Kramarczuk’s Sausage Company Kramarczuk’s is an iconic Twin Cities restaurant and deli, serving Eastern European sausages and comfort classics for more than 50 years. Wasyl and Anna Kramarczuk moved to the United States from Ukraine in 1949. In the 50s, they bought an established butcher shop in Northeast Minneapolis, started making sausages and quickly became… Read More →
My Top 3 Favorite New Foods As you probably already know, I’m an evangelist for the classics. Despite my inherent bias, I still think it was one of the weakest years ever for new State Fair foods. There’s just too much gimmick—think deep fried red liquorice— too many unworthy things on a stick, too much… Read More →
Cutting Board Classic at Blue Ribbon Pines Disc Golf Course Save the date! September 30, 2017 Andrew Zimmern is taking his passion for disc golf to the greens with his first ever charity disc golf tournament. As an avid player and Celebrity Ambassador for Innova Disc Golf, Zimmern wants all Minnesotans to come out and… Read More →
Gizmo Sandwiches I would rather be at the Minnesota State Fair than anywhere else in the world. Why? The people, the food, the sense of community and tradition. Carla Wood and her Gizmo sandwich embody everything I love about the fair. The Gizmo is a ground beef and Italian sausage sandwich covered in their secret… Read More →
Shuang Cheng Everyone knows a Chinese restaurant like this one, armed with an enormous 400-item menu that mostly caters to a Westerner’s palate. And while Shuang Cheng offers a dizzying variety of dishes, it defies the stereotype that quantity does not equal quality. I usually skip straight to the seafood page of the menu. If… Read More →
Birchwood Cafe Few Minnesotans have done more for local farmers and purveyors than Tracy Singleton. You can bet everything served at her iconic Seward restaurant was grown organically, sourced ethically, and hails from some cool Midwestern farm. She’s long been an industry leader in sustainable, eco-friendly practices, and has used her restaurant as a vehicle… Read More →
St. Paul’s Hmongtown Marketplace A pillar of the Twin Cities’ Hmong community—which is the largest in the country—the sprawling Hmongtown Marketplace in St. Paul is the next best thing to hopping a flight to Southeast Asia. This market and those making the food represent centuries of Hmong traditions. In warmer months, you’ll find people selling plants,… Read More →
Blue Door Pub If burgers stuffed with cheese aren’t on your list when you visit Minnesota, then you’re not doing it right. We Minnesotans love to debate who does the best juicy Lucy. There are plenty of spots serving up classic beef burgers with a molten hot cheddar cheese filling, such as perennial favorites Matt’s… Read More →
Revival St. Paul This town was a barbecue waste land, until my friends Thomas Boemer and Nick Rancone opened their second location of Revival in St. Paul and decided to add classic smoked meats to the menu, celebrating Boemer’s southern roots. The fried chicken and burger were reason enough to battle the crowds getting their southern comfort… Read More →
St. Genevieve I’ve often said that one of Minneapolis’ greatest assets in the food scene is chef Steven Brown, and his newest addition, St. Genevieve, is a testament to that. A Parisian-style buvette, it’s one of a slew of new restaurants in Minneapolis celebrating familiar, yet reinvented French fare—proof that the classics never go out… Read More →
Marla’s Caribbean Cuisine Located just south of Powderhorn Park, Marla’s Caribbean Cuisine is justifiably famous for its incredibly fresh, spicy, from scratch, honest and delicious Pan-Caribe style food. Marla is a doyenne of jerk and an expert with the hallmark Caribbean mashup of Indian, Creole and Latin flavors. I can typically take down… Read More →
The Salty Tart Chef Michelle Gayer is a James Beard Award nominee many times over, including being a 2017 semifinalist for “Outstanding Baker.” Open since 2008, Gayer and her team at The Salty Tart make everything from scratch everyday—from pastry cream-filled brioche to flaky layered croissants and buttercream-topped cupcakes to banana cream pies. Her macaroons are… Read More →
Tilia Chef Steven Brown is one of Minneapolis’ greatest assets. At Tilia, he’s taken the concept of a comfortable neighborhood restaurant and perfected it—from the cozy atmosphere and kitchen counter seating, to the affordable, yet insanely delicious menu. It’s a place I can take my kid for breakfast, my wife for lunch and my lawyer… Read More →
Pineda Tacos Minneapolis may not have a dependable taqueria on every corner like Los Angeles, but head to Lake Street and you’ll discover plenty of authentic options. Pineda’s is a hidden gem of a place. What this sparse taco shop lacks in ambiance, it makes up for with flavor. I usually go for an order of four… 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Morning, Noon & Night at Tejas Express Located at the corner of Underwood Street and Dan Patch Avenue in The Garden, Tejas Express is an institution at the Minnesota State Fair. They’re serving restaurant quality food reminiscent of the Southwest-inspired menu at the original location, which closed in 2009 after whopping 22 successful years in… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week By Andrew Zimmern I wait all year for the first foot long hot dog from my favorite booth. The first bite is a toe curler. The snap of the skin, the peppery frank, the well done caramelized onions and kraut. It’s simply the best bite of the year… Read More →
We tasted new food at the Minnesota State Fair – here’s our take. By AndrewZimmern.com Staff Tasked with sampling a slew of new foods at the State Fair, we skipped breakfast and headed out early Thursday morning with empty stomachs and open minds. There were pleasant surprises (maple bacon shaved ice!), a few safe bets (anything with… Read More →
Eat Andrew Zimmern’s favorite fair foods and share your pics for a chance to win. There’s a reason Andrew finds himself at the Minnesota State Fair for every one of its 12 days: the food. Sure, every year brings new booths to peruse and novelties to try, but nothing beats traditional state fair chow from… Read More →
52 Things to Look for at the MN State Fair Looking for a fun way to explore the Minnesota State Fair this year? Try completing this State Fair scavenger hunt. Mullets, crazy tattoos, award-winning baked goods, celebrities, fair hair… if you can think of it, you can find it at the Great Minnesota Get-Together. So… Read More →
