This past fall, I worked on a show that was co-produced by theatres in New York City and Minneapolis. The Minneapolis production took place then, and the New York production is in tech now. I'd never been to Minneapolis before -- never been anywhere in the U.S.A. longitudinally between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, in fact. So I cut myself some slack in my budgeting, deciding to seize the moment by constantly asking myself when the next time someone would pay my travel to and housing in Minneapolis for a month and a half, and treating the time as a working vacation of sorts.
It really was a lovely place to visit. The company of the show was very friendly and well-bonded, and we did things like have apartment-parties and go to the Walker Art Gallery together. We took the light rail to the Mall of America. I spent a long afternoon with an internet friend in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts museum. I walked the streets and saw the grand Mississippi. But mostly... mostly, I ate. I ate a lot. And man, it was <i>good</i>. So if you happen to find yourself in Minneapolis, particularly in downtown, here's a brief overview of my experiences.
Being a bunch of theatre folks stranded in a strange city, working strange hours, one of the first things we did, naturally, was order pizza to our apartments. We were recommended <b><a href="http://pizzaluce.com/">Pizza Lucé</a></b>, and it was a recommendation well-taken. Over the course of our stay in Minneapolis, we ordered from them multiple times, trying all sorts of combinations. It was also my first time trying vegan cheese, which is really strange and kind of gross but in a fun way that I didn't mind eating -- kind of like if you took everything actually cheesey out of melted cheese and kept only the melted elasticity. Anyhow, I highly recommend them for some really fun pizza pies. Out of the options we tried, my favorite was the Ruby Rae: "a saucy little number—a delicious upside down pizza pie with the red sauce on top! Spinach, bruschetta tomatoes, Italian sausage, and extra mozzarella cheese. Sprinkled with parmesan cheese and spicy crushed red pepper." The Baked Potato was also quite good, though not as novel to me as it had been to the others, who had never heard of the concept of pizza topped with mashed potatos before. (Mashed potato pizza is a given if you live in New Haven -- ah, <a href="http://www.barnightclub.com/">Bar</a>!)
A walk to the IDS Center one day on a quest to find a bank led to my discovering a collection of food trucks that flocked to the block near a bunch of financial office buildings. The only one that I got around to sampling was the <b><a href="http://www.eatwsk.com/">WSK food truck</a></b>. Apparently, it's not out during the winter, and I'm glad that I was able to catch it when I was there. I grabbed a kalbi burrito, which was a little pricey but definitely generous and delicious. It was a plain tortilla stuffed with white rice, peas and Korean short rib. The meat was a little over-sauced and salty, but for a filling lunch on-the-go in chilly weather, it was very satisfying.
The theatre at which I was working was near Nicollet Street, which is also known as "Eat Street." It is, as one might guess, veritably lined with restaurants, which we made good use of while we were in tech (and later on two-show days and after morning shows and also afer evening shows and really just a lot). For the most part, they range from take-out to moderately hip, with nothing super fancy. It was great to not only have variety, but to have variety within a range of affordable prices.
The first place that we ate during tech was <b><a href="http://www.christos.com/">Christos </a></b> (2632 Nicollet Avenue South), a Greek restaurant with a casual atmosphere. They had a pretty extensive menu with good value, and I'd say that the food was good. The "I'd say" qualifier comes from the fact that it was all much too salty for my taste, but everyone else raved about how good it was. I was fortunate to grow up with a lot of home-cooked meals, and my mother was health-conscious, so she didn't use a lot of salt. Ever since I began cooking for myself over five years ago, I have basically never added salt to food except for baking and tend to go low-sodium for salt-containing ingredients that I do use (e.g., soy sauce). I am the weirdo that scrapes the salt off of my French fries. So I assume that my salt sensitivity is much higher than most people's, and that what was excessively salty to me probably wouldn't be to most people. In any case, it was a good welcome to the food neighborhood, and they were wonderfully accommodating for a rowdy group of a dozen out-of-towners.
One thing I was surprised by was Minneapolis' large Vietnamese population, as seen through the large number of Vietnamese restaurants. Apparently, a few thousand Vietnamese refugees were re-settled in Minneapolis after the Fall of Saigon during the Vietnam War. The first Vietnamese place we ate was <b><a href="http://www.quangrestaurant.com/">>Quang</a></b>(2719 Nicollet Avenue). The only thing that I've had from there was the pho, but it was the best pho that I've ever had.
We also explored a little farther around southest Asia at <b><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/29/1636152/restaurant/Twin-Cities/Eat-Street/Krungthep-Thai-Minneapolis">Krungthep Thai</a></b> (2523 Nicollet Avenue South). There wasn't anything particularly noteworthy about it, but everything was solidly very good.
I went on my own to <b><a href="http://peninsulamalaysiancuisine.com/home.html">Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine</a></b> (2608 Nicollette Avenue South) one evening, looking to try something new. It turned out that this was probably a restaurant better to attend with a group. The chicken entree that I got was very flavorful and good... but it was pretty much chicken with a bowl of rice and a few pieces of vegetables that were basically garnishes. Between that and how other menu items were described, it would probably be a good place to eat family style, getting some meat dishes, some vegetable dishes, etc..
The only "not coming back here after this" experience that we had was at <b><a href="http://thebadwaitress.com/">Bad Waitress</a></b> (2 East 26th Street) -- appropriately, largely due to the service. It was a cute, kitschy place, with classic comic book character-themed tables and a moderately creative hipster diner menu. The food was solidly good, though not outstanding. (Though I heard that the milkshakes -- which you could get vegan, with soy milk -- were to die for.) The service set-up, however, was that you sat at your table, figured out your order, placed it at the counter and paid in advance, and then were served at your table. Alas, one of our friends discovered a squirming little worm in the pickle that came with her burger. When we flagged down our waitress, she just gave us a sort of "Well, what do you want me to do about it?" stare before putting her hand out. My bemused friend deposited the pickle worm in the waitress's hand, and off it went. A bit later, the waitress returned... with another pickle. No apology, no discount offer, no nothing. Just another piece of the food item that my friend still can't eat to this very day because it makes her think of the worm she almost ate and it turns her stomach. While the food wasn't bad, it wasn't worth the indignity of the pickle worm.
Not every meal was eaten on Eat Street. One day, the lot of us ventured to the Walker Museum, where we played in the fantastic sculpture garden and wandered through some great exhibits... and discovered the <b><a href="http://www.walkerart.org/visit/dining">Walker Museum restaurant</a></b>(1750 Hennepin Avenue). In fact, we loved the museum restaurant so much that we went back to the museum one day solely to eat lunch at the restaurant. Lunch is mostly what you'll have there, as its hours are limited: 11:30am-2:30pm Tuesday through Sunday, plus 5:00-9:00pm on Thursday. It's slightly more upscale than most of Eat Street, but for the quality of food that you get, the prices (at least to this bunch of New Yorkers) are remarkable. Everyone loved everything that they got.
Back on Eat Street but also a little more upscale is the <b><a href="http://www.eatstreetsocial.com/">Eat Street Social</a></b> (18 West 26th Street). We never were able to make it to their brunch, which we heard was great, but we did a late night there. Again, everything that everyone got, from food to cocktails, was fantastic.
I did actually make it out of downtown once, when a friend from Omaha unexpectedly came to see the show and I joined him and his friends out that night. We went to <b><a href="http://www.chinolatino.com/">Chino Latino</a></b> (2916 Hennepin Avenue South) in uptown. I felt not quite cool enough when we finally found it (it has a very hipster door that doesn't really look like a door) and went inside -- the atmosphere was almost club-like and very loud, quite hip. Despite the restaurant's name, it's actually not a fusion restaurant -- it just serves <i>both</i> Chinese and Latin food. It's intended to be a group place, with entrees being pricey but very large portions, meant to be shared among the table. It was definitely the most expensive place that I ate at the entire time, but my Cuban Pork Crisis and Oh Gloria! martini, plus what I sampled of other people's dishes, were well worth it.
So now we're down to the top favorites, the places that I returned to again and again.
First up, there's <b><a href="http://www.glamdolldonuts.com/">Glam Doll Donuts</a></b> (2605 Nicollet Avenue). The donuts are perhaps more expensive than one might expect, but they're of good value. The flavor combinations are creative and the elements are of high quality -- even if they didn't have all sorts of wacky sriracha and bacon etc. on them, the pastry itself would still be absolutely delicious. Glam Doll was actually a cute little coffee shop, but I never ate in: my favorite tradition became buying a donut (usually a Bombshell, which was spiced Mexican chocolate and cayenne pecans) and saving it until before I went to bed, when I would eat my donut and listen to the new episode of <i>Welcome to Night Vale</i>.
<b><a href="http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/">Hell's Kitchen</a></b> (80 South 9th Street) was near our apartments, downtown. We went here as a group, and I also returned multiple times on my own, mainly to eat bison. I got the bison benedict when we went for brunch once and got a bison burger for lunch multiple times. I found the walleye fish and chips to not be the best, but mainly because I didn't think that the walleye lent itself very well to that dish, not because of the preparation itself. But aside from the fish and chips, not only were the mains very good, but the sides and condiments were all excellent as well. The sweet potato fries were stellar. Their peanut butter and ketchup were both homemade, and some of the best that I ever tasted. They're such popular items, in fact, that they sell them to take home. Beyond the food, it's also a very fun, kitschy atmosphere, with a sort of hipster gothic theme, with red walls, a chandelier made of kitchen knives, and an old black and white movie always playing on a large screen in the dining room.
Our general post-show go-to place was <b><a href="http://www.icehousempls.com/">Icehouse</a></b> (2528 Nicollet Avenue South). Sort of a gourmet gastropub with a stage for live performances, it was a perfect storm of delicious food, amazing drinks, and an appealing, energetic but casual atmosphere. Everything that everyone had was amazing, but only one thing still occupies my dreams to this day: FRIED CHICKEN AND WAFFLES. One night when I was feeling a bit moody, I actually fucked off from the rest of the group and went to Icehouse so that I could get some fried chicken and waffles to soothe my soul. Icehouse took that magical combination and turned it up to eleven, with hearty buckwheat waffles, succulent and perfectly spiced fried chicken, thick-cut bacon, a poached egg, and maple emulsion that imparted sweetness without sogginess. It's not an exaggeration that for days after I first ate it, I would sometimes fall into daydreaming about it and drooling. I know that others in our group were similarly obsessed with the veggie burger. I was also a big fan of their sipping shots -- a hybrid between a shot and a cocktail, with a smaller serving and accordingly lower price ($5) -- particularly for the Satan Laughs And Spreads His Wings.
Last but absolutely not least was the place that left a hole in all of our hearts when we left Minneapolis: <b><a href="http://jasmine-deli.com/">Jasmine Deli</a></b> (2532 Nicollet Avenue South). A tiny take-out joint with a small number of eat-in tables, they were the ultimate in cheap and fast and yummy Vietnamese food -- the former two being a great boon when you need to catch quick meals on a dinner break or in between shows. We went there so regularly that we actually got to be friends with the owners who ran the place, particularly with Tim. Tim and his family even came to see our show, at our invitation, and we targeted Tim in one of our interactive moments. After they had seen the show, I went back at one point and Tim told me how they were sitting in the theater and heard the pre-show announcement, which was recorded by yours truly. Tim's brother turned to Tim and said, "Hey, that's spring rolls and V6!" V6 was the combination noodle salad, and "spring rolls and V6" was my usual order. By the point at which Tim shared that story with me, he actually knew me by my name and not "spring rolls and V6," but I think that actually might have been a more accurate description of me than my name. Also of note is that the Jasmine Deli family also owns and run <b><a href="http://www.jasmine26.com/">Jasmine 26</a></b> (8 East 26th Street), a nice sit-down restaurant just a bit over a block away. Again, the prices are amazing, particularly once their late-night happy hour kicks in, which features both drink and food specials. It's no exaggeration that I've had two martinis and an actual entree there for what would have been less than the cost of an entree here in New York.
So anyway, if you go to Jasmine Deli, tell them that V6 And Spring Rolls from The Wong Kids says hi to Tim.
Minneapolis was kind of a weird place to a northeasterner like myself. Strangers would call to you on the street just to say "hi." At restaurants, the server would come to your group of nearly ten people at the end of your meal and say that they had split the check for each person, was that all right? And then, oh how sharp was the sticker shock upon returning to New York! I hadn't planned on this trip turning into a food tour, and it definitely thinned my wallet and thickened my waistline. But hey: I got to do what I love (eat food) while doing what I love (theatre). How much better than that can you get?
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(The above song is what I sing to my food.)
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