Nook TODOTC.com To Do in the Twin Cities Restaurants Nook Date: March 1, 2024 492 Hamline Ave S St Paul, MN Phone: (651) 698-4347 www.crnook.com

The Nook
If you are from the Twin Cities or a Mover-Inner for more than a year or two in the Twin Cities, you should know about the Juicy Lucy. To say the Juicy Lucy is just a burger would be like saying Tom Brady is just a quarterback. The Juicy Lucy is the ultimate Twin City Burger, it was INVENTED here! If you are bored and want to start a fight, go to: Matts Bar, 5-8 Club, the Blue Door Pub or the focus of this review the NOOK and say The Juicy Lucy WASN’T invented here! People in the Twin Cities are in a word PASSIONATE about the Juicy Lucy.
SO, for the three people that don’t know what a Juicy Lucy is, it in the Ultimate Cheeseburger. We will not reveal the true story or ingredients, but we will start you down the path. The basics are two burgers with special cheese between them, cooked ever so delicately to produce the ultimate cheeseburger experience. The quest is to find the BEST Juicy Lucy in the Twin Cities and that is not an easy one.
E & I had our First Juicy Lucy when the Super Bowl was in town in the place that perhaps more people believe invented it than any of the other three: Matts bar 3500 Cedar Ave in South Minneapolis by Powderhorn Park on Cedar a few blocks south of Lake Street between 35W & Hiawatha and about a mile or so directly North of the OTHER Home of the Juicy Lucy the 5-8 Club on Cedar & Crosstown. It was a cold February Friday night when we stood outside Matts with all the New England Patriots fans that came just to discover the Juicy Lucy and maybe watch a football game.
Matts Juicy Lucy was good, but it started our quest to try the Juicy Lucy at the 5-8 Club a few weeks later then both the Blue Door Pubs, ALSO known for the Juicy Lucy and finally to the Nook this past weekend.
The Nook 1326 Randolph Ave, St Paul is a sports bar on top of a bowling alley a few blocks east of Snelling on Randolph by Macalester College, south of 94 Midway across the street from the sports powerhouse Cretin-Derham Hall Catholic High School. The Nook is a neighborhood Bar known and loved across the metro. We went there with ONE PURPOSE: to see the final contestant for the Juicy Lucy quest.
As someone who has visited my share of alcohol establishments across the Midwest one can be amazed at the commonality of bars/pubs/restaurants. You tell me if they have room for pool tables and darts and I’ll draw the interior never walking in. And the Nook is the same. On one side there is a long bar with stools and a kitchen on the other side is booths from front to back, and that exactly describes the Nook. Not good or bad, it’s just the way it is. And of COURSE, big screen TVs over the bar to scream at and talk to your beer while the Vikings, Twins or Wild play.  
There are no reservations at the Nook. As one would expect in a neighborhood Sports bar that it is. And though they do not have parking, we parked on the street a half a block away. It is in the Highland Neighborhood, so we did not feel unsafe at all.
We went in the Nook and saw the dozen people waiting. We don’t wait. Turns out they were all there for pickup. We were immediately seated on a Friday night at 7 after our wine tasting. We were seated at a double booth shoulder to a table on each side. That said it was not loud and we could talk normally to each other without hearing three conversations, the way Friday Nights should be.
We were waited on right away and they took our wine order. The Nook is more of a beer joint, but they have wine. Not great wine but drinkable. E had her Cab and me my Pinot.
We looked over the menu and decided to share a side salad for $7.25. What came was FAR from a Side Salad. It was huge and looked very fresh with a great combination. I don’t remember the last time I was surprised by a side salad and when E & I were finished we almost cancelled the rest of the meal, it was a delight.
Next, we waited for our burgers. E ordered a traditional burger; I was there for the quest for the last Juicy Lucy in the five location competition. So, we talked and watched hockey. Shortly after our burgers came. They were good burgers, not to die for but good. The only complaint I had was when I bit into my Juicy Lucy cheese poured down my front. Thankfully I was bending over. I knew what I was eating… I was born on a Tuesday but not LAST Tuesday. The cheese came out in a blob and had I not been leaning forward it would have been all over my shirt. But as it were, I was in the booth. Yes, I wiped up the mess. I did not have this issue with any of the other Juicy Lucys. It’s a cheese decision… might have been how it was cooked. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good burger, but not as great of a burger as Matts & 5-9 Club.
So, if you are keeping score, I rate Matts & 5-9s Juicy Lucys the best followed by Nooks & Blue Door. All of them are good burgers just the first two are gooder than the last two.  E’s burger was also good though she prefers the Buffalo Wild Wings burgers.
The bill was a decent $52.34 not bad for a Friday night meal and the patron, and the servers were nice.

Contact us Dennis@ToDoTC.com