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1 week ago | 
twincities.eater.com | Stacy Brooks |Justine Jones
Cheese-stuffed burgers, basement speakeasies, and aromatic bowls of pho — these are just some of the highlights of the Twin Cities’ restaurant and bar scene. This is the homeland of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, where wild rice grows on the lakes, and where new generations have introduced lefse, sambusas, heirloom corn tortillas, cherry-smoked barbecue, Hmong sausage, soul rolls, and fragrant injera platters. This is a guide for navigating the Cities’ vibrant, ever-evolving food scene.
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Jan 3, 2025 | 
twincities.eater.com | Stacy Brooks
The term Middle Eastern cuisine is a bit of a misnomer, as the region encompasses parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with dozens of ethnic groups and cultural traditions. While the cuisine is diverse, some ingredients and dishes form a common thread: olive oil and hummus, chickpeas and falafel, pitas and kebabs, plus honey and baklava. The Twin Cities’ best Middle Eastern restaurants offer a delicious culinary tour via Turkish doners, Persian kebabs, Kurdish dowjic soup, and much more.
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Dec 13, 2024 | 
racketmn.com | Stacy Brooks
You can name them however you want, but we all know the holiday that holiday pop-up bars are celebrating is Christmas. They're decked out with kitschy, glitzy Christmas decor; they serve drinks with names like “Merry Spritzmas” and Christmas-coded flavors like gingerbread and peppermint. Despite the inclusive-sounding holiday moniker, there's nary a latke or menorah to be found, but tinsel and Santas abound.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
racketmn.com | Stacy Brooks
In 1974, Julie Ingebretsen started a job that would keep her occupied for the next 50 years: managing the gift shop at Ingebretsen’s Nordic Marketplace. “I was sort of between jobs,” recalls Ingebretsen. “I had done education for a while and that wasn't working the way I hoped it would, so I was looking for something else to do.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
flipboard.com | Stacy Brooks
Ingebretsen's Gift Shop at 50: ‘People Would Miss Us if We Were Gone’ - RacketThere were about 20 similar Scandinavian gift shops in the Twin Cities in 1974. Today, Ingebretsen’s is the only one that remains. In 1974, Julie …
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
twincities.eater.com | Stacy Brooks
Relinquish the dishes and the carving duties for a dine-in feast at a local restaurant by Stacy Brooks Updated Nov 4, 2024, 10:18am CST by Stacy Brooks Updated Nov 4, 2024, 10:18am CST Tullibee A home-cooked Thanksgiving feast has a certain nostalgic appeal, but there are plenty of drawbacks, too: stress, the risk of over-cooking the turkey, and, of course, an enormous pile of dirty dishes.
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Oct 3, 2024 | 
racketmn.com | Stacy Brooks
A chocolate croissant from RMY Patisserie is beautiful in the way that a suspension bridge is beautiful—you can sense the precise skill and immense effort responsible for its creation. Take a bite of said croissant, and appreciation becomes sheer joy as dozens of layers of buttery pastry dance across your tongue. From his croissants, it’s clear that RMY Patisserie founder Robal Matewos Yebyo is a meticulous baker.
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Aug 28, 2024 | 
racketmn.com | Stacy Brooks
My husband Mike and I are hardcore Minnesota State Fair people—every year we spend a 12-plus hour day at the fairgrounds consuming deep-fried everything, collecting government agency-branded swag, and buying random stuff we never knew we needed (e.g. a two-person hammock). In the wake of rising fair prices (all-you-can drink milk is $3 (!!!) this year), I was curious to tally up the cost of our annual fair outing.
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Aug 2, 2024 | 
heavytable.substack.com | James Norton |Stacy Brooks
Welcome to the Tap, Heavy Table’s biweekly guide to restaurants and culinary industry news for Minnesota and beyond. We’re here doing this work only because of your support - thank you for your support of this independent journalistic enterprise. If you haven’t received this email before, cheers! We gifting this edition of the Tap (and today’s edition of the Hearth) to all of our followers and newsletter subscribers.
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
racketmn.com | Stacy Brooks
Prince released Purple Rain, Walter Mondale ran for president, and the Coen brothers’ first film, Blood Simple, hit theaters: 1984 was a very big year for Minnesota. Less noted on a national level, it was also a banner year for Twin Cities ice cream aficionados—that’s the year both Minneapolis-based Sebastian Joe’s and St. Paul’s Grand Ole Creamery were founded, which means both are celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year.
