"Unique" Dish?

[savvyguy]

Can anyone suggest a unique (and delicious) dish in the TC? I'm bored with eating at all of the same restaurants and eating the same chicken/beef/white fish dishes. Any help is appreciated!!

[mcgeary]

Dowjic soup at Babani's, a Kurdish restaurant in downtown St. Paul. Lemony, chickeny, yogurty, particularly delicious with an order of Kurdish bread + feta cheese.

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Babani's
St. Paul, MN, St Paul, MN

[turtlebella]

While you are at Babani's, you should also order their lemonade. It's unlike lemonade that I've had anywhere else, which should count as unique.

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Babani's
St. Paul, MN, St Paul, MN

[BigSal]

We recently had a great meal at Restaurant Alma that had some textures, ingredients and flavor profiles that were not everyday for us. The highlights were a chilled corn soup. The sweet, chilled soup was topped with warm fried rock shrimp with a little chili oil. Love the sweet, spicy, hot, cold combo. Next were the veal sweet breads that were fried into tasty nuggets that were served with a deliciously sweet glazed cipollini. The rice flour crepe with pork belly was crispy, savory and fresh. The slow cooked salmon was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the flavor/texture was enhanced by chard and a few chickpeas. A deliciously memorable meal.

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Restaurant Alma
528 University Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414

[foreverhungry]

Octopus tacos at La Sirena Gorda at the Midtown Global Market. Burrito with beef tongue at Pineda tacos on South Robert St. Just about anything on the east end of University Ave in Frogtown.

Bone-to-pick: "Unique" implies (well, no, it's actually defined as) something that is a one-off, not found anywhere else. Do you mean unique to the Twin Cities (within the bounds of the US)? Because if you're looking for unique, you're not going to find it in the Twin Cities. Even given Kevin47's (excellent) suggestions, those are certainly not unique to the TC, in the way that Santa Maria Tri-Tip is unique to a region of California or scrapple is unique to the lower Delaware Valley area. I know folks will argue with this, but IMO, there's nothing truly unique to the TC food scene - even if one extends the definition of unique to "originating or found in it's best form in a particular region or locale".

This isn't to mean the TC food scene is boring or on a low level - it's certainly neither of those. It just that none of it is unique in the context of the country.

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Midtown Global Market
920 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55407

La Sirena Gorda
920 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55407

[mtullius]

Just had a wonderful meal at Flamingo.... it's Ethiopian/East African food, and the owners are struggling to stay afloat with the restaurant and the charitable work they do helping their community, so it's a worthy cause as well as delicious food....

[drew13000]

Yak momos and goat curry at Himalayan Restaurant. Cuy at Chino Latino. Camel at Safari in the Midtown Global Market (though I'm not sure they offer this past state fair time. The last time I visited MGM was during the state fair.) Pig tongue small plate at Meritage.

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Midtown Global Market
920 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55407

Chino Latino
2916 Hennepin Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408

Meritage
410 Saint Peter St, Saint Paul, MN 55102

[kevin47]

I tend to gravitate toward the craziest thing on any menu, so I could write an encyclopedia... Some recs:

Los Andes has a trio of Ceviche, goat stew and tripe stew that is quite good.
The sheep's brain at Saffron is supposed to be excellent.
You can spin the wheel at Bangkok Market. As an added bonus, their food tends often to be mislabeled.
Jellyfish at Evergreen is a low risk investment, though it doesn't match the version Yummy used to serve.

If you're not feeling quite THAT adventurous.

Both Travail and Victory 44 always feature items I've never tried before.
The sausage appetizer at Lemongrass is just outstanding.
Foie Gras meatballs at 112 are an old standby
The curry at T's Place is about as addicting as food gets
Squid at Piccolo is anything but boring.
Devil's Eggs at TSC.
Anything ordered "spicy" at Bangkok Thai Deli or Sweet Basil...

There is a restaurant or two around here that serves Pho. Pho Tan Phat in Spring Lake Park has a duck version on weekends.

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Los Andes
317 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN

T's Place
2713 E Lake St, Minneapolis, MN 55406

Victory 44
2203 44th Ave N, Minneapolis, MN

Sweet Basil
9310 Zane Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55443

[MplsM ary]

Pray, tell. TSC?

[bob s]

I assume he means The Strip Club.

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The Strip Club
378 Maria Ave, Saint Paul, MN 55106

[soupkitten]

i'll respond here, because i want to say that the sheep's brain at saffron *is* excellent. . .

the "duck in a can" at haute dish also comes immediately to mind after reading the op-- but there are less-than-usual items on many menus, and many menus that are very outside of the norm. maybe the op could clarify for me-- it seems like i could rec a great mackerel dish somewhere, even though that doesn't seem very unusual, and have it fall into the desired parameters-- or the op could be on a "bizarre foods" type quest.

[kevin47]

Yeah, my visits to Saffron have always been with friends who work nearby who would be a bit queasy at my ordering delicious brains. Does Saffron deliver?

[keithinmpls]

The gnocchi with cauliflower and orange at Bar La Grassa is one of my very favorite things in the world right now. I was delighted to see Heavy Table agrees with me - she says it better than I can.

http://heavytable.com/gnocchi-with-ca...

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Bar La Grassa
800 N Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55401

[diesel]

Oh that is sooo good. Had it once months ago and still think of it almost daily.

[The Dairy Queen]

Tasted great in the moment, but I thought it left a cloying aftertaste that lingered far too long. I regret having ordered it.

~TDQ

[semanticantics]

Travail does all kinds of weird stuff with their food. I had the "tofu" last weekend, and I received some of their house made tofu in a sweet potato broth with sweet potato chips, fried lotus root (of all things), and some other accouterments. If I went in tomorrow it would likely be completely different. Try a google image search on "travail kitchen & amusements", I believe my photos are the first hits. Find their address and their own photos and menu updates on Facebook.

[semanticantics]

Failing that, go ethnic. Thai and Vietnamese are my favorite cuisines, with Massaman Curry being my favorite dish. It's a coconut curry with potatoes and a protein, and a few other veggies (which vary). It's spicy and sweet, a favorite combo.