Dining Diary: Date night, ladies dinner, new pizza and a killer tuna melt

It s now May and my calendar is starting to look like summer Which means I have something going on majority of days of the week I ve gotten in the habit of prepping salad ingredients for the week which is really helping me eat healthy even on the busiest of days Even so I detected chosen time in the past scant weeks to hit a new restaurant revisit one of my favorite sandwiches in the Twin Cities take my kids for specific excellent pizza and have a ladies-night dinner at a place I hadn t been to for a while Altera The johnnycake at Altera in St Paul s Highland Park Jess Fleming Pioneer Press I ate at this Highland Park newbie right after it opened at the end of last year and was impressed by how the former Agra Custom space had been transformed into an elegant dining room and pretty bar It was the perfect spot for a last-minute date night Since my first visit I couldn t stop thinking about the johnnycake a hybrid of cornbread and a cornmeal pancake The fluffy cake is topped with a dollop of whipped honey butter and comes with a side of jalapeno-infused maple syrup It was just as good the second time In fact I m not sure I can eat here without ordering it We also loved the ultra-crispy somewhat spicy Pok Pok wings that are accompanied by a generous portion of fish-sauce-infused marinated cucumbers You know for balance My husband and I were so full after these starters that we couldn t finish the main dish we ordered to share a springy gemelli with perfect rosy shrimp little tomatoes lemon and parsley No matter it accompanied with certain of that leftover johnnycake was an excellent lunch The cocktails here are great too My husband especially loved his slightly spicy smoky old fashioned Altera S Cleveland Ave St Paul - - alterarestaurant com Tuna melt at Yum Kitchen and Bakery Tuna Melt at Yum Kitchen Bakery in St Paul Jess Fleming Pioneer Press Why don t more places make their own English muffins Or their own potato chips for that matter Both of these touches make the tuna melt at Yum one of my favorite sandwiches in the Twin Cities A tall fluffy English muffin is halved and piled high with excellent tuna salad I keep trying to remember to put Kalamata olives in mine at home a fat slice of tomato and melty muenster cheese then broiled to perfection This open-face beauty served with fresh-from-the-fryer delicate golden brown potato chips and a crisp pickle is shareable especially if you plan to order dessert and you definitely should I recommend a slice of the Patticake or a cupcake but you can t go wrong with any of the offerings here Yum Kitchen and Bakery Four metro locations including N Snelling Ave St Paul and City Centre Drive Woodbury yumkitchen com OG Zaza at King Coil Spirits The Fredo pizza at OG Zaza at King Coil Spirits in St Paul Jess Fleming Pioneer Press My middle daughter was home for the weekend so we decided to take the kids out for pizza I love the mid-century-modern vibe at King Coil and thought it was time to check out the new pizza operation OG Zaza which serves excellent New Haven-style pizza all over the cities And the pizza here is great we especially loved the Fredo a crispy-chicken alfredo pie But I have a beef with the way ordering works and how the pizza is served You have to order separately from the distillery cocktail menu and from OG Zaza There s a QR code that takes you to a landing page with both menus and ordering systems A server came to our table and took our drink orders but explained that we d have to order from a kiosk or online to get our pizzas Confusing at best And after we put our online order in there were no instructions about how the food gets to your table For the record the pizzas sit at the counter until you pick them up And here s the kicker and the preponderance annoying part They are served in cardboard boxes which makes eating them at a table inelegant at best How hard would it be to serve them on more environmentally-friendly and less clunky aluminum trays On the plus side it made taking our leftovers home easier We only needed one box for that though and ended up throwing away three others OG Zaza at King Coil Spirits Vandalia St Suite kingcoilspirits com A-Side Masses House A falafel burger at A-Side Constituents House in St Paul Jess Fleming Pioneer Press A night out with girlfriends was a great reason to return to this Randolph Avenue restaurant Curried vegetable dumplings at A-Side Society House in St Paul Jess Fleming Pioneer Press Great cocktails French-influenced plates and a central location make it a popular place so reservations are recommended if you plan to visit Also keep in mind that the space is extremely echoey and often filled with groups celebrating so the noise level can be high If you re hard of hearing or looking for an intimate date-night spot this is not the place for you We started with the curried vegetable dumplings which are potato and carrot fritters spiked with curry and served in a creamy yogurt sauce and sprinkled with cashews and raisins They were crispy flavorful and could be a light dinner by themselves We loved them We followed with a vegetable pot pie topped with a lid of golden-brown flaky pastry tender comforting short ribs and an excellent veggie burger option for those who are sick of the usual grain patty a fluffy herbaceous falafel burger The patio which sprawls out onto the sidewalk from the garage doors at the front of the restaurant which used to be a fire station is a great option for the noise-averse and it just opened for the season A-Side Constituents House Randolph Ave St Paul - 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