Over the last year, a few people have written in to the blog to ask why I did not include Vinai in the first edition of my Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation last year. Well, the answer is very simple: at the time I posted that list, I had not yet eaten at Vinai. We ate there for the first time at the end of October last year. And we really liked that meal. We’d expected to go back in just a few months but it didn’t end up happening; partly because of travel and other constraints, but also partly because their menu didn’t change much for those first few months after our first meal. After we got back from our summer travels I eventually got around to making a reservation for early October to celebrate the missus’ birthday but we ended up having to give those seats up just a few days prior. Luckily, I managed to snag a table for four for just about a month later and so this past weekend we descended on them again for dinner with our boys in tow. Here’s how it went. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Hmong Food
Vinai (Minneapolis)
Chef Yia Vang’s long-planned, long-awaited formal restaurant, Vinai finally opened in Minneapolis this summer. Along with Diane Moua’s Diane’s Place (which opened in the spring), it immediately became the standard-bearer for high-end Hmong food in the state. Vinai’s opening got a fair bit of positive press, both locally and nationally. Along with Oro, they were included in The New York Times’ 2024 list of 50 best restaurants in the US (or whatever that list is supposed to be about). Well, we’ve been disappointed before by Twin Cities restaurants that have received both local and national acclaim and so it was not without trepidation that I made a reservation in September for dinner at the end of October (by which point I figured the restaurant would have worked out any kinks). We descended on them for that dinner this past weekend. I am very happy to tell you that it was one of the most enjoyable meals we’ve had in the Twin Cities this year. Here are the details. Continue reading
Eating at Hmongtown Marketplace, November 2022 (St. Paul, MN)
In mid-November I posted looks at the greenmarket and the food court at Hmong Village in St. Paul. That outing was with a few friends, sans the family. Here now is an account of a visit with the family to the OG Hmong market and food court, Hmongtown Marketplace. I’ve reported on visits there before, in 2014 and 2018. I didn’t mean to go four years between reports—it just sort of happened. Well, we enjoyed our meal enough that it’s more than likely that we’ll be back in far less than four years. I’m pleased to report that while many things have changed at Hmongtown Marketplace, it has nonetheless remained more or less the same; and it remain an essential Twin Cities institution—one that anyone interested in broadening their sense of what it means to be Minnesotan, or just anyone interested in Hmong food, should be familiar with. Continue reading