The best food and drink in Minnesota

Minnesotans are perhaps best known for their stereotypical niceness, a trait supposedly derived from the Gopher State’s nineteenth-century Nordic settlers. This benign pleasantness is reflected in many of the foods typically associated with the state, often warm, comforting casseroles or rich cheeses from the Land of 10,000 Lakes’ productive dairy farms. But the North Star State has a bright culinary scene featuring styles both traditionally Minnesotan and less so, and we’ve rounded up the best of them as part of our first annual guide to the best food and drink in every state.

The Best Food and Drink in Every State for 2018: Minnesota (Slideshow)

Maybe it’s that niceness that has enabled the Twin Cities to welcome so many immigrants from around the country and the world. Today, the Minneapolis-St.Paul metropolitan area is one of the largest in the United States, and the region’s characteristic politeness seems to have translated into open-mindedness. Case in point: The best food truck in the Twin Cities, which are more than 1,500 miles from the Pacific coast, is a sushi bar on wheels.

You can find great examples of nearly every type of food in Minnesota, from tasty burritos and tortas (at Minneapolis’ Las Teresitas and Manny’s Tortas, respectively) to heartwarming matzoh ball soup (at St. Paul’s Cecil’s Deli) and honest-to-gosh French fries from a French-style brasserie (Meritage). Minnesota is down for any dish that’s hot - not just hotdish.

How did we go about choosing the best eats in our nation’s 32nd state? Over the course of the past year we’ve honored everything from its best tacos and farmers markets to its best dive bar and craft beer in our comprehensive and wide-ranging lists and rankings, compiled through extensive research and with input from a wide network of site contributors, bloggers, journalists, and chefs. We’ve compiled these into individual slideshows celebrating the best food and drink in every state, and you can find our Minnesota slideshow here.

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More Best in Every State

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• The Best Chinese Restaurant in Every State
• The Best Doughnuts in Every State