Home-style roast beef dinners and sandwiches and cheese fondue will be newcomers to the Blue Moose menu with the changing season.
The bar and grill on restaurant row in East Grand Forks has a unique menu that seems to consistently draw good business for lunch as well as for dinner, with items such as Norwegian barbecued ribs with a sweet, smokey but mild sauce.
The restaurant was remodeled earlier this year and now is more inviting. Two blue moose grace a nicely landscaped area at the Second Street entrance. On the other side, an outdoor balcony overlooks the Red River. The new entryway is larger and provides seating for people who are waiting for friends.
Inside, the decor still is northwoods style. The restaurant is more open with a large seating area along with a bar and lounge that once was the Minnesota Room. The interior is finished with logs and light wood, and there are private dining areas on the balcony level.
Our group of past and present Cottonwood Street neighbors recently chose the Moose for lunch.
ADVERTISEMENT
The soups for the day were French onion, which always is available, along with beef-barley and pork and bean soup. I chose the beef-barley soup with something called buffalo salad and fruit. Instead of the buffalo meat I was expecting, it turned out to be buffalo wings-style chicken.
I was sitting next to Marilyn Lundberg (ML) and Jan Wendell (JW), who were impressed by the coarse Italian ciabetta bread on which JW's walleye sandwich was served. And JW, who doesn't usually eat all the bread, finished every bit of it. ML ordered a Sunset Lime Chicken salad, which she had tried at a previous trip to the Moose. She likes the tangy lime cilantro marinade and the lime tortilla chips that go with it.
The variety and the creativity are strengths of the new menu, but it is enormous and hard to figure everything out at first reading. For years, the Moose had a shorter menu in a newspaper format.
All in all, the Moose was a good choice for lunch. Everyone seemed well satisfied. I especially like the way my lunch was presented on a triangle-shaped plate. Most of us liked the different items on the menu - not the same old sandwiches and salads.
Most lunch items are about $7 to $8. And there are combos for $6.99 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. They allow you to tailor your lunch by picking three of five items. Dinners range from $10.99 for beef tips, stir-fry or chicken stuffed with prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese over rice. There's walleye for $14.99. Prime rib in 12- and 16-ounce portions is $17 to $20 Thursday through Saturday.
The place rates an A for coming up with minidesserts as a choice in the lunch combos.
Along with the pluses, there are some minuses. Our group of eight was seated in the new lounge area, but unfortunately, we were right next to the door. The breeze was too cool when people came in or out of the balcony. And there were the inevitable flies of September. Before long, the door will be closed for the winter and shouldn't be a problem. The soup I had was rich in flavor but oily on top.
The Moose has become an institution in East Grand Forks along with Whitey's. The Moose started out on the south side of DeMers Avenue, but it had to move after the Flood of 1997, closing for 40 days and 40 nights, Owner-manager Dave Homstad said. "They were building the dike on the wrong side of us." The whole building - except for the kitchen - then was moved to its present location.
ADVERTISEMENT
The location along restaurant row has been good for the Blue Moose. Homstad credits some of the good business from the coming of Cabelas to East Grand Forks. He also is looking forward to business that should come from the new theater operation in the nearby mall.
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or (701) 772-1055.
