The current trend of noisy restaurant design does annoy me, I have to agree. I’ve been to Seven for sushi but not steak yet. I’ll have to check out those two places. The bar is high, though – the steak at Manny’s is pretty amazing.
I would skip the Mall of America; it’s nothing but the same chain stores you can see in any mall. When touring, you should spend time on things that are unique to the area, not generic stuff like that.
Some examples:
- Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
- Bakken Museum of Electricity & Magnetism
- IDS Center, Mary Tyler Moore statue (if you liked her show)
- Minnehaha Falls & Park
- the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices was great, but it’s closed now.
I second the Science Museum and the Guthrie. Mixed Blood Theater also does some great multicultural theater.
The Twin Cities has an amazing live theater scene. The Guthrie is one of the national live theaters that matter, touring Broadway shows play here, as well as a wide variety of independent stuff. If your timing is right, see if you can see some of the shows in the Fringe Festival. Check City Pages (linked above) for some of the shows you can go to.
Como Park Zoo and Conservatory is lots of fun. It’s free, with a suggested donation. Watching Sparky the Sea Lion is a St. Paul tradition! Also, Comotown, right next to the zoo, has all kinds of rides. The State Capital is here, and you can take a self-guided tour. It’s been recently renovated, so it’s looking good. The same can be said of the Cathedral of St. Paul, right across the interstate. In between those two buildings is the Minnesota History Center. Just on the other side of the Cathedral is Summit Ave. Take a http://www.historicsaintpaul.org/publications/tour of the lumber baron mansions. Check out the caves down by the river. While you’re down there, hop over to Harriet Island.
If you’re hungry, wander along University, where there are tons of small Asian restaurants. Or go south of the river to the East Side, where fantastic Mexican food is available. (Be sure to see what’s playing at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center - lots of local acts and theater groups.)
Actually, you pretty much can’t go wrong anywhere in St. Paul. It’s a city of neighborhoods, and you can spend a day happily wandering around most of them. There are tons of local fairs and festivals, live music, great food in local restaurants, and interesting historic and cultural sights.
If you’re determined to eat steak, I’ve heard that The Strip Club is excellent.
Sigh. That supposed to say
“Take a guided tour of the lumber baron mansions.”
Actually the area across the river to the south of downtown St. Paul is the WEST side*, where the latino community is centered. If one were to “go wrong” anywhere in St.Paul, it would probably be on the East Side…
I’d add to the list: Ft. Snelling, which sits proudly castle-like above the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers; and the Mill City Museum on the Minneapolis waterfront. But then again, I’m a history geek…
*(because it is the west bank of the Mississippi River–even if it is south…)
Yeah, don’t hang out on the east side of St. Paul.
When I worked as an armed guard in St.Paul and we had middle of the night incidents, the police told me straight out that I was pretty much on my own, as they were all on the east side of town at that time of night.
If you have any interest in hearing some local bands play and enjoying some great pizza, The Pizza Luce Block Party in Uptown Minneapolis should be a blast tomorrow.
:smack: You are right. I was so flummoxed by getting the links messed up and trying to fix them that I let that slip past me. Thanks for pointing it out.
You know, a fun thing that we forgot to point out to do on the West side/Harriet island would be to take a riverboat ride–you can cruise on a paddlewheeler up the river as far as Ft. Snelling. Parts of the area look like they must have a hundred years ago. I’ve always seen deer, herons, and eagles on this stretch. The same company also has cruises out of Boom Island park in NE Minneapolis which cruise the downtown Mpls area/St. Anthony Falls and usually go through the locks–which might be interesting for some. There are also companies that run dinner/wine cruises etc on the St. Croix river out of Stillwater and Afton.
Seven, eh? I’ve been to Manny’s a few times, have liked the food, but found it to be expensive and crowded. Their old location at the Hyatt had tables about .001mm apart. I hear tell what the people at the table next to me were thinking. Their new location, while a lot roomier, is still loud, as it has noise seeping in from the W next door. I’ve only been to their new location once, and it was less than a month after its arrival, so maybe they’ve since worked on the noise.
I was incredibly underwhelmed by The Strip Club. Ultra cute restaurant, ultra great staff, but boring food. Though feel free to dismiss my criticism as I’ve never had one of their strips, their signature dish.
I came in here to mention the Science Museum, Walker, Sculpture Garden, etc., but now that everyone’s taken those, I could probably mention uptown Minneapolis. Pretty cool part of town. The place to go there, I’ve been told, is Chino Latino, though admittedly I’ve never been (yet). Stella’s Fish Cafe has pretty good eatin’, but I do recommend a reservation of some kind…last time I was there, it was BUSY. And since a big storm happened while I was there, they were vacating the rooftop area, which created more crowding and more wait time.
I also recommend going to the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis (on Lake Street…east, I think). It’s a big indoor marketplace/restaurant area, with booths and shops from around the world. My brother-in-law got our Christmas oysters from one of the fishmongers there, and I tend to gravitate toward Holy Land, a middle eastern restaurant/grocery that has very good food at a very low price. Great stuff.
Go to the zoo for that matter! My husband and I just took a day-and-a-half trip out there, just for the zoo. They have some great animals there, a lot of fun exhibits. The IMAX ticket doesn’t add much to the cost of the zoo admission, so take advantage of it!
Chino Latino is nice, but very trendy. I went on a Saturday night (I think), and the place was packed. And the crowd made me realize that I’m nowhere near a) thin enough, b) young enough, and c) fashionable enough to be at a place like that on a weekend night. Maybe it’s better on a weekday - I’d try Wednesday or Thursday.
We went to Manny’s last April for the Mister’s birthday, stopping at Prohibition beforehand. Prohibition was great; Manny’s, frankly, was terrible. Way, way too crowded and loud - I didn’t notice any bleedover from W because it was so loud itself. My steak was excellent, I will say that. But it’s weird that such a high-end place didn’t exercise any portion control - we ordered a side of onions that could’ve fed six people, which we found really weird. (I guess they go for quantity so that people feel like they’re getting a lot for their money. I find that notion out of place at a high-end restaurant.) Most distracting was the live lobster, I think. They bring round a cart of different cuts and such, and this had the lobster on it. Alive. Presumably, so that I’d know it was fresh. Weirdly, they also had a huge Australian lobster tail on the cart, wrapped up in plastic that they showed me while also emphasizing that it was fresh. Then they moved the cart away, but I could still see it, and watch the poor lobster slowly suffocate over the night. Yeah, I’m probably oversensitive to crustaceans, but still! Couldn’t you have an already prepared one wrapped up in plastic, just like the Australian tail? I’ll believe you that it’s fresh! Hell, you could also have a tank if you wanted. But no suffocating lobsters, please.
Sorry. Rant over. One of my husband’s colleagues is in sales, and he says to only go to Manny’s when you can charge it to an expense account.
Seven has an excellent bananas foster, prepared tableside. Yeah, it’s gimmicky, but I was sold. And it was great. Excellent staff, good food, really nice ambiance. And you could hear yourself think, instead of the people next to you. 
Take a Segway tour.
In addition to the conservatory at Como Zoo, there’s the butterfly tent. Very trippy to have all these colorful butterflies flying around and landing on you.
As for nightlclubs, you might want to try First Avenue in doentown mpls, but that scene has gotten a bit threadbare of late unless your there for a major hard rock band.
My main hangout though is The Cabooze/The Joint/Whiskey Junction complex, just a little east of downton mpls near the West Bank of the U of M (which has some other attractions). The Cabooze is a significant music venue for rock, blues and reggae and shares a outdoor pavillion with The Joint, which is a gritty little biker watering hole. The Whiskey Junction next door has local rock or blues bands most nights and often no cover. They’re right on the light rail line too.
I like The Strip Club - it isn’t too frou frou (its also very local for me, and the waitstaff knows us). It is in St. Paul, which is sort of the “stepsibling” of the cities. The pork belly is really good. And their french fries are good. Its that sort of steak house, where you go for the remoulade that goes with the french fries.
Nitpick - James J. Hill was a railroad baron, not a lumber baron, BTW. A friend of mine is his direct descendant.
The collection of the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices" is now in the Science Museum.
So I want to thank everyone for some really great responses! I took close to 600 photos and had an absolutely wonderful time in your town.
I started off downtown and saw the farmer’s market and Nicolette Mall. Rented one of those lime green public bikes and rode it around downtown while I was there. Saw my first ever Major League Baseball game on the Friday, Twins and A’s, followed by a fireworks show. Absolutely amazed by Target field. Got my Joe Mauer jersey and a fitted cap.
Rode the train alot. I’ve managed to amass an impressive collection of your one dollar coins. I’ve got 7 or 8 presidents and a Sack-a-ja-wee-ah (my computer doesn’t like opening too many windows at once, so please forgive the spelling or lack thereof). Spend an afternoon traversing the park around Minnehaha falls in my flipflops.
Loved the Mall of America. Yes, the stores are pretty run of the mill, but there’s quite a few I as a Canadian had never seen before. Plus I was pretty excited about the clocktower made of legos and the Nickelodeon amusement park!
Saw a play at the Hennepin theatre, entitled “Bye Bye Liver.” Hilarious drinking comedy show, or perhaps it seemed hilarious because I had a bucket of Miller Lights all to myself while my girlfriend watched.
Yes, beer. I’m amazed at how much light beer I see in the states. I liked that Honey beer that I saw everywhere (name?), but I really don’t like Miller and Michelob. We spent an evening at the Polish festival, so my gf (the Minnesotan from Chisago) got to try a proper European lager (It wasn’t Lech, but it was one of the other Polish ones in a tall can). We also took in the Mill City Flour Museum and the St. Anthony Falls Locks and Dam tours while we were in that vicinity. Bought my grandma a Pilsbury Dough Boy. 
Sunday I went to Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica. As a church organist, I was enthralled by the massive seven manual instrument they had there, and the way the 32 foot stops made the whole building roar and rumble! Had a nice chat with the organist there, and got this ginger flavoured ice cream called “The Immaculate Confection.”
So yes, all in all it was a great trip, which I would certainly recommend to friends!
Oh, and whoever mentioned Ichiban, you are a mad genius. However, now I must go and check the bathroom scale and see if weeping is in order, lol.
I’m gonna bronze this post!
Glad you had fun! Though you woulda had more fun if you’d have called me…* 
Just sayin…
*Not like that, ass.