Grub Crawl - Sand Lake Rd: Mr Puffs and American Social *MN/MI Travel Notes

I'm going to put these together in one post, although they are a few miles apart on Sand Lake Rd. The first is outside the food court entrance (near Shake Shack) at the Florida Mall. The second is in the strip mall near Universal on the way to Dr Phillips (the one with Ocean Prime). This is fucking great. I just saved this and it didn't. Here we go again. Man my first one was better.

Mr Puffs - This is the Justin Trudeau (sans black face) of dessert shops. A Canadian chain that looks good but can't even best Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins. They sell little grease balls that I think they think are choux. I had a combo for $8.50. That gave me six of these fritters and a shake. The munchkins had a crisp shell. Slathered in maple syrup (my topping). Too sweet. Too much. They give you fork picks too eat them with. The blueberry shake was soft serve chemicals and water than had no blueberry taste. Small serving. They opened this week. It looks ok but... I was here to also try a place called Crepe Delicioso or something. No sign of them. Another kiosk inside called Crepe 4 U or something was new and open. I also noticed we have a Carlo's Bakery here too. I wonder if I reviewed them?

American Social Bar & Kitchen - They replaced Bar Loiuie. Two FSU guys. The menu is from a gastro pub fantasy draft. Sprouts, za, burgers, pretzels, avocado toast, tacos, pork belly, wings... you get the picture. I had the lunch special ($10.50 with a soda) because this was not where I prepared myself to dine and nothing seemed too interesting or within execution. I settled on the mahi tacos (2) over the club sandwich or burger. It came with chips. I'd rather it had come with one of the other sides. Couldn't match the main with the side I wanted. It was better than I expected. Maybe fresh fish. Slaw, corn and spicy mayo. The soda had a problem at the tap. The menu has two possible winners. A steak frites on the "large plates" section and a raw bar with poke, oyster and shrimp options. The place is big. Bad layout. The main booths are next to the kitchen door or bathrooms. Left and right side of room feel separated when you are in a booth. Most table are high tops. Patio in front. Large bar front and center. Longer left to right than front to back. DJ Booth. Restoration Hardware look. Life Magazine posters. Service (1) was good. Six people dining. Nothing life changing, but, better than Bar Louie.

*Travel Notes - MN/MI: Things on the menu in MN and MI. Chicken salad mixed with wild rice and fried walleye sandwich in MN. Pannu Kaku (Finnish pancake) and thistle berry glazed donut at Jamsen's Bakery in Copper Harbor MI. Smoked fish chowder and fried white fish sandwich at Four Suns in Hancock MI. Tuna fish mixed with macaroni, sour cream lemon pie and ham spread at Pat's Food in Hancock MI. They seemed to like to add pasta to lots of dip type stuff or vice versa.