46. Barbary Fig
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 290-2085
Address: 720 Grand Ave.
Description: Like many businesses on St. Paul’s buzzing Grand Avenue, Barbary Fig operates out of a house. But chef Brahim Hadj-Moussa is doing wonderful things with the foods of north Africa in his cozy restaurant. The menu includes Morroccan-, Tunisian-, and Mediterranean-influenced specialties with savory ingredients such as figs, couscous, phyllo dough, cinnamon, pears, and apricots. Barbary Fig’s tangine (a Moroccan stew) is a menu standout. Desserts here are also fantastic. The restaurant is open for lunch Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, and for dinner Wednesday through Monday.
47. Everest On Grand
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 696-1666
Address: 1278 Grand Ave.
Description: Everest on Grand serves Nepali and Tibetan dishes in a cozy space on Grand Avenue. The restaurant specializes in Tibetan momos, tasty steamed dumplings mixed with vegetables, pork and turkey, or yak. Nepali specialties include a variety of vegetarian and meat or fish (chicken, goat, lamb, cod, or shrimp) curries and daal-bhatt, traditional Nepali combination meals. During the week the restaurant features a lunch buffet, allowing patrons to sample many of the kitchen’s Himalayan dishes at a set price. Both locations are open daily for lunch and dinner.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1806 St. Clair Ave.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1330 Larpenteur Ave. West
50. Mancini’S Char House
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 224-7345
Address: 531 Seventh St. West
Description: It’s no coincidence that Mancini’s calls itself a “char house” rather than a “steakhouse”: You’ll find no prissy grass-fed beef or sustainable ahi tuna at this St. Paul institution, where dinner is a banquet and red meat is red meat. Generations of St. Paul families have made their way to Mancini’s for grown-ups’ nights out, and happily it hasn’t been significantly renovated for several presidential administrations. Order a steak with baked potato or a lobster with baked potato: You won’t be disappointed, because really, what were you expecting? Before or after dinner, enjoy an aperitif in the mirrored lounge, a not-so-little piece of Vegas on West Seventh.
51. The Strip Club
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 793-6247
Address: 378 Maria Ave.
Description: Note the URL above, because the Strip Club is the least Googleable restaurant in Minnesota. You’re not likely to stumble across it, either, unless you’re a resident of its West Side neighborhood in St. Paul. Chef J. D. Fratzke founded the Strip Club under the assumption that people would go a little out of the way to find it, and he’s been proved very right: It’s one of the top what-you’ve-never-been-oh-wow-you’ve-got-to-go restaurants in the Twin Cities. As the name indicates, meats are first and foremost at the Strip Club, with tasty and colorfully named (Thai Me Up; Tuscan Titellation; Whip Me, Beet Me) sauces to accompany your prime cut cooked just as you like it. (And as you like it isn’t well-done…right? Right?!)
52. Pad Thai Grand Cafe
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 690-1393
Address: 1681 Grand Ave.
Description: The food at the Pad Thai Grand Cafe—a spacious but still oft-crowded restaurant at the western end of Grand Avenue—includes spring rolls with a tangy spicy fish sauce, pad thai, drunken noodles, and pra ram rong song (stir-fried meat with vegetables in a peanut sauce). The menu includes seafood and vegetarian options as well as a wine list. The service is friendly, and the chef will spice dishes according to patrons’ desired heat level. Pad Thai is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for dinner only.
53. Taste Of Thailand
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 644-3997
Address: 1671 Selby Ave.
Description: The original location of Taste of Thailand, on a very slowly gentrifying stretch of Selby Avenue west of Snelling Avenue in St. Paul, won’t wow you with its intimate atmosphere or with its speedy service. But it makes up for lack of ambience with its extensive menu of wonderful Thai dishes. The restaurant has all the classics, including oh-so-light spring rolls, fiery miang kham, the house specialty tom yum soup, and the ever-popular pad thai. Other notable dishes include pad goong, pad med mamnang himaphane, and gaeng ped pla. If it’s summertime, wash it all down with a glass of Thai lemonade. All Taste of Thailand locations are open daily for lunch (there’s a lunch buffet Monday through Friday) and dinner.
54. Black Sea
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 917-8832
Address: 737 Snelling Ave. North
Description: The first Turkish restaurant in Minnesota (opened in 2001) is arguably one of the best. The menu is filled with authentic Turkish delights such as döner (gyros), köfte (meatball kebabs), shish kebabs, and several vegetarian entrées, including falafels. The seasonal cold cucumber soup and the falafel salad are also worthy of your consideration, as is the yogurt drink—though if you’re new to the establishment, the proprietors will make you try a sip before giving you a whole glass. And don’t pass up the thick Turkish coffee, which is particularly tasty here. Turkish teas are also available. The restaurant does not serve alcohol. Black Sea is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday.
55. Saigon Restaurant & Bakery
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 225-8751
Address: 601 University Ave. West
Description: Saigon Restaurant is the best and most affordable authentic Vietnamese restaurant in the Twin Cities. The specialties are pho and banh mi. Pho, the national dish of Vietnam, is a huge bowl of soup. It includes vegetables, noodles, and a choice of meats from roast pork to several delicious seafood combinations. Banh mi is a savory Vietnamese sandwich composed of pâté, cilantro, cucumber, Vietnamese mayo, and any of a number of meats combined on a fresh baguette. There is a deli counter where banh mi and baked goods are available for takeout, all at incredibly low prices. The restaurant and bakery are open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner.
56. Vina Highland
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 698-8408
Address: 756 Cleveland Ave. South
57. Vina Plus
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 644-1384
Address: 1821 University Ave.
Description: The casual Vina serves delicious, inexpensive dishes. The menu is filled with Vietnamese favorites such as curry shrimp, egg roll salad, and hot-and-spicy chicken. The hot-and-spicy chicken is an excellent rendition of the Vietnamese favorite and is composed of chicken with onions, lemongrass, and red peppers. All items are spiced to order and contain no MSG. For lunch, Vina features more inexpensive combination meals, where Chinese menu items are an important part. Vina is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner. Vina accepts Visa and MasterCard.
58. Cafe Latte
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 224-5687
Address: 850 Grand Ave.
Description: Cafe Latte is ground zero for pure decadence. The establishment is renowned for its decadent turtle cake—dark chocolate cake layers separated by and topped with buttery caramel and pecans—as well as the tart key lime pies, raspberry marzipan, and thick scones served with crème frâiche, jams, and fresh fruit. Also of particular note is the exceptionally moist tres leches cake, with three cake layers each soaked in a different type of milk and fresh raspberries circling the cake’s top. Yum. A few desserts are available as individual servings, but the restaurant primarily makes full cakes for parties and events. Cafe Latte is open daily.
59. Candyland
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (651) 292-1191
Address: 435 Wabasha St. North
Description: Did somebody say popcorn?! Candyland’s gotcher popcorn, and you can get your fix in either of the Twin Cities’ downtowns—as well as by mail, if you live out of town or don’t want to tempt yourself with the dazzling variety of candy-coated options. Candyland also stocks a range of specialty and vintage candies: brittle, bark, jawbreakers, jelly beans. Most candy stores are a pure sugar rush, but at Candyland salt and sugar run neck-and-neck. What will win? Everything but your waistline.
City: St. Paul, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1354 Eckles Ave.