FOODSTUFF >>

• BEST APPLE ORCHARD
  All you have to do is bite into a Fischer's Sweet Sixteen apple to understand the Garden of Eden and Adam's dilemma. Nothing should taste so good nor evoke such childhood memory and desire—of climbing trees, blazing fires, warm pie, hot cider laced with rum, of temptation and both kinds of... More >>
• BEST ASIAN GROCERY
  Sometimes we come here just to listen to the confluence of languages—Vietnamese, Hmong, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese. Sometimes it's for the smells—overripe bananas, musty dried shrimp, fresh meat, Lysol. The variety of smells and sounds reminds us that there's a whole... More >>
• BEST BAKERY
  When last in Paris we got a chance to go to that mad temple of takeout luxury, La Grande Epicerie at the big department store Le Bon Marche. As we stood there, we were stunned by the salamis, floored by the smoked and fresh fishes, gobsmacked by the cheeses, and nearly brought to tears by the... More >>
• BEST BARBECUE
  The flavors of a good barbecue march over your taste buds in stages of subtle intensity. Ted Cook's superb barbecue sauce leads with a bang of tang that's sweet, sour, and salty simultaneously. Now your buds are tingling but not scorched, ready for that succulent sauce-meat meld, where the pork... More >>
• BEST BREAD
  When Rustica Bakery opened in 2004, the denizens of the East Harriet Farmstead neighborhood could hardly believe their good fortune. One can now pick up a sturdy baguette wrapped in crisp brown paper, a hearty levain loaf that cries out for generous dollops of homemade blackberry jam, or a... More >>
• BEST BURGER
  Some things never ever change, and they never ever should. Matt's Bar, "home of the Jucy Lucy," looks no different than it did 30 years ago, except nowadays you don't have to squint through your neighbor's cigarette smoke to see the game on TV. Same oval, red plastic baskets loaded with skinless... More >>
• BEST BURGER (GOURMET)
  You think you can't improve on a good old American quarterpounder with cheese? You don't know how wrong you are. You could marinate the beef as if it were spicy Korean bulgogi and top it with a mild kimchee ($10). You could start with ground pork or yellowfin tuna and add Japanese sparks like... More >>
• BEST BURRITO
  There's an old adage about taquerias—the worse the joint looks, the better the food must be. Pineda Tacos 1 and Pineda Tacos 3 (#2 closed to universal howls of protest in mid-March) don't offer a white-tablecloth experience, but they do provide the best excuse for a food coma this side of... More >>
• BEST CANDY STORE
  Sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet temptation. Remember catching Swedish fish in your mouth, or picking candy dots off their paper strip hiding behind your math book, or sucking a Fire Ball slowly and examining how its coating changed as the searing cinnamon mellowed? (Maybe you're one of the unlucky... More >>
• BEST CHEESE SELECTION
  There is something reverent in the way Surdyk's staff offers slivers of cheese on squares of butcher paper, in their soft-spoken delight in describing a Gouda's four-year history, the buttery D'elice from near the Loire, a truffle-laced Sottoccenere from the Piedmont. No grab and go here; you... More >>
• BEST CHOCOLATE
  Forty-one percent. 58.5 percent. 73.5 percent. 85 percent. Does that .5 percent really matter? When you're talking cocoa content—and you're talking with Micheal Roberts—it does. Roberts started Legacy Chocolates, with locations in St. Paul and Menomonie, Wisconsin, four years ago.... More >>
• BEST COFFEE (BY THE POUND)
  Wake up and change the world. Put a little peace in your cup: Peace Coffee's French Roast, satiny dark, so rich and hefty you want to sip and savor it with a spoon. These premium beans are tenderly roasted in small batches, then delivered to stores not by gas-guzzling trucks but by... More >>
• BEST DELICATESSEN
  Not much has changed at Cecils these past 50 years. Thank God. Serving St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, Cecils has established itself as the classic purveyor of good things from the Kosher deli tradition—real corned beef and pastrami (not too salty and nicely marbled), soft and hard... More >>
• BEST FISH FRY
  The Lent tradition of the Friday fish fry doesn't water every mouth in town—this is Minnesota after all, not Milwaukee—but even without any real competition, St. Albert's fish fry sets a standard that would be hard to beat in any state. First of all, there's the gambling: raffle... More >>
• BEST FISH MARKET
  Let's talk tuna, the talisman of a real fish market, the kind of market you might find on an ocean coast. Coastal is often the only Twin Cities source for sushi-grade tuna. Honest, authentic sushi-grade tuna that hasn't been blasted with carbon dioxide to make it look red. Every day, for the... More >>
• BEST FRESH PRODUCE
  The place is tiny when you consider the wealth packed inside. Aisles too narrow for more than two carts snake past a pyramid of pale Colorado peaches, perilously stacked—knock them over and you'd set in motion a terrible domino effect of colorful catastrophe, as peaches would fall upon... More >>
• BEST FRIED CHICKEN
  It takes a tough guy to make tender fried chicken. Just ask Leonard Lowe of Nardie's Café. He is very serious about wings—plump, meaty, significant, wholly satisfying fried chicken wings. Dark golden with a crackly coating, moist and tender, sizzled within moments of your order,... More >>
• BEST FRIES
  It's a wonder Barbette's wildly popular fries aren't regulated by the state; serving them from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. seems a bit much for the public morals. These darling hand-cut irregulars are fried in small batches to crispy caramel perfection; tender and fluffy within, they taste like... More >>
• BEST GOURMET GROCERY
  How much resemblance do you suppose there is between Tuscany and Woodbury? If there's any, Woodbury has the Kowalski family to thank—it's not the Italianate facade of their mega-grocery that makes the eastern suburb more Italian, it's the quality of the groceries, and, thus, the elevation... More >>
• BEST HOT DOGS
  At the Minneapolis Farmers' Market, Easter through November is hot dog season. That's when Dan Tollefson cranks up his griddle and sizzles hot dogs and brats in the crisp morning sun. His booth is on the northwest corner, right where there's room for the long lines that must form once the... More >>
• BEST ICE CREAM PARLOR
  Crema Café is a little oasis on busy Lyndale Avenue. The tidy building features leafy plants, wrought iron tables, elegant murals, stone floors, tawny-colored walls, a secluded patio—and a literal gallery of awards, all honoring the marvelous ice creams and sorbets that fill the... More >>
• BEST INDIAN GROCERY
  We wince to think of it, but a trillion years ago when culottes were first in and we were dinner-party novices, we stood in an aisle in a local mega-mart trying to decide which was the packet of coconut called for in the curry we planned, the one whose contents were, as the label inexplicably... More >>
• BEST LATINO GROCERY
  Not long ago we got dragged to that most tired of south Minneapolis institutions: the block-club potluck. There was potato salad. There were brownies. There was even a cheese and fruit board that must have cost a week's paycheck and an entire morning of indecision at Surdyk's. But you know what... More >>
• BEST LIQUOR STORE
  Eleven-hundred bottles of beer, on the wall (and in the cooler, and stacked on the shelves), 220 different kinds of single malt Scotch—seriously, Blue Max is nothing if not dizzying. They stock a huge selection of specialty hooch—"winter beers," "highland" and "lowland" Scotch, rare... More >>
• BEST NATURAL FOODS GROCERY
  Big and broad, Whole Foods covers the whole gamut: organic produce; artisan cheese; wild and farm-raised fish; grass-fed, free-range, and organic meat; frozen vegan entrees; gluten-free baked goods; recycled paper towels and vitamins; cosmetics; yoga CDs; herbal sleep aids; and baby toys. With... More >>
• BEST NATURAL GROCER IN A NON-GRANOLA NEIGHBORHOOD
  For people living out in the 'burbs, it's not always easy to find grocery stores that cater to special dietary needs. Though most of the Cub Foods and Rainbows around town have natural or healthy-living sections quarantined off from the normal processed items and pesticide-sprayed produce,... More >>
• BEST PIZZA
  Don't let the chic Euro-decor, the semi-circular bar, the soft, kind lighting and clean lines fool you: The new kid on Uptown's block knows pizza. Here you'll find serious hand-tossed crusts wood-fired to ever-so-slightly charred perfection. You can always judge a pizza place by its simplest... More >>
• BEST SOUL FOOD
  The northeast corner of University Avenue and Dale Street is now officially the epicenter of soul in the Twin Cities, thanks to the magical kitchen that lies within Jackie Williams's Abundant Bistro. The fall-away tender fried catfish sports a zesty batter and can be ordered with a side of... More >>
• BEST SUSHI
  Just sitting at the sushi bar in Origami is a lesson in grace and courtesy, as well as in how to taste the most delicate and sublime gifts from our seas. Each of these classically trained, articulate chefs understands that his duty is not merely to prepare and serve elegant traditional Nigiri... More >>
• BEST WINE STORE
  Some people only sip from Riedel's $40 hand-blown stems, while others buy the new Riedel line at Target. Some people see Bordeaux futures as a financial vehicle with which to amplify their cellars, while others use the term to signify that we hope for a future in which we drink more Bordeaux.... More >>