I moved to the twin cities area three whole months ago! (Who else can’t believe it’s been that long?) This whole time I have yet to explore the Minneapolis food scene and I’m so excited I had the opportunity to try some new restaurants at the Healthy Living Summit this year!
Check out my first Healthy Living Summit “recap” here:
A Healthy Living Summit Un-Recap
Since today is WIAW or What I Ate Wednesday, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to share some of my Minneapolis eats with you! If you are in the area or will be visiting, be sure to read this post!
Thursday:
I had the opportunity to hang out with some gals from Girls on the Run Solemates, an amazing program I am supporting (and one you can help out AND win a delicious prize here!) Thursday evening. We did a short 2 mile run around lake Nokomis and then a few of us stayed after for some dinner at the Sandcastle (which is right on the lake), including a new local friend, Hyedi, who also attended the Healthy Living Summit (see, this kind of correlates with HLS!).
I had the fish tacos with cilantro, relish and lime. They were so very pretty as well as deliciously fresh and flavorful. The Sandcastle was a cool, relaxed place to hang out and chat, although it was a little noisy with the planes flying overhead and the ducks under our picnic table hoping for some scraps. I will definitely be going back for the food, friendly staff and gorgeous view of Lake Nokomis.
Friday:
First of all, I would like to note how cool I looked on Friday when I brought my diet dew in an awesome koosie I found from Target to the Wild Harvest tour. (More on the tour later.) Everyone else had coffee from Starbucks or the like. Not this girl!
After the tour and after checking into the Healthy Living Summit, Alex, Mollie and I found a whole new world of food in downtown Minneapolis. They have food trucks there! We stopped at a place that was recommended to us called Hola Arepa.
An arepa is a taco-like dish except the shell is a thicker corn shell. It was good and messy. Like grab some extra napkins messy. It was a little disappointing they ran out of diet coke (hi, my name is Amanda and I need caffeine at least twice a day), but we got there right on time since they were running out of arepas at around 1pm.
Hola Arepa offered a variety of creative combinations of arepas as well as interesting drinks. Alex got a yummy cucumber lemonade while I snagged a bottle of something flavored with ginger (not my favorite, but I’m not much of a ginger person either). This is one unique food truck you will definitely want to check out!
That evening, Katie and I we went to the Kindee Thai mingle hosted by Becky who used to live in the area (and promptly moved to Chicago when I got here haha).
It was a relaxing environment and I’m glad I went to meet some new ladies including Melanie (sweet gal who lives in the area and is also a RD), Gabe, Kim, Hannah (who just moved to my hometown Omaha!), Katie, and Caroline and see some familiar faces including Jen and Natalie (friends of Becky). (Be impressed at all of the blog linkage in this post…it’s not easy!) The food wasn’t amazing as far as my meal was concerned, but I did love the wine I ordered. It was a plum sparkling wine which is right up my alley. No heart-healthy red wine for this girl.
Saturday:
The roomies and I attended dinner at Crave in downtown Minneapolis for a mingle arranged by Molly and Lee. We had a reservation for 8 which turned into about 18 so we had to split up into different tables. The staff was not too pleasant about this and we were told we’d have to wait 3 hours to sit together (there were tables open everywhere around us that were “reserved”). I don’t know about you, but I’m not very used to snobby hosts. I suppose I’m not too used to eating in the big city either, so this might be a common thing?
I ordered the Lamburger which was spicy and amazingly juicy with a side of vegetables which turned out to be broccolini (not a fan). Oh did I mention that Dave came along for the ride? Lee invited her boy, so I thought I should invited my boy as well! It was really fun to have him there and he even took a picture of my food with his awesome phone.
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| Alex, Gabe, Molly, Mollie, Katie, Dave, Me and poor Marissa and Jessie were cut out of this picture! |
After dinner, we headed over to Hell’s Kitchen for drinks in the lower level bar. I highly recommend the margarita with infused tequilla (recommended by Nicole). I had fun chatting with Marissa about her health coaching, although I was a bit turned off by the bartender’s lying about tables being “reserved” because we later found out they didn’t want us sitting there since we weren’t getting dinner. I’m glad I got a spot at the bar!
So basically I had a fun time in Minneapolis with the HLS gals and want to go back to check more places! Happy Wednesday!
Have eaten in downtown Minneapolis? Where is your favorite place to eat?
Have you ever been to a food truck? That was my first time!
Linking up to Jenn’s What I Ate Wednesday party!
Check out all of the awesome Healthy Living 2013 Attendees here!
I am SO impressed you remembered everyone’s name and blogs! What a great way to recap 🙂
Thanks! That pinterest page helped A LOT!! 🙂
I am SO impressed you remembered everyone’s name and blogs! What a great way to recap 🙂
So glad I got to meet you at HLS/Crave! We need to explore the food scene together! Make it a double or triple date with Lee and her boo too!?Regardless, let’s hang out!
Yes! We will hang out!! Message me on Facebook and we will make time! 🙂
So glad I got to meet you at HLS/Crave! We need to explore the food scene together! Make it a double or triple date with Lee and her boo too!?Regardless, let’s hang out!
I loved talking to you too! I wish I’d had time to check out the food trucks. I saw them on my way in and was so excited but then got overwhelmed by all the options!
Yes there were definitely a lot of options! We went based on a recommendation so that helped. Plus they were spread out over a couple city blocks!
I loved talking to you too! I wish I’d had time to check out the food trucks. I saw them on my way in and was so excited but then got overwhelmed by all the options!
That’s so funny because I just tried my first arepa a few weekends ago and it was amazing!
I only went out to eat once in Minneapolis (unless Whole Foods counts as eating out?) for Sunday lunch. We went to Mason’s, where I had a flatbread with mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, basil, and balsamic drizzle. It was really good! I wish I’d been in Minneapolis longer to try more restaurants though.
I had no idea really what to expect, but it was yummy! Next time you are in the area you should check it out!
That’s so funny because I just tried my first arepa a few weekends ago and it was amazing!
I only went out to eat once in Minneapolis (unless Whole Foods counts as eating out?) for Sunday lunch. We went to Mason’s, where I had a flatbread with mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, basil, and balsamic drizzle. It was really good! I wish I’d been in Minneapolis longer to try more restaurants though.
It was so great to meet you and I loved that plum wine too! I’ve never eaten at a food truck either. I noticed all of them when I first arrived downtown, but sadly I didn’t have a chance to check them out.
So great to meet you too, Kim!
It was so great to meet you and I loved that plum wine too! I’ve never eaten at a food truck either. I noticed all of them when I first arrived downtown, but sadly I didn’t have a chance to check them out.
I love Hola Arepa! and Sandcastle was so much fun with you! Next up – Spoonriver!
Your experience at Crave doesn’t surprise me at all, unfortunately! I tend to avoid that place 😉
Yes!! Spoon river!! 🙂 Tweet me and we will make it happen!
I love Hola Arepa! and Sandcastle was so much fun with you! Next up – Spoonriver!
Your experience at Crave doesn’t surprise me at all, unfortunately! I tend to avoid that place 😉
I have a big family so yeah… I totally know that rude HOW DARE YOU HAVE LOTS OF PEOPLE attitude you are given at some restaurants. It’s not like we are all trying to cram into a small cafe or something! Also my sister lives just outside Minneapolis so love your reviews… I’m taking notes for next time I am up there for a visit. I think trying a food truck would be awesome.
You should definitely let me know when you come into town! We will explore somewhere new together..so many options!!
I have a big family so yeah… I totally know that rude HOW DARE YOU HAVE LOTS OF PEOPLE attitude you are given at some restaurants. It’s not like we are all trying to cram into a small cafe or something! Also my sister lives just outside Minneapolis so love your reviews… I’m taking notes for next time I am up there for a visit. I think trying a food truck would be awesome.
I wish I had gotten to check out the food trucks, my roomie and I were trying to have lunch at them but they close extra early. Fun times this weekend for sure, great WIAW highlights
Yeah it seemed like they close up when they run out of product…we made it just in time!!
I wish I had gotten to check out the food trucks, my roomie and I were trying to have lunch at them but they close extra early. Fun times this weekend for sure, great WIAW highlights
Thanks for sharing such an informative posts so keep it up man!!
Thanks! That pinterest page helped A LOT!! 🙂
Yes! We will hang out!! Message me on Facebook and we will make time! 🙂
Yes there were definitely a lot of options! We went based on a recommendation so that helped. Plus they were spread out over a couple city blocks!
I had no idea really what to expect, but it was yummy! Next time you are in the area you should check it out!
So great to meet you too, Kim!
Yes!! Spoon river!! 🙂 Tweet me and we will make it happen!
You should definitely let me know when you come into town! We will explore somewhere new together..so many options!!
Yeah it seemed like they close up when they run out of product…we made it just in time!!
The bartender lied about those tables? Ugh. She did have an attitude. I dislike people with attitude problems. Annoying. At least the drinks were good, haha.
I wish I had gone to Crave but I really enjoyed the places I went to as well so I’m not complaining. I do wanna check out more places if I do ever go back there! Great post! Yummy food.
I’ve always wanted to try an arepa! I’ve only ordered from a food truck once (we don’t have them here in my little town), but it was the most amazing gourmet grilled cheese I’ve had in my LIFE! I was SO bummed to find out that I missed the annual food truck festival in Nashville this year…next year, I’m making sure to plan ahead!
Next time you’re dining in downtown Minneapolis, you’ve GOT to try 112 Eatery! That’s where the Yoplait folks took me when i was there in June and everything (from the wine to the food to the service) was absolutely amazing!
And just wanted you to know that I am SUPER impressed by the blog linkage in this post! I know how much of a pain it can be to do that! Haha!
Come back to the twin cities to hang out girlie!! So many good food places to explore and the BF is not always as adventurous as I am!
And thank you for recognizing the links! I think this post took me at least four hours. Some people’s blogs take awhile to load haha and I think I counted upwards of a dozen blog links!
I’ve always wanted to try an arepa! I’ve only ordered from a food truck once (we don’t have them here in my little town), but it was the most amazing gourmet grilled cheese I’ve had in my LIFE! I was SO bummed to find out that I missed the annual food truck festival in Nashville this year…next year, I’m making sure to plan ahead!
Next time you’re dining in downtown Minneapolis, you’ve GOT to try 112 Eatery! That’s where the Yoplait folks took me when i was there in June and everything (from the wine to the food to the service) was absolutely amazing!
And just wanted you to know that I am SUPER impressed by the blog linkage in this post! I know how much of a pain it can be to do that! Haha!
Come back to the twin cities to hang out girlie!! So many good food places to explore and the BF is not always as adventurous as I am!
And thank you for recognizing the links! I think this post took me at least four hours. Some people’s blogs take awhile to load haha and I think I counted upwards of a dozen blog links!