Category Archives: Minneapolis

September 11, 2017 · 4:12 pm

Jay Cooke State Park in Carlton, Mn.//Quang Vietnamese Restaurant in Minneapolis 

Has it really been a week since we were hiking in Jay Cooke State Park, on the St. Louis River, in Carlton, MN? Not for nothing is this park reportedly one of the Top 10 most visited in Minnesota. It was a logical spot to stop on our return from the North Shore to Minneapolis because it’s about 10 miles southwest of Duluth. I  was reminded of my beloved Ithaca when we crossed a suspension bridge over raging falls (although the water was an odd yellow-brown, reminiscent of root beer, which I later learned is caused by tannic acid, a natural plant compound used to tan hides – and make wine). We hiked on a muddy but scenic trail along the falls and into the birch and pine forest on a drier trail until a rainstorm suddenly blew in. Fortunately we didn’t get totally soaked. We found a shelter on the trail and the rain soon stopped but we ended up eating our picnic of smoked fish and cheese inside a rustic park lodge, completely with roaring fire! Nice touch!

Back in Minneapolis, we took “the kids” out for a quick Vietnamese meal at Quang, on “Eat Street,” aka Nicollet Avenue, which was packed with customers but the servers did their best to get the food to us quickly.

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September 3, 2017 · 11:45 pm

Airbnb room with a view (Lake Superior) and Northern Waters Smokehaus – Duluth

Another great Airbnb (unlike the one I booked in Minneapolis where the weird host cancelled at the last minute). We are in a airy blue-walled room on the second floor of an old wooden house in a neighborhood high on a hill above downtown and the blue waters of Lake Superior. Some nice touches including a Polaroid camera to snap a few shots (haven’t used one in years), a white noise machine, pretty botanical prints on the walls, a map with pins to stick in to show where visitors are from. (Other Des Moines residents had been here, as had visitors from Tehran and Hamburg.) We shared a bathroom with the one other room, which wasn’t an issue.

After a brief stop at The Minneapolis Farmers Market downtown on Lyndale near Twins stadium to pick up huge red dahlias, raspberries, strawberries, scones and banana bread to take to Noah and Rachel’s new apartment on Emerson Street, we drove two hours or so to Duluth (not too much traffic) and tried our first batch of smoked whitefish at Northern Waters Smokehaus, a hip, foodie sandwich shop inside an old brick warehouse renovated into a marketplace with nice shops. I ate the fish on saltines with a smear of cream cheese, as directed.

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June 1, 2017 · 3:26 pm

Peninsula Malaysian Food on “Eat Street”, MilkJam Creamery – Minneapolis

When we were riding our bikes along Nicollet Avenue near our airbnb in the Whittier Neighborhood (26th and Pillsbury Ave. S.), I noticed that there were a lot of restaurants but we needed an insider (albeit a fairly recent 20-something arrival, our pal Conor) to tell us the area was called “Eat Street.” (I had noticed earlier an office that read “Eat Street Dental” which I found curious.)
We had lots of options – especially ethnic, including one Vietnamese restaurant (Quang?) that I think we went to over a decade ago) but we settled on Malaysian food at Peninsula  since I so rarely see or get that food. We counted on the server and a nearby table of what may have been Malaysian diners to figure out what to eat and it was good, especially appetizers (Malaysian pancake and sauce; spicy spareribs.)
Our local-in-the-know also took us to an artisan ice cream shop, MilkJam Creamery , nearby on Lyndale where we seemed to pick the few concoctions that didn’t feature coriander. (Cashew Ousside – malted sweet cream with caramel cashew bar and chocolate chips;  Hard Knock Life – dark chocolate w/ salted pretzels, brownies, and chocolate fudge.) Also very good. We skipped the Doo Wop (avocado lychee.)

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May 29, 2017 · 1:15 pm

The Grand Rounds Byway, Minehaha Avenue, Midtown Global Market, Spoonriver, Westin, Guthrie – Minneapolis

Guthrie gift shop finds

Another surprisingly gorgeous day and we used it well, spending most of it on our bikes pedaling Grand Rounds Scenic Byway from one lake to another, (Lake of the Isles, Calhoun, Harriet, all the way to Minehaha Falls.) Much of the city seemed to be on the trail, as they should be and we again appreciated the orderly layout of  the trail, with separate trails for bikers and walkers and the cycling trail divided by direction. We also found a perfect diagonal Street with a clear bike lande (Minehaha Avenue) to get back to the Midtown Greenway and our Airbnb, doing a great loop.

Guthrie cantilever

At the Midtown Global Market, we all tried various ethnic foods (excellent baba ganous which I don’t always like at the Holy Land;  brioche for breakfast from Salty Tart Bakery; Indian tacos from a stand in the southeast corner etc). dinner was at Spoonriver, next to The Guthrie. Very good salads, burgers, desserts. (The Vietnamese Salad with grilled shrimp and lemongrass was a standout).

Global Market

The play we went to see was odd (Refugia) but it was a treat to be in that building again. High drama decor with a blood red theater inside a dark deep blue glass building. Next time, I hope we can go up to the ninth floor observation area. (It was closed for a private event.)

At intermission, nature produced even better drama as we watched a storm move in over the city from the deck out side the cantilevered portion of the building. We capped things off with a drink at a Westin Hotel that was once a bank, with Art Deco reliefs, fixtures and carvings beautifully restored. So happy Noah gets to live here!

Westin hotel lobby for drinks

Biking to Minehaha falls

 

 

 

 

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May 28, 2017 · 12:07 am

Midway Greenbelt, Airbnb on Pillsbury in Whittier neighborhood, common roots on lyndale– Minneapolis 

Fun day riding bikes with our friends Polly and Jamie who flew here from Traverse City (we drove from Des Moines.) The Midtown Greenway trail was busy with cyclists and walkers but easy to navigate and nice to not be riding in streets, some with dubious bike lanes. We did find the bike share program a little cumbersome because it’s not really set up for daily rentals and although you can buy a day pass (for only $6) you have to stop every half hour at a bike docking station to re-up which is awkward. you get charged $3 per half hour that you don’t re-up but which can add up.

we ate well, first at Lucia’s in Uptown and at The Bachelor farmer, where I had the best meal my vets had in a long time. Not for nothing did this place win a James Beard award. Duck confit, porker belly appetizer, pork meatballs, lemon mouse cake with orange sherbet all excellent, good service, rustic chic industrial decor. Must try the casual cafe next.

we really like our air bnb in the Whittier neighborhood at 26th and Pillsbury. Huge, lots of craftsman furniture, art posters and this dream of a sun porch adjoining our second floor bedroom.

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Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis

imageWe were very impressed last weekend with the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5 mile former railroad bed that runs across the southern bit of Minneapolis. It’s largely hidden from view (we had a hard time finding it from the trail along the Mississippi river) but is packed with people and runs parallel to Lake Street, past some cool places worth jumping off to visit including the Midtown Global Market.  It took us right to South Bryant Street, where our b&b is and where we also found that by heading north, you go over a very handy bike bridge that leads right to Loring Park and downtown.

The Midtown Greenery on a brisk Sunday morning was full of bike riders, from older folks to families to hipsters with the prerequisite full-arm tattoos and pierces.

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May 11, 2014 · 12:12 am
May 7, 2014 · 8:10 pm

American Swedish Institute and Room and Board Outlet – Minneapolis!

We followed a Volvo into the parking lot and parked our Ford next to a Saab – which seemed like an appropriate way of arriving at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. The museum is a hybrid of an elegant over-the-top 19th century Turnblad Mansion with rococo ceilings, elaborately carved mahogany woodwork and the most remarkable assortment of tiled stoves I’ve seen, plus an equally elegant but very spare Scandinavian modern wing with pristine white walls and spotless floors and pale wood.

 

 

As expected, the exhibit we saw of exquisite papercuts  (the art of “psaligraphy”) by Danish-Norwegian artist Karen Bit Vejle were remarkable – huge, intricate, lovely, I cannot imagine how she does such lovely things with a small pair of scissors. The papercuts were exhibited in both the modern wing and scattered around the mansion, which was cool. We also were impressed with the paper cuts (see below) of St. Paul artist Cindy McKeen, who  studied at Grinnell and at Drake and whose work was reportedly influenced by her rural Iowa childhood. I found out later her work is on sale at Ingebretsen’s, the well-known Scandinavian Gift shop in  Minneapolis.

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The day before, we went to the Room and Board Outlet in nearby Golden Valley – and I found EXACTLY the chair I was looking for (or pretty darned close!) for $600 off the catalog price. How amazing is that? We saved an extra $100 or so on shipping. I am a longtime fan of Room and Board but never knew there was an outlet – this is the only one in the country and it’s only open on Saturday and Sunday. The place was packed and as I wandered around looking for “my chair” – I suddenly spotted it in a remote area of the cavernous warehouse, surrounded by couches similar to the I bought for full price a few years ago. But another woman spotted “my chair” too and promptly sat on it. I waited nervously for her to leave then jumped into it and held on for dear life until my husband arrived and could go fetch a salesclerk. It was the only one in the whole place!image

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May 6, 2014 · 2:38 pm

Bar La Grassa; Patisserie 46 in Minneapolis

imageWe were tempted to return to our longtime favorite restaurant in Minneapolis – Lucia’s in Uptown – but we (or make that I) decided to be a little more adventurous. Glad we did. We had a fantastic meal at Bar La Grassa (BLG)  in the Warehouse district  9check out the deer popping out of the facade above!) – eating wonderful Italian food that Des Moines, alas, doesn’t have much of. As advised, we nabbed two seats at the bar overlooking the very busy chefs who seemed to be effortlessly whipping up endless plates of inventive pastas and bruchetta. We had a hard time choosing what to eat from the extensive menu but it helped that you could order half portions of pasta. We loved everything we tried – tomato-based bruschetta with creamy ricotta (a lot of the ingredients here are reportedly source from Bologna); another bruschetta topped with carpaccio, greens and shaved Parmesan. The pastas were all excellent – we had raw tuna atop some extremely spicy and orange pasta made with hot chili oil; pasta with a veal ragu; and black pasta in a light squid-flavored butter with perfectly cooked mussels and roasted tomatoes. For dessert, we split a chocolate panna cotta that came with a crisp delicious flat cookie. Perfect (but we were too full to finish it.) This place even got me to eat lima beans – which were served as a free amuse buse (or whatever the Italian version of that is) marinated with bits of cauliflower, carrots, etc. We were also very glad we had reservations because as promised, on a Saturday night, the place was jam-packed. Great place!!

For lunch on Sunday we went to Patisserie 46 on 46th and Grand – I remembered getting a bread at this place three years ago and seeing the amazing looking sandwiches. This time the sandwiches weren’t on display but the ones we ordered were fantastic – a grilled panini with brisket, cheese and light horseradish (must remember to do this with my leftover brisket) and a delicious BLT with lots of crispy hearty bacon on a chewy baguette. The pastries and breads and sorbet also looked terrific. Next time!

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May 3, 2014 · 10:42 pm

Minneapolis by bike, the lakes, minnehaha falls, river; be’witched, salty tart, room and board outlet

imagefantastic day riding our bikes around the lakes in Minneapolis. Sure it could have been a little warmer, but it did get up to 55, which is practically a heat wave here and it was sunny, most of the time. We have long wanted to bring our bikes here to try out the nation’s most bike-friendly city, or so it’s been called (although a couple from Portland, Oregon who we met today at our b&b weren’t sure if it could beat Portland.image

must admit it beat Des Moines, much as I am a fan our our trails. These are just so well laid out and organized, with two trails, one for bikes, one for walkers, most of the time – at least on the portion of the grand round trail we rode.

then the scenery! I am still deciding which lake I want to live along, not to mention which of the many mansions and lovely homes. We rode from the lake of the isles to lake Calhoun and lake harriet(which as a very Nordic looking bandshell and then along a winding creek full of water, bordered by a parkway with more lovely homes to minnehaha falls which was full of water that came crashing down into the creek. There were still some very solid blocks of snow down there.image

we rode north along the Mississippi! past the first lock and dam; the frank gehry-designed museum at u of Minnesota ((which doesn’t look as shiny as it once did) and then to the super cool new Guthrie theater with the navy blue cantilever deck and behind it the old Gold Medal Flour mill that’s become a museum. the mill “ruins” park with the shell of an old building is on my list to check out more. We kept riding to the warehouse district and north loop where we tried be’witched sandwich shop (on washington age) and were more impressed with it than last time. Excellent pastrami sandwich and pulled pork sandwich.

We rode back to our Lowrey hill b&b through downtown on Nicollet Mall(good place for cyclists) , stopping to wave to the Mary Tyler Moore sculpture (or Mary Richards) then thru loring park and over the way cool siah aramanji bridge over one of the worlds more confusing intersections, past the sculpture garden and the Walker art center? great and pretty flat and easy ride.

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May 3, 2014 · 4:34 am

back in Minneapolis– evelo’s and spyglass coffee in uptown and Salty Tart

nice to be back in Minneapolis after three years. We stayed at our favorite b&b which we found 24 years ago, Evelo’s, an old charming house with parquet floors, shabby chic furnishings and a gorgeous collection of art nouveau Tiffany stained glass lamps. The owners were at the opera until 11 so we easily killed a half hour at the spyglass coffee house, nearby on Hennepin. bit precious but the coffee really was impressive (mine supposedly had a hint of s’mores which we decided would probably taste like a charred marshmallow with a little bit of grass on it after having fallen off the stick I dangled over the fire. Didn’t pick up that hint.)

On Saturday afternoon we went to the Salty Tart Bakery in the Midtown Global market, an international bazaar  of sorts in a cool old former Sears store. The bakery was sadly out of its famous brioche. Not to worry, they appeared at breakfast at Evelo’s on Sunday.

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