Once upon a time, “fine dining” in Two Harbors meant a visit to Dairy Queen. These days, with a smattering of posh resorts for the ‘visit Lake Superior’ and ‘get away for a night Duluthian’ crowds, dining has been elevated to an entirely new level.

The Ledge Rock Grill is the house restaurant for the Larsmont Cottages, a 40 acre enclave on the shores of Lake Superior, “inspired by a Scandinavian fishing village”. The Ledge is open for lunch and dinner seven days, as well as breakfast on the weekends, and is open to the public at all times (in other words, you do not have to be a guest of the cottages to partake).

Ledge Rock Grill

Serving “modern American”, chef Todd Torricer, who has Hawaiian roots, also offers monthly special menus, and the August theme features “inspired by the sea”.

Minnesota lead Burger Reporter Kawikamedia took a couple nights off from burgers, to check out a few menu items at the Ledge. Having lived in Hawaii, his intention was to check out the Huli Huli chicken, but alas, it was not offered the night of his first visit.

He started with the smoked shrimp appetizer with a dried cherry balsamic, and then went with the Kobe flatiron, served with parsnip mashed and asparagus, a bargain at $31.

His second visit was more successful, and described the seared Ahi, from the special August menu, as “out of this world”. The plate was Fresh Pacific Ahi Tuna pan seared and paired with avocado puree, sushi rice tater tots and finished off with a wasabi-soy butter sauce.

The Huli Huli chicken was very good, (if you don’t know Huli Huli, it is a traditional Hawaiian barbecued chicken, with a sauce made from soy sauce and ketchup, sweeting with brown sugar and a bit of sherry.)

He didn’t care for the side mash that night, which he described as “must have been doused in liquid smoke.”

Kawikamedia highly recommends the Ledge, despite the fact there is no burger on the dinner menu!

(All fotos in this post copyright Kawikamedia, 2010, and cannot be used w/o permission).


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Smoked Shrimp Starter

Huli Huli Chicken

Kobe Flatiron Steak w/ Parsnip Mashed

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Mickey Paulucci, spawn of Jeno Paulucci, self-described “peddler’ and ‘not a nice guy’,  started the Grandma’s, restaurant empire over 30 years ago, in Canal Park, Duluth, MN, across the street from his father’s office.

The original Grandma’s became known for quality food, ample servings, and fun ambiance, and grew to be a statewide mini-chain, but eventually cutting back to concentrate on opening several other eateries in the hometown Duluth area.

One of the spin-offs is Little Angie’s Cantina and Grill, a Tex-Mex outlet within avocado throwing distance of the first Grandma’s in Canal Park.   Little Angie’s puffery says “Little Angie’s Cantina is the kind of place where the food is so fresh it’s still sizzling at your table.”

Minnesota Burger Reporter Kawikamedia popped into Little Angie’s the other day and checked out the Cowboy Burger $7.99, a 1/3 pound all-beef patty topped with marinated lettuce (wtf?) tomato, mayo, add bacon and cheese for $2.09. The Cowboy is served on a toasted bun and comes w/ fries.

He said the burger looks much better than it tastes, overcooked, dry, no seasoning. The fries were “passable.”

In these days of boutique burger places, restaurants that offer burgers as just “one more item” need to try a little harder to upgrade their offerings.  One has a number of dining choices in Canal Park, and some of them aren’t part of the Grandma’s group, even!

Little Angie’s menu is online.
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Once upon a time, there was a “wrong side of the tracks” in Duluth, Minnesota. East and West, usually people didn’t stray too far from their part of town. Now, the burgeoning hip hop area of “West Duluth” (not to be confused with the “Friendly West End”) is taking on a life of its own, with development, shops, housing, including the newest eatery GB Schneider & Company at 46th Avenue West and Grand Avenue. Of course they are on Grand Avenue, their catchphrase, on their website and signage, is “grand eats”, and it appears they more than accomplish this promise, with a fun, diverse, American food menu.

Minnesota Burger Reporter Kawikamedia and the Friday Burger Posse hit Schneiders on Friday with a large group, and reports no missteps for this just opened foodery. Kawika went with the Howie Burger, cheese, mushrooms, and grilled onions. All of Schneider’s burgers start out as 1/3 pound of fresh grilled angus, served at medium, unless you request otherwise, and can be doubled, tripled, or as “big as you dare” for slight additional costs. (The entire party agreed the prices are inexpensive for the city).

Other plates the Posse imbibed in with strong reviews were the clam chowder, Monte Cristo, salads, sliders, veggie burger.

The Posse universally pronounced the fresh cut fries a masterpiece.

I can imagine the Posse might have had an eye (or palate) towards critical that day, as some of them were in high school w/ Mr. Schneider, and don’t we all like to call out old friends some times?

The menu offers a number of items that appeal to my own tastes which I look forward to trying next time I am that way – including, a Cuban, pulled pork, and Duluth’s homage to St. Louis with toasted ravioli – did this guy work on the Hill? And any “Italian Sausage” hoagie will get a nod from me.

GB Schneiders is open late, and has carry out. Whereas once West Duluth’s only dining options were bar pizza, and a decades old Cantonese room, the choices these days are varied and sublime.

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The Ground Round was founded by Howard Johnsons in 1969 and what one time had over 300 outlets.. Now a shadow of its former self, Ground Round currently operates about 30 restaurants in 13 states, and is owned by a cooperative of former franchisees, and is based in Freeport, Maine.  Some analysts say it may be tough for a chain this small to survive long term.

G.R. may have been the innovator of eating free peanuts and tossing the shells on the floor….at least they are one of the earliest places I remember that offered that.

Duluth was pretty early in the game, and for some reason, it has survived in a market, which like most these days, is flooded with casual dining options. There are at least a half-dozen similar options within spitting distance of the Duluth outlet, including a branch of local favorite, “Grandmas,” started by the son of frozen food mogul, Jeno Paulucci (Chun King, Jeno’s Pizza, Michelina’s). (Paulucci Wikipedia bio).

Minnesota Burger Reporter Kawikamedia and his burger posse stopped in at the Ground Round today, and sampled (what else?) the Pepper Cheeseburger. He reported it was a little dry, but came with a chipotle sauce he favored. He also ordered the onion rings, which are very similar to another hometown favorite, the Pickwick.

Kawikamedia continues his quest for the best Pepper Cheeseburger in Minnesota. Maybe you have a suggestion of one he might have missed?

Kawikamedia shoots beautiful pix of food, and some of his shots are available for purchase in our online store.

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Everyone talks about the Rustic Inn for its fabulous pies and bountiful breakfasts. Minnesota Monthly called it “one of the secrets of Superior” – a must stop if you are touring in the Lake Superior area.

But it’s also the place for great home-cooking with a creative flair throughout the rest of the day, and a delightful dinner destination for Duluthian diners desiring a date-night “out of town. (wow, that’s an alliteration!).

Minnesota Burger Reporter KawikaMedia checked it out the other night and eschewed the burger offerings (1/2 pound topped with Danish Blue and crispy onions, or a 1/2 smothered with sauteed mushrooms and onions, with a house sauce and melted cheddar and swiss) for the “award winning meatloaf”, which by our reckoning, is still in the burger category. The menu description of the loaf states that it is a combination of beef, Italian sausage, and wild rice, with mash and house gravy. KawikaMedia’s description was “it is out of this f@#$in world!

He started with the house Salad w/ julienned asian ginger and asian cucumber with croutons, bacon, on a heart of romaine. Said it was “the best I have ever had. House beer-battered onion rings were shared and were described as “absolutely delicious.”

Dessert was one of the highly-touted pies, pecan was his choice, not as good as he used to get at home, but good none-the-less. Entrees run around $15. The establishment’s website seems to be kaput, but the breakfast menu is posted online here.

Castle Danger is located about 35 miles from downtown Duluth on Hwy 61, just a short distance shy of the scenic Split Rock Lighthouse (first picture below), if you are around during daylight.

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35 years ago, the Green Mill, ensconced in St. Paul’s oldest, licensed bar, a tiny hole on Hamline Avenue in St. Paul, was the “go-to” place for fancy pizza in the Twin Cities. A variation of Chicago deep dish, the pie was known for its quality ingredients, and for taking (by those day’s standards) too damned long to bake, at least if you were like me, and sneaking out on your lunch break from your job at a Twin Cities tv station. A few years later, “Green Mill Too”, was spawned on S. Hennepin in Minneapolis, which was larger, fancier, and had a full menu in addition to their extraordinary pizzas ( at that time, I had not developed my snobbish preference to thin crust pies).

I seem to recall we had a group dinner there prior to my first wedding. Today, Green Mills are spread across half a dozen states in the Upper Midwest, including an outlet in Canal Park, the tourist sector of Duluth, Minnesota.

And that’s where Minnesota Burger Reporter Kawikamedia when in pursuit of his quest to find Minnesota’s best pepper cheeseburger. The usual local version of this is a ground beef patty, breaded, deep-fried, with pepper cheese adorning the top. Pepper cheese, in this instance, is usually a mild soft Monterrey Jack with flecks of various peppers inside. Some variations can be found using specific peppers (i.e. Habanero Pepper Jack, et al).

The usual version of the pepper cheese burger does not appear on the Green Mill menu, however, they offer a wide variety of choices via their “build your own burger” selection. One could, for example, should they be so inclined, have a black Angus on a ciabatta with chipotle and buffalo sauce, goat, feta, and blue cheese, onion rings, black olives, and adorned with another meat, like pulled pork and buffalo shrimp. Hey, I’m just saying.

Kawikamedia reported the burger to be up to his standards, and it came with tasty waffle fries. He did not mention whether it was a contender for “best of the best” however. And he would have, if it were.

The complete Green Mill menu and locations can be found online, and Green Mill pizzas can be found in the frozen foods sections of many Upper Midwest groceries (pictured above).

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Minnesota Burger Correspondent Kawikamedia apparently couldn’t hold out too long after I left town, to get another burger (me neither, we were just in different places!). He visited the New Scenic Cafe, which is a short drive up the shore of Lake Superior from Duluth. New Scenic has been cranking out interesting cuisine from as much locally sustainable goods as they can muster, for over a decade. This is not your typical Duluth food. Menu is here. Sashimi Tuna Tacos; Aspargus Flan; Curried Mussels. Sounds great.

But of course, Kawikamedia’s hunt was for a burger, and he said it was one of the better ones he has consumed, and that says a lot because we downed a few great ones last week.

The North Shore of Lake Superior is a beautiful drive, interesting places to stop, whether you are just taking a short leg of the drive, say to Two Harbors, or whether you are going all the way to Canada. If you’re not in the mood for a full meal, stop at Russ Kendall’s SmokeHouse, which has been in Knife River since the beginning of time, and grab a few smoked ciscoes to eat in the car. (Ciscoes are a smaller variety of whitefish). I even picked some up to tote home.

The burger is plated beautifully. I want one!

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