The 5 best things our food writers ate in the Twin Cities area this week

“Are you thinking about getting the burger? Get, this!” the enthusiastic fan pointed at the menu picture. It made me think of that period in the ’90s, when the extraneous hype man was standard in MTV-era videos. Jaunty hat, oversized outfit, wild gesticulating — all used to be skills as valuable as a super sweet sax solo or a really good travel agent. While I don’t think Burger Daddies food truck directly employed this hype man, he did make sure everyone in the vicinity knew how hard this smash patty rocks.

The Burger Daddies truck is new this season, but the folks inside are familiar faces on the burger circuit. Nikki and Brian Podgorski worked for years as the Salsa Collaborative, and the giant retro silver truck is just their newest evolution.

The burger in question is the incredibly fresh Green Goddess ($16). A crusty patty surrounded by an impressive beef skirt is topped with crunchy lettuce, ripe tomato, red onion, cucumbers, moziki sauce (like tzatziki, but more) and crumbles of feta cheese. It’s a remarkably fresh bite for a burger that most definitely lives up to the hype.

Even though the food truck season is winding down, the duo plans to stay out at least through December. Their full schedule is on Instagram, but the truck will be parked at Heavy Rotation brewery on the next few Wednesday evenings. (Joy Summers)

9801 Xenia Av. N., Suite 105, Brooklyn Park, instagram.com/eatburgerdaddies

There are weeks that call for comfort food. If that was this week for you, then keep this dish in mind. The menu is packed with retro staples at Eloise, a supper-clubby new restaurant in Wayzata (from the team behind the Grocer’s Table next door) that’s wallpapered and upholstered enough to make you feel like you’re in your favorite great aunt’s living room. They’ve got parker house rolls (with three butters), grilled oysters, lamb loin chops and meatloaf.

But it’s not just any meatloaf. This one is made from wagyu, and it gets the Wellington treatment for a full-scale throwback of an entrée for $39. The loaf is wrapped in a crêpe and a layer of minced mushrooms, followed by an ornate pastry shell baked till bronze, and served over a mushroom cream sauce. It’s both opulent (black truffle is involved) and down-to-earth (the tomato jam on the side is just fancy ketchup).

When we’ve needed comfort food, meatloaf has never let us down. (Sharyn Jackson)

326 Broadway Av. S., Wayzata, eloisemn.com

Already a fan of the Mexican eatery La Tapatia in Roseville, the family-run operation’s new sibling restaurant, La Madre in Minneapolis’ Mill District, was calling. The full-service restaurant on the ground floor of the Vicinity luxury apartments feels fresh, modern and breezy. In addition to appetizers, tacos and entree platters, you’ll find drinks like margaritas, Palomas and Mexican spritzes. Like its suburban counterpart, this location also emphasizes Mexican street fare. But whereas La Tapatia tilts toward influences from Guadalajara, La Madre veers toward coastal cuisine from Puerto Vallarta.

Tacos are available in street (cilantro, white onion) or Cali (tomato, lettuce, crema, cheese) style, served on wonderfully soft and textured nixtamalized corn tortillas. The al pastor ($16 for three) was a great call, and we especially appreciated the chunks of grilled pineapple slices that added sweet and sour notes to the pork filling. However, the dish that left the biggest impression was the nachos ($18), a giant heap of goodness that can be easily shared with at least four other people.

It’s a fun dish in which every bite is a new adventure. It starts with house chips that have enough heft to hold the pile of delightful toppings while maintaining peak crispness. Guacamole and sour cream are generously dolloped, as are pico de gallo, jalapeños and cheeses, including a creamy white queso dip that we’re still waxing poetic about. When we discovered that the plate also came with Takis — the Mexican snack of salty, spicy rolled tortilla chips — it made us giggle. It was as if the amusingly unexpected detail was reminding us to sit back, relax and don’t forget to have fun in the moment. (Nancy Ngo)

205 Park Av. S., Mpls., instagram.com/lamadremn

Part of the fun of Northstar Cafeteria is a wistful nostalgia for a time I’ve never experienced. The new ground-floor dining space in the remodeled downtown Minneapolis building leans heavily into a postwar era, where automats were the wave of the future. While I wouldn’t recognize myself in that time, it is kind of fun to feel just a little romantic about the glamour of putting on a nice suit to report to the office.

But for the modern era we do live in, it’s fun to be able to dash over for a quick grab-and-go meal of solidly comforting food. There are cups of tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwiches, egg salad, whole rotisserie chickens that would be a weeknight godsend and blue-plate entrees served on a cafeteria tray. While the Jell-O cups are cute, it was hard not to feel like the coq au vin ($14) was something special. Three chicken thighs are braised in a sauce made from wine and vegetables that’s cooked down into a rich, mushroomy sauce. Served with a choice of two sides, the simple mashed potatoes and green beans tasted like something Mom would have made. (J.S.)

Northstar Center (skyway access is still closed), 608 2nd Av. S., Mpls.

While I’m always trying the newest restaurants for work, when I’m on my own time, I go to the places I know will have just the thing I want, just the way I want it.

Punch is big in my family’s restaurant rotation, and I was thrilled earlier this year when they opened one yet even closer to my home, near the West End in St. Louis Park. I’ve already been there a bunch, and I always get the same thing: the margherita with mozzarella di Bufala and extra sauce. But this week, I decided to go a little wild and get some toppings. YOLO, right? I was holding a squirmy toddler who was insistent on getting an apple juice as soon as possible, so my time with the menu was short. I impulsively picked the Siciliana ($14.40), with crispy prosciutto, plump green olives and artichoke hearts. The artichokes and olives gave the pie a brininess I didn’t know I needed, and the prosciutto crunched almost like croutons, bringing some new texture to Punch’s signature sloshy middle (of which I am a fan, though I know it’s controversial). I didn’t miss my “usual” one bit. (S.J.)

5799 W. 16th St., Suite 100, St. Louis Park, punchpizza.com