Best authentic Mexican restaurants in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, St. Paul: live, prices)

[Isabel_009]

Since I'm planning to go with my significant other to tour St. Paul then I will most likely end up eating at Boca Chica.

Originally Posted by Explorer John

As for St. Paul, the West Side has some pretty good options. The area around Robert St. and Caesar Chavez is a great place to just walk around and explore. The aforementioned Boca Chica is good, along with La Fonda and El Burrito Mercado. All of these are very reasonably priced.

Some other resources you might find helpful for finding restaurants/bars/stuff to do in the Twin Cities:

Heavy Table
City Pages (also available in print)
Yelp

[jmlowman]

Originally Posted by Duk123

Taqueria Los Ocampo 920 E. Lake St. Minneapolis -really good basic Mexican food

Second this suggestion. My wife and I were in Minneapolis for a few days a few weeks ago, and we always try out the local places and microbreweries when in a new city. One of the valets at our hotel put us onto it.

Taqueria Los Ocampo is more authentic than many of the independent Mexican restaurants we go to in southern California.

They also have a huge variety of meats and dishes.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by Isabel_009

I love authentic Mexican food. It was rather hard to come by in Toronto (but I found a few places I liked) and there seems to be a lot of options here, so I just want to hear what people have to say about what is "the best". The criteria here is authenticity, so only authentic mexican food lovers need reply to this post! I'm also looking for a place that is quaint and cute, and where the food isn't excessively greasy. My significant other is visiting in two weeks and I was hoping to go out with him somewhere. We are also hoping to hit up an Indian resto, so suggestions about that are welcome as well. I hear restaurant week is coming up, but it seems that the participating restaurants are mostly the high profile ones in the downtown area, although perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps that isn't the best guide to good food in the Twin Cities.

And while I'm at it, I am also VERY curious about whether there are good authentic German/Bavarian or perhaps "Scandinavian" restaurants?? Again, German/Austrain food/baked goods was hard to come by in Toronto because for some reason the Toronto German community left for a nearby suburb some time ago. There was once an amazing Austrian dessert establishment that I used to visit sometimes with my dad but sadly they closed up shop last year.

For authentic Mexican food, you should check out the Mercado Central on Lake Avenue. Their website is here: COOPERATIVA MERCADO CENTRAL Authentic Latin American Marketplace . They're basically a space for Latin American (almost all Mexican) oriented businesses to set up shop. The crowd inside is almost all Mexican, and you'll find a tortilleria (which does pozole and menudo as well), taqueria, Mexican sandwich shop, a Mexican bakery, sweets shop, pupuseria (Salvadoran), and three or four other "restaurants". (Try the atole from the tamale shop). There's a lot of other stuff there too.

As for Indian, there are a ton of South Asian restaurants in the Twin Cities, even in the suburbs. Those which get a lot of good reviews include "Kabobs" in Bloomington ( Home ), "Great India" ( Indian restaurant offering delicious Indian food. Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. - Home) in Brooklyn Center, and (especially for authenticity) the one across from the Indian grocery store at 18th & Central Ave NE in Minneapolis itself. South Indian food can be had at Nala Pak in Columbia Heights ( Nalapak Indian Restaurant - Columbia Hts USA (http://www.nalapak.com/menu.html - broken link) ) and perhaps a few other places, Nepali at Everest on Grand ( Everest on Grand | Nepali and Tibetan cuisine ) in St. Paul and other restaurants, and Sri Lankan at Sambol ( Best Indian Cuisine in the Twin Cities ) in Eagan.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

Originally Posted by tvdxer

For authentic Mexican food, you should check out the Mercado Central on Lake Avenue. Their website is here: COOPERATIVA MERCADO CENTRAL Authentic Latin American Marketplace . They're basically a space for Latin American (almost all Mexican) oriented businesses to set up shop. The crowd inside is almost all Mexican, and you'll find a tortilleria (which does pozole and menudo as well), taqueria, Mexican sandwich shop, a Mexican bakery, sweets shop, pupuseria (Salvadoran), and three or four other "restaurants". (Try the atole from the tamale shop). There's a lot of other stuff there too.

I second this suggestion but it's on E Lake St and Bloomington Ave, not "Lake Avenue." We go to Mercado Central regularly, I recommend the tamales and the pozole.

[tvdxer]

Originally Posted by Slig

I second this suggestion but it's on E Lake St and Bloomington Ave, not "Lake Avenue." We go to Mercado Central regularly, I recommend the tamales and the pozole.

Ha, Lake Avenue is in Duluth. Sorry. I did mean "Lake Street"

[Isabel_009]

Thanks for all the recommendations! I'm overwhelmed with choices.....!

[Joe3rdwash]

We have a HUGE African population so go to Riverside in East MPLS for african food
We also have Popeye's on W Lake ST
Great local Mexican restraunts would be in W St Paul
Since we have a huge Hmong/Asian population there are good restraunts at St Paul

[nick is rulz]

taco taxi, son.

[Isabel_009]

Okay, if you had to say what is the most "top quality" Mexican restaurant -- I know that is subjective to a certain extent, but I mean authentic, well presented food and nice atmosphere -- what would it be? And would it be in St. Paul or Minneapolis? El Burrito Mercado sounds good but from what I can gather from what's been said here and on the website, it's more of a cafeteria style environment. I want to have a little bit more ambience, since I won't see my boyfriend for a while after this. We want to go out and eat good food, but we also want to linger a bit and have good conversation over wine, etc....

[Explorer John]

Originally Posted by Isabel_009

Okay, if you had to say what is the most "top quality" Mexican restaurant -- I know that is subjective to a certain extent, but I mean authentic, well presented food and nice atmosphere -- what would it be? And would it be in St. Paul or Minneapolis? El Burrito Mercado sounds good but from what I can gather from what's been said here and on the website, it's more of a cafeteria style environment. I want to have a little bit more ambience, since I won't see my boyfriend for a while after this. We want to go out and eat good food, but we also want to linger a bit and have good conversation over wine, etc....

I can speak to some of the St. Paul choices. You're right, El Burrito Mercado is basically a cafeteria line. That said it's in a really cool, bustling, vibrant market stocked with authentic goods. But you probably won't get the sit down environment you may be looking for. Boca Chica and La Fonda would be better for that. Boca Chica can sometimes get the after work happy hour type of vibe depending when you go but it's still good and has a decent sized menu. La Fonda's menu is smaller and the atmosphere is much more quaint. They do serve some tasty, less common food/drink though in my opinion. I've only had it once but it gets my vote.