Minneapolis definitely punches above its weight (especially when you add in St. Paul). Here are some of my faves in various categories:
Non-fancy eats:
- Wrecktangle Pizza (best pizza in mpls imo)
- Francis Burger Joint (bomb plant-based food)
- Nicos tacos (solid drinks and Mexican food)
- Boludo (good Argentinian-style pizza)
- French Meadow (great large and reliable selection of reasonably priced food and one of the first organic restaurants from back in the day)
More expensive eats (might be hard to get into these without a reservation, but if you go on the earlier side you can usually get in):
- Oro (delicious high-end mexican)
- Young Joni (fun pizzas and a speakeasy in the back)
- Gai Noi (high end Laotian)
- Sanjusan (Japanese Italian fusion with good cocktails)
- Owamni (native food that will make you stop and think about alternative realities devoid of colonization)
- Guacaya (tapas style latin food that's delicious and good cocktails)
Divey bars:
- Meteor (more trendy dive)
- Dutch bar (more trendy dive)
- Anywhere in the northeast for old and legit dive bars
Cocktails:
- Elusive (good cocktails and usually not very crowded)
- Billy After Dark (trendy basement bar where you order purely on mood/vibes)
- Back bar at young joni (chill classic speakeasy vibes)
- Bronto Bar (more packed but fun)
- Flora Room (trendy and expensive)
- Berlin (have live music and is a new, trendy, and fun spot)
Bakeries:
- Black Walnut (delicious pastries, and only place I know that has a chocolate banana croissant)
- Savory Bakehouse (only open friday - sunday, great treats that change by the week, but get there early because they sell out)
- Patisserie 46 (huge and reliable selection)
- Edwards Dessert Kitchen (open late and also has cocktails)
Coffee:
- Dogwood (specialty, third wave, delicious)
- Mojo (wooden, cluttered with vibes)
- Duck Duck Go (good community and comedy on sundays)
Activities:
- Walking around on Nicollet Island and Boom Island Park, you can also cross and walk along the Mississippi on the downtown side and can then walk to pryes brewery
- The lakes
- Tons of bookstores (personal favorites are bookhouse in dinkeytown, eat my words, and uncle hugos)
- Breweries and cideries galore
- art studios in northeast
- Art Museums (Weisman is free and associated with the university)
Weekend pop ups:
- Dahlia (delicious brunch and pastries)
- Mogi (great bagels)
Mar 5, 2024
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And here's what I'd do:
Eats:
- young joni or Kim's (Ann Kim is a genius)
- you probably won't get into Owamni but you can try
- seward cafe if you want some classic mpls progressive crunchy vegan options and brunch
- 112 eatery and sit at the bar
- centro or anything on eat street (check out eat street diner's club comic linked- my partner draws it)
Otherwise:
- go to the MIA - it's free and kinda like a mini-Met
- walk around a lake even if it's chilly (Isles is great for first timers)
- See some live music (First Ave/Entry/Berlin/Zhora Darling)
- Walker sculpture garden and see the Jenny Holzer benches & the cherry and spoon. museum is between shows so I wouldn't pay full admission(keith haring is on its way) but it's an A+ museum
Mar 5, 2024
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food recs include grand pied for breakfast, balkan treat box for lunch (has been listed as one of the best restaurants in the country), tamm ave bar/nomad for burger + beer, and milagro azteca for casual mexican food/margs. sado or lucky accomplice are good for a nicer dinner. bars include venice cafe (drinks are meh tbh but vibes are great), the vandy, or golden hoosier. if you're into beer, side project in maplewood has some crazy stuff and there are some cute local shops on the same strip. clementine's is maybe the best ice cream ever and if you go you have to get their gooey butter cake flavor
i second the zoo/art museum recs, followed by a walk in forest park. city museum is also fun, or the botanical garden. tower grove or soulard farmers market are a nice weekend activity
Jul 13, 2024
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food:
- un bien in ballard, make caribbean sandwiches (#1 sandwich in washington, #2 in the states) if you do nothing else eat here
- teriyaki, spots are a dime a dozen and are all pretty similar but it started here and is pretty delicious. j kenji lopez alt has been running around seattle eating at all of them recording shorts
- bangrak market, sit-down thai in belltown. good eats good ambience good music
(honorable mentions: pink door near pike place market if you like italian / seafood, dick’s drive in if you’re sloshed and need something to soak up booze for cheap - dick’s is a seattle institution)
parks: weather’s already nice as hell so going to a park with a joint is a go to if you don’t wanna spend any money but wanna kill some time. my top two:
- gasworks. retired gas plant turned into public art display on lake union. best park in seattle imo
- cal anderson. it’s on the hill so it’s usually active, has a skate park if you wanna watch people do tricks, lot of people bring their dogs off leash, sometimes there’s volleyball or live music, just a real happening spot where a lot of people congregate in when it’s warm
(honorable mentions: green lake park, kerry park, volunteer park, jefferson park)
clubs: seattle nightlife is a toss-up sometimes (i tend to prefer events to venues personally) but kremwerk is reliable. i don’t drink so i don’t have a lot for you by way of bars but i’ve heard great things about comet tavern, still liquor largely depends on the night but can be cool, six arms is inoffensive, and sugar hill has a second floor bar where they spin a lot of music from the bay area
indie: by far seattle’s bread and butter is just cool small businesses. a lot of ’em close earlier but my personal favorites:
- bookstores: left bank books in pike place, elliot bay books on the hill
- record stores: al’s records and games, neptune records in the udistrict. jive time in fremont, empire records in columbia city
- vintage: late night market on the hill, fremont vintage mall in fremont (for volume; prices are gonna be out the ass bc both places are curators. still fun to pop in and look around)
- coffee: station on beacon hill, coffeeholic in columbia city, espresso vivace, overcast coffee on the hill, armistice in roosevelt
- barcades: jupiter bar in belltown, raygun lounge on the hill. a lot grungier / hometown feeling than say, a dave and busters or something comparable
(a lot of these recs are in / accessible from the city center so they’re predominantly white neighborhoods - if you’ve got time to venture farther out i feel like columbia city is def worth the trip - show some love to geraldine’s, island soul, emma’s bbq.)
(also, do tourist-y stuff - skip the space needle and go to columbia center instead, it’s cheaper and taller. pike place is dope and has a lot of really old businesses like holy cow records, golden age collectibles which was the first comic book store in the states, and the gum wall)
Apr 2, 2024
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I don't know how well this actually answers your initial question, I think it's more of a counterpoint to some of the stuff people have already said, but here it goes.
In the past (prior to social media or search engines) specific styles, specialized knowledge, and niche awareness actually took effort. You had to go out into the world and find a scene, be accepted, participate in it, contribute to it, and learn from others with specific knowledge within the specific sub- or counter-cultural scene. It took time, effort, and experience to craft an identity. Nowadays people cycle through various identities and trends like commodities because it takes no effort (they're sold to them by social media algorithms, influencers, brand accounts, etc.). It comes to you in your phone without you ever even having to leave the house or put in the time to discover it or participate in it (you just follow specific people or subscribe). You can be a passive observer or consumer, not an active contributor. As a result, you're not invested or tied down and committed to that core identity. You can cosplay depending on your mood or who you want to momentarily convey yourself as, because it's easy. Essentially, being a poser has become normalized. An identity is now something to be momentarily consumed and affected, rather than grown, built, and developed over time.
Granted, it's always been different in regards to "mass" culture and popular trends (both in the past and now). Those are impossible to miss and were always monopolized by specific trend setting institutions, but always by the time it gets to that point, the actual initial counter- or sub-culture that inspired it has already been coopted and has started to disintegrate under the weight and attention of mass consumption.
Feb 18, 2024
It's an action deserving of its own nickname. My cat's name is Gomez, but when he crosses his paws like this, he turns into Hodgkins Plumpersocks.
Feb 2, 2024
Please enjoy my attempt(s) to fill the void.
title: "pet; owner"
medium: hair
Jan 30, 2024