Best of the Best Restaurant Week 2007: 2/25 – 3/3
February 2, 2007
Mpls St. Paul Magazine is launching what I think is a don’t miss event week. They’ve collected a list of restaurants that will be serving up a 3-course prix fixe menu for lunch and/or dinner for an entire week. What Mpls St. Paul Mag says about Best of the Best Restaurant Week:
Mpls St. Paul Magazine is not currently listing details, but I found out some on Open Table:
What it is: 1 week of 3-course prix fixe menus offered at lunch, dinner or both
Where: restaurants that have received a “Best of” award from Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
Cost: lunch menus can cost $10 or $20 and dinner will cost $30
Why go? This is the perfect time to get to those restaurants that you’ve been meaning to get to
Here are the restaurants listed on Open Table that I would recommend trying (you can make a reservation online at any of the following restaurants at open table):
- Brix Bistro + Wine Bar
- Cafe Lurcat
- Chambers Kitchen (you can read my review of Chambers Kitchen here)
- Cosmos at Graves 601 hotel
- Cue at the Guthrie
- Fuji Ya (only because it’s sushi and I’m really curious as to what they’ll have – but I’m hesitant since it’s not my favorite sushi place and I’ve heard some not-so-great things about it from die hard fans) – eat here at your own risk
- La Belle Vie
- Masa
- McCoy’s Public House
- Mission American Kitchen + Bar
- Pazzaluna Urban Italian Restaurant + Bar (I heard a recent glowing review so I’m intrigued)
- Vincent – A Restaurant
This is just the list of restaurants that I recommend and are available at Open Table, so I don’t know who else will be on the list. Check back for updates.
UPDATE 02/27/07: MSPMAG Restaurant Week Info & Menus
Update 02/21/08: See recommendations for 2008 Best of the Best Restaurant Week locations
Food Quest: Best Mussels in the Twin Cities
January 8, 2007
The original Food Quest: mussels in Minneapolis.
Last summer, my boyfriend and I decided to search the Twin Cities for the best mussels. It all started at Barbette early in the summer when we ordered the mussels and realized how much we both enjoy them. We decided to order mussels off every menu we saw them on for the next few months (we still order mussels to see if any beat Barbette’s).
The mussels we had at Barbette that day are still the best. They were spicy with a white wine broth filled with chunks of chorizo. Damn they were good.
Also on the list were Bacio, Zander Cafe, French Meadow, and a different preparation at Barbette at the end of summer.
Bacio was by far the worst. The mussels were sketchy at best. I’m surprised I ever ate mussels again after that night. They were served with a tomato saffron broth which was very good. It was the mussels that were scary – every other one was potential food poisoning.
Zander Cafe – the only St. Paul representative in this quest – has excellent mussels and deserves a solid second place to Barbette’s chorizo mussels. Zander Cafe serves their mussels in a delicate coconut curry sauce. They were delicious.
French Meadow serves up a decent plate of mussels, but nothing special. A basic white wine broth with scallions. The mussels were fresh and tasty, but a little boring.
Barbette’s second offering of mussels were very good, although not as good as the chorizo version. This version was served with a white wine, shallot & lemon sauce. The freshness of the sauce was very good with the mussels. I see that they have a tomato saffron option on their menu now as well. Perhaps I’ll be back to try them.
New category: Food Quest
January 8, 2007
After discovering the merriment of reading tk’s exploration of the Twin Cities’ gyros offerings, I’ve decided to create a new category called “Food Quest.” I also discovered that I’ve been meaning to do this since last summer with the quest to find the best mussels in the Twin Cities (that would be Barbette).
My intention for it is to create a quest to find something you love. For example, I have several Food Quests of my own that I will be and have been on in the next few months.
- Friends Food Quest: to have people over for dinner at least once a week (so far so good for 2 weeks) – it’s been a blast so far. Daniel and I love cooking so why not cook for those we enjoy ALL the time!
- Quest for the best Fries: I’ve been thinking about this one for a while now. I have a couple places in mind that are dueling it out for 1st place as of now but there are a few more places I need to try first.
- Quest for the best Mussels: Since we did this last year, I have to post about it. Look for it soon.
Anyway, you get the idea. Please start using this category as your own! And please come back to share your quest.
New places in web land to check out
January 8, 2007
I’ve recently added some new links to my sidebar. Check them out – you’ll enjoy yourself:
Ladies Love TK – a hilarious blog of storytelling, food and life
Delicious:Days – a German blog (in English) about delicious food and some serious photography
Smitten Kitchen – a food blog with enticing photographs and wonderful recipes
