David what price point are you looking for? Many wine shops when they have a sale have good offerings. As far as high end wines Minneapolis has very few options. Surdyk’s mentioned is solid and close to downtown. I buy about half of my wine in town and half from national operations. Surdyk’s has some really good Rieslings and decant Pinot selection. Thomas Liquors is a bit far in St. Paul. Hennepin Lake in uptown is solid but you will find mainly newer vintage wine.
I was pretty impressed with Sunfish’s selection and I’m in West LA.
It’s been a while since I’ve been out that way, but how has the selection at the two stores out in Long Lake lately(Lakeside and Liquor Barn)?
I used to love Liquor Barn in Long Lake and had forgotten all about them. I will have to make a trip out there next time I’m in the area. Surdyks currently gets about 90% of my Minneapolis purchases.
Enjoying this thread as I’m heading to Minneapolis for the first time this weekend. Where should one go for the best beer, ideally in the hazy ipa family?
Hello David,
As an Oracle DBA that caught my eye. Do you work for them or are just a fellow user/victim of their products?
Mpls is in a weather roller coaster right now. 85 yesterday; 55 on Friday; back to 75 on Sunday.
The Twin Cities is really spread out and you can find brew pubs all over.
Here is a recent article on Minneapolis alone. Also Brits and Kieran’s for British and Irish Pubs downtown.
St Paul has a list of their own too.
Edit Here is a St Paul article.
And we’re very nice.
Surly Brewery is great and has a huge outdoor patio. Red Cow has good beer if you want a bar/restaurant.
I enjoyed the handsome hog
Just back from a long weekend mostly on Lake Superior (Duluth), some in Minneapolis.
My one Minneapolis dinner was at Grand Cafe. Their Paris Brest with chicken liver mousse was just named Food & Wine’s dish of the year. I tasted it. Excellent, but not my dish of the year, but everything else was also excellent. The wildly eclectic short wine list is a treasure. I posted on this recently. Like another place mentioned, they will open anything on the list for an order of two glasses at half the bottle price. A 2001 Leroy Montagny 1er Cru (Montagny, if you don’t know, is a white wine Appellation) was incredible and I had no objection whatsoever to paying $30 a glass for two glasses. And I NEVER pay $30 for a glass of wine.
You’re from Vancouver, so stunning water is part of your life. But Lake Superior was on my bucket list and if you have the time and feel like it, Duluth and the North Shore of Lake Superior are just incredible places. Duluth is an industrial paradise (more beer than wine). OMC smokehouse was as good as bbq gets above the Mason-Dixon line. New Scenic Cafe is Michelin * quality, also with an excellent, eclectic wine list. The asparagus feuillete is world-class grub.
Dan Kravitz
My Mrs is a Program Director. She was part of the Sun Microsystems purchase. I am her plus 1 on this trip.
Craig. Thanks for the Sunfiish tip. They have already reached out to me and are very helpful.
What is uber?
Going to be out in Minneapolis tomorrow through Thursday. Thanks for the recs posted here. Also happened upon some other places in my restaurant searches and wondered what the locals think. Pizzeria Lola and Broder’s Pasta Bar. Any thoughts?
I’m not a Broder’s pizza fan but many locals like them. Its pretty rich. Their wine bar is fun. I much prefer Lola and Red Wagon close by down the street from Lola and easier to get into than Lola. Black Sheep, downtown in the Minneapolis warehouse district is my favorite local pizza.
Just back from Minneapolis and appreciated the suggestions here. Did not do any kind of a deep dive into the wine and beer scene, although went to a few spots.
I thought Surdyk’s had a very nice selection but was particularly impressed with the neighborhood store near where I was staying in NE Minneapolis–Stinson Wine Beer and Spirits. Very well curated selection of wine that would appeal to much of the Berserker set.
Craig I assume you like the Pasta Bar which is the best value in Twin Cities dining. Just ask Luis. Pizza is fine but not earth shattering. Have not tried the wine bar on the third corner. Wondering why they have not purchased the fourth corner.
Had a wonderful dinner both food- and wine-wise at The Bachelor Farmer last night. I’ll try to write some notes at some point but my server allowed me to try a small pour of three different whites and three different reds gratis before deciding which of each I wanted a glass of. All from bottles that had been opened previously as part of their half-bottle program.
Questions: Is Tilia where Piccolo used to be? And, is Kado No Mise worth a trip?
That was the first premium restaurant I dined at in downtown after my company relocated its headquarters there from suburban St Paul.
Our server came over, and he mentioned that the chalkboard across the room listed some good bottles they had opened that night which could be purchased by the glass.
I peered across, and thought “does that really say Clos Saron?” I did a couple of double takes, finally walked closer, and indeed they had a Clos Saron syrah.
Needless to say, I was smitten. Great place.