* * *
NOVEMBER 25, 1992
* * *
You get the big welcome and the fond farewell when you visit the new Red Lobster restaurant.
And to visit there is rather special.
In the first place, it’s the first strictly seafood restaurant in Grand Forks. In the second place, the restaurant is upscale, with the service well-orchestrated.
On my first trip to Red Lobster, I joined a group of friends for lunch. I ordered grilled sea scallops ($5.99) with a Diet Coke (99 cents). My check, with tax, was $7.40. By the time I left a 15 percent tip, I was up in the $9 range for lunch. This is more than the average lunch around Grand Forks. But the food was worthy, and the lunch I chose was, indeed, a dinner.
Red Lobster won me over with its warm garlic cheese bread. Then came the cup of smooth clam chowder. My scallops were sweet and meaty, with thin strips of crisp bacon separating them on the skewer and a slice of zucchini at each end. The skewers were served over rice pilaf, and I chose broccoli instead of baked or French-fried potatoes to go with my meal. The broccoli seemed to be steamed gently, and retained its bright green color on the plate, which is garnished with fresh kale and a lemon wedge.
Others around the table tried and enjoyed spicy seafood gumbo with Caesar salad and shrimp Milano. There were no complaints.
On my second visit to Red Lobster, I met Gladys Keig for lunch. We both ordered soup and Caesar salad. The bowl of clam chowder is of a medium-thin consistency, nicely flavored and very filling. The Caesar salad is nicely done with a pleasing dressing and very finely grated white cheese. This is the most inexpensive lunch on the menu. At the same time, it is more than adequate.
The restaurant has a starter menu that includes clam chowder, seafood gumbo, shrimp cocktail, shrimp egg rolls, mozzarella cheese sticks, chicken fingers, fried zucchini, calamari rings, chicken skewers, chilled shrimp in the shell and fried clam strips. The dessert tray of items such as “Fudge Overboard” for $3.35 and “Raspberry Cobbler a la Mode” for $2.35 is trotted out for all diners to see.
Service is impeccable at the Red Lobster. The staff is well-trained and professional in its approach.
Dinner at Red Lobster ranges from $10 to $20, and the waiting line has been long on weekends. People of this region have been welcoming the opportunity to try the lobster, crab, shrimp and scallops. Michael Pauly, an assistant manager, says the restaurant chain has done enough research to believe the honeymoon will end and business will plateau.
The Red Lobster here is the third in North Dakota, with others in Fargo and Bismarck. It is one of more than 550 restaurants in a growing trail across the country.
GF Goodribs Is Warm, Cozy Haven on Cold Winter Night
* * *
JANUARY 6, 1993
* * *
Oops, I scattered the tossed salad all over the tablecloth and down into my lap. Either the salad tongs are poorly designed, or I am clumsy. Or both. At any rate, I like the idea of serving salad from a large bowl. I managed to scrape things together and continue on with the conversation when Constant Companion (CC) and I had dinner with Jan and Earl Strinden (JS and ES) at GF Goodribs Steakhouse and Lounge.
The date was Dec. 30. We were going to see the UND Sioux women play Portland State, and we got together for dinner before the game. GF Goodribs was a good choice. It has a handy entryway for a cold evening and a nice big cloak area.
Our waiter was Jayson, and he was professional in attire as well as demeanor. JS and I both ordered a crab legs and New York strip steak special ($9.50). CC had baby back pork ribs ($12.95). ES chose Cajun prime ribs ($12.95), his favorite item on the Goodribs menu. He started out with onion soup and ordered a twice-baked potato.
“You have that, too,” he suggested to JS. “You like that.”
While they ordered potatoes twice-baked, I assured Jayson I wanted mine baked only once.
The restaurant was rather quiet at 5:30 P.M., and we had a chance to visit about Christmas, our families, the Sioux and the world in general. We nibbled on the basket of extra-good garlic toast before our orders arrived. ES asked me to taste his Cajun ribs, and I must say the flavoring was noteworthy. Cajun enough, but not too much.
Once again my dexterity was in question when I approached my crab legs. Goodribs has nice crackers to use and proper forks for digging out crab meat. Still, I was all thumbs. I kept watching JS because she seemed quite adept.
CC was pleased with his ribs and polished them off in short order.
We had time for coffee after we finished our meal. None of us was hungry enough for dessert, but the tray shown to us by Jayson was appealing. There was a Snickers dessert, chocolate cake and apple crisp—all for $2.50.
Dinner was above average. The price was right.
In order to get a long look at the steakhouse in daylight, I went back alone for a quick lunch Friday, and I found the soup and salad bar for $3.50 a good lunch buy. From it, I chose a bowl of wild rice soup that warmed, filled and satisfied. With it, I had cottage cheese sprinkled with imitation bacon and shredded cheddar cheese. Alongside, I had some raw broccoli, a cherry tomato and a dill pickle spear.
Goodribs also serves Sunday brunch, which is distinguished by its excellent eggs. I don’t know what they do, but the cooks keep the eggs fluffy and fresh. You also find ham, sausage and bacon, ribs and potatoes, and fruits, juices, raw vegetables and salad items. At a side table, you find pastries, muffins, cookies and often doughnut holes.
The restaurant has been in operation as GF Goodribs with Paul Waind as owner for seven years. It opened 20 years ago as Desautel’s Steak and Stein, and went through a couple of ownership changes. Waind has managed to build up a steady trade specializing in ribs. He has added “steakhouse and lounge” to the name, he says, in order to draw customers from the 700 motel rooms surrounding the supper club.
GF Goodribs no longer operates in Grand Forks.
John Barleycorn Bakes Up Mean Lavosh in Columbia Mall
* * *
FEBRUARY 17, 1993
* * *
“We’ll meet at the Barleycorn,” Marilyn Lundberg said. It was her turn to make arrangements for the monthly meeting of friends who used to drink coffee together on Cottonwood Street.
When we got there, the special for the day was Cajun chicken salad, so Marilyn and Ruth Barney went with that. Estelle Graham and Crystal Rice ordered No. 3, which was chicken salad and onion soup. I ordered a Reuben sandwich. And when Geri Ouradnik breezed in, she ordered a half lavosh supreme with mushrooms, green pepper, tomato and red onion.
Then the discussion began. The lavosh, we agreed is the trademark of John Barleycorn. Not everybody likes it, but many do. And many people go to the Barleycorn with lavosh in mind. Lavosh is a thin bread that originated in Armenia.
As always, the service was top-rate. Overall, the food was good. The Cajun chicken salad plate was ample and served with good, warm breadsticks. My Reuben was OK, but a little on the skimpy side, I thought.
We had separate checks, which was no problem. It sure beats a bunch of women digging in their purses and asking who had coffee and who had only water. My check, for the sandwich with fries and a diet cola, came to $6.29 with tax. That’s a little heavy for lunch in Grand Forks. But the Barleycorn is a cut above the average eating places in shopping malls. It’s been a star performer in the Grand Forks dining scene since 1979.
It’s laid out like an old-time town. To the left, there is a livery section with semiprivate nooks and corners for dining. Straight ahead, set off with light wood latticework, you find a gazebo. Surrounding it, on a lower level, you have the park area with green carpeting. At the right, there is a dining room called the general store which can be reserved by larger groups.
Along with its unique design, it has established a reputation for consistently good food. The Barleycorn has long been a popular place to meet for lunch, because it’s convenient, and because the staff is accommodating to people who want to linger longer and disc
uss business or play bridge.
Dinner is a special occasion at the Barleycorn. The filet medallions drew raves recently from a co-worker, Molly Blue. The dinner, for $16.95, features two center cuts of tenderloin with Béarnaise and Hunter mushroom sauce. Blue, a fan of the Barleycorn, also praises the shrimp oreganata ($13.95) from the seafood section.
The new menu, introduced in October, adds pastas and variations of chicken to the offerings. The restaurant also is serving stir-fried vegetables. Mainstays are steaks and seafood.
John Barleycorn no longer operates in Columbia Mall.
Bonzer’s on Fourth Still Excites Taste Buds After 10 Years
* * *
MARCH 3, 1993
* * *
Television sets are running. Music plays from the speaker system. Conversation rises from the high-backed booths. The gentlemen from the Bartles & Jaymes ad jump out from the lighted sign.
Peanut shells are strewn on the terrazzo floor. This is Bonzer’s, the nearest thing to a pub in Grand Forks.
From 11 A.M. until 3:30 P.M., Bonzer’s is a lunch place. You can get German fare on Thursdays. Late in the afternoon, it turns into a place where people meet for happy hour or a light supper. Or both.
Cindy Bonzer, who operates the pub with her husband, Jon, says, “We’re selling more food and less wine and beer now. But I think that’s true everywhere.”
The Bonzers opened their downtown sandwich pub 10 years ago this week. “We were worried about business when Norby’s department store closed early in 1986, but we found more professional people coming in. And we have UND students who live in downtown apartments picking up the slack.”
In fact, she says, business has been better for Bonzer’s each passing year. “We thought of applying for a liquor license. And then we wondered why, with things going so well just selling wine and beer.”
The Bonzers haven’t rocked the boat. The walls and shelves are still decorated with the beer memorabilia Jon started collecting in junior high school in California. As a matter of fact, he is a member of the Beer Can Collectors of America. He always is trading and buying to enhance his collection of trays, cans, bottles, pictures. He proudly displays a Dakota beer can from the short-lived brewery in Bismarck; he says it is one of the most valuable in the nation.
Booths of dark wood provide semi-privacy for patrons. The wooden bar, with 10 high-backed wooden stools, provides a spot for loners or twosomes. A fake tree with forever-autumn leaves stands at the back of the pub. Then, in the corner, there’s a private dining area called the Board Room. It can be reserved for groups of around a dozen at no charge.
Constant Companion and I paid a visit to Bonzer’s late Thursday afternoon. For some people, it was happy hour. For us, it was supper time. I had a cup of split pea and ham soup and a half of a hot pastrami sandwich ($2.85). CC had a bowl of chili con carne ($1.95) with a Michelob. The chili was hot, hot, hot. The brew was dry.
There’s nothing namby-pamby about the food at Bonzer’s. It is spiced and flavored enough to make a statement. Soups, which are made by the owners, are thick and hot. Some customers come regularly for soup. Along with soup and a long list of sandwiches, Bonzer’s offers an array of minisalads for $3.25 and large salads for $4.25. The menu is cleverly written and reflects the good humor of the Bonzers.
Bonzer’s remains in business in Grand Forks.
Open Kitchen at Sanders 1907 Gives Diners Front-Row Seat
* * *
MARCH 24, 1993
* * *
Tables are set with crisp white napkins folded into water goblets. Narrow vases on the tables have fresh flowers and tiny branches of trees with spring buds on them. Sanders 1907, with its green tin ceiling and roping painted along the walls, is an inviting setting for dinner. It’s a cozy place, narrow and long with three high-backed booths and a series of smaller tables.
At the rear, chef Kim Holmes supervises his crew as another evening of fine dining begins at 312 Kittson Ave. Taped music is playing. The phone keeps ringing.
On Thursday evening, I spent two hours on a bar stool at the counter watching the show—no, make that the three-ring circus—that is Sanders. Presiding at the stove in a small open kitchen was chef John Gjovik. Working with him was sous chef Paul Browning, chopping parsley and arranging antipasto plates.
Three waiters in black shirts, bolo ties and white aprons were doing the side-work. By 6 P.M., the first seating of diners was under way. Sanders 1907 can handle 44 between 5:30 and 7:30 P.M. and another 44 after that.
At 9:30 P.M., it’s a free-for-all. It’s what owner Holmes calls “a scene in here.” That’s when Sanders starts serving off its late-night menu featuring appetizers, salads, buffalo burgers, buffalo lavosh and desserts. Along with this late-night show, there are specialty coffee drinks. For dinner during the week, midweek specials for $11 are offered. On Tuesday, it’s Italian food. On Wednesday, it’s French food. And Thursday is German night. Last Thursday, the special was pork roast with green caper sauce, German spaetzle and red cabbage.
While diners order the specials, they also favor the fresh fish entrees that are priced according to the market. On Thursday, mahi-mahi was served with fresh asparagus spears artfully arranged on a bed of rice. Plates were garnished with lemon and lime wedges nestled in parsley.
Trademarks of Sanders 1907 include barbecued split beef ribs ($14), roast caraway duck, Czechoslovakian style ($18) and an Italian dinner for two ($50). Swiss Eiger beef ($16) is offered only on Friday and Saturday.
While I watched the activity in the tin-lined kitchen, I nibbled on an antipasto plate ($6.50) and sipped a glass of Chardonnay. The antipasto offering is a meal in itself, when you eat it yourself. Usually, though, two or four people share this positively delightful appetizer while waiting for their entrees. It includes cold rice salad with roasted peppers, barbecued beef, pickled herring in a thick cream sauce, beet and cabbage relish, pickled grapes flavored with cinnamon, clove and onion, and cold duck salad with North Dakota Prairie Juice (a Holmes creation).
The driving force behind Sanders 1907 is Holmes, who drove into Grand Forks in 1985 with all of his belongings in his 1970 van. As he sipped bottled water and reflected on the past eight years, he said he is doing OK. In the next breath, he added, “I have struggled.”
He took over full ownership of the cafe in 1989 from Bob and Linda Evenson. They established the restaurant in 1981 in the building her grandfather, Sander Johnson, constructed in 1907. They have since moved on to operating a resort at Lake Winnibigoshish in Minnesota.
Holmes remembers lean times when he was getting started here. Once, on a January night, no one came in the front door. He wondered what he had gotten himself into.
But he didn’t wonder long. On many nights, he has to turn away diners who don’t have reservations. The small cafe on a downtown side street has established a reputation for exquisite meals. Holmes has drawn on his experience as a restaurant owner in the state of Washington and several years as a chef in Switzerland.
Now he lives upstairs with his wife, the former Beth Hookstra of Northwood, N.D. She helps him with the Sanders line of sauces and marinades, which are marketed with a Pride of Dakota label. Their products include a jerky called “Dakota Jerk.” Holmes has developed his own philosophy for operating a cafe.
“You have to be professionally casual,” he says. “I hate to hear a waiter say, ‘My name is so-and-so, and I’ll be your server.’ You have to be secure in knowing you give good service and you serve good food. You don’t have to go around asking how everything is.”
He relies on three regular waiters: Dirk Homeier, Shawn Clapp and Phil Lofthus. His kitchen crew includes Richard West, Dan Slattery and Matt Castle. Becky Rubin does the flowers and upkeep.
As he keeps an eye on the kitchen, Holmes says, “I run this place like a basketball team. Everybody is important. Everybody plays the game.”
Each booth and table has a name. When the waiters talk about “Cloud Nine,” they me
an the booth by the front window. “Cat’s Eye” is the booth at the back with lights like the eyes of a cat.
At this point, he doesn’t want Sanders 1907 to get any bigger. He just wants it to get better.
Windmill’s Sunday Brunch Just About Takes the Cake
* * *
APRIL 7, 1993
* * *
Poppy-seed bread, breakfast quiche and pull-apart caramel rolls are trademarks of the Sunday champagne brunch served by the Windmill Restaurant. Constant Companion and I went there after church Sunday with Earl and Jan Strinden, and we were able to get a table in the Garden Court atrium. We sat and looked out at the swollen Red River. We watched a big tree bending under the pressure of an ice floe.
The Windmill is an attractive restaurant with a stained glass windmill as the distinguishing feature in the long, maroon-carpeted foyer. There are also curios, such as a cream separator, in the entryway.
On Sunday, we began with juice and champagne. And there was coffee. We moseyed out to the buffet table, where we found a good selection of breads including muffins, bagels, doughnut holes and caramel rolls. There was a tray of fruit, including fresh pineapple, grapes, strawberries, honeydew melon and wedges of watermelon. Beyond that were eggs Benedict, breakfast quiche, pancakes and a white fish in a light sauce.
The Windmill brunch is $7.95. Some people approach it by having breakfast selections first and then going on to lunch items. I sort of cornered the best of both worlds on one plate. With the bread, fruit and fish, I went heavy on the steamed broccoli but skipped the ham.
All four of us made different choices. And we didn’t overlook the desserts, which included slices of blueberry pie. Then we sat and visited.
Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews Page 10