One of my favorite spots to eat in St.Paul is a small wonderous gem called Brasa. It's a Tex-Mex styled rotisserie with an amazing array of choice cuts of meat and premium side dishes. I went with a friend and we ordered a bunch of different items. One of the nice things about Brasa is that you can choose the size of what item you want, which makes this place perfect for a group of friends or a chill date night spot. The small dining space (both locations are build within like an old fire station styled garage, and have decent sized patio seating in the summer months)
We ordered the catfish fillets, the pulled pork and the shredded beef. All 3 items were super fresh and perfectly seasoned. The pork and beef was juicy and had the right kick of savory spice to compliment any of the sides on the menu (I ordered the sweet candied yams and a corn muffin, my friend had chips and fresh guacamole). They also have some neat drink options, from a pineapple-ginger soda made from scratch, to Mexican Coca-Cola and Dr.Pepper, and a short rotating selection of local craft beers. All of the food is locally grown and organic (if you care about that kind of thing) and they even have vegetarian and gluten free options (if that tickles your fancy as well)
Brasa has it going on. Fantastic food, wonderful decor, just an all around great dining experience. 5 Flames for Brasa and the Black Star winner for my top restaurant choice in St. Paul.
Brasa Rotisserie
777 Grand Ave
St.Paul minn 55105
651-224-1302
(Also have a location on Hennepin Ave in Minneapolis)
March 19, 2012
Grab Bag #5: St.Pat's Recap, New Blog Features and I wanna bang a softball player
* St.Patrick's Day was absolutely awesome. After dealing with some illness and a back injury earlier in the week, I battled to get healthy in time and I had tons of booze and fun with my best friends up here. Breakfast was great (I am a beast at French Toast apparently) and I'm already waiting for next year's celebration (Buy the booze early, it falls on a Sunday, but that law might get tossed out by next year for this reason alone)
* One new segment I will be adding to the blog is music reviews. People can suggest/submit albums for me to listen to and review. The first set of albums I will review in April is the new release, "MMXII", from my all-time favorite band Killing Joke. And in May, the long awaited release from 90's band Garbage, with their CD "Not Your Kind Of People" I'm open to all genres of music and it can be local or national or international. One album will be chosen per month to be reviewed. E-mail any suggestions to courtsideseatstohell@gmail.com
* If you read the Brasa review, you'll see I gave it an award called the Black Star. I will be giving out these awards to some of my favorite stuff in the cities over time.
* A friend of mine once joked that I have a "Sports Fetish" because of my devotion to all things inclusive of the subject, but I defintely have notice that I have a pretty strong attraction to any women involved in sports. Most crack jokes that women playing sports such as hockey, softball or basketball are mostly into other women, but a lot of them actually are into men and they struggle because lots of (bitch ass weak ass) men can't handle being with a woman who is more athletically competitive than them. I wholeheartedly disagree. I would definitely be down with getting it on with a tall volleyball player or a cute, well built softball player. Extra points if they keep the hair up and wear the uniform to bed ;)
* One new segment I will be adding to the blog is music reviews. People can suggest/submit albums for me to listen to and review. The first set of albums I will review in April is the new release, "MMXII", from my all-time favorite band Killing Joke. And in May, the long awaited release from 90's band Garbage, with their CD "Not Your Kind Of People" I'm open to all genres of music and it can be local or national or international. One album will be chosen per month to be reviewed. E-mail any suggestions to courtsideseatstohell@gmail.com
* If you read the Brasa review, you'll see I gave it an award called the Black Star. I will be giving out these awards to some of my favorite stuff in the cities over time.
* A friend of mine once joked that I have a "Sports Fetish" because of my devotion to all things inclusive of the subject, but I defintely have notice that I have a pretty strong attraction to any women involved in sports. Most crack jokes that women playing sports such as hockey, softball or basketball are mostly into other women, but a lot of them actually are into men and they struggle because lots of (bitch ass weak ass) men can't handle being with a woman who is more athletically competitive than them. I wholeheartedly disagree. I would definitely be down with getting it on with a tall volleyball player or a cute, well built softball player. Extra points if they keep the hair up and wear the uniform to bed ;)
March 14, 2012
Sooo excited for St. Pat's Day
March is here. The snow has melted, the air is warm and my favorite holiday is here. March 17th: Saint Patrick's Day. Not many people here in the US know why St.Patrick is celebrated more than any other saint in history. And damn near anyone knows what was so special about a priest who was a former slave in Ireland who found God and used a shamrock in his sermons. No offense, but this snoozefest story isn't why I love this day.
Some of you might know that I am a fan of drinking alcohol from time to time. And with the change of the season and the lack of enforcement of public drinking (something considered illegal the other 364 days of the year) makes this day absolutely spectacular. My favorite kind of booze is irish whiskey. I love the color Green, I have an attraction to redheaded women (usually an irish trait) and the Irish accent is one of the coolest ever (next to the "Chicago Accent" that some say exists. I dunno what exactly that is)
Every year since moving to St. Paul and living near the route for the downtown parade, I have thrown a breakfast party. I wake up around 7am, shower and open up a beer, then proceed to cook for my friends and we drink and eat before going to the parade. While I understand this holiday is mildly religious based (although it's not my observed religion) I feel that having friends together and enjoying a great time on a nice warm day brings great karma and peace to the rest of the year. And I enjoy drinking all day :)
So I'll leave you with my favorite toast:
"Sine metu, Sine amore, Sine dolore"
"Without fear, Without love, Without regrets"
Slainte! Have a safe & awesome St. Patty's Day. And call a fuckin' cab.
Some of you might know that I am a fan of drinking alcohol from time to time. And with the change of the season and the lack of enforcement of public drinking (something considered illegal the other 364 days of the year) makes this day absolutely spectacular. My favorite kind of booze is irish whiskey. I love the color Green, I have an attraction to redheaded women (usually an irish trait) and the Irish accent is one of the coolest ever (next to the "Chicago Accent" that some say exists. I dunno what exactly that is)
Every year since moving to St. Paul and living near the route for the downtown parade, I have thrown a breakfast party. I wake up around 7am, shower and open up a beer, then proceed to cook for my friends and we drink and eat before going to the parade. While I understand this holiday is mildly religious based (although it's not my observed religion) I feel that having friends together and enjoying a great time on a nice warm day brings great karma and peace to the rest of the year. And I enjoy drinking all day :)
So I'll leave you with my favorite toast:
"Sine metu, Sine amore, Sine dolore"
"Without fear, Without love, Without regrets"
Slainte! Have a safe & awesome St. Patty's Day. And call a fuckin' cab.
March 7, 2012
caught in a slump...
So, as previously mentioned, I live in the worst dating city in america. Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In addition to being one terrible place to attempt to find a date, it's a really awful place to try and find a "hook up" as well.
I am currently on a near 11 month run of no sex. I feel like a priest, or a monk or any other person who goes through this type of purgatory on earth. I have lowered, raised and re-lowered my stances on who'd I sleep with. Basically now at the point where any girl between 18 and 42 without any sexual diseases who's "DTF (as the kids call it)" is open tryout.
Now, I would love to find the super awesome girl of my dreams to date forever, but that hasn't really materalised up here at all (all the cool attractive girls I've met are taken or un-interested) but I don't get why it's so hard to find clean, non-slutty women who want fun, unattached sex. (I'm beating a dead hoar, just read "Worst Dating City in America")
But one question I have is, what do women do to break sex slumps? Granted, it's pretty hard to be a girl and not find someone who wants to sleep with you (date article covers that too) but when it does happen, do chicks do like most guys do?
In the baseball (and other sports) communities, there's a time when a player falls into a slumping streak, and said player will go into a bar or club and find an very unattractive female and sleep with them in an effort to bust the slump.
While the nature of "Slumpbusting" seems very mean-spirited, it makes one wonder if this is a solid method of reversing a string of bad luck.
Sure, I would feel pretty bad about possibly crushing someone if they mistake my sexual advances for an emotional attachment (even though the odds of sudden emotional attachment are on the same par of the T'Wolves odds to win the NBA Title)
But at the same time, dealing with a sex slump is painful in its own right. I wouldn't wish this kind of bad luck on my 2nd worse enemy (my 1st worse, probably, but that guy's an asshole for sure). The mental aspect is what makes it difficult. Am I really that bad looking? Hell, I've had some drunk chicks shut me down during this slump. It makes your re-tool your approach and overthink things, when it all should be simple.
In closing, I realise, like everyone else that steps in the batter's box, I have to keep swinging and eventually one will connect.
In addition to being one terrible place to attempt to find a date, it's a really awful place to try and find a "hook up" as well.
I am currently on a near 11 month run of no sex. I feel like a priest, or a monk or any other person who goes through this type of purgatory on earth. I have lowered, raised and re-lowered my stances on who'd I sleep with. Basically now at the point where any girl between 18 and 42 without any sexual diseases who's "DTF (as the kids call it)" is open tryout.
Now, I would love to find the super awesome girl of my dreams to date forever, but that hasn't really materalised up here at all (all the cool attractive girls I've met are taken or un-interested) but I don't get why it's so hard to find clean, non-slutty women who want fun, unattached sex. (I'm beating a dead hoar, just read "Worst Dating City in America")
But one question I have is, what do women do to break sex slumps? Granted, it's pretty hard to be a girl and not find someone who wants to sleep with you (date article covers that too) but when it does happen, do chicks do like most guys do?
In the baseball (and other sports) communities, there's a time when a player falls into a slumping streak, and said player will go into a bar or club and find an very unattractive female and sleep with them in an effort to bust the slump.
While the nature of "Slumpbusting" seems very mean-spirited, it makes one wonder if this is a solid method of reversing a string of bad luck.
Sure, I would feel pretty bad about possibly crushing someone if they mistake my sexual advances for an emotional attachment (even though the odds of sudden emotional attachment are on the same par of the T'Wolves odds to win the NBA Title)
But at the same time, dealing with a sex slump is painful in its own right. I wouldn't wish this kind of bad luck on my 2nd worse enemy (my 1st worse, probably, but that guy's an asshole for sure). The mental aspect is what makes it difficult. Am I really that bad looking? Hell, I've had some drunk chicks shut me down during this slump. It makes your re-tool your approach and overthink things, when it all should be simple.
In closing, I realise, like everyone else that steps in the batter's box, I have to keep swinging and eventually one will connect.
Grab Bag #4: it was nice out today...
* - There is peace and solace in shaving. I'm not good at it for some reason (I don't want to cut my fuckin face open) but lately I have been opting to shave at home instead of getting it done with my haircut. Something about playing music, pouring up a shot of whiskey and doing some manscaping (as they call it) is really calming, especially before bed. I understand why chicks are into the whole makeup/spa/face stuff now.
* - What's the obsession with these competitive cooking shows? I remember the boom of the Food Networks and I enjoyed watching one cook in a kitchen who knew what the hell he or she is doing, and they plan a dish, cook it and show you in detail how to make it. Now it's all this time clock, surprise ingredient bullshit. If I want to watch a competition, I'll cut to the game, otherwise just show me how to make eggs benedict and fuckin french toast.
* - Ok, I did watch 3 hours of Chopped, and it was kinda good. But still, enough with the damn king/queen of the kitchen shit.
* - I'm getting really fucking sick and damn tired of the homeless people up here in st.paul. They take begging to a new level. What's with them asking for cash, then when you say "I don't have any cash on me" they ask to walk to an ATM with you. The Fuck? No person of the street has ever made such an obnoxious request of me yet, and thank Tebow because I would pose the question of how long have they been homeless, only to answer it myself with long enough to not realise that you can only get 10 or 20 bucks minimum out of an ATM. And I'll be dammed if I give someone on the streets out here 20 bucks. Fuck that.
* - This summer, I will be able to accomplish a wonderful feat that has been nearly 2 and a half decades in the making. I am 8 sporting events away from 500 games in my lifetime. I counted up all of the sports events I've been to from Sox games to Hawks and Wolves and all sports in between. I plan on having a big group party for Game No. 500. I want to thank my wonderful parents who made majority of that happen. It will be one of my proudest moments in life.
It's hump day, go make it happen ;)
Later y'all.
* - What's the obsession with these competitive cooking shows? I remember the boom of the Food Networks and I enjoyed watching one cook in a kitchen who knew what the hell he or she is doing, and they plan a dish, cook it and show you in detail how to make it. Now it's all this time clock, surprise ingredient bullshit. If I want to watch a competition, I'll cut to the game, otherwise just show me how to make eggs benedict and fuckin french toast.
* - Ok, I did watch 3 hours of Chopped, and it was kinda good. But still, enough with the damn king/queen of the kitchen shit.
* - I'm getting really fucking sick and damn tired of the homeless people up here in st.paul. They take begging to a new level. What's with them asking for cash, then when you say "I don't have any cash on me" they ask to walk to an ATM with you. The Fuck? No person of the street has ever made such an obnoxious request of me yet, and thank Tebow because I would pose the question of how long have they been homeless, only to answer it myself with long enough to not realise that you can only get 10 or 20 bucks minimum out of an ATM. And I'll be dammed if I give someone on the streets out here 20 bucks. Fuck that.
* - This summer, I will be able to accomplish a wonderful feat that has been nearly 2 and a half decades in the making. I am 8 sporting events away from 500 games in my lifetime. I counted up all of the sports events I've been to from Sox games to Hawks and Wolves and all sports in between. I plan on having a big group party for Game No. 500. I want to thank my wonderful parents who made majority of that happen. It will be one of my proudest moments in life.
It's hump day, go make it happen ;)
Later y'all.
March 4, 2012
fuck a house party...
So, I'm writing this at a bar. I just left a pretty fucking boring house party for the 9,635th time in 4 years here in min-ah-soo-tah. I've probably been to about 30 good house parties (24 of those I've hosted)
Not to blow my own horn, but I'm a decent party host. I know what kind of food and drink to serve, I know what kind of music to play and I know what groups of people to put together. Pretty much the 3 key elements of throwing a party.
Most college parties, despite the depiction in TV and Movies, are utter fucking garbage. Here's the breakdown of a typical college party here:
* Beer: Keg of crappy shit (gotta buy a cup) or everyone brings crap (keystone, mich golden hell, the rare pack of Red Dog, 211, or Mickey's) and they play Beer Nazi with their shitty selections.
* Booze: Phillips vodka, McAdams or Windsor Whiskey, Ron Diaz or Sailor Jerry's (if your lucky) for rum, and Cuervo gold for tequila. All guarenteed to give you gut rot/indigestion/horrible hangovers
*Music: Wiz Kalifah to Lil' Wayne to Dubstep. Stays on dubstep until someone requests a decent song, then back to Wayne and back to Dubstep. Rarely, a Britney Spears track will appear, if enough girls present.
*Other: I don't smoke weed, which means there will be tons of weed. Probably pills too. Drugs are bad, m'kay.
*People: Ok, we got about 6 classifications of people at an average College party.
1. Douchebag (male): He's digging the beer, loving the dubstep, and hitting on every girl in an obnoxious manner. I wanna fight these guys at a party.
2. Drunk Slut (female): She's hammered, probably between a 5-8 on the female scale, and 3 scenarios will happen at the end of the night (A. You take her home, bang her, and catch something. B. You get rejected by her, and she pukes, saving you from trouble. C. You hang with her, starts making out with you, then stops for whatever reason, only to bang some other guy, and/or puke)
3. Stoner/Druggie (male): He's there for one thing and one thing only. "Where's the weed at? " is his rally cry. Don't let him drink, he will puke everywhere. He's a douche, but not THE Douchebag.
4. Bougie (female) Kanye West nailed this femme fuckup on the head. "Bougie girl, grab her hand, fuck that bitch, she don't wanna dance." Since I am in minnesota and not paris, no french will be excused. This lady can seriously go freeze in the cold. She's there with a group of drunk sluts or dating a douchebag. She will ask for a beer and look at you like a bleeding quadriplegic leper when you try to start a convo with her.
5. Chatter (male): "oh hey, you play music?" "What kind of beer you like?" "They got some weed here?" "Where are the bitches?"
Shut. The. Fuck. Up.
You are talking too much. No one cares that you downloaded the new Mumford and Sons single, or if you love Summit's new Spring IPA. Get out of my face, pronto.
6. Anti-social (both): Ok, you are at a party. Probably by choice, maybe not. But either way, at least make the effort to give a fuck about where you are. If you want to not be around people, then leave. Otherwise you are being a fuckin douche.
I am tired writing about these assholes, so I will wrap this post up. I dunno how to end this post other than with a little quote my departed uncle used to say, "Stay with your own party."
Not to blow my own horn, but I'm a decent party host. I know what kind of food and drink to serve, I know what kind of music to play and I know what groups of people to put together. Pretty much the 3 key elements of throwing a party.
Most college parties, despite the depiction in TV and Movies, are utter fucking garbage. Here's the breakdown of a typical college party here:
* Beer: Keg of crappy shit (gotta buy a cup) or everyone brings crap (keystone, mich golden hell, the rare pack of Red Dog, 211, or Mickey's) and they play Beer Nazi with their shitty selections.
* Booze: Phillips vodka, McAdams or Windsor Whiskey, Ron Diaz or Sailor Jerry's (if your lucky) for rum, and Cuervo gold for tequila. All guarenteed to give you gut rot/indigestion/horrible hangovers
*Music: Wiz Kalifah to Lil' Wayne to Dubstep. Stays on dubstep until someone requests a decent song, then back to Wayne and back to Dubstep. Rarely, a Britney Spears track will appear, if enough girls present.
*Other: I don't smoke weed, which means there will be tons of weed. Probably pills too. Drugs are bad, m'kay.
*People: Ok, we got about 6 classifications of people at an average College party.
1. Douchebag (male): He's digging the beer, loving the dubstep, and hitting on every girl in an obnoxious manner. I wanna fight these guys at a party.
2. Drunk Slut (female): She's hammered, probably between a 5-8 on the female scale, and 3 scenarios will happen at the end of the night (A. You take her home, bang her, and catch something. B. You get rejected by her, and she pukes, saving you from trouble. C. You hang with her, starts making out with you, then stops for whatever reason, only to bang some other guy, and/or puke)
3. Stoner/Druggie (male): He's there for one thing and one thing only. "Where's the weed at? " is his rally cry. Don't let him drink, he will puke everywhere. He's a douche, but not THE Douchebag.
4. Bougie (female) Kanye West nailed this femme fuckup on the head. "Bougie girl, grab her hand, fuck that bitch, she don't wanna dance." Since I am in minnesota and not paris, no french will be excused. This lady can seriously go freeze in the cold. She's there with a group of drunk sluts or dating a douchebag. She will ask for a beer and look at you like a bleeding quadriplegic leper when you try to start a convo with her.
5. Chatter (male): "oh hey, you play music?" "What kind of beer you like?" "They got some weed here?" "Where are the bitches?"
Shut. The. Fuck. Up.
You are talking too much. No one cares that you downloaded the new Mumford and Sons single, or if you love Summit's new Spring IPA. Get out of my face, pronto.
6. Anti-social (both): Ok, you are at a party. Probably by choice, maybe not. But either way, at least make the effort to give a fuck about where you are. If you want to not be around people, then leave. Otherwise you are being a fuckin douche.
I am tired writing about these assholes, so I will wrap this post up. I dunno how to end this post other than with a little quote my departed uncle used to say, "Stay with your own party."
March 1, 2012
Food Review - Fogo de Chao
So one of the things I realised today is now that I have this blog, and I go out to eat and drink a lot, I can start doing reviews of restaurants and bars that I go to
Yesterday, I visited Fogo de Chao for the 1st time. I went with a friend for lunch, walked in without reservations (place is really large with plenty of tables) and we were promptly greeted by friendly staff and a pleasant ambiance.
How Fogo's menu works is you have a coaster-like card that signals the Gauchos or Meat servers (giggity) and when you flip the coaster to Green, about 10 gauchos will approach you within 5 minutes, holding different cuts of meat from Top & Bottom Sirloin to Filet Mignon to Pork Ribs and Sausages and Chicken wrapped in Bacon. You can mix and match and load your plate up. What's neat about the meats is that they are cooked to different levels on each side or each piece. For example, my friend had Bottom Sirloin cooked medium rare, which was cut off of a side up top from the spit. I had a well done piece cut from the bottom.
Another neat attraction is the giant salad bar. Now as a strict carnivore, usually the salad bar is just something that I walk past when I'm looking for the restroom, but here, they had a fantastic spread that might even please some of those vegetarian people (maybe). I built a large salad with boston lettuce, mango-tomato type of chutney, cucumber onion vinaigrette, and (the best part) 5 full strips of perfectly cooked bacon. They have over 20 types of toppings to choose from, even a spread of deli meats and 3 types of chicken salad.
I had 5 different cuts of meat (Filet Mignon, top + bottom sirloin, prime rib and Pork ribs) along with the 3 sides they bring to the table (seasoned mashed potatoes, polenta cakes with parmesan and, my favorite choice, fried plantains with brown sugar)
The food was hot, well seasoned and filling. While the ribs were a bit overcooked and dry (naturally, no sauce due to the serving style) the steaks were on point. The servers do a wonderful job of helping to guide you through and if you're looking for a certain kind of meat, just ask and they'll bring it to you. (Looking back, it's kind of like the strip club of restaurants, the way they come around and whatnot)
After a wonderful lunch, I topped it off with a slice of magnificent, freshly made Key Lime Pie (my favorite dessert, by the way), served with a fresh lime syrup lightly drizzled on top, this was a heavenly finish to an exquisite meal.
Lunch time is a fantastic time to check this place out, with the tab coming in around $35 per person, you realise that you can eat a world class steak, and as much as you want of it, for a bargain price. Just make sure you come with an empty stomach, because you'll definitely leave this place full.
I give Fogo de Chao 5 out of 5 Flames (that's the unit of measurement here at CS2H)
Fogo de Chao
645 Hennepin Ave
Downtown Minneapolis
612-338-1344 (make reservations if you plan on having dinner there)
Yesterday, I visited Fogo de Chao for the 1st time. I went with a friend for lunch, walked in without reservations (place is really large with plenty of tables) and we were promptly greeted by friendly staff and a pleasant ambiance.
How Fogo's menu works is you have a coaster-like card that signals the Gauchos or Meat servers (giggity) and when you flip the coaster to Green, about 10 gauchos will approach you within 5 minutes, holding different cuts of meat from Top & Bottom Sirloin to Filet Mignon to Pork Ribs and Sausages and Chicken wrapped in Bacon. You can mix and match and load your plate up. What's neat about the meats is that they are cooked to different levels on each side or each piece. For example, my friend had Bottom Sirloin cooked medium rare, which was cut off of a side up top from the spit. I had a well done piece cut from the bottom.
Another neat attraction is the giant salad bar. Now as a strict carnivore, usually the salad bar is just something that I walk past when I'm looking for the restroom, but here, they had a fantastic spread that might even please some of those vegetarian people (maybe). I built a large salad with boston lettuce, mango-tomato type of chutney, cucumber onion vinaigrette, and (the best part) 5 full strips of perfectly cooked bacon. They have over 20 types of toppings to choose from, even a spread of deli meats and 3 types of chicken salad.
I had 5 different cuts of meat (Filet Mignon, top + bottom sirloin, prime rib and Pork ribs) along with the 3 sides they bring to the table (seasoned mashed potatoes, polenta cakes with parmesan and, my favorite choice, fried plantains with brown sugar)
The food was hot, well seasoned and filling. While the ribs were a bit overcooked and dry (naturally, no sauce due to the serving style) the steaks were on point. The servers do a wonderful job of helping to guide you through and if you're looking for a certain kind of meat, just ask and they'll bring it to you. (Looking back, it's kind of like the strip club of restaurants, the way they come around and whatnot)
After a wonderful lunch, I topped it off with a slice of magnificent, freshly made Key Lime Pie (my favorite dessert, by the way), served with a fresh lime syrup lightly drizzled on top, this was a heavenly finish to an exquisite meal.
Lunch time is a fantastic time to check this place out, with the tab coming in around $35 per person, you realise that you can eat a world class steak, and as much as you want of it, for a bargain price. Just make sure you come with an empty stomach, because you'll definitely leave this place full.
I give Fogo de Chao 5 out of 5 Flames (that's the unit of measurement here at CS2H)
Fogo de Chao
645 Hennepin Ave
Downtown Minneapolis
612-338-1344 (make reservations if you plan on having dinner there)
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