definitely agree with Andrea's in the Towle building.
I also really have come to like Max's Cafe in The Commons next door. Particularly, the caprese panini.

We moved up to Princeton in September. While the breakfast/diner/supper club/rural B&G places are in ample supply, I can't seem to find the hidden gem.
Anyone have a suggestion for great food somewhere between Elk River and Mille Lac?

TDQ - call me crazy, but I can think of few people more well-suited to answer your question other than you. . .
but from the parent perspective, i may be somewhat helpful. we have taken our kids everywhere since they were infants and some places are just more accommodating.
first place that jumps to mind for American with kids is the Malt Shop at 50th and Bryant. Always packed with families and the burgers and malts are very good.
Kinda sounds silly, but for Minnesota-American with kids, Ikea is fun. You can show off what the locals eat while in the environment of overblown American consumerism. Double win.
Believe it or not, sitting in the upstairs dining room at 112 for an early dinner durnig the week has gone well with little ones.
The Pizza Farm in Stockholm, WI, on Tuesday nights seems pretty American to me. Don't know how late in the season they run, though.
Black Sheep is always super nice to kids too.
I think Milda's on Glenwood is a great American breakfast example.
Hope some of this helps. . .

thought about driving further east; I just haven't eaten in Stillwater in ages. I'm sure there are some farily recent post on Stillwater dining I can read through, but is there any place in particular you suggest, Brad?
And, I take it that are no hidden gems in Woodbury, then?

Bryn Mawr Pizza and Deli (aka Fast Freddie's) at the corner of Penn and Cedar Lake - just north of the Penn Ave exit off 394. I do not think that they are open terribly late, but great sandwiches, pizza, and soups. The subs are particularly good.

We are ditching the kids and spending this coming weekend at the Sheraton in exotic Woodbury. Having a sleeping in, lounging around, shopping, eating, adult weekend. Still having some difficulty even wrapping my mind around the concept. Problem is, we want to be lazy; don't want to drive back into the cities for dinner.
So, the obvious question - Is there anything to eat in Woodbury?
No dietary restrictions, have great affinity for the current smaller plate-focused menu trend.

Saffron reopened yesterday with a new menu. Report back and tell us how the re-vamp is.
http://blogs.mspmag.com/foodiefile/20...

world street kitchen, the truck by the chef from Saffron, opened last week at 5th and Nicollet. I've had the lamb taco and chicken bahn mi so far. both were excellent. going to try the meatball sub sometime this week.

definitely check out D's.
and, crazy I know, but if the guy is outside of Hillman Library on Pitt's campus, his might be the best hotdogs in town

Same experience with LBV a couple weeks ago! Why didn't I do this sooner? Good price; great grub.
Also saw on Saffron's FB page that they are doing a "blind" tasting menu right now. Not sure of the price, but sounds like it could be fun.

The reuben at Brothers is good; everything they do with corned beef is good. But sadly, I have been on the same quest for a couple of years and come up fairly empty in the TC. Gald to see a few recommendations on here that I has not tried before. Will definitely check them out.

Thanks for the ideas. I admit the garlic was a last minute addition, so fresh rather than garlic salt will happen next time. And a spicy sausge will definitely replace the chicken.
Shoot, who am I kidding? I'm just going to make the same one as Laura.

so, the other night I halved, hollowed, and baked a big zucchini with chicken confit, bacon, and goat cheese. took the meat I had hollowed out of the zucchini and simmered in down in some chicken broth; made a puree with that meat, some garlic salt, and cream.
sounds good, right?
but the overall dish was a little bland other than the sauce. maybe i could have used more bacon? a stronger cheese? more chervil?
any other ideas of what I could have done (can do in the future) to give it more pizzaz?
thanks, fft

TDQ and al b, thanks for your notes on canning and safety. I was looking back on her blog just now and it seems others may have pointed out some of those issues to her. she added a comment on that post with some caveats and safety updates. either way, i love the way she creates the vision of the young mother trying her hand at new kitchen adventures. some of the other recipes look pretty good

Pretty sure you are not her target audience.

Found this blog by a stay-at-home mom recently. she talks a lot about her (lack of) cooking abilities and shares recipes/kitchen adventures. she made me laugh. I also tried her meatloaf. it was good. . .
http://junecleaverinyogapants.blogspo...

Hopefully, many more coming soon. Minneapolis passed an ordinance a couple of months ago allowing for up to 15 food trucks, but there has been ongoing dispute over where they are going to be allowed to park. Thus, not many permits have been approved yet. I think there was more on all of this on the board a little while back. Anyway, once the powers-that-be figure out the logistics, we should be seeing Barrio, Foxy, She, the Chef Shack ladies, and many others. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it happens before the end of summer. Would love more downtown lunch options.

-----
Chef Shack
No formal address, Minneapolis, MN

WAS the oxtail hash at Blackbird.
Also love the duck pate bahn mi at 112.

Good suggestions here already (Strip Club, Saffron, Craftsman) especially because I think your husband would be comfortable in all three in comfortable clothes. It's a little dressier, but I've also been impressed with Restaurant Max in the Hotel Minneapolis on several occasions lately.

Anybody go to Iron Fork at IMS last night? It looked like the line-up of competitors was going to be fun. I'm just curious who won and if the eats were worth the admission ticket.

Last night my wife and I got a friend to watch our 2-year-old at the last minute and went out for a neighborhood bite. We are expecting our second any day now and so were exctied to have what will likely be our last nice dinner out for a few months. We had been through the door at Cafe Maude twice before. The first time was a Friday around 5:30 with our toddler in tow. We were treated fairly dismissively at the door and decided not to stay. The second time was a mid-week evening by ourselves. The food was fine, but the service was aloof and condescending. Last night (we had no reservations), we arrived about 5:45. It was fairly empty. The guy at the door led us to a table by the front window. I asked if there was a banquet available for my wife (her pregnant belly is obvious; like I said, baby coming any minute). The host explained that he had some large parties coming in, so the banquet seats were unavailable. Then he said (I'm still in a bit of disbelief) "I could seat you in a booth, but . . ." his voice trailed off and he walked back to the host stand. We stood there dumbfounded for a couple seconds and then walked out. Folks on CH and around town have said such nice things about the food at Maude. I would love to expereince it; we live in the nieghborhood; but geez, hard to enjoy the food when it feels like the staff does not want us there.
So we went over to Cave Vin (calling on our way to make sure there was room). Awesome dinner, great service. It was empty when we arrived, but filling up nicely when we left around 7:30. The food:
Garlic Frites - fries with raw diced garlic on them and a super tastey aoili. They were really good; almost like salty little donut sticks.
Percorino Pockets - swiss chard wrapped around sheep's milk cheese. Melty-salty cheese inside; nicely wilted, but still firm, bitter chard outside; something of a truffle oil/butter on top - very yummy
Beet and Fennel salad - with a dijon mustard. so used to seeing a similar salad around with a balsamic reduction and goat cheese or some variation thereof that the bite of the mustard against the sweet and spicy of the beets and fennel was a revelation.
Steak Tartar - great texture; a poach egg-yolk barely holding together on top; traditional accompaniments.
Butternutsquash ravoli - just what you would expect and delicious; the pasta was perfectly made and perfectly cook
Pot de Creme - only got a tiny nibble of this, but it made a very pregnant woman a very happy pregnant woman.
Some good wine for me, etc.
So overall a great dinner. We are at the other South/Southwest MPLS restaurants so often we sometimes forget about Cave Vin. In the end, I'm kind of happy Maude got their third strike last night; no need to waste more time trying to like it, more time for Blackbird/Heidi's/Grand Cafe/Cave Vin/Etc. We decided our first dinner out after we get through the initial new-baby hibernation phase will be back at Cave Vin.

Our visits have all been in Edina

We went to Salut when it first opened and had lunch. It was not good. My burger was overcooked and bland; my wife's openfaced sandwich way to greasy. We tried some appetizers again about a year ago and were again disappointed.

But last Saturday we thought we should give it one more try. And I'm so glad we did. We did not eat a ton, but what we had was mostly excellent.

One-side seared tuna tartar:
a cylindrical mound of tuna, seared on one side, topped with white and black sesame seeds, with a layer of avacado in the middle. On the plate was some wasabi, wasabi mayonnaise, and pickled ginger. It was a nice presentation. I certainly did not expect anything remotely Japanese would be good here, but my wife wanted it. The textute and flavor of the tuna was excellect, the avacado adding a not-quite-redundant creaminess. The portion was large. We agreed the taste was very good, me with a lot of wasabi, she with little.

Frisee salad with goat cheese and warm bacon dressing:
nice big pieces of thick cut bacon. The frisee still had a bit of a crunch to it (I hate it when "wilted frisee" is overcooked). The goat cheese was too young and not strong enough to be decifered from the bacon flavor, but the overall bitter/sweet/savory thing did happen nicely.

Steak sandwich:
the bottom bread was soggy, though that was expected. The steak was perfectly cooked and surprizingly tender; the cheese and sauteed onions were great. I was happy that it was not dry and did not require the provided mayonnaise. Actually, maybe the best steak sandwich I've had since the last time I was at Ely's.

No dessert; a couple glasses of a cheap, but yummy malbec; adequate service, if a bit too harried for 6 o'clock.

I just really enjoyed the whole meal and wanted to share as I think I have had some hard words for Salut in the past.

Some friends took us there when we first moved here and I was underwhelmed enough to not go back. It was too loud, the food was not memorable, and the Italian wines on their list were all of the large-production, usual suspects. Honestly, I have a pretty strong bias against Italian restaurants who do not put much effort into their Italian wine selection.

My in-laws live up the road, so we end up eating at the Norton's pretty often (not many other decent options in the area). While I loved the intimacy of the old space, I also like the look and feel of the new space. Seating is definitely more spaced out and gives a more private vibe to the meal. The service has been a bit inconsistent over the last couple of years, but never really bad enough to merit whining about. The wine list is pretty extensive and amazingly well priced, not much of a mark-up. The beers are interesting too. We always enjoy the food. We were last there a couple weeks ago for lunch with some friends. My burger (lamb with goat cheese and sirachi, at Mr. Norton's suggestion) was delicious. Everyone else liked their food too; even my 2-year-old with his baked mac-and-cheese. We usually get a cheese plate. Cheeses seem to vary and are always interesting. The Vietnamese meatballs are always awesome. And we have never had a pork dish that we did not love.
As to Mr. Norton's accessibility; he always seems to be around and really enjoy talking to guests. I think he understands that people do actually make the pilgrimage to Red Wing more to meet him than eat his food, and is pretty accommodating. I would agree with the above posts that it would probably be better to try to catch him during the week or during lunch than on a busy weekend night.
And I think with any restaurant owner, if you want them to share a glass of wine with you, offer to buy it for them. . .

Linden Hills is nice to shop generally. The Co-op is good for bulk organics and some specialty items. Their home store is great for some household items, especially organic baby stuff. Clancy's is right around the corner for great protein. And the Edina Lunds is not too far away.
For bulk grains, we go to the Holy Land in MGM.
Otherewise, the think the whole city has been covered above

Hey folks,

We live in Minneapolis and really do not leave the city . . .pretty much ever. My folks got us a room next weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn on American West Blvd in Bloomington for a night away from the kids. Is there anything to eat around there or do we need to eat in the city and the go back out. We are looking to do it right; multiple courses, well-paired wines, great service, great room. Any ideas?
ps. other than Caio Bella

I think Clancy's in Linden Hills might be a good source, but I would call and ask first.

I second ashii's Blackbird thought, espacially if you can get in the back. If it is on the menu, the oxtail hash is not to be missed.
TDQ also mentioned Craftsman, which like her, I love and do not get to often enough. The food is so good.

Food at both are consistently good. I like the service and ambiance better at La Chaya. Especially for a birthday. Plus, there is always something interesting going on on the menu at La Chaya, even for the food fanatic. Good luck and enjoy dinner.