The Bloated Belly

Miami, Key West bloat

By The Hack

The Hack has returned from vacation in South Miami Beach and Key West, with a few notable finds. He ate, ate and ate, thinking that his constant walking and biking in those areas was the reason for his voracious appetite and roaring stomach, and that he might actually have come home a few pounds lighter. Not so. His body's craving for carbs to fuel his activities resulted in copious beer consumption, which likely overwhelmed any calorie loss. Sliding on a pair of jeans at home this a.m., the Hack thought they might have felt a bit snug from a week ago.

That, and any R&R gained from the trip was lost in the last 48 hours, when a mild tropical storm washed away any flights in the prop planes out of Key West for a few hours, which resulted in a missed connecting flight, a luggage snafu, a four-hour sleep in a hotel near Miami International, and a two-hour layover in Chicago. But, that ain't anything to complain about given various global events. And, on the upside, the Hack found a new hat to alternate with his old, tattered lid in O'Hare, of all places.

A few things happened in the local restaurant scene while the Hack was adjusting to unseasonably cool weather down south (still warm by our hearty Minnesota standards, the Hack wanted to smack those Floridians wearing heavy coats and scarves—yes, scarves—in 50-60 degree weather), most notably the fire that consumed Heidi's and Blackbird, along with a few other businesses along that stretch. Mighty sad, but at least no one was hurt. Comments and photos on that and the vacation to follow...

Barking dogs.

By The Hack

Amsterdam is not for sissies.

Not that it's a rough-and-tumble town, but the Hack found that, while he keeps himself in functional shape by American standards, those standards fall insanely short in a city devoted to the primary transportation vehicles attached to the human body. Yes, Amsterdam has a fine public transportation system (trams and such), which the Hack and his lovely wife utilized. But the primary mode is foot and bicycle. And yeah, there's a fair amount of auto traffic, but them boxes don't rule the streets like they do here. Bicycles are king, and even pedestrians need to be wary of stepping into designated lanes. So, the Hack sits today in his desk chair back home with achy legs from all the use they got, proving once again that all the muscles worked at the gym don't mean diddly when it comes to using them like humans are supposed to.

But his fingers still work OK, and the camera was busy—the Hack has more than 700 shots to sort through, and that was after he'd done significant editing after each day in the field. So, dear reader, keep visiting for upcoming posts.

Bravo: the burrito joint and a new era

Posted by The New Guy

I was planning some sort of introduction for my first post, but decided against it. There’s enough navel gazing going on in blogdom—and plenty among the professional writing ranks these days, what with the threatened demise of tree-based journalism. Regular readers will pick up on the vibe as we go along.

The only items I will mention are:

1. The Bloated Belly will take its tagline "comments on consumption" to include many other topics.

2. I won’t be a ranting restaurant critic. Hope you understand why. As the editor of a publication covering, among other things, the restaurant industry, it’s my job to dive into the business, and it wouldn’t be fair (or smart) to use the access I have and then turn around and slam or praise effusively the food I might eat. Further, any breaking news events in the restaurant world will be posted at this blog, ‘cause, umm, that’s what they pay me for. All that said, this will still be a place to share ideas about food, cooking (oh, plenty of that) and places around town and in my travels that are worthy of checking out.

That includes the signage posted above, Bravo Burritos Mexicatessen. For the day gig, I usually travel to St. Cloud at least twice a year for a conference of some kind (this past Tuesday was the 2009 Commodities Show—more interesting than it sounds, trust me). St. Cloud, to me, is a strange, sprawling place that doesn’t grab my senses in any context despite my exploration attempts. For comparison, Eau Claire, Wis. is also a college town with a similar population (about 65,000). I don’t feel the university vibe at all in St. Cloud, whereas in Eau Claire it’s a recurring theme. Granted, St. Cloud’s had major bridges out for two years running, which makes it difficult to get around, but still…

Whenever I’m up there, however, I will visit one of two eateries. Val’s Rapid Serv or Bravo, depending on my mood. More on Val’s, one of the last independent, quick-serve burger joints on the planet, later.

Bravo’s owner, Bill Ellenbecker, and his wife lived in San Francisco for about 15 years soaking in traditional Mexican food and recipes in the Mission District. They moved back to St. Cloud in the mid-1980s and opened Bravo. When I first heard people drove hours for the goods I thought that insane, but about a year ago I changed my tune. St. Cloud is less of haul for me because of this joint (and Val’s). All meats, sauces—even the chips—are made in-house. It’s all good, but Tuesday I went with chicken verde, which was both simple and sublime. If the name sounds familiar to Twin Cities dwellers, he had a location on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis for a bit, but shut ‘er down because the back-and-forth haul got to be a drag.

Bravo Burritos Mexicatessen
68 33rd Ave. S.
St. Cloud, MN 56301
320-252-5441