Restaurant tips--Duluth, Minnesota

[Jessica]

OK, OK, so this is not everyone's favorite travel hotspot. My DH are going Up North next month with my brother and his fiancee. We all enjoy spicy and ethnic-y foods, and every restaurant I can find seems to specialize in burgers or bar food. Any suggestions?

[KaliforniaKim]

Yikes! You do pose a very difficult question.:confused:

My mom lived in Duluth for many years, and I even spent two months up there one year. Unfortunately, the restaurants I can think of are pretty bleak in terms of meeting your request.

I only remember two restaurants, and one is a sleazy pizza place that made wonderfully sinful pizza. :D

The other one is Grandma's -- which you have in the St. Paul area so it wouldn't be exciting (at all). I'll do a check with 'mom' and see if I can get some recommendations for you.

Kim:)

[Jessica]

Kim,

Thanks for trying. We would be happy with any good suggestions.

Jessica

[Ed]

Hi Jessica,

I'm glad to hear you folks are heading to Duluth for a vacation.

In Sharons and my opinion Duluth is a fine place to go for going out and just having a fine time, I think its a highly underrated destination, and that's O.K. because it doesn't get too over crowded.

Unfortunately we haven't been to Duluth yet this summer, and we sure would like to make the trip, but if things haven't changed much maybe I can help you out.

Our favorite place is the top of the Raddisson Hotel Downtown Duluth. The top of the Raddisson is a revolving resturant that overlooks Lake Superior, but that's not the only attraction. They have a 3 piece band there on Friday nights that goes from table to table playing requests, and they do a fine job. It's a nice dignified romantic place for a fine supper, the food is real good, and the service has always been good for us too.

Another fine place, although a little more raucaus (sp) is Fitgers Brewhouse, you know Fitger's beer. We've been there and you can get a good meal there. It's a place where locals will take out of town guests, the building is unique. their web site is http//www.brewhouse.net

A Place we want to try is the New Senic Cafe, they have a menu featuring Cuisines of the world, and it looks great to me, if I can fit in the time Sharon and I will run up there and have supper one day soon. Their web site is: http//www.sceniccafe.com

Another place to check out is the Blackwoods Resturant. Their web site is http//www.blackwoodsrestaurant.com

There are many fine resturants in the Duluth area, when you get there just ask around, a lot of them are along the Lake.

Sharon and I spent our honeymoon in Duluth a long time ago, at the time it was all I could afford in the way of a honeymoon, both for the time away from work and the money, but it was a good choice we had a real good time in Duluth.

One fine restaurant we ate at was the London House, it was right on the Lake on the north end of Duluth. It was in April, kind of a cold time yet in Duluth, and when we arrived at the Restaurant there were no other people there for supper, ("Dining.") We were seated at a nice table and presented with the menu etc. Just after we ordered in came a group of men all dressed up, I mean really spiffed up, (well we were dressed up too, it was that kind of place,) it was the members of the port authority, with the Captian and the First Officer of the First Ship to arrive that season, it happened to be a German Ship, and so there we were.

The Captain of course noticed us, especially Sharon. He commented on how nice she looked, (if I remeber right he said she was a beautiful young lady, and he was right) we were invited to join them at their table, we thanked them, and declined telling them we were just married the day before. They understood and sent a nice bottle of wine to our table for us.

After a while other people came in for supper too, so the place did get busy, but that is a place Sharon and I will always remember. Unfortunately I think it's no longer there, but there are some other very fine places to eat in Duluth.


I'm sure you folks will have a real nice time in Duluth.

Ed

[kwormann]

Ed, can I adopt you???? I love your stories!

[Jessica]

Ed, thanks for sharing your ideas as well as your memories.

[KaliforniaKim]

Hi Jessica,

I have some ideas from 'Mom' but I'm not sure if I can beat Ed's suggestions or stories. :p

Fitgers is a great suggestion--I ate there several years ago, and it was very nice. It's on the lake, so you can actually get a view too. At one time, it was a big deal to go there and watch the sailing races (I think they used to be on Tuesday or Wednesday nights during the summer). I don't know if they still have the races in the summer, but it is a very nice micro-brewery with an adult atmosphere.

Blackwood's is also a restaurant with a view. Recommended from 'mom'. I'm not sure of the menu, but I believe it's steak/ribs/etc.

The Canal Park area has been greatly improved over the past few years, so there are a number of restaurants there and you may find something ethnic in the area. Everyone loves that area--Grandma's used to be the only restaurant down there, but now there are several to choose from. Unfortunately, my folks are very midwestern meat and potatoes, so I couldn't eek out any ethnic ideas.

Have fun!:cool:

[Ed]

Hi,

Kim, thanks for the nice compliment.

And Jessica, thank you too.

I will add something I forgot about food and Duluth. It's not about a resaurant though, but a bakery.

It's called the Third Street Bakery, and it is one of Sharon's favorite stops when we visit Duluth, We always make a stop there before we head for home.

The Third Street Bakery bakes with strictly whole grains, so if you're into whole grain bread, bagels, cookies etc. you should look this place up when you're in Duluth.

It's on Third street, a little bit up the hill from downtown.

Ed

[DMurray]

Hi! It seems to me that the Mpls Star-Trib had an article on eating in Duluth (maybe in the Travel or Variety section) either last Sunday or the Sunday before ( Recycling just picked my paper up yesterday, so I can't check). You could look on their website-I don't have the address handy, but it's something obvious like www.startribune.com, as I recall.
Have fun-I love the north shore!
Deb