Talking to Nay Hla, owner of the ever-growing Sushi Avenue empire, you get the sense he has one constant eye on what’s next. The growth and expansion of his company is one sign—since opening in 2004, Sushi Avenue has established a pair of dining concepts (Masu and OneTwoThree Sushi) with nine restaurants, and a wholesale … [ Read more]
Avenue to Success: The founder of Masu and OneTwoThree Sushi went from washing dishes to owning a Midwest sushi empire
April 3, 2020 by
5 Non-Cliche Valentine’s Day Food Adventures for Two
February 12, 2020 by
It happens every February. Like snowflakes accumulating to create a drift, food writers’ inboxes start to accumulate Valentine’s Day menu after Valentine’s Day menu, each seemingly more choked with lobster-stuffed this and dark chocolate-flavored that than the last. Valentine’s Day does not have to be a day for being led down a prix fixe garden … [ Read more]
Bite of the Week: Nigiri Sampler at Gohan Sushi
June 19, 2019 by
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler. Good sushi is hard to come by. The number of places in the greater Minneapolis–St. Paul metro that do it reliably can be counted on your fingers, perhaps even the fingers of one hand. We wrote recently about … [ Read more]
Bite of the Week: Tempura Shrimp Roll at the Eagan Hy-Vee Market Grille
March 27, 2019 by
Bite of the Week is a weekly feature showcasing an exceptional meal or dish, curated by The Growler. In these modern times, we have to get increasingly used to decoupling food quality (and value) from venue. There are white tablecloth restaurants in beautiful settings that provide supremely overpriced and objectively lousy food, and there are … [ Read more]
Whirlwind Tour: Minneapolis Skyway Dining
January 25, 2019 by
To an infrequent visitor, the streets of downtown Minneapolis can seem cold and sterile. Where any other city’s core would be filled with the bustle of crowds on the sidewalks and in the crosswalks, Minneapolis’ downtown looks suspiciously like the set of “I Am Legend.” This, we contend, is simply because the casual visitor does … [ Read more]
Review: Sushi Train’s gimmick delivers real flavor
June 7, 2018 by
Have no doubt: The sushi-laden conveyor belt at the heart of Sushi Train is a gimmick. It’s a prop that sets the newly opened downtown Minneapolis restaurant apart from the dozens of other places slinging sushi in the Metro area and beyond—a visual symbol of excess, an eye-catching curio that makes you go, “What? Is … [ Read more]
Kyatchi will replace Tanpopo in Lowertown St. Paul
June 1, 2017 by
The shuttering of Tanpopo left a kimchi nabe-sized hole in Lowertown. But good news on its successor: Kyatchi is expanding to St. Paul. Siblings Sarah and Sam Peterson, along with chef Hide Tozawa, and consultants Kim Bartmann and Anne Saxton, announced today that they will open a second location of their Eat Street sushi house on … [ Read more]
Origami Restaurant Closing in Downtown Minneapolis
December 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Origami Restaurant announced today that it will be closing its doors in downtown Minneapolis on December 23. The authentic sushi and Japanese cuisine restaurant opened 26 years ago and has since raised the bar for sushi establishments in the Twin Cities and around Minnesota. It says its Uptown location will remain open. Here’s the full release: … [ Read more]
Let’s Get Happy! Soberfish
July 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
So many things about Soberfish would suggest a lack of focus. The Seward neighborhood restaurant has all the hallmarks of pan-Asian fusion confusion. Except, that is, for where it counts the most. The name, first announced as Drunken Sake, and then Drunken Fish, finally landed on something that not only makes no sense, but gives a diner … [ Read more]
