Left Handed Cook

MGM gets some heat on it

If you’ve been to Midtown Global Market lately, you may have noticed something: it’s busy. Some of the complex’s socially engineered sheen has worn off as a critical mass of craveable eateries has helped make the place a bustling destination. The latest hot spot, Left Handed Cook, specializes in what might be dubbed Asian-American L.A.-style punk-rock street food—if there were such a thing. Owners Thomas Kim and Kat Melgaard didn’t want to feel pigeonholed, so they launched with a free-spirited approach.  The kimchi-and-curry-laced throw-in-the-kitchen-sink poutine is perhaps a little too much, but most of the other items are lovely, including the meticulous pork-belly lettuce wraps and soft-egg-topped rice bowls (ask for extra sauce). The sandwiches—barbecue pork and soft-shell crab among them—are tasty, if sloppy grab-and-go fare. But get there early, as the BBQ pig tails often sell out!

Midtown Global Market, 920 E. Lake St., Mpls., 612-208-0428