38th Street: A Culinary Travelogue by Andy-Sturdevant

38th Street: A Culinary Travelogue

38th Street: A Culinary Travelogue Andy Sturdevant
Andy Sturdevant / Heavy Table

38th Street in South Minneapolis is one of my favorite stretches of street in the city. It’s an old streetcar line, mostly residential but with busy little clusters of commercial activity every few blocks. It’s a sort of shadow Lake Street, passing through all the same neighborhoods, but with everything happening on a smaller scale. Following 38th across the south side, one encounters the full range of culinary experiences available in the Twin Cities…

VIEW THE STORY: [Full JPEG (1MB)] [Paginated High Resolution PDF (4.23MB)]

Special thanks to the 38th Street team: Jen, Stephanie, Sergio, Nyla, Emily, Patty, David, Crystal and, in particular, Kurt, who stuck it out for all 15 hours.

31 Comments

  1. duniamn

    Seriously beautiful – I love the homage to 38th! All the spots are great – having lived close to one end or the other for the last 10 years.

  2. Moe

    Awesome.

    One place you missed is Fireroast Mountain. Yes it’s a coffee shop, but they sell tamales from La Loma that are very good.

  3. James Norton

    I’m a huge Fireroast Mountain fan too — if memory serves, I actually talked to Andy about them and he said that they were closed by the time he got there (early evening).

  4. Andy

    Er, yes, Jim is right. By the time we got to Fireroast, it was past 10pm and they were closed…next time!

  5. Kassie

    In summer, there are often unliscensed street vendors along 38th selling tasty treats. Especially at Nicollet and just East of Nicollet. Elote, those wheel things with lime, mangoes on a stick, roast chicken, and shaved ice are all things I’ve seen.

  6. Tim

    I would agree completely with this observation. It is a great culinary experience, give them all a try at some point. Every thing from the Cardinal to the little cafe at 38th and grand are spectacular places to eat. Take a trip down 38th and eat at one of the many places and you to will soon be a fan of 38th.

  7. Annie

    I really enjoyed this piece! Thanks for sharing your adventure with the rest of us.
    -A South Mpls Resident (I’m on 44th St., but 38th counts as “home”)

  8. artsy

    this is great, reminds me of my friend Mu’s great letters she used to send me, illustrated! getting to be a lost art now that email is here…thanks.

  9. Sharyn

    Oh Andy, I adore this! Nicely done sir. Reminds me a bit of Danny Gregory’s NYC journals. I would love to see you do more great stretches of the Twin Cities.

  10. Emmy

    Several years ago I lived at 38th and 12th and my favorite weekend coffee spot was Tillie’s Bean, a clean, artsy little shop located across 38th from Ted Cook’s. I was about to voice my dismay that Tillie’s was not reviewed in the travelogue. But according to their website, they have now closed! This makes me so sad. They made seriously great coffee and their baked goods were delicious, too. The place was incredibly underrated; they paid the right attention to all the details to make a truly great cup of coffee.

    Despite my own mourning of a place I loved – beautiful work and great job on this piece!

  11. Kim F.

    I caught a link from minnpost.com to your piece. Since i live along the start of your journey I thought a friend of mine in Japan might like to see something about my neighborhood. Had to lighten the weight of the pdf and add a small “X” I live here… anyway she loved it. To quote her “It is an example of the power that the
    illustration holds its ground against the photo! I love its hand-written touch.”

    She has been working on promoting beautiful Shiga-kogen, Nagano, a famous ski area. She also does work with restaurants and nutritional products… I hope you appreciate the compliment and i want to add my enjoyment of your work to hers.

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