The place is appealing, with a huge fieldstone fireplace in the center and its high vaulted ceiling that rises to 37 feet at its peak. The place has a sporty ambience, with deep green and burgundy plaid carpeting. Golf clubs and golf photos are used on the walls.
The setting is, indeed, ideal. There was a fire glowing in the fireplace when I went to Eagle’s Crest Grill with a couple of friends Feb. 13. We went early in order to avoid any dinner hour crush. We ordered the dinner special—crab-stuffed walleye with bay shrimp in a seafood sauce and flavored with Parmesan cheese and cracked peppercorns ($12.95). We could get a view of the cooks in the kitchen from the open window beyond the bar.
Our salad was nice and not too large, with a variety of greens. I enjoyed mine with vinegar and oil. Dinners are served with baked potato or rice pilaf, house salad and rolls.
Other entrees include chicken cordon bleu ($11.99), filet mignon champignon (8 ounces, $16.99 and 6 ounces, $14.99), sirloin (10 ounces $13.99), grilled halibut (8 ounces $15.99), walleye northern lights (8-ounce serving, $12.99) and stuffed shrimp scampi (five Gulf shrimp stuffed with crab meat and oven-broiled, $14.99). There are four children’s items on the menu, along with three pasta choices, burgers, appetizers and homemade soups and salads.
Our entree was garnished with orange and tomato slices. The walleye was delicious with its well-flavored sauce and stuffing. It was more like a feast.
On the plus side: Dinner rolls are above average. Service is top-notch. Our waiter was Derek Ebertowski.
On the minus side: It would be better if place settings included two forks. We had to save our forks from our salad for our entree. The onion rings atop the salad were white, not red as indicated on the menu. No need during golfing season, but it would be nice if there was a place for diners to hang their coats, rather than on the back of their chairs.
All in all, it was a delightful experience dining at Eagle’s Crest. The staff seems young and energetic and are appropriately dressed in polo shirts with Eagle’s Crest logo and dress shoes. Right now, there are five assisting cooks in the kitchen, four bartenders and a half dozen on the waitstaff. Chef Dan Horski says it is his goal to keep the place busy and full.
Eagle’s Crest Grill continues to operate as a restaurant and catering venue.
Dinner at Lola’s: Everything from Polenta to Fried Leeks
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MARCH 27, 2002
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The smell of the wood-fired ovens, a view of chefs in the open kitchen, tables close together and soft lighting—that’s Lola’s Northern Italian Restaurant in downtown Grand Forks. And since it opened here five years ago, Lola’s has established itself as one of the best bets for dinner.
Lola’s is a unique restaurant set in an old warehouse building. With its old wooden floors, high ceiling and brick walls, it is a delightful setting. It’s a place where you can focus on appetizers and wine, choose pizza or pasta or find an excellent dinner of salmon, lamb, veal or roast duck.
It was the perfect setting for a birthday dinner for my daughter earlier this month. I was glad I had made a reservation for five well in advance, because Lola’s was almost full when we arrived at 6:30 P.M.
Our table was off to the side, near the wine room. Our waitress was with us as we were seated, aptly describing the specials for the evening—a venison dinner and a pasta with shrimp and chicken. She gave us the prices of around $20 and $14, which is helpful.
Then, as we turned our attention to the menu, she described the wines. We ended up with a bottle of Clos du Bois Merlot ($29), and we got serious about our dinner selections. Mary Golden (MG) knew what she wanted immediately: the eggplant parmesan ($15.50), which she thoroughly enjoyed. Al Golden (AG) chose grilled Italian sausage served with polenta, marsala sauce, roasted red pepper and wild mushrooms. He said the polenta was especially good. My son-in-law, Dale Sandstrom (DS), ordered butternut squash ravioli served in a nutmeg cream sauce ($14.25) and a salad ($2). Daughter Gail Hagerty (GH) ordered grilled salmon with a honey and mustard glaze and fried leeks ($19.50). So I said, “Likewise.” She studies food and knows what to order, so I often just ask for the same. And this was a marvelous dinner, served with asparagus and rosemary roasted potatoes. The fried leeks added another taste and crisp texture to the meal.
It was an excellent meal, preceded with warm focaccia bread in baskets and an accompanying spread of butter flavored with sun-dried tomatoes. With a meal such as that, none of us would have wanted appetizers. However, I couldn’t resist ordering a tiramisu dessert ($5.50) to celebrate the birthday of GH. Our waitress was most willing to bring extra plates and forks so that we could all taste it. And this is a specialty at Lola’s: delicate and sweet, but not too sweet. In a word, excellent.
Lola’s was a perfect choice for this kind of a dinner party. The place was almost crowded on a busy Saturday night, and that made for a festive feeling. Lola’s is slightly upscale, but still down-to-earth with its white paper tablecloths. The restaurant has appeal to a wide clientele. Owner Doug Noll says he is trying to make the restaurant affordable to college students, and caters to them with pizza and tap beer for $5 after 9:30 P.M. The restaurant also features pasta dishes in the $6 and $7 range early in the week. Students are an important part of the business, he says. Maybe 35 percent.
The staff at Lola’s seems to be well-trained. Noll says he holds regular sessions to keep waiters knowledgeable about the wines. He wants his servers to be accommodating and never say no to a customer. If they have special requests, he says, Lola’s will meet them.
Take In Dinner, Play at Starlites
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JUNE 5, 2002
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You have a choice of four entrees when you do dinner at the new Starlites Dinner Theatre in the Grand Cities Mall. I contemplated the choices of stuffed chicken breast, pork tenderloin, sirloin medallions and vegetarian lasagna. Then, I ordered up two pork tenderloin dinners and hoped my friend Barbara Lander (BL) would like that.
She did. We found the pork tender and tasty with its Grand Marnier sauce. But first came the salad with parmesan, and croutons that were soft enough to eat. When I get little bullets for croutons, I just pile them up at the edge of my salad plate. The pork tenderloins were accompanied by a baked potato and green peas in the pod. Dinner rolls were a cut above some you get with a meal.
Starlites Dinner Theatre has finished its run of Lend Me a Tenor and is starting Singin’ in the Rain on June 12. After that, it’s a mystery, The Hound of the Baskervilles, from July 24 through Aug. 25. You can make reservations by calling the theater number below. Prices for the show and dinner range from $35 to $47, depending on whether you are a student, a senior, a regular feller or a group, and whether you attend on a weekend, choose a matinee or go in the evening.
Although the newly renovated theater has a kitchen, the managers have found it more feasible to have the food catered. The contract presently is with GF Goodribs. All entrees are served with a salad, rolls, vegetables and a nonalcoholic beverage. We chose coffee, although there was a wide range of soft drinks available. Appetizers, desserts and drinks from the bar are served at an additional cost. Dessert selections include Snickers or caramel-apple cheesecake ($4.75).
It was amazing to see how the former movie theater has been transformed—at an outlay of $120,000—into a pleasant dinner theater. You feel welcome from the time you enter the theater area in the mall with its blue neon lights. We were greeted by Dan Eggen and his wife, Marla Kalin, who operate the nonprofit professional theater. At this time, one of the former twin theaters is being used. There are plans to have two of them up and running.
The dining area is spacious and attractive, with several levels of tables with white cloths and blue-cloth dinner napkins. We enjoyed the soft music during the leisurely dinner. The theater allows an hour and a half for serving before the 7:30 P.M. shows. Some people come only for the show.
We had a five-minute warning before the show started. And then a on
e-minute notice. We sat back and thoroughly enjoyed the show, which in itself is cleverly written and was done exceedingly well by the Starlites cast of actors.
The food, along with the friendly ambience and high-quality show, was good enough to set the scene for a pleasant evening. The audience was thin, but management of Starlites is optimistic. They hope to build audiences as new shows come up every six weeks.
Starlites was evicted from Grand Cities Mall in August 2002 for nonpayment of its rent.
Sachi Serves Sushi at Kon Nechi Wa’s in Grand Cities Mall
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JULY 3, 2002
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Sachi MacGregor thinks retirement is the time to do something for which you have a passion. Her passion is preparing Japanese food, and she has opened a small cafe in Grand Cities Mall, where she sells teriyaki meals and sushi. Going into her third month, she couldn’t be happier. Along with her love of cooking, she enjoys her customers.
Her partner in the business is her husband, Lester MacGregor, a retired U.S. Postal Service employee. But he says it’s Sachi’s business and that he is just the chief bottle washer. Others on the staff are two women who come in to make up everything fresh each morning—Chika Price, who originally came from Japan, and Harumi Pavlicek, a native of Okinawa.
Sachi was born in Japan and met her husband in Okinawa when he was there in the U.S. Marine Corps. The couple has five grown children and six grandchildren.
You get a warm welcome from the MacGregors when you go to Kon Nechi Wa’s at the front of Grand Cities Mall. The location formerly was occupied by Antonio’s Pizza, and by Figaro’s before that. The MacGregors explain that kon nechi wa means “good afternoon.”
They have a special every day for $4.95 and teriyaki meals ranging in price from $6.95 to $9. They serve three kinds of sushi, and it is made up to order. Their aim is to get orders out within four to five minutes, but they can’t always meet their self-imposed deadline.
Sushi is described in my guide from the Association of Food Journalists as “Japanese; various combinations of seasoned rice, vegetables, raw fish (sashimi), wasabi, seaweed (nori).”
My first visit to Kon Nechi Wa’s was with Barbara Lander (BL) late in June. BL tried the beef stir-fry with noodles and found it very good. I went for the daily special of fried rice with chicken and vegetables, an egg roll and beverage. I found it to be a tasty and satisfying meal. On a second visit, I had another special of stir-fried rice topped with pea pods, carrot slivers and onion, accompanied by a crisp egg roll and choice of soda or tea.
I visited with Tammy Tanke (TT), who had come in to pick up sushi on her way home from work. TT said she does this often and enjoys it. She chose Inari Sushi with seaweed wrap, seasoning, sushi rice, daikon-sweet pickle and ginger ($4.50). TT appreciates the fresh ginger. The wasabi, she says, has a good bite.
You get a little container of wasabi with your sushi, and Sachi recommends mixing it with soy sauce.
Other choices of sushi are crab roll, made with crab meat, sushi rice, seaweed wrap, egg, cucumber, ginger and wasabi ($4.50). Then, there’s my favorite, California Wrap Sushi, with rice, crab meat, egg, avocado, ginger and wasabi ($4.50).
Customers enjoy watching from behind the glassed-in work area as Sachi makes up the sushi. And Sachi is living out a dream in her cafe. For 25 years, she sold cosmetics and jewelry and managed the department for J.C. Penney Co. “Basically,” she says with a smile, “I was married to J.C. Penney. It’s a wonderful feeling now to be retired and have a second chance.”
She started out in the food business with a small cafe on wheels, taking her Japanese foods to events in the summertime. She is a charter member of the Farmers Market on Saturdays in Grand Forks. She will be at the Fourth of July celebration at University Park and Catfish Days in East Grand Forks. Meanwhile, she wears a happy smile behind the cheery counter of Kon Nechi Wa’s.
She makes the sweet-and-sour sauce and hot sauce that are on each table. She orders ingredients from Winnipeg, Minneapolis and Fargo. Regularly, she makes up a fresh batch of Japanese doughnuts (50 cents) that she keeps in a jar on the counter.
“In my mother’s generation,” she says, “if you can’t make these doughnuts, you are not ready to get married.”
Irishman’s Shanty—Far More than a Supper Club
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OCTOBER 23, 2002
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The Irishman’s Shanty, nestled among commercial buildings in the south end of Crookston, is a place where you can find a top-grade steak for a moderate price. And you can enjoy it in cozy, unpretentious surroundings.
As we drove away from the supper club on a recent Saturday evening, I said, “I would sure go back.”
My friend, Barbara Lander (BL), said, “I would, too.”
The dinner special was 9-ounce Cajun prime rib for $11.25, and we thought about that. But since I rarely have steak, I decided to order filet mignon wrapped in bacon ($12.75). BL ordered a combination plate with two jumbo shrimp and a half rack of ribs ($13.75). Our dinners included the salad bar, a mini loaf of sourdough bread and choice of potato or wild rice. The salad bar offered choices of several salads and an excellent homemade Minnesota cheese soup. Salad greens were crisp and inviting. The cottage cheese was fresh.
I ordered my steak medium well because I can’t stand the sight of blood. It was top-notch. BL found the shrimp and ribs to her liking, but she mentioned she would like it better with the barbecue sauce on the side rather than slathered all over the ribs. Her half portion was so large she took part of it home in a little plastic box.
We were too full for dessert, but I noticed the Shanty specialties include Irish Cream Pie, Caramel Apple and Snicker Pie as well as Turtle Cheesecake.
Irishman’s Shanty is sort of a square, one-story building with a lot of shamrocks on it. Inside, the decor is Irish, of course. The bar sports, in the ceiling, what might be the world’s largest shamrock made of wire mesh.
The menu is great because it isn’t too complicated and is easy to read. It’s complete with steaks, chicken, ham, fish, seafood. Entrees include liver with onions and bacon. And there is a section for the lighter appetite at lighter prices.
Owner Paul Gregg says he realizes many people don’t want to eat large portions. Thus, the light choices. And, he says, the Shanty is perfectly willing to serve half-orders or split orders for people. On the other hand, he says, many of his customers are active blue-collar workers who want to fill up. The half-pound hamburger is the signature item for Irishman’s Shanty.
The Irishman’s Shanty is far more than a supper club. It serves an early morning breakfast that draws a small but steady following. When it’s finished, a second round of area farmers come in for coffee and shake the dice to see who pays. And then there’s lunch.
Stormy Sledster’s Makes a Lively Addition to the Downtown Scene
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MAY 7, 2003
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Ever since it opened downtown in February, Stormy Sledster’s has been a busy place—especially at mealtimes and after work. The place is sort of dark and funky and has a publike feel about it. Still, it attracts people of all ages and has specials for children and seniors on its menu.
The place is operated by Norman Braaten, who is known as “Stormy” to his partner, Jeff Spicer. Braaten is a somewhat modest man who wouldn’t want to name a restaurant after himself. So, he chose the name Stormy Sledster’s and uses sleds as his decor. Braaten has collected old sleds, skis and snowshoes. He says sleds usually bring happy memories to people, and he likes to display them.
On four visits to Stormy Sledster’s, I have found the food to be above average. The prices are moderate. Service is good.
On my first visit, before an event in the downtown Empire Arts Center, I tried the sirloin special. This was a good meal with a salad and baked potato. My only mistake was asking for the steak medium. I should have said medium rare. I shared an appetizer of chili con queso with Katie Mullen (KM), and we
agreed that almost could be a meal in itself. KM, who professes to be a cheese freak, ordered the bleu cheese burger ($5.49) and gave it a thumbs-up. Jamey David (JD) ordered baked rigato ($7.99), which turned out to be a tasty and hearty dish. The serving was so large he couldn’t finish it. With this entree you get spicy Italian sausage or chicken tossed with mushrooms, rigato pasta and sun-dried tomato sauce baked with mozzarella cheese.
On another visit, KM ordered a chimichanga ($6.99) and rated it “really, really good.” Barbara Lander (BL) was pleased enough with a turkey bacon melt sandwich ($6.79) to want to go back to Sledster’s again. The sandwich is served on grilled potato bread and comes with fries that get high marks.
The soups at Stormy Sledster’s are good. For light lunches, I have tried the tortilla and vegetable beef. And before the Shrine Circus, we found the place works well for children, too. The three grandsons of Joyce Pond (JP) and Bill Pond (BP) were pleased with the lemonade (since they aren’t allowed to drink pop). They liked the pizza and grilled cheese sandwiches. JP ordered taco salad ($5.79 when served with beef and $6.79 with spicy chicken). BP chose a Reuben sandwich special.
The dinner section of the menu includes walleye ($9.99), a 10-ounce ribeye ($10.99) and an 8-ounce filet mignon ($13.99). With its eclectic menu and its varied clientele, Stormy Sledster’s seems to have a good future downtown. Braaten and his staff obviously are hardworking. He also has been operating the Fireside Grill in Thompson, N.D., for the past four years. It is the only restaurant in Thompson and has built a following of customers from nearby towns.
Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews Page 16