FOODSTUFF >>

• BEST APPLE ORCHARD
  Given how hard Afton and Hastings are working to avoid becoming entangled in the sprawling web of St. Paul's suburbs, we're relieved to predict that Afton Apple should be able to sustain its countryside character for some time to come. Fairly remote but still easy to find, the orchard is a... More >>
• BEST ASIAN GROCERY
  United Noodles is the Asian grocery where you come for the vast selection, stay for the cleanliness and organization, and return for the reasonable prices and helpful, friendly service. It is the only place to go when you appreciate a Lunds-like environment and your shopping list includes... More >>
• BEST BÁNH-MÌ
  What are bánh-mì? Here's one answer: They're the love child of French baking and Vietnamese salads--Vietnamese hoagies made of cilantro, sweet pickled carrots, daikon, julienne cucumber, slivered jalapeños, spicy mayonnaise, and some sort of filling all smooshed together... More >>
• BEST BAGELS
  Hometown boy-made-good Mike Sherwood sure has won us over with his bagels. The rounds bear chewy crusts and thick layers of toppings, and they emit the sweet, biscuity fragrance you hope for when you rip into one. Sherwood takes extra points because of his good Dunn Bros. coffee, and he's so... More >>
• BEST BAKERY
  Who would have guessed that ecstasy could cost a mere $2.99? That's the going rate for a Turtle Bread cherry swirl. It's the size of a salad plate, and the flaky, buttery pastry is nothing less than heavenly. Toss in the glaze (sweet, but not sickly) and the cherry filling (tart and juicy) and... More >>
• BEST BARBECUE
  Luckily this category allows for fudging, because no one, and we mean no one in the metro area deserves the title "Best Barbecued Ribs." We'll leave those naming rights up to the judges at the annual Rib Fest in downtown Minneapolis. Those poor carnivores can gnaw their way through the chapped,... More >>
• BEST BREAD
  When you open the door to Great Harvest Bread, it's hard to tell what's more overpowering, the sight of rows and rows of grainy, golden loaves and stretchy dough or the intoxicating warm, yeasty scent. You'll scarcely have a moment to collect yourself before a clerk is slicing you a slab of... More >>
• BEST BURGERS
  You can keep your fancy burgers laden with all manner of vegetables, sauces, stinky cheeses, and enough other crap to require a knife and fork for consumption. As we see it, the best burgers are simple, and in keeping with the spirit of such a food item, they don't come from anywhere you'd have... More >>
• BEST BURRITOS
  Burritos aren't Mexican. Tacos are Mexican. Burritos are tacos by way of California super-growth-hormone, and so the best places for burritos in town are not necessarily the best places for that oft-cited Holy Grail, "authentic Mexican food." What are the best places for burritos? Glad to spill... More >>
• BEST CANDY STORE
  Arnie Kelsey, St. Paul's legendary candyman, got into the popcorn business in 1932, when he bought a stand next to the now-vanished Riviera Theater. Over the next few decades, Kelsey expanded his shop, added a confectionery, and moved to Wabasha, where the beloved Candyland still stands, an... More >>
• BEST CARRY-OUT CHICKEN
  Minneapolis's newest wonder-chicken comes from a most unlikely place, a barely transformed onetime Hickory Hut on East Lake Street. But hey, diamonds come from mines, not velvet boxes, right? See past the Mexican TV blaring from the eaves, the plastic-draped tables and instead toward the pollo... More >>
• BEST CHEESE SELECTION
  To our vast surprise, we just learned that Surdyk's doesn't have just the 300 cheeses displayed in its jam-packed cheese case. Honest to goodness, there are another 40 or so behind the scenes. They're nothing special, just the unspectacular Neufchâtels and low-glamour, low-fat Swisses... More >>
• BEST CHOCOLATE
  You'll need a big glass of milk when you start biting the wings off one of Brian McElrath's butterflies. Filled with gooey, fudgey fillings, nuts, and berries, these chocolates and truffles seem almost too pretty to eat. Almost. We bought a selection and nearly came to blows over who got the... More >>
• BEST COFFEE CAKE
  Let's face it, as a rule Eastern Europe is a hard and oppressive place. The dominant color--in clothing, in the buildings, in the sky, in people's faces--is a plain and flat battleship gray. The native folk music is minor-keyed, lugubrious, laden with woe-is-me lyrics about battles fought and... More >>
• BEST COFFEE--BY THE POUND
  Caffeine (read: coffee) remains the most desirable--and affordable--of all buzzes. And nowhere is this more evident than at Whole Foods. These upscale natural-foods grocery stores have a staggering selection of more than 30 different kinds of beans (all right, some are decaf), freshly roasted... More >>
• BEST CROISSANTS
  Sure, you can go to the New French Bakery or Turtle Bread Company or French Meadow Bakery & Café and get a perfectly good croissant. Flaky. Buttery. Greasy, in a good way. The whole deal. But at Trung Nam French Bakery in Frogtown you get all that and you get to feel like you're... More >>
• BEST DELICATESSEN
  It's not Amy and David Zaroff's fault their deli is new! It's not their fault you want shuffling old people dispensing wisdom while they hack phlegm. It's not their job to fulfill your Seinfeldian fantasies about the delicatessens of bygone days, and for god's sake, give these kids some... More >>
• BEST DOUGHNUTS
  The rumor mill never sleeps: Before another decade has turned, we hear, the Twin Cities will be home to both an Ikea and a Krispy Kreme outlet. Now, for all of us who have packed into a minivan and driven to suburban Chicago to check out a 40-million-square-foot warehouse of modular... More >>
• BEST FISH MARKET
  The sea raven is one God-awfully ugly fish, like a cross between an alligator and a catfish, with bulging eyes and teeth like Matt Groening would draw. There it sits, one day, in the case at Coastal Seafoods, and even at $2.99 a pound there's no way in hell people are buying it, let alone... More >>
• BEST FRESH PRODUCE
  As you enter this 27-year-old Minneapolis institution, you're blinded by the bright yellow-orange display of citrus fruits. Then you turn and see the wall of greens--springy lettuces, spinach, collard greens, and kales that look as though they came from the garden this morning. You'll find half... More >>
• BEST FRIED CHICKEN
  In the car, listening to the radio, heard some rich, famous foodie types insisting that the best fried chicken in the country is in Kansas City, at a place called Stroud's. Nearly drove the car off the High Bridge. Was at Stroud's not six months ago: Lucille Williams's chicken makes Stroud's... More >>
• BEST FRIES
  There are better places for unadulterated fries (Hamlin's Coffee Shop and the Wienery, both in Minneapolis, make perfectly caramel-colored, deliciously crisp versions), but in choosing the best candidate in such a grease-soaked category, why not go all the way? We're talking here about... More >>
• BEST GOURMET GROCERY
  One day the lottery will be won and, to paraphrase Scarlett O'Hara, with God as our witness, we'll never go grocery shopping again! Never pushing a cart through the over-lighted, endless, despairing maze, certainly. Instead, we'll do all the shopping at Turtle Bread. We'll throw a darling... More >>
• BEST HOT DOGS
  The lack of respect accorded the hot dog in modern American life is unconscionable. One of the linchpins of cuisine in this country, the frankfurter is too often treated like a mere assemblage of miscellaneous animal parts. Thankfully there are a few venues around town where the hot dog is... More >>
• BEST ICE-CREAM PARLOR
  In ancient Greek mythology, the horn of plenty, or cornucopia, was an enchanted goat's horn that would fill with whatever its possessor wished. It was a gift from Zeus to a beloved daughter, whose appetite for milk was limitless. In the Twin Cities, the closest thing to a horn of plenty, O you... More >>
• BEST INDIAN GROCERY
  We know. We give it to them every year. But we have to. They're the best, and not just because they have all the curry, chutney, and basmati rice anyone would need to make a fabulous Indian feast. Rows and rows of prepared spice mixes that can be easily tossed into a big pot of vegetables or... More >>
• BEST ITALIAN GROCERY
  The only frustration when it comes to shopping at this delightful grocery is the parking lot. It's always packed. Especially if you pop over around noon, when scads of famished lunch-breakers are angling for an Italian combo sub (mortadella, capocollo, salami, and Provolone) or a hot meatball... More >>
• BEST JUICE BAR
  There's just something about walking into a place and feeling like you're at home. Maybe it's the reggae music playing over the speakers that even the elderly ladies can't help but groove to, the carved African masks that adorn every wall, or the fact that someone with a smile is always cooking... More >>
• BEST LATINO GROCERY
  Let's take a moment to compare Mexico and Minnesota--they're not as different as you might think. In music, Mexico has mariachi and cumbia and frontejas, and we've got polka. In food, they've got hot tamales and hot chiles, and we've got hot dish. Drinkwise, Mexico is known for margaritas and... More >>
• BEST MIDDLE EASTERN GROCERY
  Shoppers don't have to go to Holy Land Deli to buy their hummus and baba ghannouj, because most natural-foods stores stock the Holy Land brand. But once those two dips have been tasted, what person in their right mind could resist finding out what else the deli has to offer? Glass cases filled... More >>
• BEST NATURAL-FOODS GROCERY
  If you're trying to find a co-op that hasn't turned into a gourmet supermarket, look no further than Hampden Park Co-op. Formerly known as St. Anthony Park Foods Too, for 12 years this little nook has offered up a wide selection of organic produce, grains, and meat in a cozy space that always... More >>
• BEST PASTA
  Please do not forget to take a number when you walk into this snug little shop and café on a Saturday afternoon. Upon entering, you may feel overwhelmed by the scent of the garlic meatballs, the sight of the cheesy pizzas, the sound of the customers shouting out their orders, but for... More >>
• BEST PIE
  There's probably sexier pie than Barry Hamlin's. There are almost certainly sexier places to eat pie than Hamlin's lunch counter, tucked in the back of an office building at the desolate terminus of Nicollet Mall. But the salt-of-the-earth volk who frequent Hamlin's know real pie when they... More >>
• BEST PIZZA
  Sometimes it seems like Punch isn't playing fair. It's Michael Jordan playing in the sixth-grade playoffs, and the would-be competitors just lie down on the gym floor and cry. But what else can they do? Punch has that wood-fired oven, the imported San Marzano tomatoes, a couple of fail-safe... More >>
• BEST PIZZA WITHOUT SUN-DRIED TOMATOES
  Last time we were in Golooney's it was a frigid day, and back in the little table area a dozen people crouched, each holding a slice of pizza as crisp as a playing card (but tasting nothing like one), reveling in the $2-or-less treats. Both reheated and fresh out of the oven, these slices are... More >>
• BEST PREPARED FOODS
  Screw cooking. There, we said it for you. You already make it through the hectic work week without so much as boiling an egg, subsisting on a patchwork food quilt of leftover Chinese, frozen burritos, and cans of tuna. (No, adding mayonnaise does not qualify as "cooking.") So what makes you... More >>
• BEST SALAD
  Just consider a recent Lucia's salad made with greens, Spanish air-cured tuna, roasted fennel, and caper berries, all united with a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette ($9.95). What balance! What strength! Or another salad of mixed greens with verjus vinaigrette, apples, hickory nuts, and a French... More >>
• BEST SUSHI
  Recently, dangling a modest expense account and a yen toward completeness, we tried to round up companions to accompany us to some of the metro area's finest second-tier sushi establishments. No one would go. Second-rate sushi? They'd rather pay for their own topflight sushi than eat the... More >>
• BEST WINE AND LIQUOR STORE
  There's an excellent selection of beer and spirits here, but the vino is where Surdyk's shines. Wine sales at this Minneapolis institution are intense exercises in cart-to-cart combat, as rabid, volume-buying shoppers furiously attempt to restock their cellars. To walk the aisles here is to... More >>