Weekend Update: Minneapolis
I spent the weekend in Minneapolis. Usually when I go there for class, I go from the airport, to class, to maybe a drink after class, to my friend’s house to sleep, back to class, to the airport. This time, however, I decided to stay an extra night as my friend, Eric, put together a pub crawl to show me a few local Twin Cities’ haunts. It was totally a blast.
We started by taking in a Jucy Lucy from Matt’s Bar, the Minneapolis regional specialty of a burger filled with molten American cheese. You can read my thoughts on the Lucy at my pal Andrew Mark Veety‘s blog at some point in the next few days. Let’s just say it was the perfect stomach-liner for the pub crawl on which we were about to embark and the Jucy Lucy looked like this:
From there, we hit up Moto-I, a Japanese restaurant that brews their own sake and feature Japanese street food, including steamed pork belly buns like this. We were playing with our food, and it was delicious.
They also have a gorgeous rooftop patio that was filled with hipsters cloaked in irony. Nice teal skinny jeans, guy. The weather ruled.
I should note that transportation for this pub crawl was provided by Eric and his minivan, which he drove with the windows down blaring Hold Steady, the Jayhawks, and the Big Lebowski soundtrack. It, too, ruled.
We saw this awesomeness across the road from Psycho Suzi’s. It’s called Pedal Pub, and you can rent it for parties. It’s a pedal-powered bicycle bar that you drive around while swilling beers. I want one.
It should be noted that our host Eric dressed specially for this occasion. Behold the Canadian Tuxedo:
That’s also a Lebowski t-shirt under there, just so you know what we’re dealing with here.
From there, we went to the best bar I’ve ever been to. Period. Nye’s Polonaise (yep, a Polish bar) is basically the Minneapolis version of St Louis’s Hideaway Lounge, except instead of a blind elderly piano player (Hideaway), you’ve got both a sighted elderly piano player, Sweet Lou, with whom you can sing along, karaoke-style, and a whole separate “lounge” where the World’s Most Dangerous Polka Band plays.
Other than pricier-than-I’m-used-to drinks, this place was pretty much the most amazing conglomeration of quirk and awesomeness that I’ve ever encountered. If I could situate Nye’s inside the Iowa State Fair, I would move in and never leave. You must go there if you are in Minneapolis.
We ended up drinking for about eight hours and the next morning I got on a plane and few home. Chris met me at the airport with a surprise, a manila envelope. I was worried that the surprise was either divorce papers or some other kind of lawsuit, but to my great, great surprise, it was a picture of this:
Who needs diamonds when your husband buys you a convection double oven? Our oven only has two working burners, knobs with the temperature worn off, and an oven that’s heat fluctuates, so I’ve been dying for a new range for a while now. I literally squeed out loud on the escalator when I opened the envelope. It’s being delivered tomorrow. Not only that, but Chris cleaned the entire house and ran or took care of about a thousand errands. Best. Husband. Ever.
So, yeah, life’s pretty good. The weekend reminded me just how lucky (and happy) my life is.
Tags: Jucy Lucy, Minneapolis, Moto-I, Nye's Polonaise
(On April 18th, 2010 at 3:28 pm)
I am so jealous of your oven! I really wanted one of those when we redid our kitchen, but I was too big of a cheapskate the pull the trigger.
(On April 30th, 2010 at 5:19 am)
lol nice info man.