Originally reviewed July 21, 2009

Decoy’s Grill & Bar, 1022 Main Street, Hopkins, MN 55343

I was down at the Raspberry Festival in my favorite hometown of Hopkins, Minnesota to partake in the [1] Waterball competition hosted by the [2] Hopkins Jaycees. While there the hungry bell rang so my friend Tracey Biegert and I stopped into Decoy’s for a bite to eat. Upon entering, we were assailed by a cacophony of discordant Karaoke performers. It was then that we remembered that there was a karaoke competition going on. Oh well.

We sidled over to a booth along the windows and ordered up a couple burgers. Dining with me is an experience of sharing. Thankfully Tracey realized this and we exchanged halves. The two burgers I sampled were the Olive Burger and a burger with blue cheese(The name escapes me and they do not have a web page that appears in Google with a menu for me to check…grrrr).

A guy in the booth ahead of us laughed at me when I breathed in the smell of the Olive Burger. Is that really all that odd? Olives have a distinct smell to them and I was checking to see if the burger had that smell. Little did I know it was an inside joke to his wife, who had her back to me. Back to the burger. I was disappointed that I could not pick out the smell at all. The patty was fresh ground and irregular which is always a good sign and the cheddar cheese was oozy on top. Overall it was palatable and might be worth trying again sometime.

The gem of the meal was the burger I ordered. The blue cheese was thick and added just enough tang to the burger that it complimented the beef. Bacon(?) on top was a textural bonus. This one I would order again in an official review someday. It may not be top 20 worthy but its definitely worth trying.

If the blue cheese burger was the gem, then the fries were the coal. They were inconsistent seasoning, bland, and slightly undercooked for my tastes. They existed someplace in between a jo-jo and regular table fry, with little to no crisp snap but clearly not as soft as fish and chips fries.

The best part of the meal besides hanging out with a good friend? My junior high/high school crush walked by the window as she was on her way to Monsters vs Aliens at the theatre. Thankfully she heard me pounding on the window. That was the first time I have seen or talked to Amanda in person since early college, but enough about me… go eat already!