Groundswell
A St. Paul cafe with a kids’ play area that does not feel like a play area, a beer-and-wine list at night, and a kitchen that turns out a real lunch. One of the better neighborhood third places in the metro.
A long stretch of St. Paul running from the Como Conservatory through the Midway. Fasika Ethiopian, the Turf Club, the Half Time Rec, Ax-Man Surplus, Lake Monster Brewing.
A St. Paul cafe with a kids’ play area that does not feel like a play area, a beer-and-wine list at night, and a kitchen that turns out a real lunch. One of the better neighborhood third places in the metro.
A second-generation spot on Snelling with a long menu and a small, warm room. Bibimbap, soondubu, and bulgogi are the easy orders, and the banchan rotation is always interesting.
Steps from Mirror of Korea in St. Paul’s small Koreatown stretch. Dolsot bibimbap, jjigae, and kimbap, made with care and served in a quiet sit-down room.
The original Twin Cities Hmong marketplace, predating Hmong Village by about a decade. Smaller and rougher around the edges, but the food vendors here are the ones the older generation of Hmong elders eat at. Outdoor food stalls in summer are the move.
A St. Paul Cambodian restaurant on University Avenue, often grouped culturally with the Hmong food scene because the diasporas overlap heavily here. The amok and the lemongrass-grilled pork are the orders. Cash-friendly, family-run, and one of the most underrated rooms in the metro.
A James Beard America’s Classic and one of the most-loved restaurants in St. Paul. Family-run, generous, and the kind of place where the doro wat alone has built a thirty-year following. Order a meat-and-vegetable combination platter, share with the table.
A St. Paul tandoor specialist with a menu built around the clay oven. The bread program is the standout, the kebabs are properly charred, and the goat curry is worth ordering on a cold night.
A St. Paul taproom whose lager program is among the metro’s best. Long picnic tables, rotating food trucks, and a yard that catches just enough afternoon sun. The lakefront murals on the side of the building are part of the charm.
The downstairs Clown Lounge alone earns the Turf a place on this list. Upstairs, one of the better small live-music rooms in the metro. Tall boys, no pretense, a stage that has hosted everyone from Lucinda Williams to your friend’s nephew’s band.
A Como Avenue Irish bar with regulation bocce courts in the basement. Cheap pints, a long-standing staff, live trad music sessions on the right night. As neighborhood as a neighborhood bar gets.
A St. Paul taproom whose patio quietly out-vibes most Minneapolis breweries. Long picnic tables, rotating food trucks, a yard that catches just enough afternoon sun. Lager program is among the best in the metro.
A 384-acre St. Paul park with a free zoo, the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory, an 18-hole public golf course, a swimming lake, and a Japanese garden. The kind of multi-purpose city park that almost does not exist in America anymore.
A St. Paul surplus store that has been selling government-surplus weirdness, taxidermied animals, lab equipment, military jackets, and miscellany since 1965. The kind of place where you go for nothing in particular and leave with a stuffed peacock. A genuinely weird, genuinely Twin Cities institution.
A century-old Victorian glasshouse on the grounds of Como Park. Free, open year-round, and on a February afternoon when the temperature is below zero outside, walking into the orchid room is a small miracle. Possibly the most underrated public space in the metro.
In the basement of the Turf Club. Painted clowns staring down at you, dim lighting, cheap drinks, and an absolute commitment to never explaining itself. One of the strangest, most-loved rooms in either city.