FOODSTUFF >>

• BEST APPLE ORCHARD
  If you're longing for the apples of your youth--juicy, crisp, slightly floral, tart and sweet, the taste of fall--then pick your own from 20 old-fashioned varieties at Fischer's Croix Farm Orchard in Hastings, just 20 minutes from downtown St. Paul. These apples taste even better while you're... More >>
• BEST ASIAN GROCERY
  Need tripe or pork ears, bitter melon or long beans? Sometimes we come here just to watch the lobsters and crabs and fish in their tanks and listen to snatches of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and Spanish. This place is as enormous as it is exotic. It's packed to the ceiling with everything... More >>
• BEST BAGELS
  Kettle-boiled and stone-hearth-baked, Bruegger's bagels--crusty, dense, and chewy--were the first true New York nosh to hit town. Twenty years ago they set the standard by which all others are measured. The stores in Dinkytown and on Lake Street were the first arrivals, but the metro area now... More >>
• BEST BAKERY
  Starting in May, Patrick's French Bakery will have expanded hours, staying open till 8:30 p.m. or later. This is good news, because there's nowhere in the Twin Cities we'd rather be than standing with our noses pressed to Patrick's pastry cases, watching those chocolate-and-butter fantasies... More >>
• BEST BARBECUE
  As in "You got your mama's barbecue?" If not, find the real McCoy at this tiny joint on the corner of Nicollet Avenue and Diamond Lake Road. (Head west on Diamond Lake, but don't go too fast, it's easy to miss.) The baby back ribs are tender and meaty, not at all greasy, and the sauce is melted... More >>
• BEST BREAD
  Those woven baskets at the Linden Hills Turtle Bread Company, they are a shrine to the possibilities of flour, water, and fire, and we are ecstatic to worship there. But which to take home? The simple baguette, sweet and plain and airy, as hard to describe as a single cloud in a blue sky, and... More >>
• BEST BURGERS
  Have you had It yet? The newcomer? The new champ? Certainly, it's been a few years since the local scene had a new cult burger--one that can actually stand head-to-head with the legends at places like the Convention Grill & Fountain, Matt's Bar, or the St. Paul Grill. But lo and behold,... More >>
• BEST BURRITOS
  A man whose opinion we highly respect once likened the idea of stuffing rice into a burrito to serving spaghetti with a side of mashed potatoes--a definite starch overload. The folks at El Burrito Mercado tend to agree, noting a subtle but nonetheless significant difference between a side order... More >>
• BEST CANDY STORE
  A great candy store should have big, open, glass cases that allow you to ogle the merchandise, sparking memories of both the insane sugar lust of childhood and the fanciful paintings of Wayne Thiebaud (who has celebrated the sixth food group in a series of wonderful and nostalgic still-life... More >>
• BEST CHEESE SELECTION
  At first blush it doesn't look like much happened during Surdyk's recent renovation. The walls are still bright white, and there are no plastic salamis dangling from the ceiling. But after a moment, you can appreciate the new layout's subtle efficiency. No more stumbling into a rack of fancy... More >>
• BEST CHOCOLATE
  River Chocolate Company's truffles are the most intense and opulent we've ever tasted. And we eat a lot of chocolate. They're handcrafted with organic cream, butter, and the real stuff imported from Belgium, along with organic nuts, fruit, and the best spices. River Chocolate uses traditional... More >>
• BEST COFFEE (BY THE POUND)
  It wasn't until we became hooked on Peace Coffee's robust, smooth French Roast that we read about how it actually got to our kitchen. Grown under a canopy of trees (which provide a home to birds and bugs), these beans are not treated with chemical fertilizers or pesticides, nor cultivated in... More >>
• BEST DELICATESSEN
  How did a nice Jewish deli end up on this side of Highway 394, next to a Galyan's? Goes to show, you can take the deli out of New York. But you can't take New York out of this Jewish deli. The chicken soup is loaded with shreds of dark and white meat, chopped carrots, and matzo balls the size... More >>
• BEST DOUGHNUTS
  As we noted the hubbub last spring over Krispy Kreme's Maple Grove opening, we couldn't help wondering what all the fuss was about. Didn't people realize that the most heavenly of all confections--the chocolate butter cream square--had existed for years at Sarah Jane's Bakery in northeast... More >>
• BEST FISH MARKET
  Fish flies into Coastal Seafoods every day. For more than 20 years, Coastal Seafoods has been supplying metro restaurants and residents with saltwater and freshwater creatures--and the know-how to enjoy them. Let's talk tuna. Coastal is the only Twin Cities source of sushi-grade tuna that... More >>
• BEST FRESH PRODUCE
  The first grocery store in the Twin Cities to become certified organic, the Wedge is renowned for its produce. The selection is as broad as it is deep, and everything is identified by where and how it was grown (field of origin, certified organic, transitional, conventional). The Wedge stocks... More >>
• BEST FRIED CHICKEN
  Walked into Nardie's the other day. (Nardie's, in case you are not of the fried chicken pursuing persuasion, is the little back-of-the-bar joint at the nightclub Arnellia's.) And people were piled up around the soul-food window like they were handing out gold back there. Which, in a way, they... More >>
• BEST FRIES
  New York City's famed Lespinasse in the St. Regis Hotel recently closed. Do you care? Of course not, because you got yours. New York may have lost a four-star restaurant with astronomical prices, but Lisa Carlson, an ex-chef de partie from that famed French establishment, has been helming the... More >>
• BEST GOURMET GROCERY
  It's a sprawling, generous market, stacked with artisan goodies from the tip of Italy's boot to the top of its Alps. Find the likes of raw cow's-milk taleggio in all its blooming, runny glory. Or the beloved guanciale (cured pork jowl). There's a wide variety of prosciutto, as well as speck... More >>
• BEST HOT DOGS
  Stroll into this West Bank institution and you'll soon know the difference between the salted roadkill that passes for hot dogs in too many other joints and the succulent Vienna beef that the Wienery jams into its casings. The meat is pithy, juicy, and eminently flavorful. But the unpretentious... More >>
• BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR
  If you're meandering around the neighborhood of the Grand Ole Creamery, it's practically impossible not to be pulled in by the divine smell of fresh waffle cones. Sweet, golden, and somehow both soft and crunchy, one of these without ice cream could leave you content. But then you'd be missing... More >>
• BEST INDIAN GROCERY
  Just about anything you'd need to create an authentic Indian feast can be found at Asia Imports, the Twin Cities' most inclusive ethnic grocery. Need some fasting items? Try the seeds rajagro flour or salted chana. Perhaps your recipe calls for coconut? Then choose between the ultra-fine... More >>
• BEST ITALIAN GROCERY
  For almost 70 years, tiny Delmonico's Italian Foods in northeast Minneapolis has been the real deal. Located in a quiet neighborhood across from Polk Park, Delmonico's remains the epitome of an amiable old-school, no-nonsense neighborhood market. This decidedly isn't one of those ambitious... More >>
• BEST LATINO GROCERY
  When it comes to quality Latino grocers in the Twin Cities, no one covers the bases quite as well as El Burrito Mercado. The produce section has quantity as well as quality, with large mounds of ripe avocados, plentiful bunches of plantains, and a sea of multi-colored chili peppers. The deli... More >>
• BEST MIDDLE EASTERN BREAD
  Holy pita! How can we choose from all these different flatbreads? There's wheat, white, pocket or no (Greek style), Lebanese (square)... Plus slabs of chewy, stretchy Afghani barbari, slathered with olive oil and sesame seeds, roasted garlic, or hot spices. And the spongy, sour East African... More >>
• BEST MIDDLE EASTERN GROCERY
  If you know about--and care about--your feta (domestic, Bulgarian, Greek, French), you should go to Bill's. You'll also find endless olives, cheeses (the best price on manchego), plus many different kinds of dates, dried apricots, nuts, seeds, spices and herbs. The frozen Greek and Turkish... More >>
• BEST NATURAL FOODS GROCERY
  These intimate neighborhood co-ops are for those who like to shop as much as they like to cook. First of all, you can get what you need without endless (and hopeless) wandering. Here merchandise is arranged not to seduce or awe, but to help you get what you need and move on. You can buy major... More >>
• BEST PIZZA
  Different strokes for different folks, they say. But we hate to admit that our favorite stroke-book might just be our tattered takeout menu from Punch, which we extract from the desk drawer whenever times get tough. From it we read about how the Punch proprietors keep their 800-degree oven... More >>
• BEST SALAD
  Practically synonymous with towering cakes (such as the famous chocolate caramel turtle cake), Cafe Latté is not necessarily the first place you think of when it comes to salad. So, here's a gentle reminder: wheat berry, broccoli, and cheddar; lemon, basil, and shrimp; caesar with... More >>
• BEST SCONES
  Move over, croissants--scones have captured the latte-and-chai crowd. Of course, a good scone is pretty hard to find. It must be gently handmade with attention to a balance of flour, butter, and cream; otherwise it's a doorstop. At the Bakery on Grand, Jessica Anderson, formerly of Lucia's,... More >>
• BEST SOUL FOOD
  This war has left a lot of people feeling out of joint with America. But if you want to remind yourself of what is true and real and good about this country, you could do a lot worse than to stop in at Lucille's Kitchen, the north Minneapolis soul-food spot of such excellence, it should rank in... More >>
• BEST SUSHI
  In the quest to figure out the answer to which sushi bar is best in this notoriously volatile category, we recently visited several top sushi spots in a single night. Origami was head and shoulders above the competition. Kohada (marinated gizzard shad) was as slight as salted smoke on the... More >>
• BEST TAKEOUT
  If bread is the foundation of civilization, then maybe we're not all going to hell in a hand basket. Because man, we sure have a lot of great loaves! The best, perhaps, is the Twin Cities' first: the French Meadow baguette. It's of sourdough origin, substantially chewy, and wheaten with a... More >>
• BEST WINE AND LIQUOR STORE
  Back in 1934 the 11th liquor license in the great state of Minnesota was granted to a Surdyk, and ever since then people named Surdyk have been selling wine and liquor to the most discriminating among us. A lot of wine and a lot of liquor. In fact, lately they have been selling us between eight... More >>