FOODSTUFF >>

• BEST ASIAN GROCERY
  A visit to this bustling St. Paul market can't help but lead one to reflect on what dilettante carnivores we've become. It isn't just that Dragon Star's formidable butcher shop features entire phyla that you might not normally think of eating, either. It's also the market's startling range of... More >>
• BEST BAGELS
  You don't have to be an East Coast purist to know the difference between a bagel and a bun. Whether you prefer a plain bagel with lox or a schmeer or you're loading up some blasphemous, fruity deal with peanut butter, what really matters is texture and contrast: a crisp, slightly shiny surface... More >>
• BEST BAKERY
  Ambition, accomplishment, and too many wicker baskets don't often walk hand in hand in this life, but they do at Turtle Bread. Wandering the aisles recently, we were struck by the sheer accomplishment in so very many fields. Cardamom bread is sweet and light and smells like the lace-doily... More >>
• BEST BARBECUE
  We've had troubles with this old-time favorite before: bones that were too dry; a general lack of inspiration or attention. And yet these days Market is serving the best barbecue in town. Pork ribs are smoky, meaty, and still moistly fatty, just as they should be. Ribs are available in lots of... More >>
• BEST BREAD
  What an exquisite burden it is to select the best bread in the Twin Cities: So many chewy crusts to sample! So many flaky morsels to savor! Every year brings more contenders to the table. But until one figures out how to trump the perfect combination of light texture, delicate flavor, and crisp... More >>
• BEST BURGERS
  What the hell is on that grill? The angel on our shoulder wants to say, "Magic!" But the devil says, "Drugs!" Whatever it is, Matt's duly famous Jucy Lucy has it: The Jucy Lucy, in case you're not an earthling, is two beef patties seared around a molten core of bubbling cheese, topped (ideally)... More >>
• BEST CANDY STORE
  Working in a candy store is not easy. It's so easy to freely sample the goods (all in the name of research, mind you) that one usually ends up gaining a few too many pounds or (horrors!) losing interest in sugar altogether. Kids, on the other hand, will tell you that a candy-store job is a... More >>
• BEST CARRY-OUT CHICKEN
  Craving fried chicken is a bone-deep thing, a call to both body and soul, a cry for crisp, salty, moist chicken and something else too--a cry for connection. Last time we were at the Midtown Chicken Shack, a 1/4-white dinner was on the way when we got to thinking about gizzards. So the... More >>
• BEST CHEESE SELECTION
  We do hear one complaint about Surdyk's Cheese Shop pretty often, and it runs like this: I went in last Saturday and it was full of other people! In my way! Cheese shoppers seem to be an especially sensitive bunch of flowers, nurtured as they've been on meaty Italian Taleggio; nutty,... More >>
• BEST CHICKEN WINGS
  There's a certain grace to eating a chicken wing well. A real chicken-wing connoisseur will basically invisibly vacuum up his or her wings. You'll be sitting there, and you'll think you're talking, and they will have wings, and then suddenly they will not, they will have bones. It is an art, it... More >>
• BEST CHOCOLATE
  The B.T. McElrath chocolate factory is located below ground, at an unassuming Minneapolis industrial complex that was once the site of research labs for General Mills. Development for such favorites as Wheaties and Cheerios originated here, explains Brian McElrath, chocolatier and co-owner of... More >>
• BEST COFFEE (BY THE POUND)
  The Twin Cities are overrun with coffee shops, but only a handful roast their own beans. "It's an expensive proposition to get into," says Bean Counter Coffee Company co-owner Brian Ortale. This mini-chain not only roasts its own beans at its Highland Park store but will do so at your command.... More >>
• BEST CROISSANTS
  Some people can generate a palpable physical rage over the Enron debacle. We can generate one over the infuriating fact that A Baker's Wife's is not located in our local neighborhood commercial node. It's simply impossible to overpraise the baked goods that come out of this place: lemon bars... More >>
• BEST DELICATESSEN
  Matzoh brei, stuffed sweet-and-sour cabbage with raisins, blintzes, potato latkes, chicken in a pot ($11.95), chopped liver, rugalach ($2.25), brisket, knishes, half-sour pickles--there isn't a single item missing from Zaroff's lineup of delicatessen favorites. They even do shiva catering for... More >>
• BEST DOUGHNUTS
  Heard the one about the crackheads in Louisiana who stole a Krispy Kreme truck and led cops on a wild chase, strewing doughnuts on the highway as they fled? Stupid crackheads, what do they know about anything? Those doughnuts are merely sweet and light, merely hot. The doughnuts at Blackey's?... More >>
• BEST FISH MARKET
  Nine times a week, the sign behind the counter proclaims. That's how often fresh fish is delivered to the seafood department in this capacious supermarket. Arriving directly from Pigeon Cove Whole Foods Market, the chain's own waterfront seafood facility on the docks in Gloucester,... More >>
• BEST FRESH PRODUCE
  Those tiny, variegated green berries that resemble nothing so much as miniature Japanese lanterns? They're gooseberries, too tart for eating out of hand but delicious in pies and popular with bakers of a certain age. Those finger-size, gnarled tubers that bear an unfortunate resemblance to the... More >>
• BEST FRIED CHICKEN
  What makes the fried chicken at Lucille's Kitchen so good? Secrets, of course. Secret seasonings, secret recipes, secret secrets. But the secret's not as secret as it once was: Nowadays people come from all over to get Lucille's fried chicken--from Duluth, from St. Cloud, from Wisconsin.... More >>
• BEST FRIES
  Fries matter. There have been times when we've thought of splitting Best Fries into several divisions. Best fries, large and floppy: Convention Grill. Best fries, ultra-crisp: Oceanaire. Best fries, nighttime: Café Barbette. Best fries, chili-cheese: Joey D's. Best fries, St. Paul:... More >>
• BEST GOURMET GROCERY
  Let us say first off that we still believe that Woodbury is a soulless nowhere. But. Oh. My. God. The Woodbury Kowalski's. You know something's up as soon as you step across the threshold and are confronted by two desks of customer-service help. There isn't that much greeting and grinning in... More >>
• BEST HOMEMADE PASTA
  For those who crave fresh pasta, the Twin Cities don't offer much in the way of choices: Make it yourself, or head to Broders'. And let's face facts: How often are you going to go to the trouble, when you can so easily find tender and tasty homemade egg, spinach, or herb-and-garlic noodles at... More >>
• BEST HOT DOGS
  Every city should have at least one legendary hot-dog emporium. In Washington, D.C., it's Ben's Chili Bowl. In Fort Lauderdale, Hot Dog Heaven. Chicago, of course, is hot-dog mecca, with so many topnotch purveyors (Flukey's, Wolfy's, Byron's, etc.) that it might be possible to subsist there on... More >>
• BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR
  Standing in line at Izzy's is an arduous endeavor. Not only is the scent of the sweet, creamy frozen confections almost overpowering, but the longer you stand there--and in summer the queue usually goes out the door--the more often you'll change your mind about which mouthwatering flavor to... More >>
• BEST INDIAN GROCERY
  Asia Imports isn't much on décor, so shopping at this unassuming grocery is more of a fragrant pleasure than a visual one. Sacks of jasmine and basmati rice perfume the area near the back, and the odors that emanate from the spice aisle create an appetizing potpourri of cumin, paprika,... More >>
• BEST ITALIAN GROCERY
  All three of our local old-time Italian markets kick ass. Cossetta's does, with its big-party atmosphere, its line of red sauce, its dine-in regulars, and the kids frolicking on the staircases that lead to the upstairs dining rooms. Delmonico's does, with its teeny-tiny, jammed aisles of... More >>
• BEST LATINO GROCERY
  ¡Caramba! We searched mightily for a smaller underdog market to upset perennial winner El Burrito. The Mercado Central complex in Minneapolis impresses with its freshly made tortillas and sugary cookie selection, as do the Las Americas stores with their excellent assortment of hard-to-find... More >>
• BEST MIDDLE EASTERN GROCERY
  The moment you step into Holy Land, you're caught up in the chaos of a Middle Eastern bazaar. Cooks at the deli counter call out to lunchtime patrons to pick up their giant plates of gyros and falafel and baba ghannouj. Once you've made it past that aromatic distraction, you'll come face to... More >>
• BEST NATURAL FOODS GROCERY
  Co-ops are definitely not for the Birkenstock set anymore--haven't been for years. But Seward has largely bucked the trend toward boutique organic and is celebrating 30 years in the business with its homegrown values, and products, intact. Along with a plethora of grown-without-chemicals... More >>
• BEST PIE
  If there's a more satisfying activity in the Twin Cities than ordering two slices of pie and sitting down along a window bench at Turtle Bread with a cup of coffee, we don't know what it is. Yeah, two slices. Want to make something of it? You try deciding between lemon chiffon, cherry, apple,... More >>
• BEST PIZZA
  A lot of people around here seem to think that a pizza crust is to pizza cheese as a loafer is to Rush Limbaugh. Not true! A pizza is a complex, multimodal, biodynamic system wherein components of crust, cheese, sauce, and topping interact toward the creation of a sum greater than the parts.... More >>
• BEST PREPARED FOODS
  The cliché goes: fast, cheap, or good--pick two. But not at Falafel King, where you get all three, with extra garlic. Lemony tabouli salad, creamy baba ghannouj, lowfat pita breads, potent imported olives, spicy gyros with that piercing herbal King sauce, and more, more, more. Truth be... More >>
• BEST SALAD
  It being the 21st Century and all, it seems a shame that salads should remain relegated to their parochial pre-meal habitat. Yes, some salads are better than others, but when you get down to brass tacks, they're mostly just vegetables dressed up in vinegar. Let Jasmine's bún salad... More >>
• BEST SOMALIAN GROCERY
  For those who define spice as adding Smucker's to Wonder and Skippy, this place has every fresh seasoning required to flail your tender taste buds into shivering raisins of their former selves. For Somalis, and lovers of Somali food, this crowded but clean and friendly little store sates your... More >>
• BEST SUSHI
  Anybody can mince up a lot of low-quality fish, hide it under a lot of chile mayonnaise, and dazzle a lot of fools. But the least-adorned fish, that takes real talent and dedication to do well. So sit right down at the sushi bar at newcomer Katsu Sushi and learn what it means to do the... More >>
• BEST TAKEOUT
  This St. Paul institution might be a little too far off the beaten path for power lunchers. But, hey, the category isn't "most utilitarian takeout." And besides, with an inexpensive, tasty, and ever-changing selection of treats, El Burrito's homey cafeteria is worth a little extra effort. The... More >>
• BEST WEDDING CAKES
  Jessica Bartl's cake tastings are a little different from your usual wedding consultations. For one thing, she comes to you. She appears at your front door, toting a cooler, from which she unpacks a bin of cake slices, and a dozen more tiny containers of custards, mousses, buttercreams, and... More >>
• BEST WINE AND LIQUOR STORE
  Using the same logic we apply to restaurants--the best restaurant is the one that we'd rather go to, not the one with the most appetizers or biggest staff--we're going to hand this prize to itsy-bitsy underdog Solo Vino. Opened just last Halloween by a trio of longtime local sommeliers and wine... More >>