DDD The Road Trip

Today's DDD stop was a Korean restaurant called Kim's. Technically it is not a Diners Drive-ins and Dives place. The owner Ann Kim has a pizza place, Lola's, that we have been to a couples of times. That restaurant serves wood fired pizza that is super yummy. Lola's has been on DDD.
Jer discovered that she has four restaurants in Minneapolis, one being Kim's, a restaurant that serves food reflecting her Korean heritage.
Since we are on a DDD tour we didn't get cleaned up before we went because you know it's just a diner. This is definitely not a diner but a trendy restaurant, so we were a little under dressed. It was super busy, which is always a good sign. After a small wait we got a table and proceeded to figure out what all the words on the menu meant.
Alcoholic drinks at our table were a beer and a green drink named Smoky and Mommy. That drink was a mix of mezcal, melon liquor, grapefruit and lime. And there were two zero proof drinks. I always appreciate a restaurant that serves a good nonalcohol cocktail. For that we had a Poppin' Pear, made with fermented pears, and a Feel No Pain, a very fruity drink served in a very cool pineapple glass.
Then were the starters, Korean Fried Chicken Wings, which were nice and spicy and very crispy, and a Shrimp and Vegetable Pancake. All were tasty and there were no scraps. Then came the mains, Stone Bowl Bibimbap and Hwe Dup Bap Cured Salmon Rice Bowl. The Bibimbap was delicious. A super hot stone bowl that crisped up the bottom of the rice topped with veggies and beef bulgogi. The Salmon Rice Bowl was like deconstructed sushi. It was very fresh and it too was delicious. There was so much food that we will be having reheated Bibimbap for breakfast.
An interesting fact is that this restaurant charges a 21% surcharge to your bill. This is to replace a tip. The servers are supposed to be receiving a liveable wage. This surcharge is to pay for their wage. However, the money doesn't go directly to the staff. It just goes towards the operating costs of the business. My question is why don't they just charge 21% more for each item and then tell people not to leave a tip? Something is just not sitting right with me about this. Our server was super awesome so we left a tip anyways.Les mer

After another day of sight seeing we stopped at our last DDD restaurant. This one is owned by Justin Warner of Food Network fame. He doesn't have his own show but has roles on some of the shows. Most notably he is one of the commentators on Tournament of Champions.
This is a Ramen restaurant. It is decorated heavily with Japanese toys, these are called gashapons. The food was good. The service was very good. The decor a little weird. It was a good to have some soup for a change.Les mer