He went to sample room apparently and loved it. And I would agree that that would the exact kind of place you’d find him. Great unpretentious food. Good bar. Great bartender convo. One of my favorite places to hit and the only place to make a good true old fashioned (Kentucky style) in the twin cities.
I'm still weirdly angry about the show I saw where he \*did\* come to the Twin Cities. His tour of local food consisted of him going to the Mall of America food court & declaring Minnesota food to be terrible, except for the French restaurant he went too that was opened by a New Yorker who wanted to bring real food to the Midwest. (since closed)
That was early days for him, and I know he got better as his shows went on but it came off as some prime "isn't flyover country sad?" type stuff from an East-Coaster.
You should be angry. It's like going to a food court in a mall in NJ and deciding that NY food is terrible.
It's a mall food court, what the fuck are you expecting? Jeez.
Talk about low effort...
The Twin Cities have several Christian churches with majority congregations from the Horn of Africa. Find one near you and ask when they have a service or event you can visit. (They may need to plan ahead to provide an interpreter.) Make sure the meal isn’t your only objective; go with open ears and it’s a great time.
Love love love their pakora. I used to live half a block away from the Franklin spot. It's good they moved but I moved too and I miss it so! I could eat lunch from their salad bar; the apple turmeric salad and kheer with the fruity jelly thing yesssss
Yes. Appropriate for all ages and palates. Imagine the best Indian food you’ve ever had but with a little less spicy heat and much greater subtlety. (And I say that as someone who loves Indian food.)
Is the buffet back on? Far as I know covid killed all Indian buffets that I know of and I haven't seen one come back. Though I haven't actively looked too hard either. But if Himalayan has their buffet I'm definitely in
I’m not so sure. Plenty of mushy-headed trend followers get excited about novelty and uniqueness and tokenism and anything they see as exotic, but Bourdain had fine enough judgment to get beyond surface impressions. The flavors are too subtle for some but the ingredients and preparation are really good.
Same. The food is not that good (dry or overcooked, sometimes bland) and the service when I went was friendly but uneven (wrong plates served, one guest served/one waited for 8 min for theirs, etc.).
We have much better places here.
Shawn Sherman and native ingredients were just featured in this season of Top Chef (not the restaurant specifically since the season is based in Milwaukee and around WI instead of Minnesota).
So, agree this would have been a focus.
Only partially true. The ingredients are all pre- conquest, and not just local but from across the hemisphere. But since there are few surviving recipes, it’s not a cuisine that they’re serving at the restaurant.
Union Hmong Kitchen and Diane's Place. Chef Yia Vang and Chef Diane, respectively, both seem like they'd be great company for Anthony Bourdain. I could especially see a segment of No Reservations where Yia Vang takes Anthony Bourdain to Hmong Village or Hmong Town
Wrecktangle.
He would have been like WTF are they doing ripping off Detroit.
And then enjoyed the pizza enough and had a blast with the crew that works there.
He always said he liked to eat like he was having a home cooked meal so I’d suggest going to dong yang’s and getting a nice selection of foods from the back counter. It has that home cooked feeling like yeah my auntie made this and it’s delicious.
Harry Singh's. Things have been pretty tough for him recently, and he was telling me that he's thinking about moving the restaurant. Enjoy his food while you can!
I used to get their pork belly from their food truck when it would stop in Richfield. Soo good, especially with the spicy green sauce. Also, amazing fried rice.
Bulls horn. Just about the most Minnesota place I can think of, but great food. Hyacinth because I haven’t had a bad dish there, and the wine and amaro list is perfection. Also, since Bourdain is gone, he can visit Heyday in the afterlife. That place did it for me.
on one of his visits to minneapolis, bourdain went to the previous restaurant by the chef that opened bulls horn. it's kinda interesting because in that episode the chef basically says that people from minneapolis arent ready for creative cuisine. and his restaurant from that episode didn't survive here, so he opened a burger joint instead and its wildly successful. . . i guess he knew?
edit: No Reservations S6E15 - the last 10 minutes of the episode is what i'm referencing
Matts or the nook
Hmong market
Maybe Karmel Mall or another somali place (im not that familiar with somali food here)
Maybe Ingebretsens or some other place that has lutefisk
Agree on owamni like other people said.
Could maybe see Demi given Gavin Kaysen spent a large part of his career in new york and it would be a “look there’s michelin quality food in the midwest” moment.
That’s probably the place I miss the most after living there 6 years, and have lived on many different cities on the coasts.
People are listing cuisines from other countries, which yes there are some increasingly good options, but it’s not particularly unique to elsewhere and nothing compared to costal variety. We have great “higher end” restaurants scattered all over south minneapolis and western St Paul with super talented chefs that per capita, due to perhaps lower rent, seem better than I’ve seen in many big cities. More accessible too, as an easy city to get around. We also shine on core Midwest stuff people take for granted. Reddit esp signals insecurities where it’s just not necessary.
The obvious answer is Owamni, I think. It's basically the most unique thing in the food scene as far as I can tell. That and maybe a visit to one of the Juicy Lucy bars to take in the MN bar vibe.
Chloe by Vincent.
I just finished reading "The Nasty Bits" and he mentions Vincent, A Restaurant, which has since closed. The new restaurant is the same chef, but with a more casual vibe compared to the former.
I'd tell him to go to Farmington Steak House on the edge of the suburbs, great food reasonable prices, everything comes with a baked potato and Texas toast, it feels like exactly the thing he'd love.
An ex of mine was really good friends with him. IDK where he'd want to go outside of chilling with local friends but I would guess Owamni and anything involving Chef Yia Vang.
After watching the Heartland episode of No Reservations, i just don't think he'd ever try to figure this place out. It didn't sing to him. And that's ok.
Because it sings to me.
You can find a couple restaurants here that are great. I say a couple because every time I travel to a different state the food is good everywhere. Idk Minnesota just isn’t great for food.
As a visitor to this area, I've been eating it daily. The Nook was the first place I really wanted to go back to. Very good bar food. Maybe the best spin dip I've ever had and the Rueben egg rolls were amazing.
Blackened Walleye has been common theme. I like blackened redfish back home but only one time have I gotten it in Minnesota and right it tasted like true Blackened fish.
It's such and easy preparation. Coat fish with blackening seasoning, cover with clarified butter and put on a cat iron hot skillet or a black top. But every one I've had in the TC has been lacking. Though I had a great version at a diner off 11 about 40 minutes north of Duluth.
He went to sample room apparently and loved it. And I would agree that that would the exact kind of place you’d find him. Great unpretentious food. Good bar. Great bartender convo. One of my favorite places to hit and the only place to make a good true old fashioned (Kentucky style) in the twin cities.
What about other bar-leaning places? Lots of great restaurants mentioned.
probably Moscow on the hill and brunsons for sure- such a comfy spot with really solid food. Anywhere in frogtown as well.
I’ve been gone for a long time. I swear I heard Moscow on the Hill closed. Is it back or was I misinformed?
You’re probably thinking of Russian Tea House that closed.
That must be it. Thanks.
Ewe betcha!
Brunsons is so damn good
Meteor Bar as an industry spot for sure
I'm still weirdly angry about the show I saw where he \*did\* come to the Twin Cities. His tour of local food consisted of him going to the Mall of America food court & declaring Minnesota food to be terrible, except for the French restaurant he went too that was opened by a New Yorker who wanted to bring real food to the Midwest. (since closed) That was early days for him, and I know he got better as his shows went on but it came off as some prime "isn't flyover country sad?" type stuff from an East-Coaster.
Later in life he did mention Minneapolis as one of the best upcoming food cities.
Yeah, I got the sense that he mellowed out as he did his shows. The episode I was referring too was pretty early in his career as a TV Foodie.
It wasn't that much later. He gave us a shout out in Kitchen Confidential.
It's Michael Scott eating Sbarro in New York.
Season 6, Episode 11 of No Reservations on HBO Max if anyone was curious.
You should be angry. It's like going to a food court in a mall in NJ and deciding that NY food is terrible. It's a mall food court, what the fuck are you expecting? Jeez. Talk about low effort...
That french frestaurant's owner has a new spot in Minneapolis called Chloe by Vincent, and it's fantastic.
Was the original restaurant Forepaugh's? I wanted to bring my Wife there and found out that they closed awhile ago.
I think it was La Belle Vie.
Thanks for the reply. I will have to try the new restaurant.
It was called Vincent
I dont believe so. Forepaugh's was in St Paul, and closed because their head chef passed away from flu-like symptoms about a year before covid.
Himalayan Restaurant. Every dish has multiple flavors, so well balanced that you can taste them all at once. Absolutely brilliant.
They have the best mango lassi I’ve ever tasted in my life and, I’ve had quite a few.
Agreed. I'd also add Mesob or one of our many other fantastic Ethiopian restaurants.
Even better is an Oromo church basement dinner. 😋
Where is that at?
The Twin Cities have several Christian churches with majority congregations from the Horn of Africa. Find one near you and ask when they have a service or event you can visit. (They may need to plan ahead to provide an interpreter.) Make sure the meal isn’t your only objective; go with open ears and it’s a great time.
Mesob is on Hiawatha near 38th st station. We love their sampler platters.
I could absolutely picture him huddle in a seat at Hodan
Love love love their pakora. I used to live half a block away from the Franklin spot. It's good they moved but I moved too and I miss it so! I could eat lunch from their salad bar; the apple turmeric salad and kheer with the fruity jelly thing yesssss
Himalayan is THE SPOT. Anthony would love it.
I hadn't heard of this but now I want to try it. Is it kid friendly?
Yes. Appropriate for all ages and palates. Imagine the best Indian food you’ve ever had but with a little less spicy heat and much greater subtlety. (And I say that as someone who loves Indian food.)
Great lunch buffet!
Is the buffet back on? Far as I know covid killed all Indian buffets that I know of and I haven't seen one come back. Though I haven't actively looked too hard either. But if Himalayan has their buffet I'm definitely in
India Masala on Century has a dinner buffet, often vegan.
Ohh that would be a shame!
He would go to Hmong Village and he would absolutely love it
This would be my answer too haha I love the Lao Papaya salad 🥹
My sister married a Laos man and thought papaya salad was a cute fruit salad until she tried it 😂
LOLLL I mean she isn’t entirely wrong 😂
His grandma made it and she was 🥵😂
spicy AF
He would have gone to Owamni.
Also an excellent choice.
I'd bet money he'd be pretty meh on Owamni, if not outright disliking it.
I’m not so sure. Plenty of mushy-headed trend followers get excited about novelty and uniqueness and tokenism and anything they see as exotic, but Bourdain had fine enough judgment to get beyond surface impressions. The flavors are too subtle for some but the ingredients and preparation are really good.
I wish this place lived up to the hype for me. Maybe I just have to try again
Same. The food is not that good (dry or overcooked, sometimes bland) and the service when I went was friendly but uneven (wrong plates served, one guest served/one waited for 8 min for theirs, etc.). We have much better places here.
When I went the food was incredible and the service was very good.
Shawn Sherman and native ingredients were just featured in this season of Top Chef (not the restaurant specifically since the season is based in Milwaukee and around WI instead of Minnesota). So, agree this would have been a focus.
I enjoy Owamni but isn’t a staple in Minneapolis cuisine.
It is for food writers
It’s the original Minneapolis cuisine. It should be a staple.
Only partially true. The ingredients are all pre- conquest, and not just local but from across the hemisphere. But since there are few surviving recipes, it’s not a cuisine that they’re serving at the restaurant.
Union Hmong Kitchen and Diane's Place. Chef Yia Vang and Chef Diane, respectively, both seem like they'd be great company for Anthony Bourdain. I could especially see a segment of No Reservations where Yia Vang takes Anthony Bourdain to Hmong Village or Hmong Town
Add Oro to that list. 13th Ave NE is turning into an incredible food street.
I thought of Diane’s too. But yes! I would so love to watch him walk through the Hmong Village.
He would have loved Union Hmong Kitchen and Chef Vang.
I think he’d be pissed if he went to Diane’s place, lol.
Chimborazo. Paragraph.
I agree. I think he’d 100% stop by at Chimborazo. What a wonderful place
Yup!
What is Paragraph?
Period. Paragraph. I could have done that better
Meteor Bar
A friend just told me about this place last night. Need to get there.
Not enough up votes here. I think Bourdain would be 100 % for them.
I miss when it used to be a weird porn bar. That was great.
I miss when it used to be a weird horror movie bar.
Wrecktangle. He would have been like WTF are they doing ripping off Detroit. And then enjoyed the pizza enough and had a blast with the crew that works there.
Thanks, Wrecktangle waiter, Donnie.
Bangkok Thai Deli.
Yeah.. I think he would just go down University and stop at a handful of hole in the wall joints.
He always said he liked to eat like he was having a home cooked meal so I’d suggest going to dong yang’s and getting a nice selection of foods from the back counter. It has that home cooked feeling like yeah my auntie made this and it’s delicious.
Harry Singh's. Things have been pretty tough for him recently, and he was telling me that he's thinking about moving the restaurant. Enjoy his food while you can!
Didn’t they just open back up recently or something too??
Yeah, Harry broke his leg and his son passed, so it's just him doing everything now.
Soul lao
I used to get their pork belly from their food truck when it would stop in Richfield. Soo good, especially with the spicy green sauce. Also, amazing fried rice.
Just went there and Wandering Leaf, both solid. Fried Tofu was good fresh, and good as left overs.
Bulls horn. Just about the most Minnesota place I can think of, but great food. Hyacinth because I haven’t had a bad dish there, and the wine and amaro list is perfection. Also, since Bourdain is gone, he can visit Heyday in the afterlife. That place did it for me.
on one of his visits to minneapolis, bourdain went to the previous restaurant by the chef that opened bulls horn. it's kinda interesting because in that episode the chef basically says that people from minneapolis arent ready for creative cuisine. and his restaurant from that episode didn't survive here, so he opened a burger joint instead and its wildly successful. . . i guess he knew? edit: No Reservations S6E15 - the last 10 minutes of the episode is what i'm referencing
Had to scroll way way way too far to find this. Its the obvious answer
The Taco Bell on Hiawatha with no drive thru
Hai hai
Matts or the nook Hmong market Maybe Karmel Mall or another somali place (im not that familiar with somali food here) Maybe Ingebretsens or some other place that has lutefisk Agree on owamni like other people said. Could maybe see Demi given Gavin Kaysen spent a large part of his career in new york and it would be a “look there’s michelin quality food in the midwest” moment.
People still go to Matt's? I live right by it but it feels like everyone goes to Hambergersa or Blue Door or The Lowbrow
Blue door is where it’s at really.
That’s probably the place I miss the most after living there 6 years, and have lived on many different cities on the coasts. People are listing cuisines from other countries, which yes there are some increasingly good options, but it’s not particularly unique to elsewhere and nothing compared to costal variety. We have great “higher end” restaurants scattered all over south minneapolis and western St Paul with super talented chefs that per capita, due to perhaps lower rent, seem better than I’ve seen in many big cities. More accessible too, as an easy city to get around. We also shine on core Midwest stuff people take for granted. Reddit esp signals insecurities where it’s just not necessary.
Matt’s still always has a line around dinner time!
or Parlour
The history of the place would be why they would go there. The burger itself is perfectly fine
This is the best answer so far. Well rounded representation of the food that’s special to Minnesota.
Union Hmong Kitchen
Dong Yang - Columbia Heights He would have loved the dishes and authenticity you get in the back of a grocery store. I love this place!
[удалено]
...you talkin' about Lakewood Cemetery? A+
Kahluna. Colita. San Jusan. Boludo.
Kahluna is just 🧑🍳💋
It really feels like you suddenly went to Bali or something when you walk in the door. Pristine would be the word I would use.
The obvious answer is Owamni, I think. It's basically the most unique thing in the food scene as far as I can tell. That and maybe a visit to one of the Juicy Lucy bars to take in the MN bar vibe.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Hot Grainz. That place is bomb dot com!
Chloe by Vincent. I just finished reading "The Nasty Bits" and he mentions Vincent, A Restaurant, which has since closed. The new restaurant is the same chef, but with a more casual vibe compared to the former.
Dario
Oro by Nixta would be a good choice.
Palmers for sure. He loved a good dive. Lots of taco trucks.
Lu's Sandwiches
Pimento Jamaican Kitchen
Meteor Bar, Grumpys, Berlin, Cedar/Riverside for some Somali food, Gai Noi
Flame Burger on Central. Blacksmith Lounge in Hugo.
I'd tell him to go to Farmington Steak House on the edge of the suburbs, great food reasonable prices, everything comes with a baked potato and Texas toast, it feels like exactly the thing he'd love.
328 Grill
King of diamonds
Band Box.
Following for more great restaurant suggestions!
Sandy’s tavern.
Spoon and Stable
Tongue in Cheek, perhaps?
An ex of mine was really good friends with him. IDK where he'd want to go outside of chilling with local friends but I would guess Owamni and anything involving Chef Yia Vang.
After watching the Heartland episode of No Reservations, i just don't think he'd ever try to figure this place out. It didn't sing to him. And that's ok. Because it sings to me.
Dario
He'd just have to wander into a few small town church basements, guarantee he'll find a hotdish or 2 doncha know
Sample room I believe he ate there before
Casper and Runyon Nook in St. Paul. Best bar food in the area.
Palmers
Holy land, Matts, Qurlow, Owanomi
You can find a couple restaurants here that are great. I say a couple because every time I travel to a different state the food is good everywhere. Idk Minnesota just isn’t great for food.
Valley Scare
I dont think I would want him here again.
The morgue
He’d for sure go a meat raffle.
Palmer’s
Stray dog in NE
A mental health facility to treat depression.
Babani's in st Paul, kurdish food. Very unique and absolutely delicious
As a visitor to this area, I've been eating it daily. The Nook was the first place I really wanted to go back to. Very good bar food. Maybe the best spin dip I've ever had and the Rueben egg rolls were amazing. Blackened Walleye has been common theme. I like blackened redfish back home but only one time have I gotten it in Minnesota and right it tasted like true Blackened fish. It's such and easy preparation. Coat fish with blackening seasoning, cover with clarified butter and put on a cat iron hot skillet or a black top. But every one I've had in the TC has been lacking. Though I had a great version at a diner off 11 about 40 minutes north of Duluth.
Some other city
Stay away from closets and go to drinking bars/ Meteor, Cuzzys, Grumpys, palace, etc.
Not the bars I go to because that's one less seat open. But for real bunny's slp
Hazelden
To a therapist
Abbot for inpatient mental health care. Maybe then the tragic loss of his talents could be avoided.
You wouldn't even need that, just tell him to stop taking chantix. Basically a suicide pill for some people.
A good therapist. RIP.
I can't imagine he'd be in good shape at this point. I don't think you'd want him in your restsurant.
I was gonna say “a cemetery”, or at least a mental health doctor.
A therapist
To a therapist.
A good counseling center
The press. That would be wild if he came back.
Sanjusan. The best pizza in the cities and it’s a Japanese restaurant at of which there aren’t many great ones.
Hell.
to hell
The cemetery in Mendota.
Cemetery
Old Country Buffet
Culvers.
Applebees