Cheeky Monkey - You'll Go Banana's!

525 Selby Ave. St Paul, MN 55102

I have been meaning to try this place for years-finally went and tried it yesterday.

I ordered a coffee, the cubano, and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. I sampled the veggie sandwich from my friend; my Bro had the meatloaf sandwich-and the four of us all really enjoyed the food.

We arrived at around 4:45 so it wasn't too busy, but started to get filled as we waited for our sandwiches to arrive, which didn't take long at all. When they arrived they were uniformly cooked, and delicious. Nothing exceptional, but really good, and the price was right ($8 without tax.) I love the ambiance of the place and the cleanliness of the space as well as the outside surrounding it. Great energy!

For $6-8 you get to choose a sandwich, and before I went to check this place out, I saw a negative review from some slob complaining that there are no side orders to go along with the sandwich. Well, I am 6' 3'' and 190 pounds and had worked out earlier so I was hungry, and I was overly full after eating the Cubano..so there is plenty of food within the sandwich, and if you are one that is still hungry after eating one of Cheeky Monkey's, you are probably overweight, and need to be eating less-not more.

I also loved the free glass vats of iced cucumber water and lemon water. I never order soda, so that was a nice idea, that stuck with me.

Los Ocampo - Best Sandwich EVER!

1751 Suburban Ave. St. Paul, MN

I had the best sandwich I have ever eaten in my life at Los Ocampo. I ate it over a month ago, and have not been able to put into words how delicious this particular item of food was. It was so good, I haven't got it since-afraid that the taste will never be replicated in my, or any other's lifetime. Such a strange sandwich concoction, yet so unbelievably good, it was the first time I had attempted to procreate with a sandwich-(a case of the Costanza's.)

My friends ordered the Fajita's for their meal, and when my sandwich arrived, they admitted their jealousy that they had not ordered the same thing, after it was set down. So many flavors within one sandwich, I had suspicions whether all of the tastes would conspire to out taste each other, yet the opposite happened..Each flavor worked in unison to the best of their own ability to create an orgasmic gang bang of deliciousness in my taste bud's. There was the buttered carrots, barely making their presence known, there was the perfectly ripe avocado sliced lengthwise, reminding me of its presence in the littlest way with each bite, and...well don't get me started on the Cuban Ham or all of the other great food potions that made up this magical sandwich, because I haven't the words.

Well I got three actually: Hawaiian Mexican Sandwich.

Tea House - Excellent!

1676 Suburban Ave. St Paul, MN 55106

I went to the Tea House after hearing great things from friends and Urbanspoon reviews, and was immediately taken in by the pleasant Eastern ambiance when I walked in the doors.

I tried a few different items off of the menu, including the sesame chicken (crisped to perfection) and some pan fried noodles with garlic and something (two weeks ago) along with the cream cheese wonton's. The cook must be O.C.D. because every piece of food had the perfect crispness to it, and I am one that is a crisp snob-there has to be jsut the right amount of crisp-too much and it is burnt, too little and slightly soggy. All my chicken pieces were as golden browned perfection as I have ever eaten.

I will say if your one that is offended by a non-social server, you might take offence at the hospitality as the service was a little frigid.. It was not impolite though, just not a hint of warmth in the server's mannerisms. Though the service was not lacking or lazy, so no complaints here!

The price is about $2-4 more than your typical Chinese eatery, but the food is twice as good so it is worth it!