Food and Drink
Granted, it has been a while since I was here last. Still, on my previous trips to the Twin Cities, the food was centered on trendy “New Nordic” counterbalanced by Juicy Lucys (one of those hyper-local specialties that all quality cities possess, this one consisting of a cheeseburger with the cheese melted inside the burger). What at the time felt a little bit one-note has been replaced by a vibrant food scene that arose, forgive the pun, organically. As the demographics have shifted, so has the food. The Hmong refugees began arriving in the mid-1970s, and Minneapolis–St. Paul now has the largest metropolitan concentration in the country. There are also thriving populations of Somalians, Liberians, Ethiopians, and Ecuadorians, each and together creating a culturally rich and culinarily diverse place to eat.
At Owamni by the Sioux Chef, a restaurant celebrating indigenous cooking, the meal was simply transcendent. I started asking about getting a reservation as soon as I landed at the airport; the repeated line was that the wait was a solid three months. But traveling solo and being happy to sit at the bar has its benefits. Owamni has won kudos for its decolonized menu, which uses only ingredients that come from the land—animals, freshwater fish, wild plants, heirloom fruits and vegetables—and none of the foods brought by European settlers, such as dairy, flour, refined sugar, beef, or pork.
I started with the Blue Corn Mush with maple, hazelnut, and berries, then moved on to one of the specials: a variety of squashes of a bed of black bean puree with greens and berries. For drinks, I chose the La Reyna IPA from La Doña Cervecería, a local brewery that celebrates Latino and Minnesotan cultural vibrancy. That was followed by a Last Fathom Wild Rice Lager, a nutty, Munich-style dunkel made with Minnesota wild rice by Lake Monster Brewing in St. Paul.
Despite my sitting at the bar, the meal became communal. To my right, a woman explained that she had just returned from a two-week hiking trip where she ate only what she could carry. She ordered a five-course meal with one item from each section of the menu: Game, Plants, Native Corn Tacos, Salads, and Corn Sandwiches. The woman to my left sat down and immediately ordered two servings of the Red Cliff lake trout with white bean spread because her co-worker had told her it was the best thing she had ever eaten.
It’s a holiday tradition in my household to have a sampler platter delivered from Minneapolis’s Herbivorous Butcher, easily the best brother-and-sister-owned vegan butcher shop I can think of. Pop in for incredible eats, like the chicken bacon ranch hot panini or the sweet potato and chorizo rajas hot panini. Or head to the siblings’ new fast-casual fried chicken spot, Herbie Butcher’s Fried Chicken in South Minneapolis, for a bucket and a biscuit.
A team of four owners, including curator Esther Callahan, recently opened Arts + Rec Uptown, a creative reuse project they describe as an “immersive dining space.” Equal parts restaurant, nine-hole mini golf course, alternative art gallery, black box theater, and speakeasy for Minnesota-themed cocktails, it’s a place where art lives throughout.
In the restaurant you can order such earthy fare as mushroom crostini, cheese curds, chestnut soup, and a hot chicken sandwich; there are even crickets to snack on if you have the urge. The cocktail bar offers classics with a local twist, like a Scandinavian gimlet or a Minneapolis mule, and quirky offerings like the Red Headed Step Child, a glowing blend of whiskey and ginger.
When you’re done dining and drinking, get a ball and putter from the mini-golf hole designed as a record shop (complete with vinyl for sale). Other holes feature a car wash; a sauna; the Rheinlander Hodag, terror of the northern Wisconsin pine forests; and a tribute to Sheriff Val Johnson, who in 1979 was on patrol in northern Minnesota at 2 a.m. when a beam of light from a UFO engulfed his squad car, which was found sitting sideways on the road with the windshield shattered. A hoax? Who knows?
Located inside Graze Provisions + Libations the Union Hmong Kitchen is a space presided over by chef Yia Vang, often credited with bringing Hmong food to a wider audience. My go-to, off the Zoo Siab menu (which translates from Hmong as “happy” or “gratified”), was the sweet chili–marinated tofu with purple sticky rice, fried brussels sprouts, and lettuce wrappers. A side of chilled khao sen noodles are a must. Chef Vang is also the host of Relish, a Twin Cities PBS web series that journeys through cultural heritage in Minneapolis–St. Paul communities through the personal stories of chefs and their food.
I am forever a sucker for a good natural wine and tapas bar. At Bar Brava on a chilly day I had a warm tomato with kale, lapsang souchong, shirodashi, and a couple glasses of Frank Cornelissen’s Susucaru Rosso. The wines, unfiltered and made from organically farmed grapes and wild yeast, are excellent.