Minneapolis facts and oddities. (Plymouth, Chaska: restaurants, groceries, stores)

[W-B proud]

I'm interested in little known facts and oddities about Minneapolis. Like what foods in minn. known for (ny strip steak, philly cheese steak ect.). Is it affordable for a blue collar worker? Wierd accents? stuff like that.

[K-Luv]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

I'm interested in little known facts and oddities about Minneapolis. Like what foods in minn. known for (ny strip steak, philly cheese steak ect.). Is it affordable for a blue collar worker? Wierd accents? stuff like that.

Well yes, it is fairly affordable for a blue collar worker.

Minnesota foods? First of all, a casserole is referred to as 'hot dish'. Lutefisk is pretty Minnesotan, although you will probably never see it, nor eat it once you figure out what it really is. Although there could be some dispute over this; but beer and brats are pretty Minnesotan as well. Another Minnesotan 'food' thing that comes to mind is that if you like hot and spicy food, then this is the wrong state. Even the Thai restaurants tone it down for Minnesota.

Mostly Minnesota is known for Spam, Hormel, Pilsbury and Green Giant.

The 'Minnesotan accent' is pretty hilarious, but unfortunately you will not hear it too often in the Twin Cities.

Oddities? I'll have to come back to that one.

[aperfectbass]

If you come out to the state fair (Haven't been to any smaller or regional fairs yet) you can get everything on a stick... corn dogs, t-shirts, spaghetti and meatballs, pictures, ect. Alas, no funnel cakes...

Also, if you order 'wild rice soup', sometimes called 'mn wild rice soup' its a creamy soup, very rich, not like the brothy ones I've seen elsewhere in the country.

Coming from PA I'd say its mostly a little cheaper here (gas is 15 cents cheaper, my weekly groceries went down 15-20 bucks a week. Housing is more expensive if you stay close to the twin cities.

As for oddities, its not in every state you can walk over the Mississippi.

[JenLee]

Originally Posted by aperfectbass

As for oddities, its not in every state you can walk over the Mississippi.

Not in just a few steps, anyway!


One of the lesser-known oddities (or road-side curiosities) is the number of towns with huge fiberglass or cement statues of birds, fish, and other animals. You can include Paul Bunyun and Babe the Blue Ox in Bemidji; the loon in Vergas, the Prairie Chicken in Rothsay and so many more that I can't remember. I'm sure many other people could give other towns with other oversize critters; when our kids were little we tried to go to every small town in MN that had one of these roas-side attractions in it.

[Slig]

-You can find the only 2 story outhouse in the world here, although I'm not exactly sure where.
-Minnesota is the land of 10,000 Lakes and Wisconsin is the cheese state yet Minnesota actually produces more dairy than Wisconsin and Wisconsin has more lakes than Minnesota.
-Liquor stores are closed on Sundays here

[big daryle]

The two story outhouse is in Belle Plaine, about 45 miles southwest of Minneapolis on US Hwy 169. It is no longer used, if you were curious about that.

[MNNative]

There is a book out there titled Weird Minnesota. There is a whole "Weird" series I guess...

[plantlover]

I spent a summer in the Chaska area. One food item I loved was Apple Pie with cinnamon ice cream. Yum, Yum!!!

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by JenLee

Not in just a few steps, anyway!


.

Sure you can--up in Itasca State Park, headwaters of the Mississippi. It is about 3" deep and about 20 feet across.

[Thegonagle]

Originally Posted by aperfectbass

As for oddities, its not in every state you can walk over the Mississippi.

Ah, I like that one. I'm somewhat of a road/bridge/civil engineering geek. Off the top of my head, Minneapolis alone has at least 13 walkable bridges across the Mississippi, and if the city ever builds the pedestrian portion on the new 35W bridge, it will be 14. (Or more. Did I miss any? I'm thinking of Ford, Lake/Marshall, Franklin, No. 9, Washington, 10th, Ol' Stoney, 3rd, Hennepin, Plymouth, Broadway, Lowry, and Camden. I've been on all of them and then some, but age and common sense keeps me off the railroad bridges these days.)

What else? If you do like spicy foods, the words "pretend I'm not white" might get you what you want at the ethnic restaurants.

And I've never even seen lutefisk, let alone tasted it.