A gastronomic guide to Nicollet Avenue’s ethnic eateries.
Walk down Nicollet Avenue – Minneapolis’s beloved Eat Street – between Grant Street and Lake Street, and you can see history unfolding ,with markers of the city’s past, present and future standing shoulder to shoulder. For more than half a century, Eat Street has been one of the Twin Cities’ culinary hot zones, a place where immigrant entrepreneurs took their first step up the ladder. Today the range of ethnic cuisines includes Chinese, Caribbean, Middle Eastern, West African, German, Malaysian, Mexican, Somali and Vietnamese.
What You’ll See on the Tour
1
Black Forest Inn
in 1965, a German immigrant named Erich Christ took over the former Swinging Door, and turned it into the the Black Forest. Fifty-two years later, The Black Forest still draws healthy crowds for its classic Bavarian bierstube ambience, its … Read more2
My Huong Kitchen
Tracy Wong and her husband operate this tidy little Vietnamese cafe, which features a good assortment of banh mi sandwiches; pho (beef noodle soup) and other soups; com tam (broken rice plates); bun (noodle salads), spring rolls, egg ro… Read more3
Rainbow Chinese Restaurant
Tammy Wong’s combines traditional Chinese and Vietnamese flavors with local ingredients.4
Pho 79 / Caravelle
Pho 79 / Caravelle is two restaurants in one: a traditional Vietnamese Pho house in front, offering a big selection of noodle soups, and a full-menu Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant in back, with authentic Vietnamese specialties, and popula… Read more5
Christos Greek Restaurant
Gus Parpas, a native of Cyprus, opened Christos with his wife Carol in 1988, Twenty-nine years later, they both still work at the restaurant, and their newer location in Minnetonka. But a new generation of immigrants has taken over in the… Read more6
Harry Singh’s Original Caribbean Restaurant
Harry Singh’s Original Caribbean Restaurant, 2653 Nicollet, was one of the first and most popular ethnic restaurants in the Twin Cities, famous for its West Indian rotis and spicy curries. The irrepressible Singh, a native of Trinidad, ha… Read more7
Khun Nai Thai Cuisine
More authentic than its Uptown counterparts, this Thai restaurant offers a wide range of curries, stirfries, noodle and rice dishes. 8
Jasmine 26 Restaurant & Bar
Sorry, there wasn’t any information provided for this point of interest.9
Marhaba Middle Eastern Grill
At Marhaba Mediterranean Grill, 2801 Nicollet, the name is new, but it’s really a continuation of the old Java restaurant, a fixture on Eat Street for decades. Marhaba is also busy these days, attracting a mostly Somali and East African… Read more
Author: Jeremy Iggers
Jeremy Iggers is a journalist, university instructor and social entrepreneur with interests that include food, philosophy and global-local connections. Previously, he was a staff writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and publisher of the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He lives in south Minneapolis with his wife Carol and two cats.
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