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The menu at Diane’ s Place includes traditional dishes like Hmong sausage with sticky rice and papaya noodle salad, as well as pastries that meld chef Moua’ s French training with Asian flavors, like the coconut pandan croissant and green scallion danish with garlic butter.
Once the city’ s industrial core, northeast Minneapolis is now a vibrant arts district, where some factories and warehouses have been transformed into studio spaces and galleries. The Northrup King Building— originally a seed factory but now home to more than 350 artists— hosts weekly‘ Open Saturdays’. Visitors can explore the complex, chat with artists and purchase ceramics, jewelry, paintings, photography and textiles. The nearby Casket Arts Building, Holland Arts East and West Buildings, and California Building also host occasional open studio hours and special events. Mojo Coffee Gallery functions as both a cafe and gallery, with lattes, homemade cinnamon rolls and works from over 50 artists.
Next, check out the buzzy North Loop neighborhood, which takes its name from the streetcar line that ran through the area when it was a factory and warehouse district. Historic industrial buildings now house upscale boutiques and restaurants. Spend the afternoon perusing local retailers like chic kids’ boutique Pacifier;
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Queen Anna House of Fashion, which specializes in small, independent and emerging designers; and MartinPatrick3, an expansive store stocked with luxury apparel, home furnishings and fragrances. Bookworms should check out James and Mary Laurie Booksellers, which offers shelves filled with more than 120,000 volumes( including rare first editions), as well as a gallery of antiquarian maps and thousands of classical and jazz vinyl records.
Stay in the North Loop for dinner and splurge on a tasting menu. Chef Gavin Kaysen’ s Demi is an intimate dining theater, seating 20 diners at a U-shaped counter that surrounds the open kitchen. Depending on the evening, the tasting menu may be seven or eleven courses that highlight Midwestern ingredients and French techniques.
Another North Loop staple is Kado no Mise, chef Shigeyuki Furukawa’ s omakase restaurant. Meals feature traditional Edomae sushi( a style that originated in chef Furukawa’ s native Tokyo) and elegant, seasonal dishes like fava beans with sea bream roe. Stop by Gori Gori Peku, the restaurant’ s stylish bar tucked into a secondfloor alcove, for an excellent selection of premium Japanese whiskey and sake.
Similar to Kado no Mise, many of the North Loop’ s fine-dining establishments have adjacent or basement speakeasy-style
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From left: Boom Island on the Mississippi River; chicken noodle soup at Diane’ s Place Previous pages, clockwise from top left: Stone Arch Bridge Fall; Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota; St. Anthony Bluff Park; a Prince mural in uptown Minneapolis; cycling around Bde Maka Ska; a‘ she-eye’ cocktail at Diane’ s Place; static generator at Bakken Musuem; svamptoast at FIKA cafe; sign for Gold Medal flour at Mill City Museum |
images: Lane Pelovsky; Gemma Weston / Courtesy Of Meet Minneapolis |
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