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I went to Minneapolis to meet some women brewers for my Alewives project. While there, I had some great food and drink. FYI, my sister-in-law was also in town for work, so for once, I was not traveling alone!
Red Cow
On our first night in town, we decided to just walk around and see what we might find. It was a Sunday evening and downtown Minneapolis was not very busy and lots of places were closed. But we wondered into the Red Cow North Loop and found great burgers and excellent service! Red Cow is a regional chain with several locations in the area. This location was right downtown and had a nice patio. Of course, we had to try the Wisconsin Cheese Curds. Delicious! How can beer-battered, fried cheese be wrong? They come with a side of triple berry ketchup, which is fancy speak for a slightly sweet berry dip. The dip was the perfect pairing for the beer-battered treats. The menu has lots of great healthy looking bowls, salads, chicken sandwiches, and other options. But we had been traveling all day and needed something serious. I went with the Barcelona Burger. It comes with manchego, prosciutto, piquillo pepper & smoked pepper aioli. My SIL chose the Ultimate with Wisconsin cheddar & red cow sauce. These burgers were amazing! The beef was definitely fresh and had a great flavor. The perfect side? The truffle-parmesan fries. These were so crispy and flavorful, they could have been a meal on their own! I tried the Pragmatic Pils, a czech style pilsner from Pryes Brewing. It was a great refreshing drink for a warm summer evening. This is a great casual place!
EaTo
EaTo is an Italian restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. I had eaten a heavy lunch, so was looking for something light. LOL! The salad Italian Chopped Salad was huge! But it was delicious! SIL got the pizza Margherita. Look at that crust, nice and crispy. The beer is an Utepils Golden Hefewiezen. FYI, Utepils has a female brewer that I visited with for the Alewives project.
NOLO’s Kitchen and Bar
Nolo’s Kitchen & Bar had a great menu! Pizza, pasta, entrees, burgers, etc. We started with the burrata (sorry no pics). Burrato is basically a big ball of mozzarella & cream. It’s usually very soft, almost like ricotta. Most come with a salty meat of some kind, like prosciutto. But this is served with avocado, strawberries, jalapenos, fresh basil, and saba (like basalmic vinegar). Delicious! I had a the apple pecan salad with piece of grilled salmon on top. The salmon was fresh and cooked to perfection! The Lonely Blond from Fulton Brewery was the perfect pairing.
Clay Oven
While walking over to the Weisman Art Museum, we spotted an Indian restaurant. We timed it perfectly, they opened for lunch just as we were coming back. The Clay Oven was clean and well lit. I had the Palak Paneer, pureed spinach with cottage cheese. SIL had the Chicken Tikka Masala. The garlic naan was fresh and crispy and everything naan should be. The service was as good as the food!
Hen House Eatery
An absolute must in Minneapolis is the Hen House Eatery! I had breakfast here twice and both times, the food was perfect and the service excellent! The first time I visited I had a build your own omelet. I chose spinach and feta cheese. There was indeed plenty of spinach! When I first cut it open, I thought it might not be great because that’s a lot of spinach! However, it ended up being the perfect combination. It came with toast and their fresh berry jam. That jam was so good! And it was indeed fresh. It had big junks of fruit and wasn’t too sweet. I went back later with my SIL. This time I went big with the Crab-baby Benedict. It comes with a Cajun hollandaise sauce, so I didn’t even have to put hot sauce on it! SIL had an egg sandwich, which looked pretty good too! But more importantly she ordered the Avocado Coffee Refresher – Avocado, espresso, oat milk, cream of coconut, vanilla, ice. Y’all I can’t stop thinking about this drink! I took a sip and fell in love! I am currently in the process of trying to find this somewhere in my area of East Tennessee. I may have to make it myself. It is that good! So, if you are in Minneapolis and looking for something different, stop by the Hen House and get one!
Thanks for visiting! I know it’s hard to find a good spot to eat when traveling, so I hope that when you visit the Minneapolis area this helps!
Wow – you did have some great food (and nicely photographed!). We are coming to Minneapolis in October to start a cruise down the Mississippi to New Orleans and so if I get a chance I will try these beers. I doubt if we will have space for food with what you get served on a cruise boat! This post will be very handy though!
If you have the opportunity Utepils was by far my favorite! I’ll do another blog soon about visiting the actual brewery. Also, Under Pressure is a great brewery!