I Yelp because I care.

I'm a Yelp! fanatic. Ok, probably a budding fanatic, because I don't have hundreds of reviews yet, although I'm trying to achieve that. I can't even remember how I stumbled across this freaking awesome website, but I do remember seeing the distinguishable Yelp logo plastered all across Berkeley restaurants. By the by, make sure to vote for Yelp! [and Target] at this year's Webby Awards here.
Anyway, I do go to this site religiously when I'm just jonesing for new eats. While it has led me to some duds, I still trust my indiscriminate palate to it, especially since it's so fun reading normal people -- not restaurant critics with discerning tongues -- review anything. It's less trashy than a Youtube comments section and less refined than the New York Times's Dining & Wine page.
Anyway, the main point of this entry was to talk about food in Minnesota. I just name-dropped Yelp! because I have run to it many times in the few months I've been living here, either to write a review or desperately search for a restaurant that delivers at 10 PM on a Friday night without a big delivery fee (Answer: Keys at the Foshay! Yey!!!!).
Aah, where do I start with how I eat in Minnesota? First off, I have yet to find authentically good Mexican food. Seriously, Taco John's and Taco Bell's are your only options during lunch and around the downtown area. Um, no.
Asian food is hit-or-miss. They have this chain of Chinese fast food called LeeAnn Chin's, a lot like Panda Express, and a whole lot of Americanized Asian food. There's actually more Thai places here, and I've found one or two decent spots. The interesting thing here is most restaurants serve their spicy food with five heat level options. Coz, seriously, Minnesota "spicy" is really not. :) And they serve mock duck. Minnesotans have a creepy love affair with the mock duck. I don't even wanna know what that is. Indian food is eh. Coming from a place that has Vik's Chaat & House of Curries, it's really hard to not judge Indian food by a high standard. But, I'm still going to the Dancing Ganesha's lunch buffet tomorrow with friends, and this is (embarrassingly) my third time! haha. I'm such a sell-out to cheap food.
Speaking of cheap food, it's hard to find cheap food in the downtown area where I live, unless you consider eating dinner at 5 PM and going to any random bar for their happy hour. Some bars, like the Newsroom or The Local, have pretty sizable portions for $4 or $5. If it wasn't so blatantly pathetic to go to a bar during happy hour and just order some appetizers to go, I probably would. Thank goodness Target loves its hh's. That way, I can go get my margherita pizza, eat half and casually set aside the other half for dinner.
If there's one thing that MN restaurants do get right, it's American/European food. I've had some great German food on Northeast at Gasthof's (and during Oktoberfest, no less!), and the divine Black and Blue burger (hey, the burger has European-ish roots) @ Eli's will forever be one of the things I'm most thankful for. We have a restaurant next to the workplace that's called Brit's serving (duh) English food, and a few blocks away is The Local, which serves Irish food and -- interesting fact -- the most Jameson Irish Whiskey in the entire world. No joke.
It's kind of sad that 3/4 of my credit card charges are all on food, but I don't think I'll ever stop trying new restaurants in Minnesota or anywhere else. The great thing about being a foodie is anyone can be a foodie, and the experiences are fleeting enough that it doesn't have to take too much effort and regrets (if any) pass quickly. At the same time, if you fall in love with a place and its food, you can always go back to it again & again. Which is why I just went back to Eli's for the 5th or 6th time last week. And which is why I'm seriously considering moving to the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis which has the awesome-sounding Eat Street. How perfect is that?!