Just a quick update: Northeast Social

Kyle and I decided to have an honest to goodness date night yesterday. We decided on the Northeast Social for a few reasons. 1) It's ridiculously close to us 2) Kyle hadn't gone the first time around and 3) While I had enjoyed myself the 1st time around, it was REALLY busy, their first full week in business and still a little rough around the edges.

We got there around 5:15 (we are often earlier diners than I would like, but when you wake up at 5am and eat lunch at 10am, it's hard to adjust). Fortunately this was still in time for their 1/2 price bottle of wine happy hour deal. We ordered the Carneros Chardonnay, which pretty much exemplifies what I think great Chardonnay should taste like: balanced: a little creamy, a little oaky and you're good.

I asked about the soup of the day which reminded the server that she hadn't gone over the specials with us. The soup (tomato bisque) didn't sound exciting but then she mentioned the "special" appetizer, Padron Peppers. Not being familiar I was intrigued, and we ended up ordering them. They came prepared very simply, being sauteed in butter with salt, pepper and lemon and were very tender and pretty darn delicious. Who knew. They weren't spicy at all until all of sudden each of us ate our 6th pepper and a tiny burst of severe heat came, and almost as quickly went away. It turns out there is even a saying about this phenomenon : "Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non" -Padron Peppers: some are hot and some are not. How random.

We also split the welsh rarebit (kyle succumbs to welshophilia:all things welsh, all the time) which was AWESOME (I didn't even mind the blue cheese one bit) and the burger. When ordering a $12 burger it's pretty hard to not have high expectations, and they were entirely met. I loved that they used wild arugula instead of any other green, the fried pickled peppers added just enough zing, and the fries (shoestring style) were crisp... I only wish there were a few more!

I'm still a bit hesitant to say that Northeast social is changing how we eat in Northeast Minneapolis. It is nice to know I can get a dressed up burger so close to home without heading to the Bulldog, or go out for a bottle of wine at a very reasonable price.