Looking for the Twin Cities Best Calamari, suggestions?

[Royboy1256]

Looking for a lightly battered, good and spicy Squid with a nice Aioli, would love to hear what people think. I checked posts all the way back to March but did not see one.

[eastsidegirl]

I had some excellent calamari at Blue Point in Bloomington last week. Better than I had at Sea Salt. http://www.bluepointrestaurantandbar....

[Latinpig]

I would vote for Scusi. It is not breaded but fresh and sauted.

[kriminalrat]

Christos in Mtka has always had my favorite....lightly breaded and tender. Although my last visit it wasn't as good. Hopefully just an off day.

[foreverhungry]

I'll throw in another one for Pazzaluna, for a happy hour, and given that it's a good deal and very a very good representation of the style you describe. Overall, I don't like the place, but yes, their calamari is very good. One of the best calamari's in that style that I've had was at Capitol Grille - one in Philly, not here in Minneapolis, but I'd imagine they'd be the same.

[drew13000]

I'm going to throw another vote toward Sea Salt. Their calamari is incredible!

[WeZeL27]

I'll throw my name into the hat for Pazzaluna's HH squid...

I'll also say Parma's are good too, the breading isn't spicy, but they throw some thinly sliced pepper, etc to go with them. Last time I was there they all had a HH special on them.

[Royboy1256]

So far the tally is:
3-Pazzaluna
2-Sea Salt
2-i Nonni
1-Cave Vin
1-Cafe Biaggio
1-Capital Grill
1-Peking Garden
1-Pagoda
1-Parma's

Was hoping the scales would tilt a little more heavily toward one or the other but hopefully more will weigh in.

[MSPD]

This is something I often crave.

Sea Salt is easy to get to, and is outstanding. The salt level is very inconsistent -- not a problem for "dining in" but 99% of my food from there is "to go" so sometimes, I like a little more salt.

I also agree with i Nonni.

I used to gush over the salt and pepper squid at Peking Garden by the U of M (now leveled). They now have a location down on University in St. Paul. For us in the south metro, Weng's Kitchen is run by the same family and anything "salt and pepper" is spectacular there, including the squid.

Pagoda in Dinkytown also has a very good version, though not quite as addictive as the others above.

[mull0263]

Not a huge advocate of the place in general, but the calamari at Pazzaluna is quite good. It's also on their HH menu (happy hour is the only time I'd recommend Pazzaluna).

[Seige]

I'm also not a fan of Pazzaluna generally, but I would agree that their calamari is pretty good. And despite not being a fan on chains, I'd say Capital Grille does some mighty fine calamari as well. Oh, and Cave Vin has decent calamari too.

[Rowdy]

My favorite calamari in the style you described is at Cafe Biaggio.

[Brad Ballinger]

i Nonni has served the best I've had locally. At Sea Salt, I always order the calamari tacos, which I love, but haven't tried the calamari on its own.

[Royboy1256]

Thx TDQ & BB guess I'll have to try both!

[The Dairy Queen]

I'd try Sea Salt. http://seasalteatery.wordpress.com/menu/

~TDQ