Minneapolis/St. Paul are in the top ten burger cities in the United States

According to this Travel and Leisure article, Minneapolis and Saint Paul are ranked as number 8 in the nation for burgers.

They mention both the 5-8 Club and Matt's Bar, although our research has shown that most of the best burgers have been on the east side of the Mississippi.

Final 2011 Schedule (or as final as these things ever get)

Men,

Here's our itinerary for 2011:

Towntalk Diner Jan 2011
Skinners Pub & Eatery Feb 2011
Convention Grill & Fountain Mar 2011
Lyndale Taphouse Apr 2011
The Tavern Restaurant & Bar May 2011
Annie's Parlor June 2011
Vincent's July 2011
Lucky's 13 Pub Aug 2011
Tooties on Lowery Sept 2011
Mayslack's Oct 2011
Maxwell's American Bar Nov 2011
Dusty's Bar Dec 2011

Here's to another year of burger adventuring!

Preliminary 2011 Schedule

Gang,

Here is the preliminary 2011 schedule. We can discuss on the 15th what people think.

Towntalk Diner Jan 2011
Skinners Pub & Eatery Feb 2011
Convention Grill & Fountain Mar 2011
Lyndale Taphouse Apr 2011
The Tavern Restaurant & Bar May 2011
Annie's Parlor June 2011
Vincent's July 2011
Lucky's 13 Pub Aug 2011
Tooties on Lowery Sept 2011
Sandy's Tavern Oct 2011
Maxwell's American Bar Nov 2011
Dusty's Bar Dec 2011

Bulldog Uptpown

We had a slightly better than average time at the Bulldog Uptown. Scores were much higher than the debacle we had the the Bulldog NE, so that was good. Overall, we were pleased with the burgers, perfect cheese curds, and the beer menu, but less than thrilled with the overall layout of the joint and the attitudinally-challenged service. Let's break it down:

Burger: 3.67
Sides: 4.5
Beer: 4.33
Service: 2.53
Ambiance: 2.83
Value: 3.33

Overall: 3.54

Shamrocks Rocks

Shamrocks does indeed rock! For only the 3rd time in club history, we have broken a overall 4 star rating! Not surprisingly, one of the other places was the Nook (still reigning champion). The other is Sweeneys. Scores and comments closely echo the voting for The Nook. I think that Shamrocks may have even won if they offered a more robust tap menu. Let's break it down:

Burger: 4.5
Sides: 4
Beer: 3.17
Service: 4.5
Ambiance: 3.67
Value: 4

Overall: 4

You should now be able to add comments to the voting via Google Docs.

Mac's Industrial Burger Bar AAR

We hit Mac's Industrial Burger Bar in Nordeast this Monday, and were largely not disappointed! We scored the best since the infamous outing to Sweeney's back in January. People universally loved the Fried Plate of Death and the cheap menu. Parking, mediocre service and less than awesome ambiance took it down a notch. One quotable came from Mr Engberg with the following:

Parking confusion was annoying, driving around the block in Nord'east with all the non-euclidean corners and one-ways is not my favorite pastime. Speaking of non-euclidean, I have to agree with Clint, a showdown with alternate universe el-presidente would have kicked ass. And probably freed their world from his tyranny over the Coleslaw of the Month Club. El Jefe whooping wholesale ass on PBR hipsters would have been acceptable as well. ;-)

Here's a breakdown of the scoring:

Burger - 3.42
Sides - 4.25
Beer - 4.17
Service - 3.25
Ambiance - 2.83
Value - 4.50

Overall score - 3.74

Salut Bar American - AAR

Here's the After Action Report for Salut in St Paul. In general there was agreement that the service and patio ambiance were nice, but disappointment at the small beer selection, the quality of the burgers (oh oh!) and the overall pricing. Honerable mention goes to the fries with bernaise sauce. Here's how the scoring broke down:

Burger: 3
Sides: 3.3
Beer: 2.3
Service: 3.67
Ambiance: 4
Value: 2.67

Overall score: 3.15