Day two in Minneapolis was another spectacular day of eating. We had some time to kill in the morning before Trav and Emily flew in, so we stopped by the Como Zoo. It doesn’t get any better than a $2 zoo trip. We spent about an hour there just hanging out, watching the animals, and taking some pictures. When we were watching the orangutans, all of a sudden the baby ran outside with a bag on it’s head. Apparently they give them bags to play with, so we had a good time watching the baby run around, looking ridiculous. The mom also got in on the bag-on-head action.
We picked up Travis and Emily and walked around downtown Minneapolis a bit, before heading over to dinner at Haute Dish. Nestled right next to Sinners and Sex World, it makes for an interesting neighborhood atmosphere. They are a fairly new restaurant and the “theme” is that they take midwest favorites, deconstruct them, and make them fancy. We had tater tot casserole, ants on a log, general Tso’s chicken (actually sweetbreads), and mac and cheese, but other than name they weren’t really recognizable to the regular dishes you would expect. Julie’s Tater Tot casserole order was probably the favorite of the night. The giant tater tot’s were unbelievably soft inside. The desserts were super interesting, with uncommon flavors like peppercorns, jicama, and tarragon thrown in for good measure. We all walked away stuffed and everyone had at least one thing they had never tried before, so it was a quality food-adventure.
Baby orangutan with a bag on its head
Picnic Salad pork belly, cauliflower, marinated lettuce, oyster vinaigrette
Emily, showing off the Ants on a Log in spring roll form
House-made charcuterie with traditional garnishes
General Tso’s Sweetbreads foie fried rice
Tater Tot HauteDish short ribs, baby green beans, porcini béchamel, “tots”
Mac & Cheese king crab, tallegio, truffle
Steak & Potatoes marrow bone, gremolata, toast Ribeye
Chocolate jicama, black berry, pink peppercorn
Apricot chamomile, almond, vanilla, yuzu
Rhubarb coconut, strawberry, lemongrass, tarragon
End of the dinner at Haute Dish, with Trav being a creep
