The Twin Cities Restaurant Graveyard
Q: Sean, in light of the tragic recent closing of Ethiopian food heaven Fasika, if you could bring five other out of business Twin Cities restaurants back to life which five would you choose.
A:
Sunny Side Up Cafe on Lyndale and 28th. Best French toast of my life easy. Best biscuits and gravy easy. Only cactus paddles. And just a great scene.
Figlio on Hennepin and Lake. Best calamari of my life. Best Bacon Cheeseburger of my life (they used this strachino cheese that was creamy like a mayonnaise spread, but it wasn’t mayonnaise). The bacon was insane. And they wrapped your to go food up into a tinfoil goose which at the time we thought was cool.
Original Little Tijuana’s on Nicollet and 26th - I like this place now, but it serves a different purpose. Little Tijuana’s was a no liquor license Mexican restaurant with an undying commitment to black olives, crayons and tatted up servers. But holy shit I liked that food. Including fish nachos. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
Porky’s - on Fairview and University - Best strawberry shake of my life, best onion rings of my life. Also was parked there once in the afternoon, was pretty high, was enjoying a milkshake, was listening to the Current long before I worked there and Mary Lucia was playing this Santana song with an incredibly long organ solo. I was sort of freaking out feeling like the world knew I was high cause why is there a ten minute organ solo on the Current at like 5:30 on a weekday. When Looch got back on the mic she said “don’t worry, that was a REALLY long organ solo”. It calmed me and weirded me out even more. It was one of the best radio experiences of my listening career.
Village Wok - Stadium Village - Iconic spot with late night Asian food that I used to go to and sit in the smoking section. Mountains of green tea, long arguments with Tasha Baron and Szechuan bean curd for the win. Miss it, want it. Stadium Village used to be a very different spot. Kids these days.