R.I.P. @Burger

I don't know how well it came through in my review, but I was pretty fond of @Burger, on Liberty near State in Ann Arbor.  I was a bit saddened to learn that @Burger, famous as the restaurant you couldn't google, will be shutting its doors.  I hope you had a chance to go there in the past year, it was an ok place to get a bite to eat.

(Hattip to Wally for the link).

Costello's Bar and Grille, St. Paul

Not too long ago, I decided to explore the twin cities.  This led to me spending over two hours lost in western St. Paul.  Once I managed to become unlost (the secret: figuring out I had actually been in eastern St. Paul the whole time), I realized I was hungry, so I stopped at the first place I saw that looked like it sold burgers.  That place was Costello's Bar and Grille.

The non-descript menu was a harbinger of things to come.

Considering it was mid-afternoon on a relatively sunny day, Costello's was dark.  The doorways were open, even though it was a bit cool out (there aren't many sunny yet cool days in the summer, they're worth enjoying).  It had a loose Irish theme (I'm always a fan of that).  The bar was relatively well populated, the rest of the restaurant was nearly deserted.  There was either a bird inside the bar, or someone at the bar was repeatedly making bird noises; either way, it was disconcerting, and I give Costello's bad marks for neither putting a stop to it nor even acknowledging that there was a problem.  There was a significant amount of sports memorabilia on the walls, and more than a little alcohol advertising, particularly for Crown Royal.

As a serial user of Crown Royal bags, this was a comforting sight (the flags were just paper, not real bags).

My waitress wore a shirt which read (and I believe I copied this verbatim): "The Bible talks about St. Paul, but it doesn't mention Minneapolis."  Still relatively new in the area, I find clear and obvious markers of local sentiment like this very helpful.  I found it a bit odd, though it took me awhile to notice this, that there were no place settings at the table.  Instead, napkins and utensils were kept off to the side of the table, and I was (apparently) expected to set my own place with whatever I needed. 

You can see the utensils in a glass mug next to the napkins.

This seems like a really good idea: I only used the pieces I actually needed, which saves everyone the cost of having to rewash and reset unused utensils, and if something happened and I needed a spare fork, it was really convenient to get one.  That said, it still kind of threw me for a loop when I figured out that that was the system.

The burger was slightly overdone, and in places the bun was downright burnt.  It didn't taste bad, but it did taste generic; there was little character to the burger.  It wasn't very filling, either.

The fries were fairly standard, square cut with some potato and some oil.  They were salty, and a bit reminiscent of deli fries.

I can't say a lot about Costello's that's negative, I just can't say a whole lot that's positive.  It was a fine burger oasis in a new city, but I imagine that if I had driven another block, I could have found somewhere better.

To get a sense of how unimportant the Irish theme is to this bar, note that this is the only photograph in which there's a shamrock.

O'Gara's Bar and Grill, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

Some time ago (specifically, just before Easter, with my apologies for the delay), I found myself in the Minneapolis Airport, somewhat hungry but without time to explore eating options outside of the Airport.  Two places looked promising: one turned out to be overpriced, the other was O'Gara's.

The O'Gara's Menu, which I only now realize is supposed to look like a glass of Guinness against a background of another, much bigger glass of Guinness. 

I'm generally a big fan of Irish-style pubs, as long as they serve burgers.  O'Gara's is located at the far end of Terminal F, and there wasn't any sort of wait when I got there (2:00 in the afternoon local time isn't exactly prime eating or prime drinking hours).  Despite (or, more likely, because of) the fact that it was relatively empty, noise and conversation from the bar carried really far.  I quickly noticed some ceiling fans over the bar, controlled by some sort of bizarre double belt contraption.

It's a fan, it's in constant motion.  If you had tried, you wouldn't have been able to take a good picture either.  You can kind of make out the fan belt.

The floor was designed to look like bricks and pavers, while the rest of the of the airport was carpeted.  The whole interior was darker than the surrounding area, which is par for the course for a lot of bars, but it's really noticeable when the rest of the very well lit airport was clearly visible.  The interior wasn't completely old-time themed, there were plasma screens showing the news.  The O'Gara Family Crest was displayed on one wall.

 You can't read it from this angle, but the motto at the bottom is "Fortiter et Fideliter," which google translates to "Boldly and Faithfully."

The wait for food was a bit longer than I would have expected, especially during non-peak hours.  It had a soft bun, which was very slightly toasted, and the patty was a bit larger than the bun.  It had a meaty taste, and it was served hot, but not overdone.  After what had been already, by mid-afternoon, a very long day, it was a filling burger. 

The fries were pretty standard pub fries, square cut with a bit of skin.  There was some potato flavor, without any oil flavor.

During my entire time there, the should-really-have-been-a-hit song "State of Massachusetts" by the Dropkick Murphys kept going through my head, on repeat.  The theme was laid on that heavily.  This is not a complaint.

Although the location is pretty far from anywhere you'd ever want to be (unless you have a flight leaving from the F terminal of MSP, in which case it's actually quite convenient), O'Gara's was a fine little meal in the middle of a long trip.  I would definitely consider it again next time I'm at the airport and hungry.

I didn't take a photo of the exterior.  I was fearful that if someone saw me taking too many pictures inside an airport terminal DHS might disappear me.