Dari-Ette Drive-Inn - St.Paul, Minnesota

Dari-Ette Drive-Inn in St.Paul, Minnesota was my first Triple-D drive-inn.  There have been plenty of dives, some of which were diners but, this was my first genuine drive-in.

I went there in the beginning of September which turned out to be about the nicest time to be outside as it could have been.  There were neighborhood people just walking up for ice-cream.

Dari-Ette kind of reminds me of a Sonic with a slower pace and much better food.  It is definitely a throughback kind of place.  They could have used this place in the movie American Graffiti.  Who knows, maybe they did?

There were some people just enjoying the evening outside their cars, listening to the car radio play while just soaking in the great weather. I could see how this might be a social meet-up place later in the evening.

I ordered the pork chop sandwich, jalapeno poppers and a vanilla milk shake.  I’ve had pork chop sandwiches before but, only at home using leftover pork chops.  This tasted like something I would have made at home.  It was served on thick toasted white bread, kind of like Texas Toast without the butter.  It had a little bit of mayonnaise and some lettuce on it: Very good.

The jalapeno poppers were the real treat.  Usually poppers are filled with cheddar cheese which I would have fully expected this far north but, these were filled with a light white cheese.  It might have been ricotta.  The real surprising thing though was that they served it with duck sauce.  The duck sauce really worked well with the poppers.  There was a little bit of spicy heat from the jalapeno but, most of it came from the sauce. It was a nice little Asian twist on the concept.

1440 E. Minnehaha Ave
Saint Paul, MN, 55106
(651) 776-3470