Nico Osteria By Bob & Sue This Paul Kahan restaurant on Rush Street features imaginative Italian fare. Executive Chef Erling Wu-Bower, a James Beard finalist in 2017, brings his own interpretation to traditional dishes. Crudo selections included Suzuki bass with chili flakes, Madai snapper with a kohlrabi salsa verde, bigeye tuna with black olives and… Read More →
The Anchor Fish & Chips Well before the influx of destination breweries and galleries re-energized Minneapolis’ artsy Northeast neighborhood, The Anchor Fish & Chips was battering Alaskan cod and frying hand cut chips for the locals. The narrow restaurant with tin ceilings and deep red walls lined with cozy booths has a real deal fish… Read More →
Szechuan Spice Of all the great regional Chinese cuisines, Sichuan food holds a special place in my heart. While we don’t have as many great Chinese restaurants as I would like in Minnesota, we do have a few that absolutely blow me away and Szechuan Spice in Uptown is one of them. It’s best to… Read More →
Alma: Cafe, Hotel & Restaurant After a major overhaul and grand re-opening, Alma is as gorgeous as ever, filling a hole we didn’t know we had in the Twin Cities dining scene. What was once solely a fantastic restaurant, owned and operated by James Beard award-winning chef Alex Roberts, is now an elegant, design-driven hotel,… Read More →
Lowry Hill Meats When Erik Sather opened Lowry Hill Meats in the fall of 2015, let’s just say I was excited. There are less than a handful of great, old-world butcher shops in the Twin Cities, and LHM’s standard for every product they sell—from meat to eggs, cheese, spices and coffee—is exceptionally high. I always… Read More →
Brasa Rotisserie For years, Brasa Rotisserie has been the go-to for Creole-style rotisserie chicken and Southern-inspired sides. From the mind of James Beard award-winning chef Alex Roberts, Brasa is a casual, convivial spot where meals are best had family style. They’re known for a mash-up of Southern-Caribbean-Mexican-Creole dishes, like slow roasted pork doused with fresh… Read More →
Authentic Vietnamese Food at Quang Home to a vibrant Vietnamese community, the Twin Cities are a pho-lover’s paradise. Quang Restaurant is family owned-and-operated, always packed and serves some of the best traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup in America. Don’t let the line out the door scare you away—even at their peak hour, the wait will… Read More →
Mucci’s Italian Owned by local restaurateur Tim Niver, Mucci’s Italian is one of the best new restaurants to come to the Twin Cities. In a tiny, unmarked brick building in St. Paul, you’ll find incredible food and service in a beautiful, yet unpretentious setting. With lacquered wood tabletops, black leather banquettes and chairs, the cozy… Read More →
Hola Arepa One of the most popular Latin American restaurants in the Twin Cities, Hola Arepa started out as a food truck, slinging their take on the satisfying Venezuelan sandwiches on the streets of Minneapolis. For those unfamiliar with their eponymous arepas, think hefty griddled cornmeal cakes stuffed with all sorts of ingredients, from Argentinian-style… Read More →
Punch Pizza There are plenty of great pizza places in the Twin Cities, but Punch will always have a special place in my heart. Now with eight locations across the metro, their first location, which opened back in 1996 in St. Paul’s Highland Park, is my favorite. Co-founders John Soranno, who grew up in Milan,… Read More →
Modern Scandinavian-Influenced Fare Located in a historic 19th-century brick-and-timber warehouse in Minneapolis’ North Loop neighborhood, The Bachelor Farmer celebrates Nordic-inspired cuisine made with ingredients sourced from local farmers or grown on the rooftop garden. They created small masterpieces on top of a humble piece of toast before it became a culinary craze, so order a few toasts as an… Read More →
Heyday A Food & Wine Best New Chef in 2015, chef Jim Christiansen’s thoughtful food is hyper-seasonal (often foraged) and speaks to his stint at Noma, with dishes such as grilled lamb with winter radish and stewed local oats, and hake with cauliflower, smoked cod roe emulsion and herbs (pictured above). Christiansen skillfully balances flavor, texture,… Read More →
Spoon and Stable After rising to chef stardom working for Daniel Boulud in NYC, Gavin Kaysen returned home in 2014 to open his first restaurant Spoon and Stable. Located in a beautifully renovated stable in the North Loop, it was the local restaurant opening of the decade. The hometown hero is one of the best… Read More →
San Francisco’s In Situ By Bob & Sue By offering the signature recipes of many of the world’s greatest chefs, Michelin 3-star chef Corey Lee of Benu and his executive chef Brandon Rodgers have made In Situ, located in the renovated Museum of Modern Art, one of the most unique dining experiences in the world. The… Read More →
Great Food Paired with Great Beer The folks behind Surly Brewing Co. are geniuses. Their new-ish destination brewery is an architectural stunner, with a wood and metal adorned taproom, glass-enclosed brewing facility, and a massive patio with fire pits and the occasional live music act. If I drank, I would be there all the time.… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week This bay scallop ceviche with yuzu and sea urchin at Cut in Beverly Hills was a stunning example of why this steak house continues to serve simple delicious surprises at every turn on their menu. Fresh and bracing with deep bass tones from the urchin, it was the… Read More →
Authentic Americana Cuisine Tune in for Bizarre Foods: Route 66 on Tuesday, February 21 at 9|8c on Travel Channel. Stretching from Chicago to Los Angeles, Route 66 is the most historic road in the country, an emblem of the American Dream. The fabled highway, also known as “the mother road,” is not just a means… Read More →
Southern Soul Food Takes Root When you think about Minnesotan food, the first thing that comes to mind is… well, anything BUT fried chicken. Lucky for us Northerners, chef Thomas Boemer filled the city’s Southern-food-void with crunchy, succulent Tennessee hot chicken, Johnnycakes and crispy pigs’ ears. They’re also serving one of the best burgers in town… Read More →
A Few Paris Gems By Bob & Sue In addition to our favorite Michelin 3- and 2-star restaurants (L’Astrance, Le Cinq, L’Ambroisie, Pierre Gagnaire, Jean Francoise Piege, and L’Atelier Robuchon), we enjoyed some exciting meals in smaller venues and bistros: Chez Georges This old fashioned bistro delivers classic dishes as well as anyone in… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week One Fifth is a new concept in Houston owned by my pal Chris Shepherd. Housed in a teeny old church that became an adult film studio before facing the wrecking ball, Chris got a stay of execution and is now putting a new restaurant in the space each… Read More →
Highlights from the Southern Barbecue Trail I’ll line up at Aaron Franklin’s a thousand times to eat his brisket, but traveling through Georgia and the Carolinas along the Southern barbecue trail was truly unforgettable. Barbecue has humble beginnings. It’s essentially American, a meal for gatherings that has a diverse range of styles, techniques and influences.… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week Lucky for me, last week’s press junket for the season premiere of Bizarre Foods included lunch at Balthazar in New York City. Did I spring for the Plateau de Mer for one??? Yes, yes I did. This restaurant is one of my favorites in New York, serving French… Read More →
What is the best thing you ate while filming these episodes of Bizarre Foods? The classic fixins’ from the inside of the hog at Gerald Lemoine’s farm in Moreauville, Louisiana. They shoot a hog, clean all the entrails and collect the blood. The hog goes on the spit, split-open to be turned into their version of cochon… Read More →
Where to Find Great Comfort Food in the Windy City By Bob & Sue In addition to three of our favorite fine dining restaurants in Chicago—Grace, Alinea and 16 at the Trump—we enjoyed several first time places for memorable comfort food: Credit: Huge Galdones Momotaro This large Japanese restaurant offers delicious sushi and high-quality small… Read More →
The Great Northern is an annual celebration of Minnesota’s most iconic season—but you already know that. What’s so exciting about this year’s festival is the food component, and none are more tantalizing than the debut of the Winter Table. As part of the 10 day festival of outdoor food, arts, and activity, The Bachelor Farmer and Spoon… Read More →
We are the North. Let’s celebrate it. Northerners don’t apologize for winter—they embrace it. The Great Northern, a new collaborative winter experience founded by event leaders in the Twin Cities, has recently announced an exciting lineup of 10 days of outdoor winter dining events. It’s time to celebrate this place we call home (and the weather that comes with it).… Read More →
As a chef, it’s my duty to consider food issues. When 44 million Americans don’t get enough to eat, bringing attention to the shortcomings of our food system becomes a necessity. And because no one in America should go hungry, I support A Place at the Table. A Place at the Table is a three year… Read More →
Donate Professional Wear to Help LGBTQ Youth Our friends at Big Gay Ice Cream are holding a clothing drive for the Ali Forney Center through January 8th. The Ali Forney Center helps homeless LGBTQ youth and is looking for clothes their clients could wear at work or to a job interview. We want the Ali… Read More →
All-American Road Trip In the all-new season of Bizarre Foods, I’m exploring America’s rich history and diverse cuisine along the country’s most famous historic routes. For me, traveling in the USA is all about the legendary trips that define our culture, from de Tocqueville to Huck Finn to Kesey’s Merry Pranksters. Our history can be defined by… Read More →
The holidays are a time for celebrating food, reliving fond memories next to a roaring fire and perhaps trying on new traditions for the future. While plenty of ink has been spilled about holiday recipes and tips, there’s still a lot of confusion in the air. Andrew took to Twitter for a Q+A session to… Read More →
