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.)
Category Archives: THE MIDWEST
Peninsula Malaysian Food on “Eat Street”, MilkJam Creamery – Minneapolis
Filed under Minneapolis, Minnesota
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
Filed under Minneapolis, Minnesota
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.
Filed under Minneapolis, Minnesota
Kansas City – Westport Cafe and Bar; the West Bottoms Warehouse Shops
It’s been too long since we explored Kansas City so last weekend while there for a lovely family wedding, we revisited Arthur Bryant‘s for barbecue (no change there, still great fries and ribs although the burnt ends weren’t as good as remember – more manufactured chunks slathered in sauce rather than the random scraped up crusty scraps I remembered from years past). We also had an excellent family brunch (light omelettes with thin crusty fries; a good Eggs Benedict with poached eggs and smoked salmon, although the Hollandaise sauce was cold) with a special guest (Uncle Kenneth!) at Westport Cafe & Bar.
Le Lou Flea
A highlight was explored the vintage, antique and design shops in the West Bottoms, which not long ago was just a bunch of abandoned gloomy towering brick industrial buildings where I gather, the Mafia got up to no good. Now there are vintage shops (Le Lou Flea) – all four rickety floors) and design stores (Varnish and Vine) here and there, plus a cool coffee shop (Blip Roasters) and more I’m sure to come given the growing popularity of once-dying post-industrial former dead zones in Rust Belt cities. A few I wanted to visit weren’t open on a Sunday afternoon including the the Gathering Place and Goldie & Myrtle’s. (Next time!) Some kids-in-the-know at Varnish & Vine also recommended some restaurants in the area including Voltaire, Stockyards and Rock Star Burgers.
We stopped briefly nearby in another west side neighborhood nearby (that reminds me Des Moines’ Sherman Hill) at West Side Storey (geddit) across from an artisan bakery (Fervere) and Bluebird Cafe/Bistro that we used go to. (Nearby, we also happened upon the FBI office in KC in a suitably hidden location).
Filed under Kansas City
Peterson-Houston portion of the Root River Trail, Aroma Pie Shoppe in Whalan, Habberstad House, Old Victorian Hall Restaurant — Southeast Minnesota
The eastern section of The Root River Trail was also well worth riding and less traveled. The trail asphalt is rougher, especially the five miles between Peterson and Rushford but Minnesota is on it…the section is slated for replacing this month. There also is a steep uphill and downhill between Miles 37 and 38, as forwarned, but it wasn’t too bad and we are used to more ups and downs on other trails. For families with little kids, Houston has a neat nature playground and near Whalan is a low key miniature golf course. We did backtrack to Whalan to stop at Aroma Pie Shoppe, which come much recommended. At 4 pm there was little left so we tried two kinds of pies we have never had before, both very good: sourcream raisen and Vermont maple (as sweet as pecan pie, with coconut). Dinner was good at Old Village Hall Restaurant where we ate on the patio on a perfect summer night. I was glad we stayed one night in town (at the lovely old Habberstad b&b, in the Orchid Room) especially so we could get a feel for the place once it has quieted down. IT was nice to walk back to the inn along quiet residential streets at night after dinner.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Minnesota
Root River Trail, Pedal Pusher Cafe in Lanesboro, MN Burdy’s Cafe nearby and Decorah, IA (Topping Goliath)
Peterson, MN
WE finally made it to southeast Minnesota to ride our bikes along the much-touted Root River Trail and it was as lovely (and easy to ride) as advertised– at least the 15 mile stretch from Lanesboro east through the tiny town of Whalan (with its famous pie shop) and the slightly less tiny town of Peterson, where we had excellent pie at Burdy’s Cafe, an unassuming little place with cheerful teenage girls as our servers. The trail was largely flat but not dull. It follows the wide,often fast moving river for the most part, through woods and fields, past picture perfect old farmsteads, tidy towns and wooded stone bluffs. We also lucked out with the weather, low 70s, sun but cloud cover.
Lanesboro’s main drag was packed with people, cars and bikes but not awful. It’s lined with wellkept old brick storefronts. It’s not as well heeled as, say, Stockholm, Wisconsin or ticky tacky as, say, places I won’t mention.It has a nice local art gallery, a popular ice cream shop and the Pedal Pusher’s cafe, which has a hearty Minnesota vibe (the Norwegian meatballs were already sold out when we arrived at 6 pm). We picnicked for lunch in the city park, overlooking a little pond where people were fishing and families pitched tents. We particularly appreciated the public bathrooms there, at the library, with pay showers (who knew?), where we changed into our biking gear.
TOnight we are 45 miles south in Decorah, one of our favorite places in Iowa, staying at a pleasant and affordable Airbnb ($53) on a rural highway outside town. We stopped in town for ice cream and beer at Topping Goliath, an award winning local brewery. or so Dirck tells me.
Filed under bike trails, biking, Iowa, Minnesota
My own mansion for the night in Kansas City
I am the only guest tonight (no surprise for a Monday night in early December ) at the beautiful Oak Street Mansion, a lovely 1903 red brick mansion just north of the Nelson Atkins Museum. The place is a great mix of old world furnishings and contemporary art. The owner has filled the place with his father’s art collection and it’s quite something. his dad was acame here from Cuba and spent his early years in foster care but somenhow managed to start collecting art, starting with African art and moving into I am not exactly sure what (there is at least on Thomas hart Benton according to a book about this place).
The famous PLaza lights!
Anyway, beats the local Marriot and very close to where my work meeting is tomorrow morning and to a Gates BBQ outpost on Emmanuel Cleaver Rd. (I can’t return home without ribs wrapped to go!)
I had a nice dinner tonight with my lovely uncle-in-law Kenneth at Aixion, a nice little French place in the pretty Brookside area, another place I used to go during the brief stint I lived here in 1989/1990.
Filed under b&b, DINING, Kansas City
Cornhuskers/Wildcats, Beatrice, Runza: A visit to Lincoln, Nebraska
We don’t go to college football games that often (especially outside Iowa) but the one we went to yesterday in U of Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium was pretty near to perfect. Starting with the weather, which was autumn glorious. High 50’s/low 60’s, sun, light breeze, bright blue sky. Amazing and a great backdrop for 90,000 fans, many wearing Nebraska Red. We had great seats behind the end zone (a new vantage point for me) and, as promised, the Nebraska fans were very friendly and polite, even when the team started losing to the Northwestern Wildcats (final score 30-28, Wildcats win). Have to admit it was a nice change from the nasty drunken behavior of some (by no means all) of the U of Iowa fans we’ve experienced during the past few years in Iowa City. I dutifully tried my first Runza – a hot pocket sandwich filled with peppery ground meat-and-cabbage (and maybe some cheese?) I pronounced it “not bad” but no one else in my group wanted one. They’d been there, done that.
My friend Anne, an alum, walked us around campus afterwards – and we stopped for coffee in the spacious student union, much changed from Anne’s college days, she reports. The night before, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Beatrice, about 40 minutes south of Lincoln (home of Anne’s brother, who cooked up this whole football trip and generously found us tickets!).
Filed under Nebraska
Western Kansas: wright, dodge city,
To be honest, we didn’t do much in western Kansas beyond the confines of D’s 1960s ranch house in the tiny town of Wright, outside Dodge City. We were there to pack up and haul out all the stuff that a family of 8 children accumulated during the past 55 years. And we found things that were much older, some back to the late 1800s, we think.
A melancholy task, but good to be with other family who came from New Mexico and elsewhere in Kansas. Lots of laughter, occasional tears, family tales shared. We did emerge for lunch yesterday at Tacos Jalisco, our favorite Mexican place on Wyatt Earp blvd. in Dodge. A late dinner was at a surprisingly packed Applebee’s near Boot Hill, maybe some others were there because there weren’t many other options on a Sunday at 10 pm. I did have a very good limeade.
Today, we stopped to see family in Wichita and then picked up ribs “to travel” at Gates BBQ in Kansas City. Now three hours til home.
P.s. Comfort Inn in Lenexa turned out to be a mixed bag. Our room was clean but the thin walls meant nonstop noise from someone who appeared to fall asleep with the tv on. Argh
Filed under Kansas, Kansas City, Kansas misc
Sentimental journey: Overland Park farmers market, cottonwood falls, bazaar cemetery
On our drive to Dirck’s childhood home for the last time (it has been sold) we have stopped at some favorite spots during our almost 30 years driving together through Kansas.
The Overland Park Farmers market was overflowing with gorgeous produce but we restrained ourselves since and bought only what we can eat in the next two days away. Peaches, cantelope and a fantastic looking bread from the Ibis bakery stand (our “morning buns” were delicious, a bun made with croissant dough sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.)
On to the flint hills and the old town of Cottonwood Falls with its glorious French revival courthouse. We wandered down the three block brick Main Street, poked around in some antique/junk shops and craft shops, had fantastic sirloin steak sliders in the restaurant At the classy western hotel, The Grand Central Hotel and found a cool old limestone motel at the other end of Main Street along the river that looks like an amazing place to stay, the Millstream Resort Motel.
We drove south along scenic byway 177 through the vast open, gently rolling flint hills, the road almost entirely to ourselves. So much open space, land, sky, road. love that feeling. We stopped briefly at the old Bazaar Cemetery to walk along the old gravestones and hear nothing but the wind blowing through the trees.
Now we are in Wright Kansas, an unincorporated city of less than 100 people, outside Dodge City, packing up the house with some of Dirck’s siblings and their families. Strange. Sad. One of life’s endings.
Filed under Kansas, Kansas misc
