ky to minnisota

My mother, wife, daughter and I are embarking on a long road trip this summer, from Lex, KY to Northern Minnesota . I'd love suggestions on where to eat on this LONG trip. We'll need something to keep us sane along the way.

Sorry for misspelling in title. Caught it in the body.

Hi, Where are you going in Northern MN? Duluth? Up the No. Shore?

That's actually not all that far.  My husband drove from Harrodsburg, KY to Minneapolis last month in one long day.  
 
What route are you taking?  We went via Cincinnati because he was dropping me at the airport, and so we could eat at the Greyhound Tavern in Fort Mitchell, which is a terrific place that has wonderful Hot Browns.
 
He left CVG airport at about noon, and was in Minneapolis by 10:30 p.m.
 
 
Of course, continuing on up to the North Shore will add another 3-4 hours to the trip.

So many places, so little time!! Any idea where you might be stopping?

rumaki


That's actually not all that far.  My husband drove from Harrodsburg, KY to Minneapolis last month in one long day.  
 
What route are you taking?  We went via Cincinnati because he was dropping me at the airport, and so we could eat at the Greyhound Tavern in Fort Mitchell, which is a terrific place that has wonderful Hot Browns.
 
He left CVG airport at about noon, and was in Minneapolis by 10:30 p.m.
 
 
Of course, continuing on up to the North Shore will add another 3-4 hours to the trip.

I love Greyhound's cod fish sandwiches and their sauteed mushrooms.  They are out of this world.

Lexington, KY to Duluth, MN is about 850 miles.  A little past half way is Madison, WI which is one of my favorite places to eat.  Here are some suggestions for Madison:

Kabul's for Afghani (try the Mashawa soup and the lamb cous cous)

Husnus (another middle eastern place) is also good. 

If you like spicy east African, try Baraka and order Minchet Abish! 

Chaurara features the cuisine of Nepal.  If you like spicy, try their Bangur Ko Secuwa in vindaloo sauce!
 
Tutto Pasta Trattoria has decent Italian.

Sa-Bai Thong is good for Thai.

All of the above except for Sai-Bai Thong are located on State Street between the capitol building and the University campus.

Have a good trip.

Mike Sneddon

We did the opposite trip a couple years back, and I strongly recommend Honeybaker's in Marion.  IL, if you're going straight north through Illinois, it's near the bottom of IL.  Doesn't look like much, in a strip mall.  Down-home cooking, everything we had was good, and other stuff looked just as good.  They have a Honeybaker-of-the-day, it was an oriental casserole that day, and it looked pretty good, a lot of people ordered it, too.  Seemed like the whole town was there the Sunday we were there.  Bakery counter, too, looked fabulous.

Watch out for deer at dawn in MN - I missed one by inches driving back from Duluth a  few years back.

Are you planning on going thru Cincinnati or trying to avoid it by going thru Louisville to Indianapolis?

Same question about the Chicago area:  Thru it or avoid it by going thru Bloomington (IL) & Rockford (IL) to Madison (WI)?

From Eau Claire (WI) are you going thru Minneapolis/St. Paul or straight north to Duluth?

In other words, do you want to get to northern Minnesota as fast as you can (and avoid major traffic whenever possible), or do you want to stop and see as much as possible along the way?  Either way you decide, there will be lots of places to eat.

And by the way, Illinois has plenty of deer also, though they are less on the highways in summer when it is hot, than in the spring or fall.

I've driven that route numerous times mostly between Indianapolis and Minneapolis. How much distance you plan to drive per day has a lot of bearing on where you may go or eat. What I do is avoid Chicago by going west on I-74 out of Indianapolis and then north on I-39 to Rockford. That adds about 40 miles but is actually faster unless you go through Chicago in the middle of the night. If on a leisurely pace I would recommend taking I-90 over to La Crosse where I-90 and I-94 separate at Tomah, WI and then follow US 61 up the Mississippi to the Twin Cities. Northern Minnesota is a big area. Where? Brainerd, Bemidji, Duluth? A lot of different routes there. If going to or through Duluth then you should wind your way up through Wisconsin and cross over in Superior. Without knowing the route or the schedule it is hard to recommend eateries.

If you are going up to the North Shore of Minnesota, this thread could help.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Building-the-Brick-Bread-Oven-in-Grand-Marais-and-the-Gunflint-Trail-A-Culinary-Odyssey-m517221.aspx

Are you going through Madison WI? If you are and you enjoy real barbecue, I recommend Smoky Jon's BBQ on Packers Ave. on the city's northeast side. I ate there last month and really enjoyed it.      www.smokyjons.com