2015 Season Opener v TCU

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Bottlebass, I have heard Borough is really good but I have not been there yet. Have you tried the "Cheeseburger at 112 Eatery, though? Its an Italian loaf smothered in Brie and served on an English Muffin. Spectacular! If you have not I would wait to declare the Borough the best in town. If you have, then I must try the burger at Borough.
 

Good grief! I hope this thread doesn't turn into a Matt's Jucy Lucy v 5-8 Juicy Lucy pissing match.
 


Word said:
Forgive me if mentioned earlier in this thread.
Another option is Travail (http://www.travailkitchen.com/#about) - named one of the top 10 restaurants in the USA by Bobby Flay (http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/top-10-restaurants-with-food-network-magazine.html). It's also been mentioned by Andrew Zimmern on his shows (at least once).
Never been there myself, but the foodies gush about the place.
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Someone mentioned Pig Ate My Pizza (owned by the same folks and in the old Travail space), but I don't think anyone mentioned Travail yet. Great choice, and I'm sad that I forgot to mention it myself. I'll absolutely second your recommendation (and will also second the Pig Ate My Pizza recommendation).
 

If you really want to impress, and are looking for top notch, try The KoD.


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Man, I just had the chance to settle in and read your suggestions. Thank you for being so generous with your time! You all have been more than hospitable. I'll be rooting for the Gophers week in and week out next year....all except that season opener of course.
 



Prince of Purpoole said:
We love the Texas State Fair and go every year....I'm IN!
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Fun fact: The MN State Fair trails only the TX State Fair in terms of raw attendance. But as the TX fair runs twice as long as the MN fair, MN is actually higher in terms of daily attendance.
 



Here's the deal with the "high-end" request: we like all kinds of food, from State Fair to burgers to tacos to haute. We travel a lot so when we go somewhere we like to try the one or two best fine dining spots they have to offer but I also appreciate the fact that y'all have gone above and beyond to suggest good every-day or casual places as well. Thanks also for the more active suggestions...the parks sound awesome. I know we will have a great time and I truly hope the weather is significantly cooler than Texas in early September.
 



MinneStoa said:
Someone mentioned Pig Ate My Pizza (owned by the same folks and in the old Travail space), but I don't think anyone mentioned Travail yet. Great choice, and I'm sad that I forgot to mention it myself. I'll absolutely second your recommendation (and will also second the Pig Ate My Pizza recommendation).
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Travail is trying an interesting experiment:

If you haven’t been hanging out in downtown Robbinsdale on a Saturday night, here’s how things have typically been going. Sixty or a 100 people line up outside Travail, the avant-garde molecular gastronomy restaurant/great foodie party palace, starting at 3 or 4 p.m. Then, when the Travail crew unlocks the doors everyone floods in, taking every seat in the 48-seat dining room, at the bar, and at the rear small-plates area the Travail crew calls The Rookery. If you’re at the end of this line you might walk in to the restaurant at 5:05 p.m. and be told you cannot be accomodated until 9:30 or 10 p.m. Is that annoying? Is that stupid? The folks who own Travail think so, and so starting next Wednesday they will do the one thing they have never done: Take reservations. But not any reservations. Ticketed reservations.

Here’s the deal. From this point forward, 75 percent of all Travail seats will be filled by selling advance tickets. The remaining 25 percent will be held for walk-ins (The Rookery will remain entirely walk-in). They will typically release three months at a time, except for the first batch of tickets, which will be released next Wednesday, and will cover all available evenings in April. Then, sometime in March, the tickets will be released for May, and June. To find out the exact release time you will need to get on their newsletter, or watch their new website, and Twitter and Facebook feeds.

http://mspmag.com/Blogs/Dara/February-2015/Travail-Goes-to-Tickets/
 




Minnehaha Falls is great, it's easy to get to, right in the city. Lock and Dam #1 is a nice view of the Mississippi. I'd try the Juicy Lucy at either Matt's or the 5-8. I prefer Matt's, but the 5-8 has a bigger menu in menu. The Art Institute of Minnesota is an excellent art museum and is free, although they may have a special exhibit they charge for. You can still go and see the regular exhibits for free. The Bell Museum of Natural History on campus is pretty good, and is free on Sundays. Fort Snelling is interesting, and the Minnesota History Center is good.

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TrapperDoo said:
Bottlebass, I have heard Borough is really good but I have not been there yet. Have you tried the "Cheeseburger at 112 Eatery, though? Its an Italian loaf smothered in Brie and served on an English Muffin. Spectacular! If you have not I would wait to declare the Borough the best in town. If you have, then I must try the burger at Borough.
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Yes I have had the 112 cheeseburger, it was.. OK. I put it on the same level as the $1000 burger at the Freehouse. 112 I was not impressed with so did not include it on my list.

Borough is the upstairs top of the line fine dining restaurant. Parlour is the downstairs bar and only has like 5 appetizer options and 2 sandwich options. One of which is just a straight up burger and is the best burger in MPLS. imho of course but I consider myself a burger connoisseur and try my best to try them all. If you really want to get technical you have to break down burgers into categories because I don't think it would be fair to compare some of the artistic creations of blue door pub to just a straight up burger. but that's just me
 

bottlebass said:
Do you really mean "high end"? If so...
Restaurants: Borough, Spoon and Stable (make your reservations before you leave),
Bars for before/after dinner: Parlour (downstairs bar of Borough, also the BEST burger in MPLS), Prohibition Bar

If you don't really mean high end and you just mean some nicer places that happen to be the best then like the others have said: Butcher and the Boar, Mannys, dakota jazz club, the tap rooms in NE or at the very least Fulton's tap room, Freehouse is a good mix of nicer restaurant and taproom, Parlour still has the best burger but blue door pub is one to check out for a good burger too, and Red Cow just opened up a new north loop location. Others on the list to try: Eat street social, Dayblock, Bulldog, The Local, Crooked Pint.

If you want a true minneapolis experience you could go to Matt's bar for a true jucy lucy!!!!
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How are Manny's and Butcher and the Boar not high end?
 


dpodoll68 said:
How are Manny's and Butcher and the Boar not high end?
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Manny's and Butcher and the Boar are "nicer places" but are not high end if he truly meant a high end place. there is definitely another tier above Butcher and the Boar type places. Don't get me wrong, I do love butcher and boar because its like a nice restaurant catered more towards men with all the specialty meats they make, and there aren't a lot of fancier places that cater towards men unless they are steak houses.

I forgot to mention Travail. Whoever mentioned that, very nice suggestion! Although I have not been to their new location yet I would assume it is still mind blowing.
 

If you were me, this is where you would go:

Kramarczuk's. Some of the best Eastern European food I've had in my life, this side of Ostrava (pierogi, piroshki, sausage, cabbage rolls, kraut, goulash, meatballs...you name it. They'll have it). It's truly a gem (and it was relatively hidden until Travel Channel/Food Network ruined it...lines out the door if you don't go at the right time).

New Bohemia is right down the street. Great selection of beer, unbelievable pretzels, top-notch brats/sausages (of nearly any variety), great house-made sauces. Laid back, seat yourself where you can find a spot kind of thing. Doesn't really get any more Minnesotan than that, in my opinion. Great place to watch a sporting event.

Within a few miles of TCF Stadium, some of the best food around, not pretentious, and you won't have to drop $200 for you and the wife to have a silver-dollar sized sirloin and bottle of wine, like most of the other places mentioned. More like 40-50 to totally stuff yourselves, plus bring some home for later, and have a beer or two.

If you want to venture a little further out....the Louisiana Cafe near downtown St. Paul has the best breakfast food in the world. Period. Forget Mickey's or Keys. It's in a great little neighborhood, close to Grand Ave. Tough to get into at times. I start to shake and sweat if I don't have their cajun benedict and/or pancakes every sunday morning.

Travail, I saw mentioned above. It's extremely cool if you want to be entertained and eat what equates to a trumped-up presentation of things. Don't go there if you're hungry, want to sit down, have a conversation with your wife, and grub out. You'll probably leave exhausted and frustrated. Good chance you'll be surrounded by insufferable food-snobs (or, even more likely, want-to-be insufferable food snobs....if I hear the word sublime thrown around willy-nilly one more time.....), and depending on whether or not you order the right thing, you may be going through a drive-through on your way home.

If you don't like breathing in your food like cigarette, sucking it out of a plastic tube, having something slingshoted into your mouth from across the room, etc....then it's probably not the place for you to enjoy a meal. The server is usually pretty good at getting you set up if you ask, and make it known you are new. Again, it's a great place, and a one-of-a-kind dining experience.....but it has it's time and place. Be aware. Most foodies gush about the place because it's edgy, different, and they're told by others that they're supposed to gush about it. Don't take their word anything when it comes to actual food, especially if you aren't an adventurous eater or have a simple palate. A lot of people make that mistake.
 


bottlebass said:
Manny's and Butcher and the Boar are "nicer places" but are not high end if he truly meant a high end place. there is definitely another tier above Butcher and the Boar type places. Don't get me wrong, I do love butcher and boar because its like a nice restaurant catered more towards men with all the specialty meats they make, and there aren't a lot of fancier places that cater towards men unless they are steak houses.

I forgot to mention Travail. Whoever mentioned that, very nice suggestion! Although I have not been to their new location yet I would assume it is still mind blowing.
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Bottle, my goodness...if high end is not white linen table cloths, then no Manny's is not high end. If high end is not an air of snobishness, then no Manny's is not. If high end is not $199.95 appetizers, $99.95 steaks, $10.95 salads, $17.95 asparagus, $9.95 baked potato, with a $24.95 banana split for dessert totaling $360 for one person without a beverage, tax or tip, then no, Manny's is not high end. Not at all sure what your definition of high end is? To me, over $400 for one person with one drink is going to qualify.
Two hungry, thirsty people can easily spend $1,000.00 to dine out at Manny's. Share the appetizer as intended, skip the appetizers altogether, just order as anyone normally would and surely $500 is typical for two people at Manny's, if you drink a glass of wine or two, as you might anywhere else. Travail can easily be done for under $150 for two people..tax, tip & beverages. And the experiences, the atmosphere could not be more different. One is high end, one is not. jmo
 

Regarding the Travail recommendation...

Travail's a block from my home in Robbinsdale. Mrs. Billd and I have gone a couple of times...once to the old locale and once to the new...plus I've been to The Rookery. We save going there for special guests from out of town to do something different dining wise.

Bottom line for our TCU visitor is that if you want something DIFFERENT...then Travail is an option. it's novelty, artistic, nouveau dining that's for the adventurous. Period. Be ready to drop $175 for two over two hours of dining experience that's just not the food.

If you want to have FUN DIFFERENT with the same crew, then Pig Ate My Pizza is for you. It's novelty, food-as-art & experience pizza, but not so expensive.

Frankly, for Robbinsdale all three...Travail, The Rookery, and Pig Ate My Pizza...are off our charts. That said, I'm glad to have them as neighbors.

The other end of the continuum is the State Fair. Can't go wrong for sure there.
 

60's Guy said:
Bottle, my goodness...if high end is not white linen table cloths, then no Manny's is not high end. If high end is not an air of snobishness, then no Manny's is not. If high end is not $199.95 appetizers, $99.95 steaks, $10.95 salads, $17.95 asparagus, $9.95 baked potato, with a $24.95 banana split for dessert totaling $360 for one person without a beverage, tax or tip, then no, Manny's is not high end. Not at all sure what your definition of high end is? To me, over $400 for one person with one drink is going to qualify.
Two hungry, thirsty people can easily spend $1,000.00 to dine out at Manny's. Share the appetizer as intended, skip the appetizers altogether, just order as anyone normally would and surely $500 is typical for two people at Manny's, if you drink a glass of wine or two, as you might anywhere else. Travail can easily be done for under $150 for two people..tax, tip & beverages. And the experiences, the atmosphere could not be more different. One is high end, one is not. jmo
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Price itself does not make "high end". If you are 70+ years old then Manny's would be considered high end, but then again so would Jax cafe. If he is a younger professional who wants high end which is what he sounded like then there are other places than old person steak houses.
 

bottlebass said:
Price itself does not make "high end". If you are 70+ years old then Manny's would be considered high end, but then again so would Jax cafe. If he is a younger professional who wants high end which is what he sounded like then there are other places than old person steak houses.
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I'm 29 years old and fit pretty comfortably into the "younger professional" demographic. You arguing that Manny's isn't "high end" is some high comedy.
 

"High end" is absolutely a restaurant with a high price tag for the food, as well as the type of prep and presentation that goes into each dish. The majority of places called out in this thread are considered "high end" by today's standards.Higher quality ingredients, attention to detail, more adventurous

An old supper club that requires dinner jackets is not the qualifier any more. A lot of people don't eat at these types of places too often because they are so expensive, and yet so delicious.
 

With all of the suggestions, our OP is totally confused.

Eat once a day at a White Castle and confusion will be gone, along with other worries. :rockon::rockon::rockon:
 

OMG, Prince With all this info, you should probably consider staying in MSP for two months or more and plan on adding 15-20 lbs plus lots of junk in your heart & arteries. Yikes!

If you like to explore and experience a great part of Minnesota, plus get away from the urban thing and crowds/traffic/etc., take a 2 hour drive and head "nort" on I35 up to Duluth and then beyond to the North Shore of Lake Superior. Plenty of normal places to eat and unlimited spots to enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Or come over to the enemy side and spend some time on Lake Superior and the gorgeous Apostle Islands in Bayfield, Wisconsin . We even have food up here!!! And lots of peace and quiet.

If you come to our tiny little town on the Big Lake, I will guarantee you a place to stay and personally escort you to TCF on gameday.
 

Quote Originally Posted by bottlebass View Post
If you want a true minneapolis experience you could go to Matt's bar for a true jucy lucy!!!!


Unregistered User said:
You spelled 5-8 Club wrong.
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Close second to the Nook
 

You might want to spend some time exploring downtown. Most of it is inter-connected by a skyway system that connects department stores, boutiques and restaurants. The September Minnesota weather is usually very nice, but rain is always a possibility, and the skyways would give you a lot of options without exposing you to the elements. When I show friends the area, I like to do a driving tour beginning at the St Paul Cathedral (from which you can see the state Capitol) in downtown St Paul heading west on Summit Avenue, which passes the James Hill mansion and one of F Scott Fitzgerald's homes. When I reach the Mississippi River, I turn north on the east river road all the way up to the University of Minnesota Campus. Located on the campus is the Weisman Art Museum, which was designed by Frank Gehry, and is free of charge. From there I do the west river road, which will take you down to Minnehaha Falls. From there I continue on the Minnehaha Parkway over to the west side of Minneapolis. The parkway follows Minnehaha Creek which flows through a series of lakes (Minneapolis has 21 lakes). When you get to the west side go up to Lake Harriet, Lake Calhoun, and Lake of the Isles. These lakes are set in a beautiful residential area and offer a number recreational and entertainment opportunities. I also like to take people out to Wayzata on the north shore of Lake Minnetonka and drive down to Excelsior on the south side. Lake Minnetonka has over 1000 miles of shoreline. Lots of bays and coves and opportunities for exploration. There are good restaurants in both Wayzata and Excelsior. Another nice drive is out to Stillwater on the St Croix River. The St Croix was the first river in the country designated under federal legislation preserving scenic rivers. Whatever you do, I hope you have a great time. And I'm sure that a lot of us Gophers will be TCU fans once again this season, save that one little exception you mentioned.
 

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