Minneapolis must see/do/eat/stay?

[daisypaloma]

Does anyone have any recommendations?  We'll be there towards the end of July for 3 days.  We'll be in Target Field for one night, otherwise we have no other plans. 

[sunnysally]

What do you like to do? Will you have a car? Any kids, what are their ages?

[daisypaloma]

May 20, 2015 21:56:46 GMT -5 sunnysally said:

What do you like to do? Will you have a car? Any kids, what are their ages?

Will have a car, no kids.  We like to eat at good local restaurants that served local food.  We eat pretty much anything.  We'll likely eat at a fancy ($$$) place one night.  We figured we'd stop at MOA just because it's there, and we would love to check out the outdoors scene, maybe even drive to Duluth to check out Lake Superior.  I love museum and the arts, but only if it's worth spending a few hours to, as opposed to exploring and getting the most of the rest of the city.

[sunnysally]

For your fancy dinner place, I highly recommend Travail. www.travailkitchen.com/#about They haven't released July tickets yet, but I'm sure they will soon. Dinner takes about 3 hours and it is totally worth it.

There are tons of places to walk around and explore the outdoors in Minneapolis: Lake Harriet, Minnehaha Falls, Stone Arch bridge. If the weather is nice, most places will be crowded but you can people watch!

A quick Google search turned up this article and I mostly agree: midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/outdoors_recreation/hiking/best_walks_hikes_minneapolis.html

Our museums are good, but if you are going to do a trip to Duluth you probably won't have much time. But, if the weather is bad the Minneapolis Institute of Art is nice and it is free! The Walker Sculpture Garden is outdoors and also free.

Gooseberry Falls is about 40 miles north of Duluth and has fairly impressive falls that aren't a long hike to get to. You can take the scenic byway from Duluth and drive along Superior for most of the way.

[daisypaloma]

Travail looked like a fun place to spend a nice dining night!  Reasonable too.

[molecularmonkey]

May 20, 2015 22:32:37 GMT -5 sunnysally said:

For your fancy dinner place, I highly recommend Travail. www.travailkitchen.com/#about They haven't released July tickets yet, but I'm sure they will soon. Dinner takes about 3 hours and it is totally worth it.

There are tons of places to walk around and explore the outdoors in Minneapolis: Lake Harriet, Minnehaha Falls, Stone Arch bridge. If the weather is nice, most places will be crowded but you can people watch!

A quick Google search turned up this article and I mostly agree: midwestweekends.com/plan_a_trip/outdoors_recreation/hiking/best_walks_hikes_minneapolis.html

Our museums are good, but if you are going to do a trip to Duluth you probably won't have much time. But, if the weather is bad the Minneapolis Institute of Art is nice and it is free! The Walker Sculpture Garden is outdoors and also free.

Gooseberry Falls is about 40 miles north of Duluth and has fairly impressive falls that aren't a long hike to get to. You can take the scenic byway from Duluth and drive along Superior for most of the way.

I think Duluth is almost too far of a drive for that short of a time, IMO.  If you wanted to do a day trip, I'd either check out Taylor's falls, Stillwater or Redwing.  Those are both about 40 mins or so away from the city.  All are located on the river, in cutesy tourist towns.   Taylor's falls has a nice boat tour, but is also between WI and MN state parks, which have excellent hiking.  Stillwater and Redwing are better known for shopping and antiques.

I'd recommend staying downtown.  Doubletree Minneapolis is a pretty nice hotel, located right next to Brit's, off Nicollet Ave.    There are so many teriffic restaurants downtown, just depends on what you like.

Another fun thing is to drive to Uptown, walk or rent bikes to check out  Lake Harriet or Lake Calhoun.  Wonderful people watching and plenty of water activities.  There's often live music.  Check out City Pages for upcoming events around that time.

[whitemerlot]

Visit Minnehaha Falls and check out Sea Salt for a casual lunch. Inexpensive fish tacos with a great view.

Rent bikes and bike the chain of lakes in Minneapolis. (I can give more info if interested)

Do you guys drink beer? We have some awesome local breweries.

I agree that Duluth is quite a drive. It's cool, but maybe not worth the 5-6 hours in the car for such a quick visit. Stillwater has some good restaurants and it much closer and very nice.

[majesty318]

Lurker here, but we visited Minneapolis a few years ago and stayed in the Doubletree molecularmonkey recommended. I am pretty picky and really liked it. We did not have a car.

We also ate very well in Minneapolis and I recommend:

112Eatery
Café Lurcat - this one is on the fancy side. When I was there, they ran a Sunday promotion where it was (I believe) $50 per couple for a bottle of wine and 3 courses each. Insane deal.
Brunch at Ike's - not at all fancy but a ridiculous amount of food, and Bloody Mary's with garnishes that were basically another meai

[molecularmonkey]

Another fun thing would be a Tap Room Crawl in NE Mpls, if you enjoy beer. You could easily taxi and walk between quite a few breweries: Dangerous Man, 612, Indeed, Bauhaus and Fulton tap rooms. Harriet Brewing in is the midtown area and has really great Belgian IPAS, which are something that's pretty unique to the area.

Minneapolis is also known for exceptional Vietnamese food. A favorite cheap eat spot for us is Quang Restaurant, but there are many other good spots in town. I'd avoid the tourist Juicy lucy traps, unless you have a serious desire for a fast-food grade burger and a long wait. The Blue Door pub still serves Lucys, but they are better quality than Matt's or 5-8 club.

The North Loop (close to Target field) has quite a few ''hot'' restuarants these days. Bar La Grasse is well known for romantic atmosphere and spot-on Italian.

Also, the Walker Sculpture garden is a fun spot to check out

[loreleigilmore]

I recommend the Chanhassen dinner theater. It's a short drive away. Amy Adams got her start there.

[mrsfarmer]

I like eating at The Local downtown Minneapolis, also Hell's Kitchen is fabulous for breakfast.

[daisypaloma]

May 21, 2015 12:21:40 GMT -5 molecularmonkey said:

Another fun thing would be a Tap Room Crawl in NE Mpls, if you enjoy beer. You could easily taxi and walk between quite a few breweries: Dangerous Man, 612, Indeed, Bauhaus and Fulton tap rooms. Harriet Brewing in is the midtown area and has really great Belgian IPAS, which are something that's pretty unique to the area.

Minneapolis is also known for exceptional Vietnamese food. A favorite cheap eat spot for us is Quang Restaurant, but there are many other good spots in town. I'd avoid the tourist Juicy lucy traps, unless you have a serious desire for a fast-food grade burger and a long wait. The Blue Door pub still serves Lucys, but they are better quality than Matt's or 5-8 club.

The North Loop (close to Target field) has quite a few ''hot'' restuarants these days. Bar La Grasse is well known for romantic atmosphere and spot-on Italian.

Also, the Walker Sculpture garden is a fun spot to check out

We love beer! We love breweries!  This is awesome.  Thank you. 

The sculpture garden looks pretty good too. 

[daisypaloma]

May 21, 2015 15:45:14 GMT -5 mrsfarmer said:

I like eating at The Local downtown Minneapolis, also Hell's Kitchen is fabulous for breakfast.

It looks like they have good HH specials too.

[daisypaloma]

May 21, 2015 9:51:22 GMT -5 majesty318 said:

Lurker here, but we visited Minneapolis a few years ago and stayed in the Doubletree molecularmonkey recommended. I am pretty picky and really liked it. We did not have a car.

We also ate very well in Minneapolis and I recommend:

112Eatery
Café Lurcat - this one is on the fancy side. When I was there, they ran a Sunday promotion where it was (I believe) $50 per couple for a bottle of wine and 3 courses each. Insane deal.
Brunch at Ike's - not at all fancy but a ridiculous amount of food, and Bloody Mary's with garnishes that were basically another meai

It looks like they have good seabass.  That deal is insane.

[daisypaloma]

May 21, 2015 9:24:30 GMT -5 whitemerlot said:

Visit Minnehaha Falls and check out Sea Salt for a casual lunch. Inexpensive fish tacos with a great view.

Rent bikes and bike the chain of lakes in Minneapolis. (I can give more info if interested)

Do you guys drink beer? We have some awesome local breweries.

I agree that Duluth is quite a drive. It's cool, but maybe not worth the 5-6 hours in the car for such a quick visit. Stillwater has some good restaurants and it much closer and very nice.

We may do this.

[jene]

I am local, will post some of my favorite places shortly

[jene]

Places I love to eat

Hells Kitchen (especially the mimosa or bloody Mary bar)
Pizzeria Lola
Butcher and the Boar--they also have a stand at target field
The Bachelor Farmer
Seven
Oragami
Sea salt
Masa
Dancing Ganesha

Fulton and Surely are my top favorite local breweries