Minneapolis and St. Paul may be referred to as the Twin Cities but they do not wield the same cultural power. Yes, the actual state Capitol may be in St. Paul but as far as Twin Citizens and the world outside are concerned, the cultural capital of Minnesota is Minneapolis. And this is true of the reputation of the two cities’ food scenes as well. I don’t know if denizens of Minneapolis feel smug about this; I do know that many denizens of St. Paul feel angsty about it. Thankfully, I, a resident of a small town 50 minutes south of both Minneapolis and St. Paul am here to settle this once and for all: the best food in the Twin Cities is in St. Paul, and what’s more, it’s on and around one 3 mile stretch of University Avenue, from just west of Snelling to just east of Western. You may disagree but I hope you like being wrong. 

Yes, it’s true that most of the Twin Cities’ big name restaurants are in Minneapolis or its affluent western suburbs. Such are Spoon and Stable, Alma, 112 Eatery, Tenant, Martina, Borough, Bellecour, Grand Cafe and even the house of folly that is Travail. But my argument here does not rest on arguing that St. Paul has better fine dining restaurants—though I would put Meritage up against most of the aforementioned, and I hear very good things about the newly-opened Hyacinth. No, the fact is that Minneapolis does have better restaurants if you are looking to spend a lot of money on food cooked by chefs who get nominated for James Beard awards and get breathless write-ups in the major magazines and on Eater.

But two things:

1) The food of most of those restaurants has no sense of place. I like many of them but they are almost all stops on a contemporary, cosmopolitan highway that runs from New York to Chicago to San Francisco to Los Angeles with side roads along the way. These restaurants help make Twin Citizens who worry about these things avoid cultural cringe and feel like they’re part of mainstream food conversations but very few of them are of here (though the chefs may be).

2) As good as some of those restaurants are, very few of us can eat at places like that more than once a month, if that.

Against the first phenomenon I would posit a different kind of cosmopolitan identity: one that is rooted in (more) recent immigrant communities from different parts of Asia, from Africa and from Latin America. The cuisines of these communities are remaking what it is we think of when we think of food in Minnesota; just as these communities are slowly but surely transforming what it means to be Minnesotan. You can find a Spoon and Stable analogue in pretty much every major American city at this point, but in how many cities can you find very good Vietnamese, Thai, Ethiopian, Lao, Hmong, Mexican and Cambodian restaurants in close proximity? This is what I want to celebrate about food and culture in the Twin Cities and what too little of the local news media or those flying in from outside ever pay serious attention to.

To the second point I would add that at the immigrant restaurants I am thinking of you can eat very, very well for $10-20 per head. And as much as I like eating good food in the high-end idiom, very little of it in the Twin Cities does it for me like a good meal at On’s Kitchen or Bangkok Thai Deli at a fraction of the price. At too much of the high-end here the gap between the quality (even when high) and the price (always higher) seems unreasonable to me. With the exception of the departed Piccolo and 112 Eatery there isn’t a high-end restaurant here that has ever seemed like a good deal for what it is even when we’ve enjoyed our meal (against this, see my reviews of Joe Beef in Montreal or Hedone and St. John in London).

And yes, it’s true that there’s very good recent immigrant food all over the Twin Cities metro. Indeed, our favourite restaurant is in Bloomington (Grand Szechuan). But for sheer concentration you cannot beat the stretch on University Avenue that runs from, yes, On’s Kitchen to Bangkok Thai Deli. Now, you might say that the stretch of Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis that does bear the sobriquet of “Eat Street” is far more compact. That’s true. But it’s also true that most of the individual restaurants on those few blocks are unremarkable. By contrast, on and just off that stretch of University Avenue are the five best Thai restaurants in Minnesota, some excellent Vietnamese restaurants (both traditional and innovative), excellent Ethiopian restaurants, very good Mexican restaurants, the best (only?) Cambodian restaurants in the Twin Cities, and even solid barbecue and ramen. And what’s more, there are also major markets, indoor and outdoor, as well as a very good Filipino food truck. The highs are very high and the baseline is very good too; and you don’t have to make a reservation. If you want good food in the Twin Cities this is the stretch of concrete you want to be cruising. And you don’t even have to be in a car! The Green Line will take you up and down and back again.

So, where should you be going and what should you be eating? Let the slideshow that follows be your guide. We will begin at On’s Kitchen and go east to Bangkok Thai Deli with stops at Fasika, Demera, Ngon Bistro, Ichiddo Ramen, Big Daddy’s, Kolap, Lao Thai, Trieu Chau, Cheng Heng, Thai Garden and Thai Cafe. I will recommend two dishes at each stop.

At their best, On’s is the best Thai restaurant in the Cities (though Bangkok Thai Deli may be more consistent). This dish may be a slightly acquired taste (sator beans are called stink beans for a reason) but we love it.

And at its best, their green curry is the best in the cities too. Get it with pork.

Currently our favourite Mexican place in the cities, and this dish of chicken drumsticks in a spicy sauce with pumpkin seeds may be one of our favourites there.

This much milder dish of stewed chicken is excellent as well.

Fasika is just off University Avenue but if you think this disqualifies them you can kiss my ass.

Braised collard greens to ward off the meat sweats with.

If you like beef tartare you will like their kitfo.

This curry-like braised beef dish is just excellent.

These are excellent.

As is their take on the classic beef stew.

The food at Ichiddo is not extraordinary but it is solid.

This is probably the best of the ramens we’ve had there.

Justly praised.

But these may be better.

Kolap is actually enough blocks north of University for its inclusion here to be cheating but I do not care. This beef sour soup is awesome.

And this stir-fry of thick stubby noodles is very good too.

Though we prefer the version at On’s, Lao Thai’s toasted rice salad is pretty good too.

As is their kao poon.

Trieu Chau might be our favourite place for pho.

And their bun bo hue is pretty damned good too.

An excellent sweet and sour soup with shrimp and tender lotus root.

Shrimp and fish steamed with coconut cream and red curry

Thai Garden is #5 on our Thai list. Their som tum is very good.

As is their drunken noodles.

There are lots of good things on this tiny restaurant’s menu but it’s hard to think of anyone who won’t like these fish cakes.

And I’ve said before that this is one of the top dishes in the Twin Cities.

And this too is one of the very best things you can eat in the Twin Cities.

Though this dish of catfish in a red curry sauce is rather excellent too.

Please note that this is only a partial list. It does not include stalwarts of University Avenue that we have not yet been to or have not been to since I started reviewing restaurants regularly on the blog. Such are Pho Ca Dao and iPho by Saigon; nor have we been to the University Avenue outpost of Los Ocampo. Nor are bakeries or markets with food listed. I have also not included Little Szechuan here because we haven’t eaten there since they first became a hotpot-only restaurant (on the first day, in fact) and that was nothing great—in their heyday, of course, they would have been one of the stars of this list. There are doubtless other places as well that I am omitting; if you would like to recommend them, please write in below.

But more importantly, if you have not eaten at these places on University Avenue you should fix that. And check out my fuller reviews of all these places for recommendations on more things to eat there.