City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 3311 East 25th St.
107. Ecopolitan
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 874-7336
Address: 2409 Lyndale Ave. South
Description: Ecopolitan’s menu is 100 percent organic, vegan, and raw, the only such restaurant in the Twin Cities. But it’s not just the food that is good for you and the environment; Ecopolitan uses biodegradable cleaning products, generates solar/wind power on site, and used nontoxic materials to finish the restaurant and attached store. Vegans (and others) can enjoy collard greens burritos, pizzas, and several salads, among several other menu items. The restaurant and store also has (are you surprised?) an attached Oxygen Bar.
108. St. Martin’S Table
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 339-3920
Address: 2001 Riverside Ave.
Description: This small vegetarian restaurant run by the Community of St. Martin will convert even the most agnostic palates with its menu (which changes daily) of fresh-baked breads, ingenious sandwiches, savory soups, and fair-trade coffee. The restaurant uses organic produce, non–bovine growth hormone milk, and purified water in its dishes and is committed to serving simple, nutritious food that sustains our natural resources and supports growers. St. Martin’s waitstaff are all volunteers, and they donate their tips to local, national, and international charities. St. Martin’s Table is open for lunch only Monday through Saturday. The restaurant does not serve alcohol. You dine well, and all for a higher purpose.
109. The Lotus Restaurant
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 331-1781
Address: 313 Oak St. SE
Description: Each Lotus location has its own unique character. The menus include favorites such as Vietnamese beef salad, curried chicken Vietnamese-style, spring rolls, and egg rolls. Lunch specials are also offered; the mustard chicken is particularly good and includes chicken and onions in a spicy mustard sauce. The Lotus Restaurant is closed Monday but provides a casual environment for lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
110. Lucky Dragon Riverside Restaurant
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 375-1690
Address: 1827 Riverside Ave.
Description: Lucky Dragon’s menu includes soups, combination meals, noodles, stir-fried entrées, and numerous Vietnamese and Chinese specialties. Vegetarian items are available, and the entire menu contains no MSG. There is a large lunch and dinner buffet Monday through Friday. The egg rolls, hot-and-spicy chicken, and beef in black bean sauce are exceptional and usually available with the buffet. Lucky Dragon is open daily for lunch and dinner.
111. Pho 79
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 871-4602
Address: 2529 Nicollet Ave.
Description: At the heart of Eat Street, Pho 79 may be the best-known of that strip’s many pho houses. The decor is, to put it generously, unpretentious, but the soup is, to put it mildly, delicious. Served with heaps of bean sprouts and other fixings, this is pho to remember (and, at several bucks a bowl, to afford). Try the duck pho, but be prepared: You’ll get what seems like about half a duck floating in your bowl of broth, with delicious meat hanging off its bones. You’ll have a little prep work to do, but it’s worth it.
112. Quang Restaurant
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 870-4739
Address: 2719 Nicollet Ave. South
Description: The hip Quang Restaurant serves fine renditions of Vietnamese favorites. Popular items include caramelized lemongrass chicken, grilled pork chops, and the seafood noodle soups. In addition to fine versions of egg rolls and spring rolls, the menu features such dishes as grilled sugarcane shrimp (banh hoi choi). The restaurant does not serve alcohol. Quang Restaurant is closed Tuesday and open for lunch and dinner the rest of the week.
113. Kimson Vietnamese Cuisine
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (952) 885-0230
Address: 8654 Lyndale Ave. South
Description: With more than 200 items, Kimson’s menu provides plenty of pork, chicken, beef, tofu, seafood, and vegetarian selections. The restaurant offers many Vietnamese favorites, including hot-and-spicy chicken, sautéed beef over fried potatoes, curry chicken, and egg rolls. The menu includes many vegetarian dishes. There are nearly a dozen tofu entrées, which range from chow mein and sweet and sour to ginger bean curd. Kimson is open daily for lunch and dinner.
114. Kinhdo Restaurant
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 870-1295
Address: 2755 Hennepin Ave. South
Description: Kinhdo Restaurant has two unique Twin Cities locations, but both serve excellent renditions of Vietnamese cuisine as well as a few favorite Chinese dishes. The menu features exceptional values on Vietnamese favorites. The menu also features such Chinese items as chow mein, egg foo young, and a great version of sweet-and-sour chicken. Egg rolls, though, are the signature items—other restaurants have all but given up trying to compete with Kinhdo’s delicious deep-fried cylinders for egg roll honors on local best-of lists. Both Kinhdo restaurants are open daily for lunch and dinner.
115. A Baker’S Wife Pastry Shop
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 729-6898
Address: 4200 28th Ave.
Description: Many a Minneapolitan is addicted to the sweet eats to be had at A Baker’s Wife: danishes, croissants, turnovers, tea cakes, cheesecake, caramel rolls, brownies, blondies, and doughnuts for the win. “Do you serve anything low-fat?” reads a sign in the store, a sign that also provides its own answer: “Yeah, water!”
116. Cupcake
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 378-4818
Address: 3338 University Ave. SE
Description: Cupcake’s specialty is—you get three guesses, and two don’t count. The cupcakes at Cupcake come in four price tiers: simple (Betty Crocker, I Love Lucy), gourmet (Mad Cow, Cup o Mud), premium (Global Warming, Tres Leche), and alcoholic party cakes (Chocolate Covered Cherry, Pina Colada with cocktail flag). When you just want a bite, there’s the baby line (Baby Hilton, Baby Betty).
117. Dairy Queen
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (952) 830-0330
Address: 7700 Normandale Blvd.
Description: Minneapolis is Dairy Queen’s hometown: The world headquarters of the international chain are located here. Unsurprisingly, there are many DQ restaurants in the Twin Cities, including both year-round indoor establishments and small window-service venues that are closed during the winter months. Any DQ will hook you up with a superthick Blizzard or a soft-serve cone, but if you want to be on the cutting edge, visit this south Minneapolis location, which is located just a block from the corporate headquarters and often serves as a proving ground for new concepts in frozen treats and savory snacks.
118. France 44 Wines & Spirits
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 925-3252
Address: 4351 France Ave. South
Description: Wines and spirits are in the shop’s name—and indeed there are alcoholic treats galore within its walls—but France 44 belongs in this section for its superfine selection of gourmet cheeses. Brie, Swiss, Roquefort, Gouda…and beer, too! Pretty much anything savory that you’d regard as a “treat” you’ll find in either the wine shop or the cheese shop at France 44. Sister establishment the St. Paul Cheese Shop opened in 2009 at the corner of Snelling and Grand; both shops do brisk lunchtime business with their deli sandwiches.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1424 West 28th St.
120. Mel-O-Glaze Bakery And Donut Shop
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 729-9316
Address: 4800 28th Ave.
Description: The Mel-o-Glaze Bakery smells so good, it adds to the property value of every house within a quarter-mile of its southeast Minneapolis location. First off, you’re going to need to try a doughnut, then move on to the cake. Then have a cup of coffee for fortification, then cap it off with a cookie. You won’t need to eat again for days, but when your appetite returns, you may find your car mysteriously making its way back to Minnehaha and 28th.