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Saturday, July 12 Lauren, Suzy's sister, drove us to the airport and we flew out without any problems. We arrived a little early at Minneapolis, around 9PM local time. We got our rental car and arrived at the Bloomington Travelodge without any problems. At the rental car agency, we were warned one of the major highways, I35W, was closed throughout the weekend. The Bloomington Travelodge had three stories, and of course we were on the top floor. Unfortunately, the motel also didn't have an elevator. Oh well, we paid a budget price for the motel so we weren't shocked or annoyed at this revelation. Despite the hassle of our room, the Internet connection was quite fast, which was nice. We flipped through one of our travel books and found a place to eat at: Vincent: A Restaurant, in downtown Minneapolis. Google Maps thought the trip should only take about 20 minutes, and given that we had almost an hour still before it closed at 11:00, we thought we would have plenty of time. We didn't count on just how bad I35W being shut would hurt the trip, however, and at 10:45 when it became clear we weren't even close, we turned around and went back to our hotel. Luckily, there was an Outback two doors down which was open till 11:30, so we ate there: I got a New York Strip steak while Suzy got a Chicken on the Barbie. Both were of decent quality and about what we'd expect out of an Outback (maybe a little better). While we were a little sad we ate at a chain, we were happy we got to eat before everything shut. We walked back to our hotel and called it a night. Sunday July 13 I slept in while Suzy went to Walmart to buy some snacks and a flat of water. After I woke and showered we looked in one of our travel books and found Sawatdee. We ordered the Supenn's Fresh Spring Rolls, the Bangkok Seafood Special, and the Sawatdee Roast Curry Duck. The spring rolls were excellent; the seafood specials had a few chewy calamari but were otherwise very good, and we both the thought the duck was a little sweet (more like a panang but a thinner sauce). All in all, though, it was a fine deal for the money, and we'd go back to try some other things.
Eventually we made our way to the entrance of the Art Museum, and found out admission was free so we wandered the exhibits. There was a variety of art, but most of it was modern. My favorite picture was a roughly 20x20 painting of literally thousands of caged chickens stacked row upon row like warehouse crates and painted in a perspective so it looked like you were looking down the hallway no matter which direction you looked at it. I found a blog with the picture and a hi-res version if you click on the picture on that page. Next we headed to downtown Minneapolis without a real clue as to what to do. The downtown area was eerily deserted as we drove around. We later discovered most of the traffic was around the Nicollet Mall area, which we also later found. Eventually we stopped by the waterfront of the Mississippi River at the Stone Arch Bridge. As we walked along it, we found out Red Bull was putting on an exhibit later that night: Red Bull Illume. The concept behind the exhibit was to showcase sports photographers taking extreme pictures of athletes in various categories. Each picture was showcased in an eight-foot tall four-foot wide glass and metal tube. The tubes were opaque glass during the day, but at night, they backlit one of the 50 nominated photographs. The bridge also gave a view of St. Anthony Falls, the only natural waterfall on the Mississippi. After walking across and back, we decided to come back later in the night to see the photograph display.
By then it was dinnertime, so we again consulted one of our tour books. It suggested either B.A.N.K. or Basil. Unfortunately, we looked at the menu at B.A.N.K. and while it was fine, it was uninspiring. The menu at Basil was similar, and in addition, Basil was closed that weekend (though they would still be serving the menu in their lounge. We decided to pass on both of those. Luckily almost all of the restaurants seemed to be within three to city blocks of each other. Two of the other restaurants we wanted to try, Vincent: A Restaurant, and D'Amico Cucina, were closed on Sundays, and the next restaurant on our list was Cosmos. Cosmos turned out to be a great find. I ordered the Seared Diver Scallops to start and the 5 Spice Wild Acres Duck Break, while Suzy had the Cosmos Lettuce Blend and Chicken Sausage Stuffed Chicken Breast. I wasn't brave enough to try the Rare Seared Watermelon (Soba Noodles, Coconut Red Curry, Kimchee, Sesame Oil Pebbles) but I have to admit, it's one of the most audacious (albeit seemingly not very filling) menu selections I've ever seen. Before our appetizers, the server brought out a cold watermelon gazpacho with thinly diced cucumbers which was interesting. Before our entrees, we were served an intermezzo: a margarita lime shot with tech. It was served in a shot glass, with a very slight dose of salt on the rim. Surrounded in a sea of margarita mix and a bit of tequila was a gelatin ball with concentrated lime inside. (They made Suzy's without the alcohol.) We were instructed to imbibe the mix in one motion, and then break the gelatin ball while the mix was in our mouths, before swallowing the combination. For dessert, I ordered the Cosmos Chocolate Globe. It consisted of frozen cherrie sorbet encased in a globe of chocolate sitting atop brandied cherries. As the warm chocolate sauce was poured from the dispenser, it gushed over the globe. A few seconds later, the heat from the sauce melted away the top of the globe leaving the sorbet peaking out of a cracked chocolate egg shell. It was a great presentation. Suzy ordered the Peanut Butter Crunch which was served deconstructed, and very good as well. One other thing of note, I ordered a Shiraz from Qupé, California, which I had never heard of, and it was excellent. Afterwards, we drove back to the Stone Bridge to look at the photographs. It was great to see the giant photographs in such nice detail, and night was almost perfect with a near full moon, minimal clouds, a comfortable temperature, and most importantly, minimal bugs! Afterwards, we drove back and called it a night. Monday July 14 I slept in while Suzy got some breakfast at Denny's. Today we decided to start off at the Mall of America, which used to be the biggest mall in the world since there would undoubtedly be food there.
At the restaurant, we decided to split a combo of a halfrack of ribs and a half-rack of baby ribs, but unfortunately ordered the "half-and-half BBQ special," which the waitress took to mean a different BBQ special, so we ended up eating a chopped pork and beef brisket combo instead. It was pretty good, but it wasn't the ribs we had anticipated. After we wandered the mall for a little bit, and then decided that while on some level the sheer magnitude of the mall was pretty cool, in other respects it was much like any other mall. One thing we discovered while at the visitor center was that the Science Museum of Minnesota had a special Star Wars exhibit, so we headed over to St. Paul. We decided to do the entire Star Wars package, which included an Omnimax show called Special Effects. Some of it seemed familiar and some of it seemed new, and I wondered if I had seen it before. One cool thing I learned was in one of the movies where they blew up Los Angeles (I think it was Independence Day) they built the miniature set sideways, so they could light it afire from below, and it would look like a sea of fire would wash over LA sideways in the film.
After the film, we went downstairs to the main Star Wars exhibit where they had a lot of props from the Star Wars movies including the X-34 landspeeder used in the original Star Wars. Unfortunately almost all the props were behind glass, but I managed to get a couple decent pictures, though some of the coolest ones were marred by scratches in the glass. We explored the rest of the museum and got a snack. Other notable exhibits were a great collection of dinosaur and other fossils, an interactive staircase which had motion sensors on each step which each made a unique noise, an exhibit about viruses, bacteria, and other diseases. They also had an exhibit called Perception Theater. From their website it is: This lively 20-minute program lets you explore how your brain can play tricks on you through a show packed with surprises and "magic show" style optical illusions. Imaging technology, video, audio, props, and animation help you understand how the brain turns stimuli into perceptions.This was one of the favorite parts of the museum for me. There was also a ride called Jump to Lightspeed Experience, a found-and-a-half minute experience in a Millennium Falcon cockpit replica with tv monitors at each window and a cool sound system from Bose. After the museum we drove back to Minneapolis and ate at D'Amico Cucina. We had called ahead, asking about a dress code ("Are shorts and Tiva's going to be a problem?"), and found out they only had lounge seating. When we arrived, though, the hostess recognized us from our description and told us a table at the main dining room had opened up. I ordered the Roasted Scallops, "Insalata Russa", Warm Brown Butter and Black Truffle Vinaigrette appetizer and a swordfish ravioli and calamari main course. Suzy had the Mixed Greens, Charred Tomato Vinaigrette, Tomato Washed Pecorino salad, and a Butter Poached Chicken, Seasonal Mushrooms, Chive Risotto for her main course. I found the scallops to be quite good but a little richer and less good than the ones I had the last night at Cosmo. The swordfish ravioli was also quite good for what it was -- I'm not a tremendous swordfish fan, but I had never seen it on the menu before and decided I wanted to try it. Suzy enjoyed both of her dishes tremendously. For dessert we split the Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake, which was excellent. The service here was also excellent, and our server had a very dry and sarcastic sense of humor which suited us well. They did not have a menu for wines by the glass, nor did they have French wines, and I didn't know Italian wines very well, but he was very good and said he would bring me a glass of Italian red wine. I was curious as to how much the glass would cost, but when we were presented with the bill, the glass of wine wasn't listed. We mentioned this to the waiter, and he replied something to the effect that it was our lucky night, with the place sounding like the L.A. riots, the glass was on the house. While it had been a little noisy from the party of 20 or so adjacent to us, I didn't think the noise was bad at all. In any event, it was very nice for him to comp us the glass, and I decided I could live with not knowing how much it would have cost in return for getting it for free. Afterwards, we strolled up and down Nicollet Mall. The temperature was nice and it wasn't too humid, and there were no bugs to be found. By then, the street was pretty empty as most places had closed for the night, but there were still people milling about, and a couple hot spots seemed to be packed with people still. By then it was pretty late so we drove back to our hotel and went to sleep. Tuesday July 15 After having a bad experience with Denny's the previous morning, Suzy went to McDonald's before I woke up. Having been denied the ribs from the previous day, we decided to go back to Famous Dave's and make sure to order the correct item this time. The ribs were good, but not quite as good as Lucille's BBQ, which we go to in Vegas when we can. Our plan for the day was to visit Forestville/Mystery Cave, a couple hours south of the Twin Cities. We got a late start due to me waking up late, but we arrived there in time for their 4:00 tour. We had a nice and knowledgeable guide who led us on our tour, which took about 90 minutes. The cave was very cool, but unfortunately doesn't photograph well. Some of the coolest parts of the cave were the ridge formations and an underwater lake over 10 feet deep.
After the tour, we drove back to Minneapolis to have dinner at Vincent: A Restaurant. I was intrigued by the "Something Strange but Good.... Rabbit & Pig Trotter Terrine, Carrot & Golden Raisin Salad, Dijon Mustard" so I got that for an appetizer. It tasted fine, but I didn't think it was really noteworthy other than the ingredients. For the main course I ordered "Roasted Duck Breast, Turnip Puree, Braised Swiss Chard, Sauteed Fresh Cherries, Black Pepper Brandy Sauce" which was very good, though not quite as good as the duck I had at Cosmos. Suzy ordered "Swiss Chard and Ricotta Cheese Fried Ravioli 'Barbagiuan', Fennel Puree, Mixed Root Vegetables, Tangerine Oil and Saba" which was good too though very rich. She was also intrigued by the Chickpea Fries, and ordered them. They turned out to similar to thick fries -- about 1" by 4", and very dense. They were interesting, but way too much for us to be able to get through all of them. For dessert, we shared "Cherry Clafoutis Cake, Braised Cherry Compote, Vanilla Ice Cream" which was also very good. After dessert was done, it was pretty late so we called it a night. Wednesday July 16 We had heard from several sources that Hell's Kitchen was a great place for breakfast, so we decided to check it out on our way out of town. We arrived a little late so the place wasn't too crowded. I had a selection off the daily menu, scrambled eggs with crab and a side order of a pancake. Suzy ordered a cornmeal waffle and a side of eggs and fruit on the side. Both were excellent, and there were many cool other items on the menu so we were sad we hadn't discovered it any of the previous mornings.
After lunch we got on the freeway and drove to North Dakota.
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