I like to eat. A lot. Here’s where I’ve been to in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Highly recommended restaurants are in bold. Restaurants that are no longer open are marked with a strikethrough.
Afghani
Crescent Moon — Crescent Moon is a no-frills, order-your-food-at-the-counter-and-grab-your-drink-from-the-cooler place serving delicious Afghani food on Central Avenue in Minneapolis.
Khyber Pass — This is a tasty little place on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. The appetizer spreads (bharta, hummus, salata) are particularly good. The ambiance is fancier than Crescent Moon (table service, Afghani decorations), and is a good choice if you’re in the St. Paul area.
American / New American
112 eatery — For my money, 112 is the best restaurant in the city, and their foie gras salad with lardons and a deep-fried poached egg is the best dish on the menu. The rest of the menu changes occasionally, but if you can, get the seared scallops with oyster mushrooms, Parmesan gnocci, tagliatelle with foie gras meatballs, and the country-style pork ribs. You won’t regret it.
Cafe Brenda — I give Cafe Brenda credit for focusing on seasonal, local, and organic ingredients, but I’ve been here twice and found it bland and boring both times. The food was fine, just not memorable in any way.
Cafe Latte — Cafe Latte serves cafeteria-style sandwiches, soups, salads, and desserts. It’s quick, tasty, and casual.
Common Roots Cafe — I go to Common Roots when I need a good lox bagel. They also do great soups, okay salads, and delicious main dishes, such as burgers and braised chicken. Common Roots specializes in organic, free-range, local produce and meat, composts its own waste, and cultivates its own garden behind the cafe.
The Craftsman — It’s a bit of a hike over to this Longfellow neighborhood restaurant for us, but it delivers incredible food in a low-key, lovely atmosphere. The food is inventive, flavorful, and cooked to perfection; the service is polished, warm, and knowledgable. The charcuterie plate is a must, filled with a wide assortment of meats, crackers, and garnishes. As for the desserts, anything made-to-order, such as the cinnamon-sugar beignets, is well worth it.
French Meadow Bakery & Cafe — French Meadow is fine, but often very crowded and noisy (unless you can snag a patio table). I’ve tried their Belgian waffles, tempeh reuben, and several pasta dinner specials. For what it’s worth, I’d choose Common Roots across the street every time.
Heartland — Heartland is consistently lauded for serving delicious, local, seasonal food with a menu that changes daily. I took Mr. Dangerous here for his birthday and we both left feeling unimpressed. Everything was perfectly okay, but nothing about our meal (foie gras sausage–which sounds more exotic than it tasted, elk sirloin, fruit compote, cheese plate) was particularly noteworthy. At any rate, nothing we ate wowed us, and we both felt that, for the price, at least some part of it should have.
Loring Pasta Bar — The ambiance of LPB is dark, bohemian, and funky; the bathrooms alone are a conversation piece. LPB also features regularly scheduled live music. The food that I’ve had there has been tasty, although the atmosphere is the definite star.
Lucia’s — I’ve only been to Lucia’s once, but I was not blown away by the food, which was fine, but not fabulous. Lucia’s is another restaurant that specializes in seasonal, local, and organic ingredients; unfortunately, like Heartland and Restaurant Alma (see below), the food does not leave me overly excited to return.
Restaurant Alma — Everyone raves about Alma, supposedly one of the best restaurants in the city with one of the best chefs in the midwest. I still can’t figure out exactly why. Alma serves pretty much the same cuisine as Heartland, Lucia’s, and Cafe Brenda, at a similar, not-inexpensive price point. The food was good, but didn’t pack any particular palate punch, and neither of us cared for the bland bread basket and rock-hard butter. (As a disclaimer, I love Alex Roberts’s food, only at Brasa, not Alma.) Additionally, the seating in the back of the restaurant is irritatingly cramped. Our server had to stand behind my chair to take our orders because the tables were too close together, and having anything resembling a private conversation was entirely out of the question. We skipped ordering dessert for the sole reason that we needed to escape the claustrophobic environment. In short, for me, Alma leaves much to be desired.
The View — Its proximity to Lake Calhoun is conveniently enticing. The food, however, is not.
Bar and Grill / Diner
The Bad Waitress — The schtick here is that you write down your own order on an order pad and bring it to the cashier to place it and pay (although someone will deign to bring your food to the table). The place is heavy on indie hip and comic-book superheroes wallpaper the place. Their grilled cheese is melty goodness; the rest of the food I’ve tried has been merely okay to downright bland.
The Bulldog — This place (and it’s Northeast sister) is known for its hot dogs, which, while tasty, are a bit overpriced for what they are. It can get noisy and crowded during peak bar times.
Ike’s Food & Cocktails — This is our go-to place after a night at the orchestra, when we’re waiting for the parking ramps to clear out and wanting to discuss the show over good food and beer in a relaxed atmosphere. Ike’s sits a block off of Nicollet Mall, a dark, clubby place with a four-sided bar flanked by tables and booths. It’s lively, yet laid back–you won’t find any bar-hopping frat boys and corporate bluetooth-wearing yuppies clogging up the space (they’re most likely down at Barrio, a few blocks away). The Ike’s Burger is made from Angus beef ground in-house and cooked to order. Order it medium with cheese, and it arrives with a lovely pink center, glistening in its own searing juices, covered with a melted slice of bitingly sharp cheddar cheese, and accompanied by fresh lettuce, tomato, and onion, as well as piping hot skin-on fries and coleslaw. The guacamole is homemade and the accompanying tortilla chips are fried to order. Oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes are juiced on the spot for any relevant drink you order, alcoholic or otherwise. Ike’s also boasts a $15.99 all-you-can-eat weekend brunch, which includes a Bloody Mary. Service is prompt and friendly, and the bar is lined with beer glasses filled to overflowing with a variety of complimentary Dum-Dum lollipops.
Liquor Lyle’s — The best thing about this dive bar is the name. There are burgers, fries, cheese curds, etc., but the food is merely there to wash down all the booze (and appropriately so). It’s definitely not a place for everyone, but I like it.
Matt’s Bar — Home of the jucy lucy, this place is an institution. It’s small, divey, and doesn’t give a shit if you think so. The cheese-filled burgers are slapped on the grill methodically, keeping time with the frozen fries sizzling in the deep fryer; both are immediately served searing hot in a plastic basket lined with paper. You might also score some free entertainment: when we were there, a woman came in and asked the staff for money, saying she had just gotten hit by a car and now needed bus fare home, and since she was a regular, they should have no problem spotting her the cash. The staff, who insisted they’d never seen her before, offered to call both the police and an ambulance in lieu of money, both of which she declined before hobbling away.
Mickey’s Diner — Ah, Mickey’s, an old-fashioned dining car smack dab in the middle of St. Paul. I don’t think anybody goes to Mickey’s for the food, which is typical greasy spoon fare. You go to Mickey’s for the experience. Just ask my grandma, who to this day still talks about the time I took her there. As we sat and ate our burgers and fries, we watched a man pace the sidewalk in front of the dining car for at least 20 minutes straight, back and forth, back and forth, turn and repeat. Hey, I told my grandma, I bet you don’t see that at Perkins.
Town Talk Diner — TTD is supposed to be an upscale diner serving fancified diner food such as frickles (deep-fried pickles), the Kitchen Sink burger, and adult malts. We found the food obnoxiously greasy (frickles and cheese curds) and undercooked (a grilled cheese with completely unmelted cheese), and the malts weak (there was a hint of alcohol somewhere under all that ice cream) and overpriced.
Uptown Bar & Cafe — This is another divey bar, except with a hipster edge to it. There’s a small stage for live music. The food here I’ve had was awful, but I blame that squarely on myself: I should know better than to order a salad at a dive bar. I mean, seriously.
Uptown Diner — I have never had anything here that I’ve found more than simply edible, from their greasy omelets and soggy hash browns to their butter-drenched bagels with single-serve packets of cream cheese. It’s open 24 hours a day from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon and always seems to be teeming with people. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t think so.
Barbecue
Big Daddy’s BBQ — This is no-frills dining at its highest. It used to operate out of a parking lot on the corner of University and Dale in St. Paul; now it operates the adjacent building, as well, although the building mostly serves as a packaging location for the food that streams out its doors. The beef ribs, pork rib tips, and chickens are manned in the smokers outside by the friendliest, most laid-back cooks ever. The meat is then transferred inside to be held warm in portable coolers until ordered up with varying side dishes, bread slices, and sodas. Your order is packed into Styrofoam to-go containers and bundled in plastic grocery bags, although you are welcome to eat at one of the handful of seats inside, as well. The half order of beef ribs is enough meat for four people, and is both tender and chewy. The pork ribs were tasty, and all of it was messy, but hey, that’s half the fun.
Market BBQ — The spareribs, though infused with a tasty smokiness, are tough, chewy, and dry; the barbecue sauce on the table merely makes the ribs slightly more palatable. The beef brisket sandwich seems refrigerated and reheated, dry and mostly tasteless (when asked, the restaurant said the brisket is made almost every day, for the most part). The fries are the straight-from-the-freezer-bag-to-the-fryer type. The coleslaw consisted of shreds of cabbage swimming in mayonnaise and an overwhelming amount of vinegar. The cornbread cake was huge, moist, studded with what seemed to be golden raisins, and accompanied by an array of honey, butter, and honey butter. The ambiance is old-school barbecue, with wooden booths, tableside jukeboxes, and plastic red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, but the food leaves much to be desired.
QFanatic — Located in a strip mall in Champlin, this place has the best ribs I’ve ever eaten: smoky, juicy, tender, meaty. The ribs come with a slew of complimentary sauces (excluding the vodka BBQ sauce, which costs extra), which are tasty, but also not necessarily needed (the ribs alone are that good). The sides are filling and tasty, and the garlic rolls are yeasty and fresh. The ambiance is lacking, but you’ll be so enchanted with the food that you won’t even notice.
Rudolph’s — Located on the busy corner of Franklin and Lyndale, Rudolph’s has both a bar and a restaurant, as well as outside seating. The food is fairly tasty, and the two-for-one happy hour isn’t half bad, especially since it’s one of the only places that doesn’t serve you both beers at the same time.
Breakfast
Al’s Breakfast — Al’s is a Minneapolis institution. Located in an alley approxintely 13 feet wide, it has 13 counter seats and a line out the door waiting for your standard diner breakfast, only tastier. You stand in a single line behind the diners at the counter, waiting for a seat to open up. If seats become available in spotty instances, you pick up your plate and shift down one or two seats. The food here is cooked to order right in front of you and served less than a minute after it’s plated. If you’re on a tight schedule, you’ll probably want to skip this place, but for good breakfast in an interesting atmosphere, it’s definitely worth the wait. And if you’re a regular, you can get in on the ticket books behind the counter–prepay the first $20 and add to it as necessary over time. Frees up bills and cashing out, which is always nice.
The Egg and I — I’ve had okay food here, but nothing you couldn’t get at Denny’s. They do have an outdoor patio, though, which is nice in the summer.
Isles Bun & Coffee — Isles has very good cinnamon rolls, caramel and pecan caramel rolls, and pastries, though not as good as Hell’s Kitchen. However, it’s a great neighborhood joint that serves good hot coffee and fresh-squeezed juice that you can enjoy with your roll as you sit at an outside table taking in the sun and the city.
Hell’s Kitchen — Hell’s Kitchen serves the best caramel roll in the city, hot, gooey, and covered with pecans. It’s huge, and at $3.25, it’s a total steal. Order a cup of coffee and you’ve got breakfast. HK also is now open for both lunch and dinner. A side note, however: the new location sits in a basement (the old Rossi’s location) and has no windows or outside seating (that I know of).
Key’s Cafe — Key’s is famous for their Key Lime pie, though I’ve never tried it. Their other desserts are massive, moist, and delicious. The food is pretty good fare, omelets and hash and pancakes and French toast.
Sunnyside Up Cafe — This place is just like the Egg and I. Same food, different place.
Brewpub
Barley John’s Brew Pub — Barley John’s is an intimate little place. Good food, interesting brews.
The Herkimer — The Herkimer serves an okay selection of house beers and food that sounds more exciting than it tastes. It can also be deafeningly loud. It does have table shuffleboard, though, which can be very fun.
British / Irish
Brit’s Pub — Brits is huge. Brits has lawn bowling. Brits has boys who love to take their shirts off while they lawn bowl. It’s uppity and yuppity and crowded and loud, but the food is pretty good and the atmosphere is lively.
Claddagh Irish Pub – Claddagh serves the best fish and chips I’ve ever had: giant filets of flaky whitefish battered and deep fried until golden and crispy with potato wedges that are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Add some malt vinegar and a beer and you’ve got good eats.
Cambodian
Cheng Heng — Family-owned Cheng Heng is the polar opposite of Azia (see below) in terms of ambiance, but the food is great and the tea is complimentary. That’s a score in my book.
Caribbean
Harry Singh’s — Harry seems to be a very nice guy, as well as the only person who works there. He serves huge Caribbean roti and Jamaican patties, as well as curries and other Caribbean fare. It’s a little expensive for what it is ($17 for a jerk chicken roti), and it doesn’t come close to the Jamaican patties I used to get in Gainesville, nor does it serve coco bread. It does, however, have a great vibe that reminds me of the restaurants in Cape Verde: gaudy decorations–including a nutty autographed headshot of Fancy Ray, plastic tablecloths, and blaring hiace music. Also, be warned: the hot sauce is excruciatingly hot.
Marla’s Caribbean Cuisine — I ordered coco bread at Marla’s and received a buttered dinner roll. Nothing more needs to be said, other than Marla is apparently Harry Singh’s sister, and she serves the same roti and jerk that Harry dishes up on Eat Street. If Harry’s made me reminisce about Gainesville’s Caribbean Spice, Marla’s made me positively long for it.
Chinese / Dim Sum
China Jen — We went to China Jen based on great recommendations. We were greeted with three children running the front of the house: a boy, about thirteen years old, who trudged over to take our order, a girl of about ten or eleven who cleared tables in her winter jacket because the place was so cold, and another approximately fifteen-year-old boy who literally sat and stared at the wall the entire time we were there. Every table in the restaurant was dirty (I think we had just missed the lunch rush), but besides another patron finishing up the last of his lunch, the place was deserted. And freezing; we never took our jackets off. We ordered the scallion pancakes and found them heavy, greasy, and gummy, though the dipping sauce was delicious. We also ordered the seafood hot pot, which I thought would be similar to the spicy hot pot at Tea House, but which was more like an Americanized Chinese dish served in a fondue pot on top of a can of Sterno. Interesting, maybe, but not exactly delicious.
Jun Bo — Andrew Zimmern loves this place. I thought it was just alright. The dim sum was decent, but nothing better than what I’ve had a Yangtze or the former Yummy/Relax (which is now Pho Hoa). It’s huge (seats 600-1,000) and sort of feels like dining in a vast hotel banquet hall.
Little Szechuan — I love Little Szechuan. The sweet and sour pork ribs are one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. This place is always packed. The tea is piping hot and on the house. One night near closing the waitstaff sat in the dining room and snapped an entire tabletopful of fresh green beans. In short, this place is great.
Ping’s — Ping’s serves decent Chinese food, but there are other places I’d choose first.
Rainbow Chinese — You really can’t go wrong with anything at Rainbow. The jai mai fun, the happy farmer, the spinach with mushrooms, the Chinese eggplant, the tofu with cilantro salad, the big bowl soups. It’s all good. Rainbow is also one of the few Chinese restaurants in the area with an intimate and inviting atmosphere–it’s dark, cozy, and a little bit romantic.
Red Dragon — The food here is okay, if a bit bland, but I think most people who frequent the Red Dragon go for the boozy drinks and laid-back late-night atmosphere.
Seafood Palace — This is another Chinese restaurant on Eat Street. A good pick if you’re in the neighborhood, but I wouldn’t drive across town for it.
Tea House — The Tea House was amazing, although I haven’t been there in a few years, and apparently it’s gone quite downhill after Little Szechuan lured away its head chef. However, from what I remember, the Dancing Fish hot pot is filled with tender, moist, flaky fish, and the broth is deliciously, searingly hot. The spicy bamboo tips are just as searing and worth every bite. This is Szechuan food for Szechuan lovers.
Village Wok — Near the U of M, this place serves the usual Chinese fare. It’s casual and inexpensive and frequented by the college crowd.
Xin Xin — This is my go-to place for Chinese takeout on my way home from work. Their hunan shrimp is hard to beat–spicy, succulent, and loaded with big, firm, juicy shrimp. The oyster with vegetable dish is excellent, as well, as are their noodle dishes. This place is takeout only–there are a few tables in front of the counter, but they seem to be strictly for waiting only.
Yangtze — Yangtze is my favorite place for dim sum, probably mostly because I’ve been here the most often. The food is hot and delicious and plentiful, the carts come around regularly with stacks of lovely buns and noodle rolls and wontons, and you simply eat until you’re happy and full. What’s not to like?
Colombian / Ecuadorian
Los Andes – I’ve found the vegetables and plantains here to be bland and overpriced, but Mr. Dangerous says the food he’s tried has been quite tasty.
Creole
Brasa – Alex Roberts’s newest restaurant serves pulled pork, rotisserie chicken, and braised beef with sides such as collard greens, creamed spinach, black beans, fried plantains, and corn bread. The portions are delicious, huge, and reasonably priced, considering that Brasa sources local ingredients whenever possible. The place is a converted gas station/mechanic shop, complete with see-through sliding garage doors. I think this place is great.
Eclectic
Aura — Seemingly great happy hour deal, but very mediocre food.
Bryant Lake Bowl — BLB is hipster trendy, with a ton of beers on tap, but the food has never struck me as anything but bland and boring, and the restaurant can get packed and deafeningly loud. However, the attached theater and bowling alley are cool.
Chino Latino — Very hip. Very loud. Very trendy. Caters to the see-and-be-seen crowd. Okay food.
Duplex — Good food, but pricey for what it is. The patio seating is enjoyable, as long as you aren’t seated at the tables directly under or across from the flashing neon OPEN sign hanging in the window.
Figlio — Pretty good food, from pizzas and pastas to seared ahi tuna and salads. Located in trendy Calhoun Square; can be loud and cramped.
Good Earth – Good, healthy fare, mostly vegetarian. If you’re looking for an alternative to greasy cheese omelets and other heavy breakfast foods, this place is your answer.
Ethiopian
Blue Nile – The sampler platter for two is huge, filled with a variety of vegetarian and meat-based dishes. The injera is spongy and light. The dining room is huge, though you should opt for a table, as the seat backs of the booths seem to be cloth-covered radiators or the like. There is no traditional Ethiopian coffee service, unfortunately, and our server told us that they don’t even serve Ethiopian coffee, just some regular drip-brew stuff. A good (and almost only) choice for Ethiopian in Minneapolis.
Fasika — Good Ethiopian food in a no-frills location on Snelling. Service can be very spotty.
French
Barbette — Best fries in the city–thin, crispy, and served with a delicious aioli. Also has good cheeses and olives. Ambience is dark and bohemian. Gets noisy at night.
Fugaise
La Belle Vie — Spendy, but decadent. Service is excellent.
Vincent — Cassoulet was wonderful. Service was warm and friendly–best restaurant service I’ve ever had.
German
Black Forest Inn — I love German beer, and the Black Forest Inn doesn’t disappoint in offering tasty beers direct from Germany. The lighter ales are crisp and the chocolately-brown stouts are smooth. The food here is fine, although I’ve had better fare in Germany. The spaetzle is mostly a vehicle for sauce and gravy. The hard rolls are delicious. Their enclosed outdoor beer garden is one of the best in the city, located in a central courtyard, so you aren’t eating with bus fumes five feet away.
Greek
Christos — This Eat Street place has okay Greek food, but I’ve never been overly impressed with anything. Still, nothing has ever been bad, either. It’s worth a try if you’re in the mood for Greek.
Ice Cream
Izzy’s Ice Cream — We ordered a single-scoop Izzabella. The ice cream (vanilla bean with an Izzy scoop of chocolate peanut butter) was delicious and creamy. The waffle cone was too thick and crumbly, and the chocolate coating was too dark and bitter for my taste. The chocolate-covered almond was a little sickening, and the oblaten cookie was pretty flavorless. The whipped cream and cherry were just fine, and the fortune was nothing too exciting. All in all, we’d go back, but skip the Izzabella next time and get a plain cone or cup, instead.
Pumphouse Creamery — Pumphouse Creamery ice cream is so rich that it leaves a layer of cream on your lips and tongue. The chocolate ice cream is indeed chocolatey, but somehow more rich and creamy than it is redolent of chocolate. The salted caramel with pralines is somehow chewy, in a good way. The local strawberry is so full of flavor that it eclipses any other strawberry-flavored ice cream you’ve ever had. The malted vanilla with malted milk balls has a classic malted taste. The kulhri is loaded with pistachios and cardamom and reminds me of Indian food. The mango was rich and fruity, yet ultra creamy. All in all, delicious.
Sebastian Joe’s — Great homemade ice cream in homemade waffle cones.
Indian
Bombay Bistro — Fabulous Indian food. Love their okra and their spicy, cold, crunchy, noodle salad.
Indonesian
Italian
Japanese / Sushi
Korean
Mirror of Korea — This place is nothing fancy, but it serves great Korean fare, such as jap chae, bulgogi, and bi bim bap, along with the usual assortment of Korean pickled garnishes that I love.
Malaysian
Peninsula – Peninsula makes its own tofu and mock duck. I can’t vouch for the mock duck, but the tofu is crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and hands down the best I’ve ever had anywhere. Note: both the tofu and the mock duck contain eggs.
Mediterranean / Middle Eastern
Mexican
Los Ocampo
Taco Morelos
Nepali
Everest on Grand – Two words: yak momos. Small, spherical dumplings, they are best eaten whole, so you don’t lose any of the enclosed juices as you bite into them. The rest of the food, which is very similar to Indian cuisine, is delicious.
Namaste Cafe — I am not overly impressed with Namaste. The dumplings I had were subpar, bland and tasting as if they had been frozen for a long, long time. The other offerings I’ve had were okay, but nothing I’m dying to have again.
Pan-Asian
Azia — Azia is dark and trendy, with pressed-tin ceilings, semi-communal restrooms, an attached sushi bar, and a nightclub lounge. Azia specializes in raw oysters, and on any given night serves a half dozen varieties. I’ve had oysters at Stella’s, the Oceanaire, and on the beach in Florida, and Azia consistently has the best tasting (albeit pricey) oysters–fresh, briny, and luscious. The rest of the menu is merely mediocre (particularly the sushi), and pretty spendy for what you get, even during happy hour.
Kinhdo — Kinhdo advertises itself as a Vietnamese eatery, but serves a smattering of Asian dishes, including pho, pad thai, and chow mein. The menu is huge and features the usual meats, as well as tofu and mock duck, which is a plus for vegetarians or those who want something meatless. The food is hit or miss, mostly on the miss side; I like the crunchy eggrolls and mock duck with fried potatoes, but I mostly eat at Kinhdo out of convenience, not particularly desire.
Pan-African
Tam Tam’s — Tasty African food. Love the Tusker beer.
Pizza
Golooney’s
Polish
Raw / Vegan
Russian
Sandwiches / Subs
Caffrey’s
Seafood
Somali
Spanish / Tapas
La Bodega
Taiwanese
Thai
Roat Osha
Vietnamese
Jasmine Deli
The Lotus
Pho 79
Pho Tau Bay
Que Viet Village House
To Try
Al Vento / Babani’s Kurdish Restaurant / Cafe Lurcat / Cafe Maude / ChinDian Cafe / Conga Latin Bistro / Corner Table / Dong Yang / El Meson / Emily’s Lebanese Deli / Gandhi Mahal / Good Day Cafe / Grand Cafe / Heidi’s / i nonni / Meritage / Midori’s Floating World Cafe / Mission / Muffuletta / Obento-ya / Porter & Frye / Psycho Suzi’s Motor Lounge / Red Stag Supper Club / Sea Change / Sen Yai Sen Lek
