I spent a fabulous weekend with my mom and my sister in Minneapolis. My mom graduated from high school there in ’53, and Pat and I accompanied her back for a trip as a way to celebrate the 75th birthday she had this year.
Of course, I was responsible for food planning. With the able (VERY able) help of my online (and now offline!!) friend, Amy Rea, we hit some great spots.
We were hungry when we got in, so we had our first bowl of wild rice and turkey soup at Keys Cafe. Cool, retro spot in Foshay Tower. It may look thick–too thick?–but it was incredible.
Walking on the street later that day, I came upon a nice farmers’ market where they were also selling bouquets of flowers mixed with kale roses…cool in a foodie kind of way.
That evening we strolled to Joe’s Garage for a restaurant week dinner: $15 for three courses. My first course was this oyster slider. Pretty much perfect. (I also had beef short ribs with mashed potatoes. Also incredible…just not so pretty in a picture.)
I liked this view of the basilica from the rooftop at Joe’s:
Friday morning, after a nice breakfast at the Westin (oh, yum, the poached eggs with salsa…very nice)
and some touring, we headed to St. Paul and the St. Paul Grill at the St. Paul Hotel.
Pat had one of the best burgers I can imagine, the Kobe burger with cheddar and bacon (it was the daily special burger). Oh, and did I mention? Hand cut fries, the only fries worth indulging in EVER. (Really. Is it so hard to make real fries? What is up with frozen fries, people?)
I had one of the grill’s signature dishes, chicken pot pie. Comfort food at its finest…
The next morning started with a visit to the fabulous Mill City Farmers’ Market down by the Guthrie. We saw beautiful tomatoes…
Lovely sunflowers…
Colorful carrots…
We ate Indian Spiced donuts from the Chef Shack….
The sunshine made the carrots glow…
A few hours later we headed to lunch at Sea Change, where we had one of the best meals I’ve enjoyed in a LONG time. Everything was spot on…
Mom had the crab cake….
Pat had the shrimp and grits with a poached egg…
Amy and I both chose the Jidori egg coddled with (in?) truffle cream and served with toasted brioche so we could get every drop of that rich cream. My mouth waters just recalling how good this was…
We shared this yuzu tart for dessert…but it came with sweet graham thins, the tart, a goat cheese cheese cake garnished with a lime curd chip (cool) AND incredible cherry jam/compote/jam…Please, Sea Change, may I have some more??? Oh, and see the green dust on the side of the plate. Lime zest. I WILL figure out how they did that…
Mom chose the ginger ice cream sandwich that came with a gorgeous (looks AND taste) glass of prickly pear soda….
Two drinks stand out for me…
The serrano margarita at the bar at BANK, the restaurant at the downtown Westin. This is one well-made drink…packs a punch with heat and flavor. I really wanted a second and I would head to BANK just to have that drink again…
And the cardamom and rosewater mojito I had at Spoonriver with my Sunday brunch…(I could have used more cardamom flavor, but it was tasty…)
Of course we did other things in Minneapolis…great city, great people and, for this weekend in October, great weather…We visited my mom’s alma mater, Academy of Holy Angels, we saw St. Paul and the Minnesota History Center (the 150 Great Things About Minnesota is excellent), we had a coffee on Grand Avenue, we saw Minnehaha Falls, we drove along the Mississippi, we saw a Louise Erdrich Play, Master Butcher’s Singing Club, at the Guthrie, we rode the light rail, we walked along the Mississippi and over the Stone Arch Bridge, we saw some of the Mill City Museum, we marveled at the mill ruins in Mill Ruins Park, my mom even got to mass at the same church (new church, rebuilt post fire) she used to attend at times, St. Olaf’s.
It was a great weekend and a great way to celebrate my mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! Pat, thanks for all the planning.
