Discovering Restaurants in Minnesota

I enjoy discovering hole in the wall restaurants. In CA, Erik’s Deli is a small, Bay Area chain with the motto, “each one harder to find than the last”. They aren’t kidding, but the food is worth it. Deli’s of that style don’t really seem to be a thing here, at least, I haven’t discovered one yet.

Places I have discovered here are very different than where I grew up, in rural CA. There are quite a few breakfast and lunch only places that close at 2 pm.  Home style food is huge here, eclipsed only by burgers. Every place has a burger of some form, usually very good. Frozen patties are not the norm here, bacon bourbon burger, stuffed bleu cheese burger, (though I think it’s spelled blue cheese here), peanut butter burger…. the list is exhaustive. Don’t expect them to come with lettuce, tomato and onion as a standard, for that order a “California Burger”.

Tater Tots, totchos, and tater tot hotdish, are also serious here. Most restaurants make their own tots, and they are amazing! They taste nothing like the bagged ones.

Trying to figure out what a ,”hotdish”, was took some doing. I first heard of hotdish when I saw a flyer for a hotdish bake off. Having never heard the term “hotdish”, I thought I could deduce the meaning from photos or context, but that didn’t work as planned. For awhile I thought perhaps it’s something made with Spam. Then I saw it on a restaurant menu and asked. For the uninitiated, it’s essentially a casserole, with a dose of family pride and often the source of secret recipes.

Pizza is also a thing here, thankfully. I’m unclear if there is a true rivalry with cities, (Chicago), and states, (NY), to our east, but Minnesota does seem to have it’s own style. I was delighted to discover real wood-fired pizza at Valkyrie, 20 minutes from our home, and located in a good brewery, 22 Northmen, right next to Carlos Creek winery, with outdoor seating, pets welcome, life sized chess board, and bocce ball courts, amazing!

Food Trucks are also a thing here, but real Mexican food is much harder to find. More on those later.