Over the last few weeks I've been taking some exploratory adventures into my new neighborhood. This has been in an effort to get a jump on becoming one with my new neighbors, finding the best watering holes, and finding some great neighborhood cuisine. We don't close on the house until this Friday, but I couldn't wait to start uncovering all of the possibilities that St. Paul's "West End" has to offer.

One of the things I've discovered through these travels is that there is an entire drinking sub-culture in St. Paul that previously I had no idea existed. Maybe I just ignored it, maybe I presumed myself too "classy" to associate myself with it, or maybe it's true that our perception of the world is very much shaped by what we want to see, as much what is really there. At any rate, I never would have guessed that I would enjoy the West End so much, or that it would feel as comfortable as it already does.

Before I moved to Boston, I always thought of myself as a young, hip, Uptown-Minneapolis bar-hopping kind of guy. Since moving back though, I've been slowly getting more and more back to basics. This transition has been most notably showcased by my almost complete refusal to step foot into any bar besides The Muddy Pig at Selby and Dale in St. Paul. Something about the feel of neighborhood bars started to really grab me. Maybe all those years of being very anonymous in Boston made me crave a place where people know my name. That, or I just love the Muddy's Cuban sandwich, which is certainly possible.

Anyways, I was stunned to find out that there are least five drinking establishments in a 3 block radius around my house. These are old bars, born at a time when windows were optional, and cheap wood paneling was not.

One of these bars, "The Spot", is actually rumored to be the oldest bar in St. Paul. It proudly states that it was "Established in 1885" on a faded "Pig's Eye Pilsner" sign that hangs like a testimonial to the neighborhood's past on the side of the building. This bar is pure simplicity in action: 3 booths, 2 windows, a beat up old bar, and one dartboard. When Mose and I were there a couple weeks ago we came to the conclusion that The Spot could actually make for a great replacement for the modern living room. We came to this conclusion because from our own observations it seemed that everyone there had shown up just to drink and watch television. The place was silent except for the occasional clinking of pint glasses as everyone was engrossed in watching the latest episode of "CSI". It was so laid back and chill that a La-Z-Boy recliner would not have seemed at all out of place. We had to remind ourselves to keep our voices just above a whisper to avoid disturbing the serenity of it all. If you're looking to have a quiet conversation with a friend or two, The Spot is the spot for you. The only thing that really let me down about the place was the lack of a proper bar-food menu. In fact, the only food present is a rather comprehensive and impressive selection of little bags of honey roasted nuts, as well as Cheetos. If that's your idea of a meal, then I guess you're all set. Mose needed something more though, even after finishing two bags of the little buggers. That said, if you're lucky enough to be there at the right time you might be approached by a little old Latino lady passing through who sells tamales out of a little portable cooler. I can't vouch for the quality of the tamales though, I haven't had the appetite to try out out the few times we've crossed paths.

The other establishment high on my list right now is a little hole in the wall on West Seventh Street that goes by the name of "Joe and Stan's". To tell you the truth, I don't know if I would have ever even noticed it, let alone ventured inside, if it weren't for the glowing recommendation that the place received from a schoolteacher friend of my mother. I figured that if it's safe enough for an elementary school teacher, that it's good enough for me. My first encounter with Joe and Stan's happened the same night that Mose and I hit The Spot. It was around 9PM, and Chris Tierney had actually shown up to join us, being that he also lives only about 4 blocks away. Mose got a craving in his belly for something a little more substantial than the mixed nuts that the Spot was offering, so I suggested we hoof it down a few blocks to Joe and Stan's. The idea came to me because I'd been encouraged to check out Joe and Stan's two-dollar dinner specials. They serve a different special every night of the week: tacos, hot pork sandwiches, coneys, and other sumptuous items all at the low price of $2.00, which was definitely enticing. What I didn't know was that the specials end at 9PM, and that Mose was out of luck. All was not lost though, since after nine they still serve up pizzas. I didn't expect too much from the pizza, which was from an unknown to me purveyor by the name of "Heggie's", but the waitress insisted that they were very good, so we gave it a shot. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be very tasty! In fact, it bore a very close culinary resemblance to one of my favorite St. Paul pizza's: Carbone's. Even better than the pizza though, was that directly following the delivery of the pizza to our table, the waitress proceeded to get up on stage for karaoke night and give the best performance of the evening.

I ventured back to Joe and Stan's the following week with Hope, Chris, Marie, and baby Ada. We were all very curious about the taco special - well, maybe not Ada - and with all of the stress of getting ready to move, a cheap meal among good friends sounded damn good. Upon setting foot inside Joe and Stan's we couldn't help but be surprised by the popularity of the place at dinner time. The place was packed by an interesting mix of parents with their kids, as well as a seriously large group of leather-clad bikers! We were a little hesitant to bring four month old Ada around a bunch of potentially rowdy bikers, but were pleasantly surprised by their polite and friendly manner. One lady even exclaimed:

"That girl should be in commercials! She's so cute, I want to buy her something right now!"

Personally, I would have rather she paid for my tacos instead, but I digress. Another surprise was that while yes, you could get two dollar tacos, you also had a wide array of other mexican food options: enchiladas, nachos, burritos, and tostadas. Not bad for a biker joint on a Wednesday. We all ordered a bunch of food, a few cheap beers, and proceeded to wait, all the while trying to stay out of the line of fire of bikers trying to get to the pull-tab window near our table.

The food showed up and was actually pretty good. I ordered two tacos, which was actually way too much food. I mean, it wasn't amazing food, but for $4.00 total, who can complain? The one comment I will make is that it's a big stretch to give unique names to all of the "entrees". Everything has exactly the same ingredients: cheap shredded lettuce, pre-shredded cheddar cheese, and some real greasy taco meat. They're just presented in different versions of the shell: flat and fried, folded and fried, rolled up and baked... you get the picture. Again, I'm not complaining, but come on!

We're going to try to head back for dinner again next week sometime during "pre-move house cleaning week". I'm pretty curious about the pork sandwich and the coneys, but I probably won't spend an hour writing those reviews too.

So, head on down to Joe and Stan's or the Spot sometime and check out the "real" Saint Paul. You won't be disappointed! Next adventure: Skarda's