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BEST resturante in town??

If you were able to go anywhere for dinner, and have it completely paid for, where would you go???? DH's company is giving him dinner on the company card with a high limit for ONE dinner.  Problem is, we cant think of where to go now!  We want somewhere fancy, like little black dress fancy, and delicious.  We've never been able to go out to dinner and NOT worry about the cost of it, so we're pretty excited for this opportunity.

We live near Minneapolis, but are willing to travel a little bit if its worth it. 

TIA!

Re: BEST resturante in town??

  • Jennifer!  Fogo de Chao, hands down. We LOVE that place. I literally day-dream about it.  If you like meat, go there! Also, phenomenal service. :) This is Laura by the way, in case you weren't sure. :)
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  • That's way fun!  Reminds me of when Goodfellows Restaurant was around - one of the most pricey places that my parents enjoyed.  The joke was that NOTHING I did seemed worthy of going there.  I was a picky eater so they didn't want to waste their money on me.  lol  Finally got there when I got engaged.  :)

    what kind of food do you like? 

  • LAURA!! I'm so glad you're on the nest :)  We love Fogo De Chao, too, but we want to go somewhere we've never been....if we've never been there, that would probably be where we would go!!

     Elizabeth, it is nice that he has a company that's willing to do something like this! I'm glad that you were finally able to go to Goodfellows.  

    I love seafood, but DH doesnt..but we like pretty much everything else. Our favorites are Chinese/Japanese/Mongolian food, steak, and pasta though. 

  • Capital Grille, Ruth's Chris, Murray's, Manny's come to mind first.  If you like steak I would go to any of those places, in that order.

     

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  • If money is really truly absolutely not an obstacle... the best food I've ever had in my entire life was at La Belle Vie in Mpls.  For our 10-year (dating) anniversary, my (now) husband and I splurged and had the 8 course tasting menu with paired wine flight, and oh...my...god... We never knew that food could be so good.  It blew us away.

     But that's veeeerrrrrry expensive.

  • WA Frost would fit the bill.  Oceanaire has aweseome seafood and you can also get steaks there too. 
  • Stella's in Uptown is FANTASTIC. They do have options other than seafood. There's an AMAZING steak that's on the menu.

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  • I have always wanted to try Murrays.
  • Manny's or the Oceanaire!
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  • The best meal I have ever had, hands down, was at The Oceanaire.  Expensive too.. Joe and I racked up a $300 bill (and were ridiculously full with days of leftovers) there on cocktails, appetizer, dinner, bottle of wine with dinner, dessert and after dinner drinks.  It was amazing though!!

    I'd also suggest Murrays.  Mmmmm...

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  • imagelittlemissflip:

    If money is really truly absolutely not an obstacle... the best food I've ever had in my entire life was at La Belle Vie in Mpls.  For our 10-year (dating) anniversary, my (now) husband and I splurged and had the 8 course tasting menu with paired wine flight, and oh...my...god... We never knew that food could be so good.  It blew us away.

     But that's veeeerrrrrry expensive.

    I second La Belle Vie. Also, Bar La Grassa.

  • I second/third La Belle Vie. I've never been, but some friends went recently and raved about it - although they did say the bill was incredibly high.  My friend said she had something (cannot remember what it was) that she had never ever liked before and at La Belle Vie she said it was amazingly good.   Certainly a splurge type restaurant.

    I've been to Bar La Grassa and wasn't impressed. The food was overly salty and my pasta was rubbery and nothing that I couldn't make myself on a Tuesday night.  It wasn't "special" or anything that I would feel was blank-check worthy.

    I haven't been to any of the steak houses in town, but Ruths Chris has a great reputation and would be a place to easily spend LOTS of money on good food.

    Oceanaire is simply classic and you can't go wrong.

  • My DH will not stop talking about Ruth's Chris, and he went there year's ago. Apparently they have a steak you can cut with the edge of your fork. I'd throw in Kincaids - they have the best creme brulee in the Twin Cities. Also I've heard Forepaugh's in St. Paul is really nice.

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  • Ruth's Chris--hands down THE best steak I have ever had.  The service was amazing, something I had never experienced before. 
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  • My personal favorite is Oceanaire. Awesome food. Impeccable service. And drinks mixed strong! :-) Andy is not a fan of seafood either, but there are some nice steak options on the menu that he really likes. The crab cakes are divine. You can't go wrong with any of the fresh fish. And I know it sounds kind of silly, but get the garlic mashed potatoes. They're awesome.

    Murray's is also good, but a totally different vibe than Oceanaire. Murray's is really old-school in ambience, but their food is great. I don't eat steak, but Andy says the silver butter knife steak is very good. I had salmon last time we were there, and it was great. The only complaint I have is that the caesar salad is not good. I don't like the dressing, and the lettuce is swimming in dressing.

    Haven't been to Ruth's Chris, but Andy loves it.

    I have been to La Belle Vie once, and I'm not a huge fan, but I'm not a fan of French food in general. If you like French food, it's probably great.

    WA Frost is really good, especially the desserts. I usually get seafood there, and Andy gets steak. Their desserts are fabulous - that's is my favorite part of eating at WA Frost. 

    I also like the St. Paul Grill. They have a good variety on their menu - we like it because it has good steaks for Andy and good seafood for me. The au gratin potatoes are delicious. Not healthy, but delicious. Andy loves the strawberry spinach salad, he swears the SPG makes it better than anyone else.

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  • imagepourroni:
    Ruth's Chris--hands down THE best steak I have ever had.  The service was amazing, something I had never experienced before. 

    This.  I dream of the day I can go back.

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  • I think La Belle Vie is generally considered the best restaurant in Minneapolis.  A chain like Ruth Chris or Fogo de chao may be tasty, but it isn't going to be winning any culinary awards.  If it were me, I'd go La Belle Vie.  I like WA Frost too, but it isn't on the same level as La Belle Vie (Beard Award winner, etc.)  In fact, check the list of local Beard Award winners for ideas.
  • imagelittlemissflip:

    If money is really truly absolutely not an obstacle... the best food I've ever had in my entire life was at La Belle Vie in Mpls.  For our 10-year (dating) anniversary, my (now) husband and I splurged and had the 8 course tasting menu with paired wine flight, and oh...my...god... We never knew that food could be so good.  It blew us away.

     But that's veeeerrrrrry expensive.

    Can I ask how much that was?  PM if you want.  :-)

    I've heard of tasting menus at the French Laundry being in the thousands!  Eep!  How far in advance did you make your reservation at La Belle Vie?


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  • imageMrsKizdoodle:
    imagelittlemissflip:

    If money is really truly absolutely not an obstacle... the best food I've ever had in my entire life was at La Belle Vie in Mpls.  For our 10-year (dating) anniversary, my (now) husband and I splurged and had the 8 course tasting menu with paired wine flight, and oh...my...god... We never knew that food could be so good.  It blew us away.

     But that's veeeerrrrrry expensive.

    Can I ask how much that was?  PM if you want.  :-)

    I've heard of tasting menus at the French Laundry being in the thousands!  Eep!  How far in advance did you make your reservation at La Belle Vie?


    I don't know exactly how much we spent... My husband planned the whole thing as a special surprise dinner for me, and I intentionally didn't look at the bill afterwards, because I didn't even want to know... I just wanted to bask in the experience completely oblivious to the cost :)

    My guess is that it was probably... $400 for the two of us???  I'm thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $80-100 per person for the tasting menu, and about the same per person for the wine flight.   They do have 5- course tasting menus as well, which are less expensive, and of course, you could forgo the wine pairings to keep costs down.  You can also eat there more affordably by eating from their bar menu--we have friends that have recommended that to us, but we haven't tried it yet.

    We decided that we'd go back once every 10 years!  :)

    ETA: Not sure how far in advance my husband made the reservation... I think it might have only been about a week beforehand (he's not much of a planner), but we did have a late reservation (I think it was 9pm!), so if you wanted to eat at a more typical dinner hour on a weekend evening, I'd suggest calling at least a few weeks out. 

     

  • I know that La Belle Vie does a less expensive tasting menu in their bar that is supposed to be outstanding as well.
  • I've heard Oceannaire has gone downhill recently, but I haven't been there in about 2 years so I can't confirm it. 

    I also second (or fifth, whatever we're up to now) La Belle Vie.  I agree that W.A. Frost is also great, but not on par with La Belle Vie. 

    We also really like Capital Grille and Murray's (thought the ambiance at the latter is a bit drab). I've heard great things about Heartland and Nicollett Island Inn, but I've never been to either. The chef from Heartland recently won a James Beard award.

  • I was just at Ocenaire at the beginning of November and it was just as good as it has been in the past. 
  • imagewittyschaffy:
    I was just at Ocenaire at the beginning of November and it was just as good as it has been in the past. 

    Good to know. I've been wanting to go back there for a while but have been afraid I'll be disappointed. 

  • La Belle Vie has the prices for their tasting menus and wine flights on their website!
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  • WOW you guys have been FANTASTIC!! I looked at the websites for all of the aforementioned..and I think La Belle Vie looks fabulous, and being that i can hardly read or pronounce the food items I'm sure they are delicious.  The 8 course food/wine tasting looks to be about $100/person, but I wonder if you can share it? My husband doesnt drink wine, and I was thinking of maybe just doing the wine pairing for me. I think this would be the best way to get a taste of their choices in one sitting..since I know we wont be able to go there again for years.

     Capital Grille also looks like it would be fabulous :)

    Now that I have all these great choices I dont know how we're going to pick one!! 

    Thank you ladies! I will FOR SURE be posting back on how it was once we go.  We were going to go on Sunday but its still a holiday weekend and we have Christmas stuff planned.  We will try and go this week, but depending on reservations we may have to wait until the weekend or next week. 

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