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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Mind Blowing Thai Food at Soei Catch Andrew Zimmern’s Driven by Food: Bangkok, Tuesday August 23 at 9|8c on Travel Channel. Located along the railroad track in the Dusit neighborhood, Soei is my new favorite restaurant in Bangkok. Our meal at this casual, open-air restaurant simply blew me away. Nearly every single thing I ordered… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week (And the Week Before That) By Andrew Zimmern Of all the great regional Chinese cuisines, Sichuan food has 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… Read More →
Mediterranean Food Heaven in Cyprus Cyprus is an island paradise, and a crossroads of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture. It’s also a nation ripped in half by decades of conflict. In Nicosia, Cyprus, the world’s last remaining occupied and divided city, there is a small café called the Berlin 2 Wall Kebab House. They serve a… Read More →
Modern Food, Age-Old Technique Defined more than a decade ago by chefs Claus Meyer and Rene Redzepi, the New Nordic food movement is reimagining what Scandinavian cuisine is, with a focus on seasonality, sustainability, animal welfare and traditional Nordic ingredients. And while this ground breaking philosophy has famously fueled avant-garde creativity, exploring old traditions is… Read More →
The Best Thing I Ate Last Week? Dinner at Upland in New York City. By Andrew Zimmern Justin Smillie’s Upland is as impressive a dining experience as New York offers. Here, serious food intersects with a rambunctious and spirited environment in a thoughtfully designed and beautifully lit space. Credit: Corry Arnold The five lettuce Caesar salad… Read More →
Where to Eat Tuna Eyes in Okinawa Japan’s version of a neighborhood bar, the izakaya has been an integral part of the country’s culture since the 1600s. They were the original gastropubs, serving shareable tapas-style small plates to sake-soaked patrons way before it was the trend. Today, izakaya specialties are some of the most beloved… Read More →
Celebrating North Carolina’s Culinary History Chef Vivian Howard worked in New York City at Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50 and Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market before packing up and heading home to Kinston with her husband to open Chef & the Farmer. Like many residents of Eastern North Carolina, chef Howard has an ingrained pride for her rural… Read More →
Why Everyone Loves Au Cheval By Bob & Sue The best hamburger in Chicago? In the United States? That is what the Food Network claims. Three patties seared at 500 degrees with cheddar cheese, bacon belly, egg, kosher pickles and a dijonaise sauce. Millenials, hipsters and baby boomers all love this funky, fun place with… Read More →
Chez Amy takes Dakar’s multi-cultural influence to an inspiring level. The French colonization of Vietnam, Lebanon and Senegal left a definitive stamp on Senegalese cuisine. At Chez Amy, you can experience a confluence of the country’s colonial influences in one amazing bite. The hole-in-the-wall food stand near Dakar’s Castor Market sells a few of Senegal’s favorite… Read More →
Reinventing Offal Dishes Forgotten for Decades Javi Estevez has created something truly unique in Madrid’s upscale Chamberi neighborhood, a modern tasca (or tavern) devoted to serving locally-sourced offal. The 32-year-old chef is reigniting a passion for ingredients and dishes made popular during the post-war era of his grandparents’ generation. An obsession for creating dishes from other… Read More →
Mind-Bending Combinations of Flavors & Textures By Bob & Sue Now in expanded space off First Street in the East Village, Momofuku Ko has been one of New York City’s most challenging reservations for the past eight years. With a cook centric open kitchen where diners face each other at a U-shaped counter, Chef David… Read More →
Rustic Perfection Chef Jonathan Waxman’s 13-year-old West Village restaurant is as casual and gorgeous as he is… no joke. My pal of many decades is in his prime, swarthy, and greyed out like a sexy Gandalf. In fact, Waxman just won a Beard Award for Best Chef NYC thanks to his culinary wizardry—you see what… Read More →
An Insider’s Guide to Rome A Rome-based Italian-American journalist, Katie Parla lives and breathes Roman culture and cuisine. Originally from New Jersey, Parla graduated from Yale with a degree in art history, before pursuing a sommelier certificate and master’s in Italian gastronomic culture. She’s written and edited more than 20 books, including the ebook Eating &… Read More →
