DeRushaEats: Favorite Three Restaurants

Local blog LOLOMG! asked me a bunch of questions this week about Twitter and social media and how it’s impacted my life. Then they asked me to make some lists.

Lists are hard. Not so much because of who I include, but because of who gets left off (I meant to include all of you in my top three favorite Twitterers to follow!).

But the top three restaurants list was really hard to make. I decided to rank the restaurants that are my biggest go-to spots, the places I go to over and over again and continue to love.

1. The Strip Club in St. Paul
2. Brasa in Minneapolis
3. Black Sheep Pizza in Minneapolis

I don’t write about The Strip Club often because I’m friends with Tim and Christy Niver (we were just in Chicago on a vacation together) and chef J.D. Fratzke, and I think it’s lame to promote your friends’ restaurants without disclosing it. And if I’m writing about restaurants of people I hang out with socially, it could make you question everything I write about. “Why’s Jason writing that? Did he hang out with those people? Do I have to hang out with Jason to get some publicity? I don’t even like the guy!”

But I’ve been sending friends there for five years, and they get the same warm hospitality that I get. The drinks are amazing, the food is incredible—whenever my wife and I are near St. Paul, we try to stop at The Strip Club. It’s my official number one.

Brasa continues to be awesome. Opened by Alex Roberts (since we’re disclosing, I don’t know Alex!) years ago, my wife and I just had dinner there last week and it was perfect. The tender pork, the rich beef, those yams and andoille sausage… I just love Brasa. Its casual, laid-back vibe conceals the care that goes into the flavors and the food. Plus, I can bring the kids!

And despite the growth in delicious, creative pizza in the Twin Cities, I keep going back to Black Sheep Pizza. I love the coal-fired flavor, the sausage is spectacular, and I find the service to be really warm and inviting.

Now are these the best three restaurants in the Twin Cities? That’s an entirely different question. But when it comes to my personal top three, that’s where I stand.

How about you? What are your favorite Twin Cities restaurants and why? 

Post your thoughts in the comments—I’ll visit some of them and write a future story on them.