So how was that roast bear?
If you’re a football fan, you may have heard the story of a St. Paul restaurant that cooked a 180-pound black bear as a little good-natured ribbing for the NFC championship game on Sunday.
Blake Montpetit, owner of Tiffany Sports Lounge, may live in Viking country, but his family hails from Wisconsin.
“We’ve gone with the Packers since 1986 at Tiffany’s," Montpetit says. "If there is a Packers game on and a Vikings game on, we show the Packers.”
So they had to stick it to their division rival, and what better way to do that than roast its mascot?
Montpetit’s cousin shot the bear back in the fall when the season was open, and froze it for a big occasion. They roasted the whole bear over charcoal and hickory. The process is similar to cooking a pig, and took more than 12 hours.
“It takes away the greasiness you typically have with bear,” Montpetit said.
Unfortunately the restaurant wasn’t able to serve the bear to patrons because of health code reasons, but it didn’t go to waste. After it was cooked, the meat was transferred to a family party in Somerset, Wis. But bystanders could take pictures while it roasted at the restaurant.
“It turned out good. It pretty much fell off the bone, so it was used a lot for sandwiches,” Montpetit says. “They’ll make some bear stew with leftovers. The ribs they just ate with barbecue sauce.”
Tiffany Sports Lounge features hearty sandwiches and burgers. Game meat is not a mainstay of the menu. And although bear might be a little out there for some, it’s not the weirdest thing the restaurateur has eaten. That would be mealworms. It was a bet on a fishing trip and he says there were a couple of cocktails involved.
“They don’t taste that bad,” Montpetit says. “Funny part is I researched them afterwards to make sure I wasn’t going to get sick and supposedly they’re really good for you. But it’s not something I’m going to go around and eat all the time.”
Montpetit couldn’t be happier with the way Aaron Rodgers and the Packers are playing, but knows the Super Bowl will be a tougher game than the win over the Bears. He predicts a high scoring game and says the final will be Green Bay 28, Pittsburgh 21.
There won’t be anything crazy on the menu for the Super Bowl though. Montpetit doesn’t think there’s any way they can top this story.
Besides, you can’t roast a Steeler anyway.
Can you?
