Rob and his brother Sam and I went to dinner at Day Block Brewing Company last weekend. It looked like a cool place, but let's be honest, a local brewery that specializes in pizza? It may sound awesome, but I wasn't terribly optimistic about finding something to eat there.

I asked the server if they had any gluten-free options for pizza, because the pizza looked awesome. She said no, which was sad. I started looking at the salads, which is usually the best gluten and dairy-free, Paleo-friendliest option on a menu of pizza and sandwiches. Then I saw "bacon flight," followed closely by "pickle flight." I'll take one of each.

Rob and his brother got a couple beers and shared a pizza (which looked awesome), but I was really happy with my snacks! There was spicy bacon with a Thai-inspired peanut dipping sauce, French toast bacon in the middle with maple syrup, and Jamaican jerk bacon with pineapple salsa. And the pickle flight included curried celery, some pickled radish, and spicy cucumbers.

Day Block Brewing Company

1105 Washington Avenue S

Minneapolis, MN 55415

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Food 4/5

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 3/5

Prices & Specials 4/5

Paleo-Friendly 3/5

Rob and I visited Eat Street Social for happy hour a couple of weeks ago, and the cocktail list was amazing! Neither of us had ever been there before, so it was nice to try a new place and check out a new menu.

The dinner menu looked promising, but the happy hour snacks were not my favorite (mostly fried options) I did totally love my cocktail--I had the Summer Tea & T, a fantastic little drink with yerba mate-infused gin, Indian green coriander, honey, yuzu, and galangal--and I kind of want to go back to try a few others on the menu.

All in all it was a good place for a quick date, but next time I might actually have dinner, or make a stop just for drinks.

Eat Street Social

18 West 26th Street

Minneapolis, MN 55404

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Food 3/5 (Drink 5/5)

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 4/5

Prices & Specials 5/5

Paleo-Friendly 1/5

When I was in high school, I used to go to the Market Building in downtown Roanoke and have pho for lunch. It was delicious and I loved it. Then, the building closed for renovations and new restaurants took the place of old restaurants and I went like four years without a bowl of pho.

But then, a few months ago, my friends Daci and Rachel and I got together for a little girls night at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (we're wild, I know) and decided that we absolutely needed Vietnamese food. After sitting down and awkwardly leaving what ended up being a chain restaurant, we found ourselves at Quang, which is where we wanted to be all along, because it is also where the bowls of soup are enormous, the spring rolls are heavenly, and the menu is packed full of gluten-free options.

My life is once again complete.

I have seriously not stopped thinking about it since I went with my girlfriends in April, so Rob and I finally had a chance to go over the weekend. We ordered the shrimp and pork spring rolls, I had a bubble tea, and we each got a bowl of Pho Tai (#505 on the menu). It was awesome.

Quang

2719 Nicollet Avenue

Minneapolis, MN 55408

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Food 5/5

Service 4/5

Atmosphere 3/5

Prices & Specials 5/5

Paleo-Friendly 4/5