doodledee

The food court at the City Center closed down on January 1st. It fell victim to a "new strategic direction" dictated by the owners of the property, who apparently assume that it's better to flush $15MM down the remodeling toilet than it is to maintain a Taco Bell within walking distance of Dave's desk. Doofs. They've clearly never had a caramel apple empanada off the 99-cent value menu. De-lish.

(To be clear, I hated the CC food court. A small piece of me died every time we ate there. (I think it ended up in the tacos the next day.) The advantage it had was that it was easy to find seating for a group of 8-10, which is how big our lunch crowd usually is. So shut it with the food snobbery.)

Without the food court to fall back on, the great lunchless unwashed masses have been left to roam the skyways in search of someplace new to eat. If you're willing to forego convenient seating for large groups there are plenty of good options, but if you've got a crowd you can basically forget it. Just stay at the office and play xbox work or something.

Some good places that I've always liked and am now going to more often:

• L. Phillips - Impossible to google, but good burgers. The fries are average at best and the place reeks like a grease bomb went off, but it's still worth the hike if you're looking to eat a cheeseburger with a bunch of bankers in ties.
• Andrea Pizza - It's kinda like the soup nazi, only for pizza. I actually get nervous when I get to the front of the line. But not a bad slice and the prices aren't bad.
• Brother's Deli - Lordy, lordy, if I could only eat giant pastrami sandwiches every day all would be right with the world. And if I had to do that in the Twin Cities, it'd be a Brother's, baby. All you can eat pickles and cole slaw? Woo hoo.
• Canton Village - Chinese in a styrofoam tub. Cheap. Super cheap after 1:00. Singapore noodles. Bring it.

Some places that kinda suck but are still an ok option I guess:

• D'Brians - I go for the salad bar. It's not a very good one. It's sold by weight, like most salad bars are. Their trick is that they wash their lettuce and - OOPS - totally forget to dry it. So you get a soaking wet salad that costs 40% more than it should. But the croutons are stupid good. And *they* weigh next to nothing. So there.
• Potbelly - Yeah, I know it's a chain, that's why I put it in the sucks list. But their hot, toasty subs aren't all that bad and they're reasonably cheap and it's not like a global monopoly or anything. Too bad the sandwiches are sized so that one isn't enough and two is way too many. Boo on bad buns, but otherwise, booya.
• Marshal Field's Marketplace - Dirt cheap cafeteria sushi. Bingo.

I also want to give a shout-out to Kokapelli's weekly tribute to Thanksgiving, the 10-pound container of 'Turk-n-stuff'. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but it's big and makes me sleepy, and that's good enough for me.

I'll miss you, empanada.

City Center Food Court Shuts Down [skywaynews]