back from a holiday break….
I did a little search of Minneapolis chili and the Loon consistently came up so I made the long walk over lunch (10 minutes)…
Their menu does boast “award winning” and the bartender recommended the Pecos River Red, which comes either mild, medium or hot. I went with medium. It was pretty true to form of classic Texas style chili with the cubed steak and not much else. This did have a kick to it so I’d be curious as to how hot the “hot” is. Really good flavor which was a little smoky-ish, good meat flavor and some various spices. I did get that cumin note too. As I was finished this up he brought me some of the Pinto’s Diablo chili to try. This really was good and better than the Pecos in my book. It has a little sweeter profile but also a real rich, deep flavor. The ground beef was very small in size kind of like a chili dog consistency. I would definitely get both again in a heartbeat and like I said before try the hot Pecos. I do like the Texas toast it comes with too. It had a small amount of cheese and sour cream…. kudos to the Loon! I’ll be back for sure. The only thing I gotta give low marks on is the price… $8.95 for a cup. Steep but I’ll pay the extra $3 for the bowl.
Overall taste (Pecos-Pinto’s) 8 and 9
Spice level 7.5 and 9
Heat – 8 and 6
IT Factor – 7 and 9
Value – 3 and 3