Jason's Deli, 11995 Singletree Lane, Eden Prairie, MN

Knowing I was required to attend an editors' management meeting at my company's Minnesota HQ in Eden Prairie the afternoon of Wed., March 30, I decided to seek out a second reason for crossing to the other side of Minneapolis for the day, and a friend agreed to meet me for an early dinner. She had offered two Eden Prairie suggestions, and I couldn't remember the name of the first place for longer than 10 seconds after hearing the second name, Jason's Deli.

From the moment I heard that name March 29, part of me kept thinking "Reuben, Reuben, Reuben." After browsing through a menu in this restaurant that is designed in colors of brown, green and burnt orange, I asked what was good there, and my companion recommended the Reuben among other dishes.

I then awaited a sandwich stacked high with corned beef on a great rye bread. My friend said she was impressed that I would eat sauerkraut. Shucks, it's nothing, really. Anyone could do it.

Each sandwich at Jason's is served with chips, and I was pleasantly surprised to find my Reuben came with old-fashioned ripple chips; they haven't yet buckled to the pressures of the kettle chip world.

The meal ended with complimentary soft-serve vanilla ice cream. I was forewarned there was something different about this ice cream, and I was being quizzed. I answered and asked: "It's missing something?" "What?" No clue.

The ice cream at Jason's Deli, it turns out, has no high-fructose corn syrup. That's almost too healthful, but it's all really good.

Sushi Tango, 8362 Tamarack Village, Woodbury, MN

"Do you like sushi?" That was one question from the person to my left as we were in a packed movie auditorium waiting for a screening of "The King's Speech" three weeks ago. I replied that I had very little experience with sushi, but that I also owned a $50 gift certificate from Sushi Tango-Woodbury that I'd bought at a discount during a silent auction last summer. We agreed to make use of that $50 together. (Full disclosure: I wasn't speaking with a stranger. My movie neighbor and I were also at the theater together.)
During our time at Sushi Tango on Saturday, March 19, my companion described herself as "wet behind the ears" on sushi yet also said she'd eaten sushi five or six other times. Thus, she was prepared to lead me through the menu and recommended we share a Caterpillar roll (that included smoked eel with cucumber and avocado) and edamame (boiled soybeans that you eat by pushing them through their pod and into your mouth). A second bowl is presented at Sushi Tango for your discarded bean pods.
Our shared orders also included miso soup, other sushi rolls with salmon and striped bass, and bulgogi (a Korean marinated beef dish).
My companion asked whether there was anything we'd -- or she'd -- selected that I wouldn't order again. We did order a California roll (crab, cucumber, avocado), which was familiar from some Chinese-American buffets -- you may have seen California rolls near the chicken nuggets or red Jell-O squares. For the sake of being adventurous, whether the next sushi trip is back to Sushi Tango or elsewhere, I'd probably look for something other than California rolls.
Servers were pleasant, and their selection of recorded music was fun in the way it included some of the best hits of Eddie Rabbitt and Ronnie Milsap. If there was any Juice Newton to be heard later, it was drowned out by the noise of other patrons (many of Asian descent, a good sign for Sushi Tango's quality) as the dining room filled to near-capacity as our visit extended closer to the regular dinner hour. My companion barely seemed to notice any of the music, as she was plenty entertained by watching me try to eat with chopsticks (for the first time in several years).