Twin Cities Vegan Food

After living in Minneapolis and St. Paul for nearly two decades, I’m moving. These are the vegan places I will miss.

Hard Times Cafe in Cedar Riverside is my favorite restaurant for breakfast (they have an all-day menu). They are worker owned, vegan/vegetarian only, and have kept prices reasonable over the year. They are a pillar of Cedar Riverside. My wife and I had been going for years before meeting and having our first date there. Biscuits and gravy and black coffee is my usual order. Day-old and fresh baked goods are great. They began selling deli sandwiches with Herbivore’s Butcher meatless meat for quick on the go food when COVID began.

Herbivore’s Butcher is at the forefront of creating novel plant based meat-alternatives. Amazing deli and storefront. They also run the restaurants Herbie Butcher’s Fired Chicken and (my favorite) J. Selbys. Twin Cities is blessed to have them, since many local restaurants use their products.

Szechuan is my go to Chinese restaurant. Legendary Spice is also excellent for Szechuan food. Tea House is a taste of home for Northern Chinese international students. Recently their chef moved to Legendary Spice. I had a great experience with their catering before then. Checkout Master Noodles for hand pulled noodles and scallion pancakes.

Peninsula is a Malaysian restaurant with great spicy golden tofu and chili tofu dishes.

The Twin Cities has significantly better Thai food (generally) than the West Coast. Thai Garden is my favorite. Karta Thai is usually great, but some of their chefs miss–only order by phone or in person if you want it vegan.

For bánh mì, Lu’s Sandwiches is my favorite and Pho Pasteur is also good (order without butter of course).

Reverie is an all vegan restaurant that is nice to bring friends and family to.

Modern Times and Seward Café (collectively ran) are great vegan breakfast joints.

Pat from The Wienery is rad.

For pizza Parkway Pizza is my go to. Pizza Lucé’s seasonal pizzas are hit or miss (and a bit expensive), but the mock muffaletta sandwich is always great and delivery is free.

There are many more, but these are the ones I will miss most when I leave Minnesota.

Coffee Shops

Caffetto Coffee House in Uptown is my favorite.

Matchbbox is worker owned.

Checkout roasts from Dogwood, Misfit, Peace Coffee, and Wesley Andrews.

Spyhouse is stuffy and crowded 😛. So is Nina’s, but they are worth going to (especially early on a Sunday morning to work or read).

Breweries

Fair State Brewing Cooperative is good and next to a vegan restaurant.

Sociable Cider has cider.

Surly is well known, but they short changed the brewer (Todd Huang) who made their original recipes a success. I do not recommend them.

Asian Grocers

Dragon Star in St. Paul has a large selection and where I usually shop. They have most things and are priced well.

Shuang Hur off of University in St. Paul is alright. I got food poisoning from their produce once, but still go for dry goods.

Seoul Foods in Fridley specializes in Korean food and has kirby cucumbers.

There is a large Hmong community in the Twin Cities and several Hmong farming coops. St. Paul has two large Vietnamese markets (not just groceries).

Asia Mall in Eden Prairie has several shops. It is the new home of Keefer Court. After the original owners retired, they sold the name and recipes to the chef (their vegan baos are amazing).

Pooja Grocers has a great selection of Indian spices.

United Noodle’s is a popular Japanese grocer, but much more expensive than Dragon Star and treat their staff poorly. I do not recommend shopping there.

Latin Grocers

El Burrito Mercado in St. Paul is my favorite. Often we get their premade beans, rice, and salsas to go with homemade fajitas.

Marissa’s Supermarket off of Eat Street is good.

Italian Grocer

Cosetta’s is expensive, but might have the brand or 00 flour that you need. Their take home pizza dough and sauce is great.

Co-op Grocers

The Wedge is excellent. I used to live immediately adjacent to their property and purchased a lot of last minute produce there. Their dry goods are a bit pricey, but for the quality of their produce is a good value. The bulk goods section is phenomenal. Parking is difficult, go within an hour of closing if possible. They have a large impact on co-ops locally and within the US, since they operate a co-op food distribution network and develop point-of-sales software.

Seward is also good.

Farmer’s Markets

The major Saint Paul Farmers’ Markets and Minneapolis Farmers Market are especially good.

Baked Goods

Vegan baked goods are few and far between in Minnesota.

Vegan East is excellent as is Hark Bakery.

Bakery Box is my favorite, but you can only make orders for certain weekends. Best to sign-up for their newsletter. Masks required ❤️

See Hard Times and Keefer Court above ^

Glam Doll has a history of discriminating against black employees. Don’t shop there.