Bones & Beer

Lost in the twin cities, a local Minnesotan “found” me. Aimlessly walking, curiously looking up at street signs and finally pulling out a little folded up map may have given me away πŸ™‚

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As the local approached me asking, “Can I help you find something,” I knew how the dialogue would follow…I was in search of the Convention Center and after checking my map I feared I was in fact reading it correctly. Somewhere along the way I had taken an awful turn.

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Typically, I am very good with directions and orienting myself but maybe it was the head cold I recieved immediately arriving to Minneapolis or just the twin cities that had me all turned around.

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Regardless, the local walked with me in the right direction and we chatted a bit. I told him I was in town for the American Society of Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR, it is a mouthful!) Conference. Then he offered some suggestions on places to eat which was great! So I then brought up my beer blog and he amusingly said “Bones and Beer?”

Devil’s Advocate

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The first night in Minneapolis we found a gourmet meatball restaurant. The menu was all meatballs…beef, pork, chicken and a vegetarian option (falafel). There was a variety of sauces to choose from and the meatballs could be served naked or in a sandwich.

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It was actually the 40 beers on tap that captured me but the meatballs were a great addition!

Brit’s Pub

Brit’s Pub is located on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis. It seems to be both a tourist and local attraction with lawn bowling. Lawn bowling brings in lots of guests in the warmer months for both leagues and open bowl πŸ™‚

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It would be appropriate to order an English style beer at a British Bar but since I was in Minneapolis I wanted to try the local beers. It would have been great to visit Surly Brewing Co but with limited time and travel accommodations, I settled on Surly Furious on tap. It was a tasty American IPA…easy to drink and hoppy πŸ™‚

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Surly Furious

With the overcast, cool day the Spitfire Chicken Chili sounded just right…

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Spitfire Chicken Chili

For the main dish, the Almond Crusted Walleye seemed a must…for those that don’t know, the Walleye is the local fish. The dish was served with wild rice pilaf that hit the spot πŸ™‚

Fulton Brewing

Fulton Brewing, like most breweries, started in a garage. They have been brewing for about 5 years but just opened a tap room in March. Fulton was the first taproom to open in Minneapolis due to a law that prohibited breweries from selling beer for consumption on brewery premises. It was the “Surly Bill” that passed in 2011 that has begun to transform the craft beer scenery in Minneapolis.

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The Ringer was a very delicately hopped and refreshing american pale ale. Sweet Child of Vine is another one of their brews. It is an IPA but don’t let that scare you…it is enriched with caramel malts that soften the hops.

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The Ringer

The Libertine is an imperial red ale…dark in color and bold in flavor.

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The Libertine

Hell’s Kitchen

Hell’s Kitchen was recommended to me by a few different people with one of them being Paige over at Alcohol By Volume.

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Lemon-Ricotta Hotcake

It was a great breakfast place. There were so many items on the menu that I wanted to try…if only I had a larger appetite! lol No, but it is definitely a place to go to if you are in Minneapolis. The bread pudding with black currants and crΓ¨me anglaise sounded so delicious but I didn’t order it. I ended up trying one lemon-ricotta hotcake and a delicious eggs Benedict in a portobello mushroom.

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My favorite part may have been the homemade peanut butter…it was deliciously crunchy! Someone also recommended me the toasted sausage bread which sounded very unique but I just couldn’t try everything πŸ™

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The Local

The Local was a cute restaurant with unique architecture and little nooks for seating areas. The Local Wontons with corned beef, cream cheese and sauerkraut were SO delicious. I love wontons in general and these Irish wontons were a fun creation.

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The Local Wontons

The Summit Extra Pale Ale was another local beer. It was lightly hopped with a nice crisp taste. We were intrigued by its amazing lacing (the foam that sticks to the side of the glass)

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Summit EPA

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Since I was fighting a cold I wasn’t in the mood for anything heavy so I went with the Nicoise Salad that had raw ahi tuna, boiled eggs, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, and potatoes. It was very delicious!

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The trip was short but I was able to capture some of the treasures of the twin cities πŸ˜‰

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Listening to:

~Your Woman by White Town

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Comments

  1. Great food an great beers, visibly πŸ™‚

  2. Glad you found good brews in Minnesota! Hell’s Kitchen is a fave. You, too, can make their PB if you buy their cookbook (or look online). Hope your conference was good. Looks like you ate well πŸ™‚

  3. With all that fog I’m not surprised my friend πŸ˜›
    But what a delightful place to visit!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

  4. Next time, invite me…we can order twice as much so you can try everything!! πŸ™‚

  5. Take two…how I love you.
    Great! Interesting! So much fun to read and the food and beer photos are drool worthy!

  6. Tasty looking dishes!

  7. Wow, what a great feasting trip! I’m making meatballs today, I’d love to go to a meatball bar πŸ™‚ everything looks so good! I know walleye very well, it’s popular in Ohio where I’m originally from.

    • Ya, being from CO where we have much more land than water, I didn’t know much about Walleye. The meatball bar was fabulous though! πŸ˜€

  8. Great eats! I especially like the chicken chili!

  9. All of the food looks scrumptious! Thanks for making me jelly ^.~ I’m not a beer drinker but I’m very interested in it…I need pancakes now πŸ™‚
    I hope you had a fabulous weekend!

  10. The weather doesn’t look the best but it sure does look like you got to sample a lot of the food these twin cities has to offer. Love the look of the salad xx

    • Thank you! The salad was SO good…maybe not a twin city special but since I ate a huge breakfast at Hell’s Kitchen I was looking for something light πŸ™‚

  11. The weather sure didn’t look all that pleasing but at least the food looked fantastic! The people at the top of that building wouldn’t even need windows since they can’t see anything anyway. πŸ˜›

  12. Your being lost rewarded you with yummies–I’ll get lost for that chili! =)

  13. Like the new look blog (I wasn’t sure if I’d seen it prior to this post?) but the new name with bones and brews tells me otherwise! As for the food and beer I was amazed when I saw the tricolor corn chips with your chilli!!! Blue corn chips (guessing from blue corn?) wow! Love the idea of Irish wontons (though my family might look at me funny) πŸ˜‰

    • Yes, blue corn chips! Is that not something you have in Australia? It is always a wonder at the different foods available around the world. I went to this yummy Cuban restaurant last night (it is a favorite!) but I hadn’t ever had yucca before…so that was a first. The Irish wontons were definitely something different to me too but I thought it was a fabulous idea!

  14. Wonderful photos for the yummm food!

  15. beertimestories says:

    Haha, little folded up maps will always give you away! They gave me away in San Diego last year, and I ended up signing up to support Greenpeace. Your food pics are making me hungry all over again.

  16. Wow…….my poor little quick tired after work dinner is sooooo freaking pitiful right now….I need meatballs, wontons, pancakes…..I need it all! Thanks for stopping by! The welcome mat will always be dusted off just for you.

    • ha ha I know what you mean…some nights, after looking at food blogs, I can’t help but look sadly at my dinner…typically leftovers! lol, jk, I love leftovers! But the meatball bar sounds so delicious right now!

      Thanks for stopping by! πŸ™‚

  17. The almond crusted walleye looks really tasty πŸ™‚

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