Author: rakemag

The Loring Pasta Bar—the second coming of owner Jason McLean’s original downtown success—is as fantasmic as anything Disney could have dreamed up (after his third martini) for a night of debaucherous eye candy smothered in gorgonzola and crimini mushrooms. It’s high theatre and nobody in town heaps it on like McLean. No stone—or tile or light fixture or napkin—is left unturned in this 120-year-old building, formerly Gray’s Drugs (you can’t miss the restored signage). The extravagance of detail is dizzyingly sensuous all the way to the bathrooms. But if the downtown location drips of faded elegance, the new locale drips of Las Vegas: Just remember you’re there to have a good time and drop some cash. Late evening entertainment and dance (the lighting system is one of best in town) flips from salsa on Saturdays to swing on Sundays with midweek movies every Wednesday at 9; cover charges vary. By the way, they serve food too! Appetizers and salads, mostly familiar, accompany about a dozen pastas (all around $10).

On the eastern edge of Minneapolis, in the beautiful, aging-hippie enclave of Prospect Park, stands the witch’s hat tower, a landmark known to anyone who’s lived here more than five minutes. Two blocks to the west is another neighborhood landmark known mainly to the localest of locals: the Signature Cafe. Since 1999, Mahmoud Arafa and his wife Zeinab have been serving home-cooked Egyptian fare that’s fresh, flavorful, and affordable. All the regional favorites are on hand, from taboule and baba ganoush to shawarmah (that’s gyro, if you please) sandwiches and a robust lamb stew with couscous. “Unassuming” might be a nice way to say “dingy,” but despite the plastic table cloth covers, the Signature’s sunny, hardwood, plant-filled atmosphere is pretty and pleasant. And by next month you ought to be able to take your hibiscus tea or Egyptian coffee at an outdoor table on this quiet street where the loudest noise—other than distant freeway drone—will be neighborhood kids at play. Lucky you!

You want Russian? This place is real Russian (or as Russian as you can get in the old Robbinsdale American Legion building.) Russian owners, Russian cooks, Russian wait staff, Russian décor, Russian music, Russian customers, Russian food, Russian vodka. Lots of Russian food. Lots of Russian vodka. We’ve been there three times now and have 10 pounds and three headaches to show for it. It starts with the appetizers. Get the smoked fish plate (serves three) and the pickled vegetables. The fish plate comes with salmon, sturgeon and, as you’d expect, caviar. Good bread with lots of sweet butter under the fish gets you going. You cut those nutritious Omega 3 fatty acids with hot pickled tomatoes, spicy carrot slaw and cabbage. Wash it down with the signature St. Petersburg martini, which they should call the Chernobyl, and then proceed to the Chicken Kiev or the Bolshevik sirloin. Or even better, just order another fish plate and martini. Have a salad tomorrow.