MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Minneapolis, with more than a dozen lakes and a sprawling urban park system, appeals not only to outdoorsy types but also to travelers seeking a robust cultural scene, top-notch restaurants and fun bars and breweries. In recent years, residents have struggled to recover from the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police in May of 2020 and the protests and rioting that followed. But visitors today will find a resilient city primed for discovery, from the trendy Warehouse District, where nightlife hot spots have taken root within industrial brick buildings, to the growing northeastern arts district. The city is at its most welcoming in the springtime, when nature blooms and there are community events such as Art-a-Whirl, an annual festival of art, music, food and beer, held from May 17 to 19 across Northeast Minneapolis.
ITINERARY
Friday
4 p.m. | Search for prints
For a friendly introduction to the city’s engaging arts community, start in the southwestern Uptown neighborhood at the Highpoint Center for Printmaking. At this multipurpose cultural hub, staff members are more than happy to guide visitors through the gallery spaces and the printmaking co-op, an area with machinery used by local artists working in various media, including screen-printing and lithography. Don’t miss the small Highpoint Editions gallery showcasing fine artworks made on-site, including a series of haunting abstract screen-prints titled “Corner of Lake and Minnehaha,” by artist Julie Mehretu, who was inspired by a photograph taken at the Minneapolis intersection during the turmoil ignited by the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
5:30 p.m. | Taste the bounty
Book an early table at Owamni, which earned the James Beard Award for best new restaurant in 2022. Chef Sean Sherman, of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe, has a commitment to using only ingredients native to North America. The menu changes seasonally and recently included an earthy tepary-bean dip with pepitas and wild-rice crackers ($12), smoked quahog clams ($40) and tender bison tacos with guajillo-chili salsa ($9). For a drink and something sweet, stroll to Spoon and Stable in the Warehouse District. Grab a seat at the backlit bar, which was remodeled this year. A recent dessert standout was the almond cake with coconut and lime curd, pineapple sherbet and ancho chile powder ($15).
7:30 p.m. | Catch a performance
In addition to the Guthrie Theater, with its repertory and modern geometric architecture, and First Avenue, a rock club where the hometown artist Prince performed in the 1984 film “Purple Rain,” Minneapolis is also home to several smaller stages worth seeking out. Across the street from Spoon and Stable, duck inside Berlin, a polished jazz club that opened in February with acts ranging from string trios to ambient bands (cover is usually $10 to $25). Or see if there’s a play running at Mixed Blood, a theater and social justice organization in a former firehouse in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. Admission is by donation, an effort to remove all barriers to attend performances, which recently included “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington,” a satire by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames.
10:30 p.m. | Drink at a dive
For cheap beer and a shot of whiskey, you’ll do fine at any of the many dive bars clustered in the Northeast, a historically working-class neighborhood. But there’s a more interesting option right across the Mississippi River. Meteor, which opened on an industrial block in late 2019, has the grungy patina of a bar that’s been around for decades, with exposed brick walls, checkerboard floors and a well-worn wooden bar. The friendly bartenders mix excellent cocktails — try the Secret Tiger, a spicy passion fruit mezcal margarita ($14) — but they’ll also pour you a boilermaker (a shot and a beer; a tequila and Tecate is $9), to pair with a relish-topped hot dog ($6).
Saturday
9 a.m. | Loop around a lake
Many visitors start the morning with a stroll along the Mississippi River for views of the Stone Arch Bridge and the dueling Pillsbury’s Best and Gold Medal Flour signs, which are on opposite banks. Locals, however, prefer the lakes. Southwest of downtown, a string of lakes are encircled by walking and biking trails, a subset of the 51-mile citywide Grand Rounds Scenic Byway. Start at the picturesque Lake of the Isles, with its leafy islands, marshy coves and winding lakeside path. It’s an easy 2.7-mile loop that can be extended by continuing south to Bde Maka Ska, a larger oval lake with areas for fishing, swimming, biking and canoeing along the popular 3-mile pedestrian path.
10:30 a.m. | Browse bookstores
Skip the massive Mall of America, with its theme park, aquarium and hundreds of chain stores, in favor of a novel shopping experience at Open Book. At this three-story center of literary arts downtown, several book-related organizations are housed within the handsome brick building. Browse the titles at Milkweed Editions, an independent publisher with a bookshop on the first floor. Then cross the lobby to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, a nonprofit dedicated to the art of making books — letterpress printing, bookbinding, papermaking — with workshops, classes and a first-floor gallery space. In its shop, you’ll find beautiful marbled paper and letterpress cards, instructional guides to linocuts and printmaking, quirky zines and little hand-sewn books containing a single poem.
11:30 a.m. | Get your daily bread
Laune Bread began as a micro-bakery, delivering bread around the city by bike, before opening a storefront southeast of downtown in 2022. In addition to hearty sourdough loaves made from Midwestern grains, the bakery also offers an array of sweet and savory baked goods, which recently included caramelized-onion-and-gouda tarts ($5.25), mandarin-marmalade Danish pastries ($5.20) and veggie-and-Cheddar sandwiches on a sesame crust simit, a ring-shaped bread ($9.75). Don’t miss the chocolate babka knots ($4) or a handful of the honey-sesame coconut macaroons ($2 each).
1 p.m. | Go gallery hopping
It’s easy to gallery-hop around this city, where it’s rarely more than a five- or 10-minute drive to the next locale. Start at the Weinstein Hammons Gallery, which specializes in contemporary photography, then check out the Northern Clay Center, with its wide-ranging ceramic artworks. Continue to All My Relations Gallery, which showcases the work of Native American artists. Or instead, you could easily spend an hour exploring the Northrup King Building, a massive brick industrial complex in the Northeast that now houses more than 300 art studios, galleries and shops. Many open to the public on Saturday afternoons, and although the quality varies, it’s worth seeking out the first-floor Galleri 167 with colorful abstract paintings and wall-mounted sculptures, and the second-floor studio where printmaker Beth Dorsey, a Queens-born Minneapolis transplant, makes intricate lattice prints.
4 p.m. | Sip a lager
Across the train tracks from the Northrup King Building, Indeed Brewing Co. draws crowds with delightfully unusual craft beers and an inviting taproom filled with whimsical art. Start with a few smaller pours to sample the range on tap, including the tangy mango sour, the aromatic pistachio cream ale and the refreshing sea-salt-and-lemon lager (from $4 for 6-ounce pours). If the bar is packed, head over to Pryes Brewing Co., a brewery on the western bank of the river. Order a soft pretzel ($10) and a pint of Glamorama, a citrusy West Coast-style IPA ($8), and try your hand at feather bowling, where players roll a wooden ball shaped like a cheese wheel down a sloped lane to land as close as possible to a vertical feather at the other end.
7:30 p.m. | Chow down Uptown
The Uptown neighborhood has struggled to regain its prepandemic vibrancy, but you wouldn’t know it by stepping inside Kim’s. Chef Ann Kim opened this casual restaurant with a rollicking energy last November in the same space as her former Mexican-inflected restaurant. Now, her Korean American background takes the spotlight: a smash burger on a soft hotteok bun ($12), Korean fried chicken wings with ranch dressing ($16) and the dish my table fought over: a twist on mac and cheese with chewy rice cakes smothered in a cheese sauce spiked with gochugaru, a red-pepper powder ($15). Ask for a booth by the window with space for all the sharing plates, including bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes, $12) and soy-glazed beef-and-kimchi mandu dumplings ($12), along with a few banchan (sides).
10 p.m. | Drink and bowl
After dinner, head down the mural-splashed alley behind Kim’s to Bronto Bar. At this moody basement bar, which opened last year, settle into one of the soft couches and peruse the menu of fun cocktails, the best of which is By the Sea, a neon-blue concoction of shochu, Curaçao, pineapple and bitter Americano liqueur with a shark gummy candy garnishing the delicate stemmed glass ($13). Or hop over to Bryant Lake Bowl, a classic eight-lane bowling alley nearby that was built in the 1930s (and recently appeared on the cover of the Black Keys’ latest album). Soak up the old-school vibes — no automatic scoring or video screens here — with a Hamm’s tall boy ($4.50) from the bar while rolling a few late-night games ($5 each; shoe rental $2).
Sunday
10 a.m. | Savor breakfast
Minneapolis may be famous for the Jucy Lucy — a burger with molten cheese inside two patties. But it ought to be known for the outstanding egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwich at Marty’s Deli, a sunny shop in the Northeast that chef Martha Polacek opened in 2023. What sets this sandwich apart is the fluffy housemade focaccia flecked with rosemary and sea salt, which is filled with soft eggs, melted American cheese and a schmear of garlicky aioli ($9). Pro tip: Order the hash browns on the side ($5) and cram bits into the sandwich for extra crunch. It’s best enjoyed with a cup of coffee ($3) at a table flooded with light from the wall of windows. Before leaving, grab a scotcharoo (the Midwest’s salty-sweet, chocolate-and-butterscotch-topped twist on a Rice Krispies Treat, $3.50) for later.
Noon | Explore art
There’s always something new to discover at the Walker Art Center, the city’s preeminent arts institution (admission, $18). The latest exhibition, “Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody,” which opened last weekend, includes over 100 works and archival material from the American pop artist (through Sept. 8). And in June, the center will open “This Must Be the Place,” an exhibition of works from its evolving collection, with paintings by Edward Hopper and Franz Marc alongside new acquisitions from contemporary artists including Jennifer Packer. Outside in the adjacent sculpture garden (free), which will host its first art fair May 11 to 12, most visitors beeline to the supersize “Spoonbridge and Cherry” sculpture. Instead, climb the hill to enter a hidden bunkerlike installation by James Turrell, and watch clouds float across a square of blue sky overhead.
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KEY STOPS
The Highpoint Center for Printmaking is a cultural hub with gallery spaces and a printmaking co-op for artists working in various media, from screen-printing to lithography.
Owamni won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in 2022 and has a singular commitment to using only ingredients native to North America.
Open Book, a three-story literary arts center, is a downtown destination for book lovers.
Marty’s Deli is a sunny shop in the Northeast with outstanding egg-and-cheese breakfast sandwiches.
WHERE TO EAT
Spoon and Stable is a bustling restaurant in the Warehouse District with a beautiful back-lit bar and lively see-and-be-seen atmosphere.
Meteor, a bar on an industrial block by the Mississippi River, serves excellent cocktails as well as boilermakers and hot dogs.
Laune Bread bakes hearty sourdough loaves, mandarin-marmalade Danish pastries, chocolate babka knots and honey-sesame coconut macaroons.
Indeed Brewing Co. is a popular brewery with delightfully unusual craft beers and an inviting taproom displaying whimsical artworks.
Pryes Brewing Co., an enormous brewery on the western bank of the river, has citrusy West Coast style IPAs and a lane for feather bowling (a game somewhat similar to bocce).
At Kim’s, a new restaurant from chef Ann Kim, the menu includes a tasty twist on mac and cheese.
Bronto Bar, down a mural-splashed alley, is a moody basement bar with fun cocktails.
WHERE TO STAY
The Four Seasons Minneapolis has 222 rooms and suites, indoor and outdoor pools, an al fresco bar and a restaurant run by local chef Gavin Kaysen. Rooms start at $535.
The Hewing Hotel is in the North Loop. In addition to 124 guest rooms, the brick building also boasts a rooftop sauna and lounge, as well as a rustic Nordic-inspired restaurant. Rooms start at around $320.
The Element Minneapolis Downtown is another solid option in the North Loop area with 156 contemporary rooms, free daily breakfast, a panoramic roof deck and an attached parking garage. Rooms start at around $229.
Look for a short-term rental in the Warehouse District, a safe downtown neighborhood with many modern apartments within walking distance of cafes, restaurants, bars and breweries.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times.
