Tonight the youngest and I had the night to ourselves so we went out to eat. We hit this local bar and grill, that’s really a bit of a dive place, but it’s clean and the food is decent. It’s the kind of place with a pull tab booth in the corner, and tonight happened to be bingo night. On the upside, they had some decent Castle Danger beer, so I was satisfied with that.

This is the second time I’ve been there, and it seems like they have a rotating menu of hotdish. For those of you unfamiliar with hotdish, it’s where you toss a bunch of stuff into a casserole dish, bake it up and serve. It usually consists of some type of meat, a can of soup, a potato type starch, and something crunchy on top. One of the more well known Minnesota traditions is tater-tot hotdish that uses beef, cream of mushroom soup, and green beans.

Tonight I got to try something completely different; chow mein hotdish. It was made with cream of mushroom soup, rice, beef, celery, and topped with chow mein noodles. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I couldn’t pass it up. It ended up being pretty decent too. It came with soy sauce and actually made me think of chow mein from when I was a kid. It was very homey and filling.

Sometimes you find some of the best comfort food in places you least expect. I’m glad I took a chance tonight and gave chow mein hotdish a try!