I'm sorry... brain and typing not meeting together and abbreviating...
In the Snelling/I-94 area, we always went to The Malt Shop when I was at Hamline... good food, quite reasonable (similar price to Applebees, though no bar service), and in the same basic area... Concordia east of Snelling a little bit. Otherwise, for Mexican there is Chevy's (Hamline at St. Anthony, I miss Rio Bravo which used to be there), and other places have likely opened since I recall well. Maybe I just don't care for Applebees, but that location was never one of their better ones either.
On the western Wisconsin drive... I was just saying that the area we played before would be a good drive to get to, as we crossed at Hastings, then basically went to River Falls the back way. I'm still open for it, but just letting people know it's a hike.