Minnesota - Where to Eat?

Davydd

stricken_detective


The thread title says Minnesota. You got me here under false pretenses, davydd.

No false pretenses. It is Minnesota and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Half the people in Minnesota live in the Twin Cities and it seems quite a few spill out and head north up to da Lake. Half a million people go to the Mayo Clinic every year and 40 million go to the Mall of America. The Mayo Clinic just announced they are expanding into the Mall of America. Even Hudson, WI is considered part of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. Might as well cover the whole state and not try to split hairs.

I agree. I go back in August & I will let you know about Pannekoeken.

 hi - off topic but I'm from the UK, BIG Roadfood fan about to head out to Miami for vacation - where would you say i should head for roadfood wise in the city - I'm staying on Collins

thanks

To get you back up north to Da Range, we were home a couple weeks ago and my parents finally took us to this place they have been talking about for a while. Gilbert (population 2000 give or take), just outside Virginia, has a place called The Whistling Bird. It's nothing to look at on the outside but WOW on the inside. It's Jamaican and really amazing. I'm not sure it totally qualifies as roadfood due to the prices and type of food, but it's just so unexpected and so good.
It's run by a Jamaican who married a girl from the Cities and I have no idea how they found themselves in Gilbert MN but so happy they did. The jerk dishes are wonderful if you like a little heat. I had the jerk shrimp - the jerk sauce is now served on the side. I think that might be his concession to the less adventurous MN tastes but on the side just means I could dump as much as I wanted on! All the jerk dinners are served with "rice and peas" which is rice and red beans cooked in coconut milk and a piece of fried corn bread. The rest of my crew ordered the special of the evening. The owner had one of his friends from Jamaica in to help cook and they did a prime rib of pork (that's what they called it) in a coconut pepper creme sauce with just enough heat to be amazing. I would make this place a regular stop if I was within driving distance.
http://www.whistlingbirdcafeandbar.com/index.html

nick74


hi - off topic but I'm from the UK, BIG Roadfood fan about to head out to Miami for vacation - where would you say i should head for roadfood wise in the city - I'm staying on Collins

thanks

Nick,

Welcome to Roadfood.com and welcome to America. Just a slight problem. Miami is about as far away from Minnesota as you can get food wise, distance, culture and climate in America. Think Canadian border.

I don't think you can find information on Miami in this particular thread. But I will give you a recommendation to check out MiamiDon's thread reviewing seven burgers in Miami. That one is a must if you want to seek out roadfood there.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Seven-Burgers-in-Miami-m485498.aspx

dh1492,

I bet the Whistling Bird Cafe and Bar picks up in the winter. That's one way to cope in the dead of winter by transporting oneself to a distant, warm place by proxy. I once stopped at a similar Caribbean themed place in Newberry, Michigan on the Upper Peninsula. It seemed to be done more tongue in cheek because the menu did not reflect the same.

You brought up a lexicon that maybe should be explained. The alternative name used by people in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area is Twin Cities. But outstate Minnesotans refer to it simply as the Cities.

 And it's almost always " DOWN to the Cities... "   I believe I saw A story on an " On The Road with Jason Davis " show about the Whistling Bird... looked fabulous.

nick74


hi - off topic but I'm from the UK, BIG Roadfood fan about to head out to Miami for vacation - where would you say i should head for roadfood wise in the city - I'm staying on Collins

thanks

Nick,
 
Take a look at this thread:
 
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Miami-Florida-Where-to-eat-m517364.aspx
 
 
If you have further  questions, please reply on that thread.
 

I have two places to recommend:
 
In Minneapolis, El Norteno is one of a whole bunch of Mexican restaurants that have sprung up on East Lake Street.  This one, which is a bit farther east than most of the others (which means parking is a little easier), has been around for many years, and is run by three sisters.  It is small and homelike, with a patio in the back for nice days.  Some people think they have the best tamales in the Twin Cities.  I usually have chicken flautas.  The address is 4000 East Lake.
 
In Austin, at 1207 N. Main Street, near the Spam Museum, is a restaurant called Jerry's Other Place.  It looks like a plastic coffee-shop-type place, but the food is much, much better than that. Their broasted chicken is outstanding, and their homemade peanut butter pie is the best I've ever had. 
 
http://www.jerrysotherplacemn.com/
 
There's a diner across from the Spam Museum that features Spam dishes, but I haven't tried it.

I see Jerry's Other Place in Austin has a pork tenderloin sandwich.

Ah, busted! From the view of the Canadian border, it's always Down to the Cities. Can take the girl out of the Northland, but never the Northland out of the girl.
To answer your earlier question, I haven't ever seen lutefsk on a restaurant menu. I'm guessing the Sons of Norway have the market cornered. However the Norske Nook restaurants over in Wisconsin have lefse and do their wrap sandwiches with it - pretty tasty. (But yes, I realize that's another string. )
 
Definition: Lefse = potato flat bread, kind of like a Norwegian tortilla.

The Sons of Norway's annual holiday white dinner may be the only place you are going to find lutefisk in this day and age. There might be some dying generational Scandinavian home celebrations and Madison, MN still has an annual festival that I believe Andrew Zimmern featured on his Travel Channel Bizarre Foods show. Pearson's in Edina? I'm not sure but I doubt I will bother to find out.

Lefse is a different story. Lefse is actually pretty good and can be found in grocery stores especially around Christmas. We actually have friends who make it and generally get the real deal from them every year.

If you like Middle Eastern food - this is the place to go!  I sorely miss living in The Cities, just to eat this stuff!
http://www.beirutrestaurantanddeli.com/

Take this Minnesota Monthly magazine pizza personality type indicator quiz to find the best pizza place for you in the Twin Cities:

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/July-2009/The-Minnesota-Monthly-Pizza-Personality-Type-Indicator/

If you are not in the Twin Cities there is enough personality description to kind of tell you what pizza might be best for you. Interesting little analysis. It has four different multiple quizes to come up with a four letter combination for your pizza personality. I was an ANCL or the thoughtful sensualist. It suggested I try Crave at the Galleria or Mall of America. I haven't been there.

Here is the descriptive write up for me.

THE THOUGHTFUL SENSUALIST

You don’t understand technology-haters. Every decade, life gets easier, richer, more equitable, and more amusing. You figure that constant worry and hand-wringing is, in fact, a useful engine for progress, but you never let other people’s stress block your bliss.

Your Pizza: Crave

Both Crave locations—in the Galleria and at the Mall of America—feature wood-burning ovens. And, at both locations, the wood-fired pizzas and flatbreads (with their thinner crusts) are some of the best options on the menu. The grape-and-apple pizza, for instance, with tangy local Amablu cheese, is a Midwestern version of the pizza that has been taking the coasts by storm. The shaved-rib-eye pizza combines everything you like about sandwiches with the inherent grace of pizza. The spiced-pineapple-and-prosciutto combination takes the classic Hawaiian pizza, lightens it, and makes it fresher; it’s also the kind of rare, rare pizza that goes well with Chardonnay.
Crave (Galleria), 3520 W. 70th St., Edina, 952-697-6000
Crave (MOA), 368 South Ave., (Third floor near Macy’s), Bloomington, 952-854-5000

Also Try: Tavern on France, 6740 France Ave. S., Edina, 952-358-6100, tavernonfrance.com

Davydd


Take this Minnesota Monthly magazine pizza personality type indicator quiz to find the best pizza place for you in the Twin Cities:

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/July-2009/The-Minnesota-Monthly-Pizza-Personality-Type-Indicator/

If you are not in the Twin Cities there is enough personality description to kind of tell you what pizza might be best for you. Interesting little analysis. It has four different multiple quizes to come up with a four letter combination for your pizza personality. I was an ANCL or the thoughtful sensualist. It suggested I try Crave at the Galleria or Mall of America. I haven't been there.

Tourist Trap!!

I took the quiz!


Your Pizza: Red's Savoy The old-school Minnesota pizza has very specific criteria. The crust is exquisitely thin, the size of a burly tortilla. The sauce is intense and sweet, somewhere between ketchup and marinara. The cheese is abundant. Put these together and you’ve got something concentrated, sweet, filling, and intense, like a Crock-Pot of Lil’ Smokies in sauce or a Canadian Club and Coke (either of which go very well with a classic Minnesota pizza). Needless to say, old-school Minnesota pizza is cut in a checkerboard of squares; the useless little dinky triangles on the side are what you eat while you’re waiting for the interior to cool, while the meaty inner slices are dinner. Add hamburger (that’s sautéed ground beef to you out-of-towners) and sauerkraut, and you’ve got a pizza that’s essentially a casserole with its own utensil—the crust. The king of old-school Minnesota pizza has to be Red’s Savoy, which is famous for having a whisper-thin crust and enough cheese to get you through the winter. The evidence of Red’s preeminence is that they have taken over the space once occupied by one of Uptown Minneapolis’s leading New York–style pizza places, Golooney’s. And if you’re at all surprised about this, you’re not from around here.
Red’s Savoy (Downtown), 421 E. Seventh St., St. Paul, 651-227-1437
Red’s Savoy (East St. Paul), 520 White Bear Ave. N., St. Paul, 651-731-1068
Red’s Savoy (Newport), 1642 1/2 Hastings Ave., Newport, 651-458-5212
Red’s Savoy (Uptown Mpls.), 2329 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls., savoyuptown.com

Also Try: Beek’s King of Pizza, 6325 Minnetonka Blvd., St. Louis Park, 952-929-0095; 5336 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls., 612-827-2567
Fireside Pizza, 6736 Penn Ave. S., Richfield, 612-869-9938, dinewithfiresidepizza.com

Davydd


Minnesota - Where to Eat? An Ongoing All Encompassing Chat

Inspired by TJ Jackson's ongoing Cincinnati and NK chat why not have one for Minneapolis/St. Paul and Minnesota? I tip my hat to TJ for leading a great resource for Cincinnati. I've contributed numerous trip reports as have others and realize that if one wants a one stop place for information and recommendations it can be an exhaustive search. Also, when I look at the Minnesota restaurant listing in the Roadfood.com database (currently 14 as I write) the list appears dated and does not represent Minnesota all that well and what is happening in the Minnesota food scene.

What got me inspired to start this thread is the richness of the Minnesota food scene being discussed in food forums outside Roadfood.com that has not been touched on or barely discussed here. One in particular recently on a Chicago based forum just blew me away in awe. Why not here?

You seem to be getting off to a great start here, what  with your upbeat tone and positive vibes.

I am sorry I will not be able to contribute,  as I have not been up your way in some time - back when I was working and playing competitive tourney Scrabble all over the country.

I now confine my meanderings in retirement to SW Ohio and N Ky and SE In on occassion, since we moved from western Cinti to Brown County/Sardinia/Lake Waynoka a wee bit over five years ago.

Good luck with the thread - I will be getting me some new Minnetonka moccasins one of these days from our Amish community in nearby Adams County as I have been hard on this pair - wearing them outside a lot - they are so comfortable - we have a new cat too who seems to love chewing on them and scratching them up.  But I digress.  Adios.

NYPizzaNut you can always tell me what I am missing right here since I went to college in Cincinnati in the 60s.   But then you would have to first come up here to Minnesota and check it out in order to do so. Go take that pizza personality quiz and see if you truly long for NY pizza and if there is anything in Minneapolis/St. Paul that might satisfy you. We're flexible. The idea is to have a bit of fun.

I bet wanderingjew took the quiz and couldn't find a lutefisk pizza at the Mall of America so he is now sulking about it being a tourist trap even though he is so set on finding a Scandinavian tourist trap restaurant in Minnesota. I hope the new Minnesota Twins Target Field plays right into his hands with a Scandinavian concession schtick next year that will probably be conceived and developed by a New York City concession food consultant.

: : : still looking hard for a lutefisk serving restaurant for wanderingjew's benefit. suggestions still welcome. : : :

I spent the 60s graduating from high school in Yonkers and going to college in The Bronx and getting drafted and going to Vietnam afterwards and working in White Plains and thence moving to Alabama so I probably cannot be much help to you - I visited Eden Prairie about 5 times in the 70s on business - no recollection of where we ate and playing tourney Scrabble two or three time in Minneapolis/St Paul in the late 70s and 80s - again no idea where we ate.

What is this pizza quiz?  I guess I missed it.

I do not need a quiz to know I still miss NY pizza and the entire country is becoming a vast wasteland of imitation pretentions of what great pizza should be.

Davydd


I bet wanderingjew took the quiz and couldn't find a lutefisk pizza at the Mall of America so he is now sulking about it being a tourist trap even though he is so set on finding a Scandinavian tourist trap restaurant in Minnesota. I hope the new Minnesota Twins Target Field plays right into his hands with a Scandinavian concession schtick next year that will probably be conceived and developed by a New York City concession food consultant.

: : : still looking hard for a lutefisk serving restaurant for wanderingjew's benefit. suggestions still welcome. : : :

If there were any "tourist trap" Scandinavian Restaurants they would be right at "tourist trap" Mall of America, not in obscure, out of the way neighborhoods (Cafe Finspang & Hot Plate Diner), suburbs (Grumpys) and rural towns (Swedish Inn and Kafe Stuga) that any "typical tourist" could even possibly imagine finding even with a roadmap and gps in hand and an offer of one million dollars in cold hard tax free cash if they should even be successful in finding such a placel ..... . Sorry Davydd, those "tourists" are all making a bee line to Mall of America
and when I arrive at these " so easy to find" tourist spots that you speak of and hear everyone speak in their accentless " ooh nooh weee doooht have accents"  I know I'll be with plenty of locals who are actually proud of their heritage, just like my fellow Jewish Compadres in NYC who still like to rationalize  that the kosher delis there are alive and well. and that tourists don't go there- only locals- (yeah right!! - where's that sarcasm smiley when I need it?!)

Tourist trap or not- if the food is good I don't care- I'm there!
What's the point of traveling 1300 miles to eat at restaurants (Cambodian, Laotian and Thai) that I can find right here in Rhode island AND ARE JUST AS GOOD??!!

NYPIzzaNut

What is this pizza quiz?  I guess I missed it.

I do not need a quiz to know I still miss NY pizza and the entire country is becoming a vast wasteland of imitation pretentions of what great pizza should be.

http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/July-2009/The-Minnesota-Monthly-Pizza-Personality-Type-Indicator/

Following Stricken_Detective's lead I amended my original message with the write up for my pizza personality from the quiz. Although it suggests MSP pizza places there is a lot of personality description in the write ups for anyone. I believe it is all made up from the creative writing of Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl, a local MSP restaurant critic. Made up or not, I enjoyed reading them.

Once again hesitant to get in amongst the swinging elbows and hustling boots of a Davydd / Wandering Jew dustup, may I just quickly offer a lutefisk potential:

Drugan's Supper Club in Holmen WI (suburb of La Crosse) has a Sunday Buffet.  On that buffet, they offer lutefisk and lefse seasonally from October to March.

http://www.drugans.com/dining/holidays.php

This place is a little out of the way and they don't care to advertise much, and WJ will be pleased to see that the clientele is mostly all local.  This is NOT a tourist trap.

Best of all, it's in Wisconsin, where everything is better anyway.

What's the point of traveling to New York City for a Jewish Deli? We can find that right here in Minnesota.   I want Dutch food when I go there. After all, it was the Dutch who bought Manhattan for a few baubles and beads.

esaydoesit,

Thanks for the tip about Drugen's Supper Club. As you know I get down to La Crosse often.

If wj is really serious he should plan on going to Madison, MN, Lutefisk Capitol USA, for one of their many events like Stinker Day.

http://www.ci.madison.mn.us/

July 1....Stinker Day

7:30-9:00 AM Free Breakfast, Kleinbank Plaza
9:00 AM Bean Bag Toss for grades 3-8 near Grand Theatre
10 AM-7PM Fire Dept. Safety Hopper for kids (near fire hall)
10 AM-4:30 PM Public Library book sale
10:30AM-1:00 PM LqPV Spanish Club serving pizza on mainstreet
11 AM Kiwanis Coin Scramble on mainstreet
11 AM-1 PM Boy Scouts selling grilled burgers on mainstreet
11 AM-1 PM Sons of Norway Salad Luncheon at VFW
Noon-1 PM, Mainstreet Bingo on Kleinbank Plaza, play free...win Madison Bucks!
1 PM Free Swimming and Coin Dive at pool sponsored by Kleinbank
2 PM Free Matinee for all ages at the Grand..."Hotel for Dogs" (PG)
4:30-7:30 PM Madison Ambulance BBQ Fundraiser by VFW
5:00 PM Stinker Day Outhouse Racing near VFW
5 PM VFW Beer Garden
6-8 PM Karaoke with Tim Nelson outside VFW
6:30 PM...Lutefisk Run starts near the VFW. Register there or call John Shurb at 320 568-2435.

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/06/minneapolis-minnesota-burger-flowchart.html

Huh.  I kinda like Green Mill.

THE HEARTIER PARTIER

You’ve never understood the whole “less is more” thing—more is, quite obviously, more! And it’s nice to have more, because you can share it, and once you’ve got more people sharing more—you’ve got a party! Oh yeah, and why not put macaroni and cheese on a pizza? This isn’t communist China.

Your Pizza: Umbria

Minnesota is legendary for our snow and ice, but if anyone else in the country actually paid attention, they’d know that what we really should be legendary for is eccentricity—what else do Charles Lindbergh, Prince, the Cohen Brothers, Garrison Keillor, Bob Dylan, Diablo Cody, Jesse Ventura, Charles Schulz, Michelle Bachmann, and Al Franken have in common? We’re tournament-level eccentric around here. We even have a pizza culture that’s so eccentric that it makes Los Angeles’s pastrami-wrapped hot dogs look tame. You didn’t know this? Then pilot your SUV out to the booming homegrown chainlet Umbria, with locations in Plymouth, Eagan, Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Blaine, Woodbury, and Shakopee (and 20 more before the year 2020, I bet). Once at Umbria, prepare to have your mind blown: mac-and-cheese pizza. Bacon double-cheeseburger pizza (with dill pickles). Pot-roast pizza. Shockingly enough, these off-the-wall, unnervingly inventive Umbria pizzas are really good. The thick layer of mashed potatoes on the pot-roast pizza, for example, makes it taste like a Greek boureki or even an open Cornish pasty, while the straight-from-the-box orange pasta on the mac-and-cheese pizza tastes creamy and comforting, and, again, not unlike a classic Greek casserole. Needless to say, the place serves plenty of other more traditional pizzas—like one layered with gyro meat, which shines when dunked into a side of their zesty yogurt tzatziki sauce. Okay, they go more traditional than that. However, once you try a few Umbria pizzas you quickly learn that these are eccentric pizzas in a uniquely Minnesota way: They’re hotdish, cooked in an edible container. Ever wondered where Minnesota hotdish culture went in the age of women in the workforce? It went to Umbria for pizza. Umbria, Multiple locations, umbriapizza.com

Also Try: Green Mill, Multiple locations, greenmill.com

Davydd


What's the point of traveling to New York City for a Jewish Deli? We can find that right here in Minnesota.   I want Dutch food when I go there. After all, it was the Dutch who bought Manhattan for a few baubles and beads.

Oh, yes, those legendary Minnesota Delis I keep hearing about.  (I'm still looking for that sarcasm smiley) I didn't know the Scandinavians in Minnesota have been around as long as the dutch in NYC, I could have sworn that the Scandinavains  arrived around the same time as the Eastern European Jews in NYC.

Nancypalooza

 They’re hotdish, cooked in an edible container. Ever wondered where Minnesota hotdish culture went in the age of women in the workforce? It went to Umbria for pizza. Umbria, Multiple locations, umbriapizza.com

That sounds like a great idea- Hot Dish Pizza!
american cheese and mushroom sauce on a pizza crust with ground beef and tater tot topping!

I've made breaded pork tenderloin pizzas, potato pizzas and jambalaya pizzas. Look'em up.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=282077

I could make you a hot dish pizza, but with melted cheddar cheese curds not American.

Davydd


I've made breaded pork tenderloin pizzas, potato pizzas and jambalaya pizzas. Look'em up.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=282077

I could make you a hot dish pizza, but with melted cheddar cheese curds not American.

Yes, absolutely! That makes much more sense
 
I'm curious to see what that finished product would look like- a tater tot hotdish/cheese curds pizza.  Probably nothing like the sad 500 calorie whole wheat/oat bran/flax crust pizza I'm making for lunch (the advantages of living only 3 miles from the office!)

Looks like this thread will kind of devolve into 1 useful post followed by 10 of the tired hot dish/lutefisk/Scandinavian/wedonthaveJewishdelis/walleye stuff.  I'll play along.
 
Anyway...in the fall, you can find dozens of small-town Lutheran churches holding lutefisk suppers.  One of my favorite culinary events of the year is the lutefisk supper at Moe Lutheran Church in Clayton, WI (Clear Lake).  Lutefisk, Swedish meatballs, lefse, home made pies and an assortment of side dishes.  You get there, buy your tickets and sit in the church enjoying the pastor's "Ole and Lena" jokes until your numbers are called. 
 
Lutefisk, for those that are interested, is excellent when done with care.  It's rich and has the texture of lobster, not the jelly-like goo that happens when it's done poorly (as I imagine it would be in a restaurant).  My kids (2.5, 5.5 and 7 years old) devour it.  I can't even eat as much as them.
 
Like cornish pasties on the Iron Range, it's virtually impossible to get the best version unless you get the food fresh, almost exclusively from a church supper.