Conan's curry thread brought to mind several restaurants I really miss or drove by often, thinking , I will stop there some day.
There was a Tex-Mex in the Twin Cities Two Pesos I went by often for years but never stopped at, still bugs me but I stopped at the place that replaced it twice, Cowboy Slim's and wondered why both times.
I finally stopped at the Sunrise Inn and it closed a few weeks before.
Rocky Rococo's on Hennepin, stopped there few times but long gone as are most places I hit in the Uptown area.
The Mexican restaruant on E. Hennepin , back when such things were rare. It is still there, I think, but the whole are is now Latino/Mexican so it no longer sticks out like a sore thumb.
Lincoln Del, ask anyone who ate in the Twin Cities and ask what they miss, this one is usually on the list.
Tony's Pizza downtown Minneapolis, again, drove by but was closed when I finally decided to eat there.
Two other places in outstate Minn. I was going to hit, both burned down last year.
I think I am a curse for restaurants. IF I want to go there, sure death.

I remember Lincoln Dell off of 494 in Bloomington. I only went there once, but liked the place. The problem is that they were still doing new York deli like in the old days when there was competition to make the biggest sandwiches, and biggest everything. People's tastes changed and we became more health conscious, and I didn't like the giant portions. Brothers Deli in Minneapolis has adapted well in that they still do superb deli (with the rye bread, pickles, potato salad, etc.) but they have options for more human-sized portions. I've been to the one on the skyway and it's always busy. A fine place that I highly recommend. They may have other locations.


Cecil's in St. Paul used to be good, but they changed their bread and I don't like them anymore. I don't know if they're still in business.


Perkins is a disaster now. They used to be an institution, but we've been there a couple of times recently and it was a bad experience both times. Their thing is to take classics that should not be tampered with too much, and then they tamper with them too much.


Village Inn is a chain that's like Perkins or Denny's but WAY better. There's one north of Forest Lake on I-35, and I highly recommend it. My wife suggested it once and I didn't want to go, but went anyway. It was a very pleasant surprise. Nothing fancy, but good quality at a good price and in accordance with modern tastes.

Seeing as how it's all coming out of the freezer to be boiled in bag or deep fried most restaurants are interchangeable when it comes to the Perkins style place, this includes the Golden Corrals of the world too.

I guess what I miss is the variety of experiences you got before the giant chains with the homogenous menus throughout the country took over. You have to turn yourself wrong side out to find locally significant cuisine.


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I grew up during what was probably the golden age of pizza and subs. Great pizza was the standard. Great subs were the norm. That is mostly gone now.

I remember the first time I went into a subway restaurant back when I was used to excellent subs. Subway was garbage compared to what I was used to. Now it's the standard sub in the US.

I grew up during what was probably the golden age of pizza and subs. Great pizza was the standard. Great subs were the norm. That is mostly gone now.

Yes sadly. Restaurants don't start with whole food ingredients any more. It comes from the same food supply semi, that comes from across town.

Both of the Ryans we used to go to closed when Osama was in charge, a mex buffet closed too, and the last po folks closed. We prefer buffets. We are going to Golden Coralle tomorrow using a gift card for my bday. Best chkn, steak?? Sometimes realy good, sometimes tough and tasteless. We'll see tomorrow. Get there about 3: 45, pay lunch price, bring steaks out at 4:00, gives us time for a salad. Had a gift card for olive garden we used a few weeks back, very disappointed with the food + they tacked a $10 TIP on our bill. CHARLIE.

Was that a minimum gratuity because of the size of your party, or was it an Olive Garden rip-off calculated to steal money from your gift card?

I've seen a recommended tip thingy at the bottom of bills before. If your not looking closely it appears as the total. At which point an Unobservant person might leave another $6-$8 lying on the table.

It is done in what I feel is a disingenuous manner. Easily explained of course, as modern math has escaped our young consumer, who is probably stiffing the lazy as well as the competent wait staff equally.


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there are a lot of places around here that have closed up over the last decade.
the majority are closed because of new owners that come in and aren't able to
consistently reproduce the menu items and/or can't put in the long hours that
made the places a success. a couple of others shut down because of poor online
reviews of the decor of the place. a lot of yuppies that do online reviews apparently
expect every place to have a t.g.i. fridays look inside. if they could have seen
the old original chili's restaurant on greenville avenue, they'd have probably
fainted. it's strange that a lot of the successful yuppie joints around here have that
old barn wood/rusty barn tin ceiling/ old rusty kitchen pans decor, but only fair-to-
poor food and they still make it. i guess after enough booze you can't tell good
food from bad. there are at least two i know of here that were successful barbecue
joints, one dating back to the late 40's-early 50's that closed up because the original
owners had finally died and the heirs couldn't or weren't willing to put in the hours
or hard work that had made it a success and they finally had to close up shop.
there's an old seafood place some distance south of here that looks like someone's
dilapidated shed that's consistently served some of the best fried fish and seafood
in the region because it's always good food and everything is homemade.
i've never looked for any reviews for it though. on saturdays you're lucky if you
don't have to wait at least 45 minutes for a table and can find a place to park
that isn't a mudhole.

Yesterday on our way home from Colorado springs we stopped in Brighton and ate at a place called Billy's cafe, nice little homey place and the food was great. It's a ways off the interstate, but if your passing through there, check it out.