A Belated Birthday Dinner Recap: Town Talk Diner

This entry is, admittedly, a little "overcooked," seeing as how I celebrated my birthday last month. Apparently, that's just how I roll these days :) With that...

This year, I wanted to try somewhere a little different for my birthday dinner celebration. I'd heard nothing but fantastic things about Town Talk Diner (which even bills itself as "a finer diner") on Lake Street in Minneapolis, so I figured it was time to check it out. Plus, I'd heard they had killer cocktails from a great mixologist.

I was definitely intrigued by all of the interesting sounding cocktails on the menu: the Bacon Manhattan with bacon bourbon and cherry liqueur and the Green Fairy with zen green tea liqueur, absinthe and egg white, to name two. With a little help from my server, I landed on the Water Tight, which was made with rum, watermelon juice, sparkling wine and basil.

It was unique and summery and unlike anything I'd had before. I found it to be quite refreshing and enjoyable, albeit different.

For dinner, I couldn't quite break myself free of my new found burger addiction, so I ordered the Kitchen Sink burger with the "kitchen sink" sauce on the side (I think it's basically thousand island dressing, which I don't care for). The burger came with bacon, cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato and garlic parsley fries.

I thought both were very good, but I really enjoyed the fries. Could be my love of both parsley and garlic.

For a special birthday treat, our server (who was fabulous) brought us a little chocolatey, peanut buttery deliciousness to share. Yum.

I really enjoyed my first Town Talk experience. The space was welcoming, the staff friendly and the food good. The highlight of the night was our server's ability to split up the check in the easiest way I've ever seen: they separated the check and divided my portion evenly among the group. It saved us from the whole awkward check-paying experience that so often comes with dining in big groups.

Thanks Town Talk for being so accommodating, and thanks friends for being so generous!