Trendy Does Not Equal Good…

29-30 March 2024

One of the things you notice if you travel a lot is that when you rely on stuff you find online when you do your food research, you get some gems – and you get some duds. I’ve had plenty of duds recently, and sadly, I have to add two more now. And these are all “trendy” places.

If you read my previous review on that excellent dinner at Kado no Mise in Minneapolis, you’ll note early on I mentioned I had lunch at a trendy place that went rather subpar? Sadly the place in question was the highly-raved Union Hmong Kitchen.

I got there not long after it opened on this Friday and ordered. It was quiet as it was early, so I just chilled out trying to plan what I was going to do due to the ice changing my plans. Then my lunch arrived.

My heart sank. The pork belly looks sad, really sad. They were some of the worst roast pork belly I’ve had. Stringy, at times all fat, and almost no flavour. It’s like someone forgot to season this. This does not even compare to the amazing Hmong pork belly I’ve had at places like Union Market in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which had some of the best Hmong meats I’ve ever had, or more recently, Hmong Express in Appleton, Wisconsin.

I will say the sausage, which I took away, was far, far better. But this belly dish was just a cry for help, I’m sorry. I love Hmong meats, especially the pork belly, but this looks ridiculously lame compared to the stuff you can get at any small Hmong store in Wisconsin.

The next day I headed out of icy Minneapolis before dawn, as I planned to spend part of today in northern and north-west Iowa. I was amazed that merely 15 miles south of the Twin Cities there was very little snow or ice left. So I had a very productive day as I moved south, then south-west, then west through Iowa and eventually into South Dakota.

I drifted into my destination, Sioux Falls, at an earlier than expected hour, so I had time for a late lunch. I have this love for chislic and would grab it at every opportunity I get, so I decided to try this place called Urban Chislic.

I hesitated because it was featured on that crappy “DDD” show hosted by that gasbag who I will never forgive for what he said to me the night my restaurant closed. But I nevertheless took out an order each of the beef and lamb chislic and opened them up. Honestly, it don’t matter which one this was cuz they looked the same.

My heart sank again. This was really poor. Once I bit into it, I was even more sad. They forgot to season it. I called for no sauce because that’s the tradition, but these were dead plain. Worse, it was cold, 90 seconds after they brought it out from the kitchen? This also tells me they are not making these fresh. The lamb suffers more with that bad temerature than the beef, but both were awful.

Well, I got burned on both of these. Sad, as these places have amazing potential with great concepts, but the products I received are half-assed at best, shows no care. It won’t put me off pork belly, Hmong food, or chislic, but it will put me off these two establishments next time I visit Minneapolis or Sioux Falls.

Sigh…

Union Hmong Kitchen (Lake Street)
901 West Lake Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Urban Chislic
431 West 85th Street
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Three Wisconsin Dining Experiences…Guess Which One I Liked the Least?

4-5 August 2023

It’s one of those summer weekends I wanted to get out of town, so I took half a day and hopped on the train to Milwaukee. If Chicago’s Union Station wasn’t such a headache to get to, I’d go up more often, as it’s a very short ride north. And, of course there was a delay, it’s Amtrak after all! It’s not an Amtrak trip if you make it anywhere in time!

Throw in more confusion when I got to Milwaukee, by the time I got to my motel near the airport I was tired physically and mentally. I think I was a lot less stressed in the office, where I was since 7am. And I was hungry, having skipped lunch. So I eventually hopped on the local bus and headed into town.

After a quicker-than-usual ride with no traffic, I got to the Historic Third Ward and eventually my dinner destination, Bavette La Boucherie. They saved a space for me at the end of the bar, so I naturally took it. It seemed a little chaotic at the bar, and where I was seated it was hard to get anyone’s attention. But soon enough I got my drinks order in and looked over the menu.

Nice negroni to start, and I relaxed. Looked over the menu and ordered two items to start the evening. I found it odd that a functional butcher doesn’t feature much of their meats on the menu and was somewhat seafood heavy. Then I had a flashback to a horrible night in Philadelphia when I noticed the same thing at Kensington Quarters…

Remember a few weeks ago I mentioned I was planning to eat at Ward’s House of Prime, but it was closed this weekend so I endured that horrific “prime rib” at Tortoise Supper Club? Well, that’s now, and with Ward’s closed for the weekend I ended up choosing what would have been my second choice anyway. Did I choose right?

Well, the deviled eggs were okay, nothing too special. I switched over to wine and once I saw it I suddenly regretted ordering it.

This is apparently jamón ibérico… I sat and stared at it for a few minutes. Goodness, was this hand-cut or a product of a deli slicer? Was this even from a leg? My heart basically sank with this, and I laboured through the plate, having lost not just my enthusiasm but my appetite. For someone who skipped lunch and only had those deviled eggs since the night before, I really didn’t want to eat anymore…

This sadly reminded me of the last time I was in town and went to Amilinda, and had to go to Ward’s House of Prime right after to get over it. No such luck, so I had to decamp at nearby Char’d and get some takeaway. And a carafe of soju to drown this night away…

And of course the night ended with my Lyft app giving me crap. It’s like I have a Milwaukee curse…

The next morning I headed north, hoping to cut my losses. A good day, and I eventually ended up in Appleton. As I always do when I’m in this part of Wisconsin, I go hunting for Hmong food. And today’s lunch is a good haul, courtesy of Hmong Express.

Oh these eggrolls are to die for, so good. Rarely do I enjoy these things so much, but had to save room because…

Oh this is even better. The sausage is course and flavourful, while the pork belly is crunchy and rich. How can you not like this? And all this cost about as much as that horrible plate of “jamón ibérico” that I suffered through last night, which by the way, came in a vacuum pack without the leg (my server showed me what appeared to be a pre-quartered, de-boned mess that looked like a pork shoulder you buy at the grocery store…

Well, that was a fantastic lunch. I had plenty to do in and around the Lake Winnebago area, but didn’t realise there’s a music festival in town. So all in all things work out, once I got out of Milwaukee. And for dinner, I explored the venerable and beloved Greek restaurant in town, Apollon.

Old school, with a fabulous server. An enjoyable evening. Not great, but good stuff. The server made it an incredibly nice dining experience. A simple soup and salad to start (sorry, forgot to photo), my main course arrived, the mixed grill.

The lamb was quite nice, extremely tender. And shrimp and scallops were also quite nice. A pretty small portion, but I also remember I have a ton of leftover Hmong food from lunch back at the hotel, so I was okay. But I wanted a dessert, so…

This is a nice cheesecake, made apparently with a touch of Bailey’s but I couldn’t discern it. Too bad, as I wanted something interesting for dessert having passed on my favourite baklava. Oh well. A nice brandy tipple and I headed back by Lyft. At least the app didn’t go bonkers this evening.

And back to Milwaukee and Chicago tomorrow…

Can you guess what my favourite of the three was? Because it was pretty damn obvious which one fell flat.

Bavette La Boucherie
217 North Broadway
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Hmong Express
339 West Wisconsin Avenue

Apollon
207 North Appleton Street
Appleton, Wisconsin

Battle of Wisconsin Ethnic Foods…

7 May 2019

I arrived into Milwaukee late morning, no thanks to Southwest’s crazy-early flight and a long layover in Baltimore. The planes they used are so old I wonder how many old 737s they un-mothballed due to the 737-Max crisis. I read there are tons of maintenance-caused delays, but thank goodness our flights only had broken-down toilets (and very dirty planes) but no delays.

I headed out of Milwaukee and went north, making a few stops before I stopped in Sheboygan. Why? I was headed to Green Bay and wanted to have lunch. Like my previous trek through Wisconsin, I sought out Hmong food. I’m so glad the large Hmong community has become more active in promoting its cuisine. But no time to stop for a proper lunch, so I dropped into Union Market to get some take-away.

Union Market is a Hmong/Asian grocery store in Sheboygan that featured a hot food section that is extremely popular. I got my food and I headed north, and at the same time enjoyed some of the excellent egg rolls that are much featured in Hmong establishments in the US…

Delicious, but burning hot, which was probably not a great thing when one is driving. I eventually stop in a small town near Green Bay and relaxed, enjoying the other container…

Oh my, this was good. The spicy sausage had a real kick, and a lovely smoke about it. And the roast pork belly? Just fantastic. Beautiful crackling, rich meat with wonderful flavour. I’d take this over a Chinese roast pork any day. I finished part of this bounty and headed on my way. After a stop in Green Bay, I headed south-west and eventually reached my final destination of Madison.

I’m happy to be back in Madison, a town I really enjoy visiting despite not being the easiest to get to. I’ve had flights cancelled, drove through a derecho to get here, and so forth. Frankly I’ve seen cheaper flights from Detroit to London than from Detroit to Madison, so the best way is always through Milwaukee. But I’m here, and I chilled out at my little hotel before I headed into town for a late dinner, the Hmong bounty is still keeping me going.

I thought about revisiting a few of my favourite places, but saved the best for tomorrow night. I’ve had some mixed experience with ethnic food here, such as Sujeo a few years back, but I read so many good things about Taiwan Little Eats I thought of trying it.

I got there after finding parking on a semi-busy Tuesday night — of graduation week. Oops, bad timing. It took ages for the order to be done, and I was nearly done with my winter melon tea by the time it came out…

Well, it sounded better than it tasted. The braised pork was leaner and far less flavourful than it should be, and frankly a small portion, completely against the ethos of how Taiwan eats really… Just by looking at the customer base there is little reason to “dumb down” Taiwanese cuisine for the custom; I heard plenty of Taiwan-accented Mandarin spoken by customers.

And this soy-stewed mixed plate was way too sweet. I know a lot of folks like sweet, but one of the things about Taiwanese flavours is that even when strong they don’t fight each other. The savoury clearly lost here. Well, at least it helped with the large amount of excess rice under the braised pork…

I headed out somewhat disappointed. I guess it’s a very quick eats kind of place for poor (likely homesick) students, but it really doesn’t do Taiwanese food justice. Frankly the winter melon tea was the best part of this entire meal. And before you @ me about whether I know what Taiwanese food is like, my father cooked it for most of my childhood and my grandfather was the mayor of Taipei, so…

I drove back to my hotel, glad I still had a little bit of Hmong food left over from earlier. Thanks to the hotel room microwave, I got to enjoy the last bit of the spicy sausage and pork belly, and was as good as earlier as I sat in my car in Kewaunee. In this battle of Wisconsin ethnic eats, Hmong 1, Taiwanese 0. Not even close.

Union Market
2022 South 17th Street
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Taiwan Little Eats
320 State Street
Madison, Wisconsin