Sushi Tango; Calhoun Square

Last night I was really impressed with the service and food at Sushi Tango. In the Twin Cities, most sushi restaurants offer the same staple rolls, what really impresses me in a sushi restaurant is the creativity of the sushi chefs in creating specialty rolls. We started off with the Yum Yum roll, one that I hadn’t had yet. It combined spicy tuna, eel, spicy mayo rolled in crunchy tempura flakes. The flavor was good and the proportion of the tempura was good, not overwhelming like some dishes which dulls the overall effect of the roll. To be a little adventurous we had the Sushi Tango, a chef’s choice of 10 pieces of Nigiri, 3 cucumber rolls and 3 spicy tuna rolls. The fish eggs were my least favorite. The portion was unnecessarily large, making it hard to eat gracefully with chopsticks. There was little flavoring and cleaning up the escaped orange eggs was annoying. The Nigiri was fresh and tasty, as were the tuna and cucumber rolls. Our waiter was nice and accommodating. Tango Sushi isn’t the best sushi restaurant in Minneapolis but its reliability and consistency makes it an easy go to.

Café Brenda, 300 1st Ave., Minneapolis

If you want to go for fish or flora, Café Brenda Minneapolis’ Warehouse District has all the staples covered. Whether it be walleye, a Greek salad with Bermuda onion or the vegetarian Brenda Burger, good options abound. Founder Brenda Langton originally started working in a 70s vegetarian restaurant in St. Paul called Commonplace. She was the youngest employee there and was determined to learn how to run a vegetarian restaurant.

She began Café Kardamena in St. Paul at the age of 21 in 1976, and due to increasing demand she opened Café Brenda in 1986 in its current space downtown Minneapolis. Although Café Brenda is not completely vegetarian, it manages to please both healthy-eating omnivores and vegetarians. Café Brenda is a great place to try some Minnesota favorites from a venerable figure of the Minnesota restaurant scene.

Origami, 30 North First Street, Minneapolis

Among some of the praised heaped upon Origami, which posts up in both downtown Minneapolis and Ridgedale Minnetonka, is Best Sushi four years in a row (2002-2006) from City Pages and a 9.3 rating from City Search 2006. A Best Sushi award from the critics of City Pages is no small feat in a metro area flooded with Japanese and Korean restaurants. Origami doesn’t try to pretend at Asian quaintness, it’s furnished with some ultra-modern purple panels inside at the bar. There are booths for five that would look more fitting in a sports bar, but the sushi is excellent, and it’s open for business lunch during the workweek.


Origami is known to be the place to go for a business lunch with a party of four or more. In fact, going out for a quiet date is not a good idea at Origami, as the house prefers large parties. 5-9 people are sat on a first come first served basis while parties of ten or more should call ahead. If you’re going for sushi, each piece is gorgeously prepared. There is tuna, lobster and salmon. But the squid and octopus somehow look just as appetizing. Sushi is not fast food, even as much as it’s become popular, and Origami doesn’t treat it that way.

Figlio Calhoun Square vs. Zarletti's Milwaukee

A few weeks ago my boss gave me free Timberwolves tickets for their game against the Utah Jazz at the Target Center. However, before we left for the game we decided to go out for some great Italian food in the Minneapolis St. Paul area. After the wait for Amore Victoria was too long, we drove up the road to Figlio’s in Calhoun Square, located in Uptown as well. The food was okay, not one of the better Italian meals that I have had, but you cannot beat Filigo’s drink specials. There are not many Minneapolis Happy Hours that can compete with Figlio’s $2 drinks (that includes wine!) and their $2 appetizers. Their Happy Hours vary, but they have specials every day.


Last week I ventured to Milwaukee and I ate at the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to. Zarletti’s is located in downtown Milwaukee on Mason Street, close to the Milwaukee Athletic Club. It has a nice atmosphere that emits a professional, but not too stuffy, surroundings. The restaurant itself is dimly lit and offers a great selection of fine Italian cuisine. I had an immaculate dish ‘ravioli al fungi’ which was an assortment of mushrooms in a light cream sauce with cheese filled ravioli. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! This restaurant did not feature drink specials or $2 appetizers, but Italian is kind of a ‘you get what you pay for’ cuisine. Zarletti’s cost a little more ($18-$30 a plate) than Figlio’s, but the quality and taste shows. If you are ever in Milwaukee, be sure to stop in!

El Patio, St. Paul

El Patio Mexican Grill is conveniently located on St. Paul’s West Seventh Street, giving easy access to pre-Wild margaritas. The carnitas are what is to try here, but vegetarians also have options as there is a separate menu of meatless delights (the complimentary soup is not vegetarian so watch for that). The spot isn’t called El Patio for nothing, in the summer there is great space for outdoors dining although it’s tough to think about in the middle of January.

The margaritas are expensive but tasty. The better drink deal here is the 40 ounce draft beers for only six to seven bucks, and that includes Heineken! If you’re feeling Mexican on a Minnesota Wild game night, or any night, El Patio is a good space. If you don’t sit in the dining room, get up and try to check out the mural that is strewn across one of its walls at some point.

128 Cafe - St. Paul, Minnesota

Residents of the MacGroveland Neighborhood in Saint Paul will be happy to know the 128 Cafe is back and better than ever. We stopped in for an early dinner on our way to the Timberwolves game at the Target Center in Minneapolis. For those who have been to the 128 Cafe, it is a 60 seat casual-sheik restaurant on the corner of Cleveland and Laurel right across the street from the University of Saint Thomas Campus and just minutes away from downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul. We started out with the steamed fennel mussels which were perfect. We also tried the chipotle seasoned pumpkin soup with creme fraiche and a caesar salad. Both were great and really hit the spot. For dinner we had the flank steak and bbq baby back ribs. The ribs, which were a specialty of the old 128 were fantastic as always. The meat falls off the bone and is not fatty at all. For desert we had the egg nog creme brulee which also did not disappoint. The dinner and wine menus are both very fairly priced which with the free Timberwolves tickets I got from my boss made for an inexpensive date! Overall a great way to kick off the evening and highly recommended. Valet parking is available and some of the street parking does require a permit.

Spill the Wine; Minneapolis

On the other side of town, Willie’s wine bar shuts down because of no business. That was in the Laurel Village neighborhood next to the behemoth University of St. Thomas Minneapolis campus. Come on, we all know that college kids don’t drink wine. Meanwhile, Spill the Wine is birthed on Washington Avenue next to the Metrodome. Will Twins fans come? Ha, try Guthrie Theatre goers. Spill the Wine will give it a go at its East Downtown location, with two separate spaces for dining and drinking. The bar has televisions and a wall displayed with regional wine. The dining room features an open kitchen.

Get $5 appetizers from 4-7 p.m. or even $15 bottles of wine. Grilled asparagus sounds pretty darn good with a nice sauvignon blanc, no? At dinner, order the beef tenderloin and another bottle of wine, this time a crisp pinot noir. Besides, there’s no rule about switching colors midway through, just make sure to clean the palette. If you want to make a real night out of it, come for one of the five-course Italian Wine Dinners. The next one is September 27. At $59 a pop, it presents a real opportunity at reeling in your biology class crush (if you’re one of those special college kids who like wine).

Spill the Wine is in a great spot to sweep up Guthrie fans and Metrodome fans alike and don't forget the weekday lunch rush of business people - this is in a booming business district with fresh new office buildings including the one on the corner of Washington and Chicago that belongs to local Minnesota ticket broker, Ticket King.