FOODSTUFF >>

• BEST BARBECUE
  Rooster's BBQ
  The Twin Cities' sibling rivalry consists of a thousand different battles, but few are as important as the one over barbecue. And sorry, Minneapolis, but St. Paul's banner yet waves—or is that a giant Wet-Nap? Lee's & Dee's—a hole-in-the-wall off Selby with more Southern charm... More >>
• BEST SOUL FOOD
  West Indies Soul Food
  You're going to have to get up on a Sunday to score this one, and you're going to have to bus your own table. That's because the fine Caribbean cooks behind St. Paul's West Indies Soul serve their soul food special, Deep South Sundays, just one day a week. And they do it at their new outpost in... More >>
• BEST HOT DOGS
  Uncle Franky's
  Let's face it: The Twin Cities will never be a hot dog hotspot. The best we can hope for is a faithful simulacrum of Chicago's doghouses, legendary for their atomic-green relish, piles of sport peppers, and—shall we say—"gruff" tableside manner. In that respect, Uncle Franky's is... More >>
• BEST BURGER
  Napa Valley Grille
  Who comes to a white-tablecloth restaurant for a burger? Much less to this lacquered and upholstered, high-end California wine-lover's destination restaurant, which happens, oddly, to be located in a busy wing of the Megamall. No, people come to Napa Valley Grille in search of rich and sweet... More >>
• BEST GOURMET BURGER
  Vincent—A Restaurant
  So how is this $12.75 masterpiece different from the dyed blob of ground beef you remove from cellophane and dump on the grill? Do you really want to know? We can start by talking about the succulent center: braised short ribs that taste like your grandma's pot roast but have been cooked even... More >>
• BEST FRIES
  Café Barbette
  Not only are the fries at Café Barbette tasty, they're pretty, too. Served in a white ceramic bowl, they're cut in long, slender rectangles with golden edges and glistening sides. They curve slightly inward, piled high on top of one another like a fried potato orgy. Four bucks will get... More >>
• BEST PIZZA
  Galactic Pizza
  Galactic Pizza, with its pizza-tossing Buddha logo, is what lifelong Minnesotans call "different." Fortunately, we like it that way. Located in Uptown on Lyndale just across from Herkimers and the VFW, Galactic is hard to miss, with its brilliant yellow-and-blue paintjob, red awning, and... More >>
• BEST GOURMET PIZZA
  Pizza Nea
  Pizza is an extremely personal passion. Some people are eternally faithful to the fast-food pie purveyors while others refuse to touch anything that isn't fresh out of a wood-fired oven and sprinkled artfully with goat cheese. If you find yourself in the latter category, then Pizza Nea is the... More >>
• BEST BURRITO
  El Burrito Mercado
  It's all about the beans. Sure, there are other reasons Burrito Mercado has been the place to get your burrito fix for the past 25 years. There are plenty of reasons to come to this Latin retail giant: the too-sweet Fanta, the Goya coffee and fresh tamarillos, the Mexican-made tchotchkes. (We're... More >>
• BEST DELICATESSEN
  The Brothers
  An oasis of joy on the downtown Minneapolis skyways, Brothers Delicatessen is a Best-Of perennial for its bagels and pastrami, both flown in from New York. And in this relatively deli-poor corner of the prairie, that would probably be enough to ensure Brothers a loyal and intensely grateful... More >>
• BEST ASIAN GROCERY
  Shuang Hur Grocery
  All hail the changing face of the Twin Cities—a wonderful new world where we can get tamarind as easily as we can get walleye. With twin stores on each side of the river, Shuang Hur has everything we've come to count on. Duck eggs, check. Pre-packaged hog's head, check. And unlike some... More >>
• BEST MIDDLE EASTERN GROCERY
  Holy Land Bakery and Grocery
  Holy Land is one of the best places in town for the impatient diner. Pick up a package or two of kofta kabob (seasoned ground meat rolled into sausages; $2.99 a pound), then choose from the deli's wide selection of olives, cheese, bread, and salads, and you have a dinner fit for your boss's... More >>
• BEST NATURAL FOODS GROCERY
  Lakewinds Natural Foods
  For city dwellers, Lakewinds Natural Grocery locations may seem like a trek. But for those rocking the suburbs, Lakewinds is the promised land. Stores include the usual natural grocer amenities: fun and practical bulk goods, locally made hummus and dips, and a farmers' market-quality produce... More >>
• BEST SALAD
  Spoonriver
  Salads are the new fast food. Belly up to your local Au Bon Pain and they'll toss up the greens with a manic speed, coating the mixing bowl with dressing and layering on the now omnipresent Asiago cheese. This is a good development for the lunchtime crowd, but a successful salad is really more... More >>
• BEST APPLE ORCHARD
  Sponsel's Minnesota Harvest
  Living in a climate like ours, one clings to rites of renewal: shoveling the first snowfall in late afternoon darkness, taking that brisk first walk around Lake Calhoun in the spring, visiting the Minnesota State Fair with its echoes of back-to-school dread. To work off those corn dog love... More >>
• BEST FRESH PRODUCE
  Community Supported Agriculture
  The best fresh produce is still warm from the sun, with rich-smelling dirt clinging to its roots. The best fresh produce is that funny orange beet you never would have picked up at the grocery store, but now can't resist turning into a beautiful golden salad. The best fresh produce is a little... More >>
• BEST FISH MARKET
  Coastal Seafoods
  As the crow flies, Minneapolis is just a tidge over 1,000 miles from the nearest coast. It's a fact that has not gone unnoticed by local lovers of ocean fish. A fact that makes Coastal Seafood's thrice daily deliveries to its Minneapolis location even more remarkable. Let's say that again:... More >>
• BEST SUSHI
  Origami West
  The last time we went to the downtown Origami we made a rookie mistake: We showed up at 6:30 on a Friday night, which, as everyone knows, means cooling your heels for an hour in the bar, waiting for a spot to open up. (Darn no-reservations policy!) As it happened, this wait gave us a chance to... More >>
• BEST GOURMET GROCERY
  Kowalski's
  We're pretty sure the members of the Kowalski family cook. Not cook as in doctor cake mixes to look like tortes, but cook as in flag recipes in Food & Wine and go in search of the particular type of pepper from the Basque region of Spain that will make them work. We think this because... More >>
• BEST CHEESE SELECTION
  Premier Cheese Market
  Premier Cheese Market has got $17-a-pound washed-rind this and $12-a-pound artisanal that. A terrific selection, in fact: a well-balanced mix that acknowledges that the upper Midwest, like the Chablis region, has a certain desirable terroir and that not all of us fear pungency. But, you know... More >>
• BEST WINE STORE
  WineStyles
  There's no shortage of contenders for Best Wine Store. You won't go wrong at big-volume, big-discount Hennepin-Lake Liquors; masterfully stocked Surdyk's; or critical darling Solo Vino. And if we dipped into the ranks of next-best, well, this item would run off the page. But sometimes a good... More >>
• BEST LIQUOR STORE
  Surdyk's
  The problem with life is that it is full of life: the kids, the dog, the plumber, the job, the job, the job. Where does the fun fit in? Time-management specialists will tell you that you have to make your fun a destination that sits on your calendar. Is that possible? One of the things we love... More >>
• BEST TAKE-HOME BREW
  Surly Brewing Co.Furious and Bender Beers
  A little over a year ago, entrepreneur/beer lover Omar Ansari and veteran brewmaster Todd Haug began kicking out a new line of beers from their blocky little brewery tucked into the industrial hinterlands of Brooklyn Park. A scant 13 months later, this family-heavy crew can barely keep up with... More >>
• BEST CHAI
  Namaste Café
  Or, more precisely, masala chai, an addictive blend of hot milk, spices, and black tea, a South Asian favorite usually found in Twin Cities coffeehouses in a cardboard carton in concentrate form. Better to think outside the box and head to Uptown's Namaste Café for freshly brewed chai... More >>
• BEST COFFEE BY THE POUND
  Coffee and Tea Ltd.
  Walk into the tiny Coffee and Tea Ltd. in Linden Hills, and beans likely will be roasting in a nearly century-old roaster. Customers will more than likely be found in conversation with owner Jim Cone. He says he doesn't keep track of what sells well and nothing comes recommended because... More >>
• BEST BAKERY
  Franklin Street Bakery
  The chewy chocolate meringue has a glossy crackle on top and goes crunch just before it starts to melt on your tongue. The apple pecan coffee cake tastes like it's from the best church-basement fellowship brunch ever. The cupcakes are light, petite, almost silky, and topped with swirls of... More >>
• Best Middle Eastern Bread
  Abu Nader Grocery and Deli
  There are bigger selections of breads in the Twin Cities—Holy Land's and Sinbad's being two of the foremost—but if you're looking for the freshest pocket bread in town (often hot out of the oven) head to St. Paul's Abu Nader. Abu Nader's pockets have a fine, dense texture, making... More >>
• BEST BREAD
  Rustica Bakery
  Rustica Bakery has been operating for only three years, but it has quickly eclipsed the local competition as home to the perfect baguette ($2). At once crispy and chewy, with a sturdy, dark golden-brown crust, this loaf is so authentic one imagines it might just hum a little Charles Aznavour... More >>
• BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR
  Sebastian Joe's Ice Cream Cafe
  Sebastian Joe's is the perfect place to go for ice cream and sympathy. They understand that one's evening companions might have aged out of late-night ice cream runs, and so they also offer coffee shop treats by the dozen. They know subzero weather can make a strong case against a treat that's... More >>
• BEST CHOCOLATE
  Legacy Chocolates
  Real chocolate is the new health food these days and even mainstream producers like Hershey's are pumping up the cocoa content in order to attract consumers who seek to satisfy more than a mid-afternoon sugar jones. Legacy Chocolates, with locations in St. Paul and Menomonie, Wisconsin, has a... More >>
• BEST DOUGHNUTS
  Mel-O-Glaze Bakery
  What's fresh? That's the question savvy doughnut hunters ask when they breach the threshold at Minneapolis mainstay Mel-O-Glaze. The great news is that there's always something fresh: It might be a classic old-fashioned buttermilk cake doughnut ($.75) with its light, fresh bite like a... More >>