvet Palace dining room, which I considered the nicest dining spot in North Dakota, is gone. It’s now a sporty bar and cafe, and it’s exciting.

  I guess it’s an example of the way things change as time marches on. Now, there are teller windows, where you place your bets, and a week’s racing program at the end of the bar. The races go on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons. In between, you see sports of all kinds on the screens.

  An all-star menu features snack items, Center Court salads, pizza, sandwiches and burgers.

  There’s a different menu for Sundays, when serving begins at high noon, but the items are pretty much the same.

  We noticed a Gino
burger in the line-up at the Casino. Anyone who has ever seen a hockey puck knows the burger is named after John “Gino” Gasparini, UND hockey coach and athletic director. It’s two quarter-pound cheeseburgers with fried onions and served with french fries and country gravy. Other burgers include a Hail Mary, which is a half-pound burger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese on an onion bun.

  My choice was a clubhouse sandwich ($4.25), because the Chuck House coffee shop of the Westward Ho serves one of the best clubs around, and I know that all of the food is served from the same central kitchen. My clubhouse came with a choice of french fries or coleslaw and I chose the latter. It was as good as I had anticipated. It came on toasted wheat bread, as I had asked. The coleslaw was good. That is, it was crisp and not laden down with gloppy dressing. I like the dressing on coleslaw to be inconspicuous.

  CC ordered a Philly steak sandwich ($4.75) and found it to be quite tasty, with plenty of fried onions. He likes fried onions a lot.

  On a second visit Sunday, I tried one of the Center Court salads—the chef salad ($4.95). It came on a platter big enough to serve three or four people, I think. By the time I was halfway through it, my nose was wiggling and I felt like a rabbit. I decided I would rather have less salad and have it served with a nice dinner roll.

  CC tried a burger with coleslaw and proclaimed the burger VG, or very good. Coleslaw is coleslaw to him, but I keep reminding him he should strive for five fruits and vegetables every day.

  Along with the pluses, there were a few minuses at the Casino.