Now that my office has moved to a more respectable area within the "red-light district" of Minneapolis, I have the pleasure of eating lunch at fabulous local restaurants/cafes. When we were within walking distance of Nicollet Mall I frequented ABP, Bruegger's, Panera, Jimmy Johns, and the occasional Potbelly's. I still like all those places, but it just feels right knowing I'm supporting local companies by eating at, say, the cafe in the basement of Butler Square or Pizza Luce.

I've been regularly eating at Marysburg Books, which I've mentioned before. It's pretty basic food. Sandwiches that look like you brought them from home, but when someone else makes them they taste SO good. SL is a big fan of getting her sandwiches as wraps. I stick to wheat bread. Mmm... sandwiches.

Around the corner from Marysburg is Moose and Sadie's. This is THE cutest place in the area, in my opinion. There are large portrait photographs of an adorable little Asian girl and an enormous dog - maybe a great dane? I used my deductive reasoning skills to determine that they are, in fact, Moose and Sadie. Moose being the enormous dog and Sadie being the cute little girl. This place is a little more expensive than Marysburg, but it is worth it for an occasional splurge. They have little pizzas, pasta entrees, and hot sandwiches ranging from $7 to $13. Along with coffee/espresso bevies and deserts. I love BLTs. LOVE them. Their BLT is fabulously gourmet and very tasty. I've also had the hot ham and cheese which was good, but almost too fancy for my liking. They used some crazy cheese called Edenmalberger something. And really spicy dijon mustard. I don't do spicy very well. (ok, the cheese was actually Emmenthaler I think. It's like swiss. Learn about it here!)

I found out recently that the guy who owns Moose and Sadie’s (presumably Sadie's dad, uncle, or maybe older brother?) also owns Jetset and Bev's Wine Bar. Wow! That is one busy guy! He looks fairly young too. Bravo to him for having 3 very different places: a restaurant/cafe, a hip gay bar, and a very classy wine bar. Awesome. I've never been to Jetset or Bev's until tonight. My whole office, minus SL, went to Bev's to partake in their new happy hour. I like to think they started happy hour specials because of the guys in my office. They love their happy hours! We were the first ones there and if I keep up with my Friday happy hours the owner will know me by name too. Here's hoping! Also they serve Ace Pear Cider and Ace Hard Apple Cider. Yes!

Today included another first - lunch at Cuzzy's. This place used to scare me. I think it's because it's close enough to Deja Vu that I assumed it was dirty. Also "Cuzzy's" isn't the most appealing name, if you ask me. I get it confused with Cousin's Subs but I now know they are two VERY different places. A group of 7 of us went to Cuzzy's today. I was told to order tatter tots, so I did. And a BLT. :) I looked for grilled cheese, my other bar and grill staple sandwich, but it was a weird triple-decker one and I didn’t trust it. So BLT and tots. Wow. The tots were perfection! I highly recommend them!

The atmosphere of Cuzzy's is weird. Their website states "Family dining at its finest" but it seems more bar-ish to me than anything. I'm sure it was a smoky blue haze before the smoking ban. There was a family with screaming children there, but they seemed out of place. It was the loudest restaurant I've ever been in for lunch. The music was up just a little too high making everyone (the bar was almost full) shout. We sat in a corner by the kitchen. I think it created some sort of echo effect back there because my ears were popping it was so loud. But I'll totally go back! Tasty, and fairly cheap.

To conclude - go to Bev's. Go to Cuzzy's. Go to Moose and Sadie's. And I will go to Jetset, someday.