DeRushaEats: The Traveling Foodist

I’ve got food on the mind, as I often do, but more so because I’m about to embark on a vacation!

There’s something exciting about experiencing food in other cities. Maybe it’s just the change of scenery—it’s the chance to experience something different, it’s the escape from the preconceived notions I have about various restaurants around here.

I’ve always considered myself a combination of high-brow and low-brow, and this coming trip will certainly be that: a couple days in Buffalo, New York (home of the beef on weck and buffalo wings, obvi), followed by a trip to Niagara Falls (I will not be entering Canada via tightrope), and a couple more days in Toronto, Canada.

My wife Alyssa usually does the pre-trip research, checking websites and reviews. I usually ask the smartest Twin Cities food people I can find. And then we combine our lists.  (Clearly I’m asking you for your Buffalo and Toronto suggestions—let me know in the comments.)

I’m a big advocate of the staycation—where you go to a downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul hotel, and then explore our cities like you would if you were a tourist. I think it’s a smart thing to do with food, too—come downtown, take taxi cabs to restaurants or walk to places in the city core, and forget about the kids.

If I had to design a Minneapolis staycation right now, I’d probably stay at the W or the Grand Hotel, have breakfasts at Hell’s Kitchen and Haute Dish, lunch at Birdhouse and Pizzeria Lola, and dinners at Corner Table and Strip Club Meat & Fish. I’d have a second dinner and drinks at La Belle Vie’s lounge, and Saffron.

How about you? Design your two-day Twin Cities food vacation in the comments!