Minneapolis

After years of traveling to MSP, I'm in a rut--Auriga, where I never like everything served but the effort is always stalwart and the wine list strong, and Kramarczuk's--for sausage and pierogi.

Nix Kincaids. Nix Cherokee Sirloin Room for budget steak. A pox on the Lake District's yuppie joints, likewise Bobino's.

ISO a decent roast chicken or everyday steak and salad for the night I'm on my own. Any suggestions? Hotel is five miles west of downtown. Outside of rush hour anything west of St. Paul is reachable.

Here is a review of a place I tried over the Easter Weekend. I don't know if it meets your criteria. However, if it sounds good, do it ....

Sunday evening, we went to E's Soul Food, which is at the corner of 18th Street and Nicolette Ave. in Minneapolis. I had a long list of items that I wanted to try off of the menu as I spent an hour on the website last week. However, the server recommended the special - beef shortribs served over rice with mashed sweet potatoes and collard greens. My wife ordered the cheesy grits and the whiskey beans. We both had the sweet potato cornbread muffins. We had also ordered some okra poppers.

The food was great. The shortribs were falling off the bone and tender. There was a lot of meat - perhaps 6-8 oz and was served in a rich sauce. The ribs could have been a lot hotter as they were served lukewarm. The rest of the food was very hot. The sweet potatoes were sweet but not too sweet. The greens were well seasoned and flavorful. I would pass on the okra poppers. They were alright but they were nothing special.

I would recommend the place. The portions were very reasonable and the food was overall very good. There is another soul food place next door with a limited menu. It looked more like a club that served food than a restaurant.

E's sounds great, but...

I live in Atlanta, so its kind of like 'sand to the desert'.

If I had the budget, I'd probably go to Manny's.

Oh if I were an organized fellow! I used to do a lot of consulting in MSP, and would spend my evenings wandering the cities in search of food and amusement. My discoveries ranged from an old time diner on the edge of the Mississippi, to an Ethiopian place in downtown St. Paul, to a little cafe in a health club on the edge of a beautiful marsh straight west of downtown Minneapolis (wandering from the client's location in Chaska, so I covered some ground).

I love the city, but sadly I have no notes. All I can say is that I mostly relied on MSP mag (or whatever the equiv. of Chicago is), plus the free weekly, which may be a Reader, and lastly places I passed that struck my fancy. Overall, I will say that I ate quite well in MSP, but I did mostly avoid American foods.

The client preferred Kincaid's.

Oh, I do remember being told (honestly, I did not try it out, as the concept seemed wrong to me, but not completely without charm), that the strip joint just north of the airport serves a pretty good beer and a burger

I hope this is of some use.

If I had the budget, I'd probably go to Manny's.

Funny you say that, because my first, best recommendation is the similarly named, though much more interesting, Murray's. My second pick would be Manny's.

I have had a few cases in the TC over the past couple of years. Some people say that it/they is/are a great food town(s). I haven't been able to find it, even with the help of locals.

For instance, there are plenty of SE Asians and E Africans in the TC, but a paucity of restaurants serving them. While there seem to be more and more Mexicans in the area, a glance at the Yellow Pages reveals a tiny handful under "taqueria," in contrast to the literally scores of entries in Chicago or LA and I suppose dozens down in Atlanta. On top of all that, there is almost no Scandanavian or "North Woods" restaurant cooking to speak of, contrary to my hopes. Even Aquavit closed.

However, Murray's is a very cool place, an old-fashioned steakhouse with very good, albeit expensive food. The art deco neon sign out front is among the classics in all America. If you enjoy places like Peter Lugar, Gene & Georgetti, or Bern's, you'll like Murray's. Manny's is a Johnny-come-lately. Good steaks, but nothing you can't get in a hundred other places.

http://www.murraysrestaurant.com/

dicksond wrote:Oh if I were an organized fellow! I used to do a lot of consulting in MSP, and would spend my evenings wandering the cities in search of food and amusement. My discoveries ranged from an old time diner on the edge of the Mississippi, to an Ethiopian place in downtown St. Paul, to a little cafe in a health club on the edge of a beautiful marsh straight west of downtown Minneapolis (wandering from the client's location in Chaska, so I covered some ground).

Using Dara Moskowitz' columns at citypages.com as a jumping off point, I found some edible stuff this trip:
--Cantonese bbq prepared by ethnic Vietnamese on University Ave near Lexington Pkwy in St. Paul for ok roast duck and good suckling pig and bok choy sauteed with pig ear.
--Pinedas Tacos on Lake St for pork in chipotle sauce burrito
--Dong Yang up in Fridley (I-694 near Central Ave exit), a Korean grocery with a meal counter in the back for super seafood pancake and ok (frozen, I suspect) fried pike mackeral served atop onions on a heated sizzler pan. Next time would skip the fish and try the Soon Dobu Jigae (spicy tofu soup) and the Kalbi (beef short rib-lets).

CH voices/tastes re MSP generally are not good match to mine.

Citypages suggestions, howver--although somewhat boosterish, seem to work out better. Within site of the Cantonese bbq place in St. Paul were four Vietnamese restaurants and one bakery. So obviously a great deal of diligent chowing would be necessary here to uncover the gems.

Thanks to Dicksond for the inspiration.

JeffB wrote:However, Murray's is a very cool place, an old-fashioned steakhouse with very good, albeit expensive food. The art deco neon sign out front is among the classics in all America. If you enjoy places like Peter Lugar, Gene & Georgetti, or Bern's, you'll like Murray's.

Yet again JeffB speaks the truth. I stopped at Murray's, "The Home of Silver Butter Knife Steak," last week for a martini and a slice of garlic bread (gratis). The interior, remodeled three times since it opened in 1946, isn't quite as impressive as the façade might suggest but still has a classic, classy steakhouse feel to it. The mirrored dining room, with a tiny stage for the weekend musicians, looks inviting.

Murray's
26 S 6th St
Minneapolis MN
612-339-0909
http://www.murraysrestaurant.com/

Murray's was a destination restaurant in my youth, I went there with my parents on both my thirteenth birthday and the same for my sister. Best steak I ever had in my youth.And I loved the atmosphere and service. One of my earliest introductions to fine dining, that and the long gone Charlie's.

trpt2345 wrote:Murray's was a destination restaurant in my youth, I went there with my parents on both my thirteenth birthday and the same for my sister. Best steak I ever had in my youth.And I loved the atmosphere and service. One of my earliest introductions to fine dining, that and the long gone Charlie's.

Not to divert from Murray's too much, but, I want to respond to trpt2345's mention of Charlie's. Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale-no doubt your "long gone Charlie's" - was the destination restaurant for my parents and their friends on special occasions. I must have been envious, because I picked it as the site of my 12th birthday dinner (with one carefully chosen friend and my parents-at night!). I don't remember what I ate. At least Murray's is still there. Maybe I'll go there for my 112th!

We were in downtown St. Paul for a wedding this past weekend, and stumbled on a couple of nice places (and a couple of cheesy disappointments). I would highly recommend the handful of good ones (and advise avoiding the lousy one):

I was a big fan of Barrio Tequila Bar in the Lowertown neighborhood. We got a late start, so by the time we got there (around 2pm) we were too late for the lunch menu and too early for the dinner menu - they only had a small plates bar menu available instead, which was fine by us.

We started with two drinks from their margarita menu, a "Mama Cita" (Tequila, Hibiscus punch, splash of Cava) and a "Macho Camacho" (Blood Orange, Ancho, 1800 Black, splash of Cava). Both were a bit too thick for my tastes, the Mama Cita sweeter than I like, and the Macho Camacho a bit too sour. Didn't really care for either. Our second round was much for successful: "The Trinity" (Gran Centenario Plata Tequila, Cointreau, Lime Juice) and "The Good The Bad And The Ugly" (Tequila with Tamarind Cinnamon Cola). The Trinity was a classic margarita, and a really nice one at that...smooth, mellow, well balanced. The Good The Bad And The Ugly was a light, refreshing drink that reminded me of a somewhat fizzy horchata with a bit of a boozy kick (in a good way). None of the drinks tasted like they were made with commercial bottled mixes, which was cool.

For lunch, we started with queso fundido with chorizo. The cheese itself was smooth and not too stringy...it seemed to be mostly queso Chihuahua, but tasted like it may have had a bit of goat cheese mixed it. It had some decent chunks of poblano chiles in it, but in hindsight paying $2 extra for chorizo wasn't worth the 5-6 sad little chunks we got (it was good chorizo though). It came with some really nice, warm flour tortillas...they certainly weren't made in-house, but were good quality, like El Milagro brand or something along those lines.

After that, we went for a couple tacos each. I got a grilled skirt steak and a pork carnitas, my wife got a grilled skirt steak and a spiced shrimp. The grilled skirt steak taco came topped with roasted poblano rajas (which was a new term to me...apparently it means "roasted & peeled strips of chile, sautéed with onions, herbs and seasonings"...sounds about right), in a freshly-fried crispy flour tortilla shell. The steak was tender, well seasoned, with a nice amount of pink on the inside & a proper sear on the outside. The carnitas taco came topped with a serrano salsa, in a double layer of corn tortillas (again, definitely not made in-house, but good quality). The pork wasn't all that memorable but not bad, and the salsa had a slight kick. The shrimp taco was excellent: big pile of shrimp chunks topped with "grilled tomato mint salsa", on a double layer of corn tortillas. The shrimp was meaty & tender, not dried out at all, with a nice grilled taste, and the salsa looked & tasted more like a fresh pico de gallo (with a slightly minty, slightly roasted taste).

In addition to the margarita menu, they have 100+ tequilas on the menu, ranging from el-cheapo rotgut to crazy fancy (Patrón Burdeos, $95/shot). The decor was "edgy" and "hip" - think Rockit, only red. Our four drinks, queso & four tacos ran us $80 (including tax & tip). Not cheap, but considering the quality of the food & drinks, I wasn't complaining. I see now that the chef/owner, Tim McKee, won the 2009 James Beard award in the Best Chef: Midwest category. He won for his restaurant La Belle Vie, so I'm guessing his taco-menu-designing prowess wasn't a contributing factor, just an interesting tidbit.

After lunch we popped next door to The Bulldog, which is a laid-back, beer-focused bar (with food, which we didn't try). They had a couple dozen beers on tap, predominantly microbrews & imports. I had a Delerium Tremens, my wife had a Brugse Zot (both were $5ish/pint), and we killed some time playing shuffleboard before we had to head back & change for the wedding. Quite a few folks at this bar were enjoying beer flights ($7-11 for five 5-6oz portions)...if we'd had more time there, I would've enjoyed sampling some flights.

The night before, we walked over to Patrick McGovern's Pub after seeing "Fine Irish food and spirits" stenciled on the door. Mistake. The menu consisted of nachos, chicken strips, sliders, wings, etc. We ended up splitting an order of nachos with chili & jalapeños after seeing that they were made with "fresh tortilla chips". What we got was a big pile of Tostitos topped with canned chili, diced veggies & Velveeta that had been broiled just short of becoming pure carbon, served with a side of Pace mild salsa. This place was Irish the way Timothy O'Toole's or Finn McCool's are Irish.

Fortunately, it started to rain so we grabbed a cab back to our hotel, and popped into the bar at the St. Paul Grill for some perfect martinis & manhattans, mixed by two very personable bartenders (one of whom was a big Toby Maloney fan, and spoke highly of his visits to Bradstreet Crafthouse, mentioned briefly by Toby in this thread).

After the martinis, we walked over to Mickey's Diner, which was as classic & perfect a diner as I've ever seen: streamlined aluminum dining car with a counter stretching its entire length, stools as the only seating option, and malts to write home about. We had a late night, tipsy breakfast there at 3am...two eggs sunny side up, two slices of toast (thick, soft, definitely not grocery store bread), thick-cut bacon, and hash browns cooked just right, with a deep brown, crispy crust. I had half a mind to rent a truck & tow that place back to Chicago...there's a parking lot across from my building that would benefit greatly from having a proper diner secretly deposited there in the middle of the night.

All in all, we were lucky to stumble onto a few places that were pretty excellent. I'd love to have them back here at home, but I have a feeling that downtown St. Paul's weekend ghost town vibe is the reason they all seemed so laid back & comfortable...if they were here, they'd likely be mobbed with folks & much less fun. Oh well, maybe I'll find myself back up there sometime, and will at least know where to go.

Barrio Tequila Bar
235 6th St E
St Paul, MN 55101
(651) 222-3250
Also has a Minneapolis location

The Bulldog
237 6th St E
St Paul, MN 55101
(651) 221-0750
Also has two Minneapolis locations

St. Paul Grill
350 Market St
St Paul, MN 55102-1484
(651) 224-7455
In The Saint Paul Hotel

Mickey's Diner
36 7th St W
St Paul, MN 55102
(651) 222-5633

Patrick McGovern's Pub
225 7th St W
St Paul, MN 55102
(651) 224-5821

Josephine wrote:

trpt2345 wrote:Murray's was a destination restaurant in my youth, I went there with my parents on both my thirteenth birthday and the same for my sister. Best steak I ever had in my youth.And I loved the atmosphere and service. One of my earliest introductions to fine dining, that and the long gone Charlie's.

Not to divert from Murray's too much, but, I want to respond to trpt2345's mention of Charlie's. Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale-no doubt your "long gone Charlie's" - was the destination restaurant for my parents and their friends on special occasions. I must have been envious, because I picked it as the site of my 12th birthday dinner (with one carefully chosen friend and my parents-at night!). I don't remember what I ate. At least Murray's is still there. Maybe I'll go there for my 112th!

It was indeed Charlie's Cafe Exceptionale. I even worked there as a busboy for a summer before moving to Chicago in 1977. It was my first exposure to a restaurant environment where there was a conscious and constant emphasis on being excellent. Everything was fresh and in-house. We ate well. One example: they had a superb chocolate mousse that was served tableside from large silver bowls. If anyone was walking through the kitchen with one of the bowls heading towards one of the dining rooms it was considered OK for anyone to grab a spoon and snag a taste. Sometimes one of the bowls would be seriously depleted before reaching the dining rooms. On return visits to Minneapolis I often took my mom there for lunch. It closed in the early eighties IIRC, victim of some real estate expansion-maybe the Federal Reserve bank?

The new Federal Reserve Bank was built down by the Mississippi River on Hennepin Ave. The Charlie's site stood empty for many years. I doubt a real estate deal closed them.

It was mentioned earlier in the thread but I dined recently at Kincaid's and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The environment is inviting (spacious, comfy seating, water features providing a wonderful white noise) albeit oddly located in the lower level of an office building common area. The menu featured several chef's specials that leaned heavily on fish and crustaceans but also offered solid soup, salads, sides, steaks and a few pasta dishes. Wine list is approachable and balanced, IMO, the service was informative and attentive, but not obtrusive, and pricing was hefty but not crazy.

Our party enjoyed the chef's appetizer display (a beef tip dish over rice, broiled shrimp over cheesy potatoes, a large ramekin of warm crab/avocado dip and two large perfectly seared scallops. Two of our party selected the wild mushroom ravioli dish with two generous chunks of succulent, braised beef short ribs. One selected the seafood cioppino and the other the short rib entree with truffled mashers and a side of broiled asparagus served with bearnaise on the side. We were all members of the clean plate club this night!

I came to understand that Kincaid's is a smallish chain with locations on the west coast. I'm generally not a chain guy, but I would dine at Kincaid's again in a heartbeat.

Kincaid's
8400 Normandale Blvd
Bloomington, MN 55437
952-921-2255

Davydd wrote:The new Federal Reserve Bank was built down by the Mississippi River on Hennepin Ave. The Charlie's site stood empty for many years. I doubt a real estate deal closed them.

Just an update as I heard this on the radio just last week. Charlie's closed because the male owner died and the wife simply wanted out of the restaurant business. Why it wasn't sold, who knows? I do know the site sat empty for quite a long time as I mentioned.

It was probably the favored establishment by out of towners back in the 70s. They were talking about it on a sports talk radio station and reciting Earl Weaver, manager of the Baltimore Orioles, stories in his Charlie's visits.

Kincaid's is a minor chain owned by Restaurants Unlimited. Like many minor upscale chains they started as a single location and I believe that the Bloomington, MN location was the first. It was once the hot spot in the Twin Cities for happy hour. Other chains that started similarly in the Twin Cities are Oceanaire, Bucas, and Rainforest Cafe.

JeffB wrote:However, Murray's is a very cool place, an old-fashioned steakhouse with very good, albeit expensive food. The art deco neon sign out front is among the classics in all America. If you enjoy places like Peter Lugar, Gene & Georgetti, or Bern's, you'll like Murray's.

trpt2345 wrote:Murray's was a destination restaurant in my youth, I went there with my parents on both my thirteenth birthday and the same for my sister. Best steak I ever had in my youth.And I loved the atmosphere and service. One of my earliest introductions to fine dining, that and the long gone Charlie's.

Rene G wrote:

Yet again JeffB speaks the truth. I stopped at Murray's, "The Home of Silver Butter Knife Steak," last week for a martini and a slice of garlic bread (gratis). The interior, remodeled three times since it opened in 1946, isn't quite as impressive as the façade might suggest but still has a classic, classy steakhouse feel to it. The mirrored dining room, with a tiny stage for the weekend musicians, looks inviting.

Josephine wrote:At least Murray's is still there. Maybe I'll go there for my 112th!

Actually made it there this past March, well before the halfway point to my 112th birthday. Thanks to this thread, I knew what to order. Along with hash browns, it was a huge, satisfying meal, though this picture does not convey the size of the steak too well. It might have been cut with a butter knife, and it was also buttered, something which I find to be enjoyable overkill.


The Silver Butter Knife Steak by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Here are some pics of Manny's interior. I did wish that I had been there prior to the remodel to see the vintage decor.


Bar at Murray's by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Murray's Interior 2013 by Josephine2004, on Flickr

At least the Foshay Tower is still there.


Foshay Tower by Josephine2004, on Flickr

Check out two of the celebrity photos posted on the wall at the entry:


Gene Simmons? by Josephine2004, on Flickr


Speaker Boehner @ Murray's by Josephine2004, on Flickr

One question, though, Rene G - did you have garlic crouton crackers rather than garlic bread? They were salty and rich and crunchy and my Mom could not stop eating them. They kind of spoiled her dinner !

An unexpected final touch on my most recent Minnesota sojourn was ramen and dumplings with noodles and wrappers prepared onsite; Shoyu is a neat little operation in Concourse G of MSP, with iPad ordering, quick service, and rotating specials to keep things fresh. I was also able to sample a lemongrass pork banh mi with a perfectly fried egg (the egg in the ramen was also beautifully cooked). Service was quick and friendly and the beverage list was quite deep. I may not fast as much at the far end to save up for Tortas Frontera on arrival now.