Best Soul Food
The Favor Café 
Maybe you’ve heard that the mark of a good soul food joint is its black-eyed peas. Well, they’re plenty good at the Favor Café, but you know what? After washing down the city’s best fried chicken with some crazy-good sweet tea, we’d rather save room for “Mama’s” banana pudding. [913 W. Lake St., Mpls.; 612.821.05531]

Best Imitation of Your Ex’s Grandma's Soul Food
Derrick's Southern Style
When my Alabama-bred ex and I split up, I was sad to lose my annual dose of his grandma’s insanely good Southern cooking. Good thing Derrick’s Southern Style—true soul food, the likes of which I haven’t tasted outside of the ex’s family kitchen opened a mere two blocks from my house. Crispy-crusted fried chicken, smoky barbecue meatloaf sandwiches, divinely creamy mac ‘n’ cheese, perfectly executed cornbread muffins and tender collard greens are just a few of the ultra-affordable menu’s stars. One recommendation: Get your dose of soul to go, because the interior of Derrick’s has as much charm as a high school cafeteria. If you think ahead and pack a blanket, walk a block south on Chicago to Phelps Park, an uncrowded grassy oasis, perfect for spreading out and digging in. [3801 Chicago Avenue, Mpls.; 612.823.4808]

Best Swedish Meatballs
Ingebretsen’s Scandinavian Deli
Poke your way past the shelves of Dala horses and Lena and Ole books and you’ll find the wonderful, meat-filled world that is Ingebretsen’s little Scandinavian deli. The glass cases are packed with Nordic delicacies: salted herring, Swedish potato sausage, house-smoked salmon, smoked bologna, headcheese, cured beef, ham loaves, Finnish cheeses, lefse (made from fresh potatoes), liver pate and blood sausage. The Swedish Meatball Mix, a proprietary blend of pork, beef, egg, breadcrumbs and seasoning, is so sought-after in the holiday season that the deli can sell up to 1,500 pounds of it in a day. [1601 E. Lake St., Mpls.; 612.729.9331]

Tiniest Italy
Morelli’s Specialty and Discount Liquor & Yarusso Bros. Italian Restaurant
Finding traditional Italian anything in the very non-Italian Twin Cities is difficult, so we were surprised to discover two chips off the old, uh, boot-shaped country located next door to one another on Payne Avenue in St. Paul. Go to Morelli’s for its housemade sausage (so good it could be Minnesota’s culinary ambassador to Italy) and the circa-1933 Yarusso Bros. for the Dago sandwich and dimly lit old-school vibe. [Morelli’s, 535 Tedesco St., St. Paul; 651.774.5961 // Yarusso Bros., 637 Payne Ave., St. Paul; 651.776.4848]

Best Liquor Store for a Sunday Beer Run
Casanova Liquor Store
Blue laws got you down (i.e., in a bind because you forgot to buy beer for your Sunday afternoon BBQ)? Head to the enlightened state of Wisconsin, where booze is on sale every day! More specifically, go to Casanova Liquor in Hudson—the inside of which looks like a log cabin and is brimming with brews (think Spotted Cow) available only in cheese country. [236 Coulee Rd., Hudson, Wis.; 715.386.2545]

Best Road Trip-worthy Burger Place with a Slightly Misleading Name
The Ox Yoke Inn
There is an ox yoke here, but beyond that, no discernable oxen theme. And as far as we can tell, there’s no inn—just a modest brown building with a gravel parking lot. But you’ll forgive Maple Plain’s Ox Yoke Inn for its slightly misleading name when you see its glorious setting (rolling farmland just west of the Cities) and taste its burgers (try the gluttonous Luce Line Lucy burger with fried onions). [261 County Road 92, Maple Plain; 763.479.2522]

Best Road Trip-worthy Bar with a Train Theme
The Choo Choo Bar
The restaurant side of this legendary dive contains an actual train trolley. But the real draw here is the comfort food. Order the wings, easily the best in the western ’burbs. [160 Railway St. W., Loretto; 763.479.3565]

Best Way to Visit the Keys Without Leaving Minnesota
The Beach Bar    
You could drop the laid-back St. Croix River-side town of Lakeland, Minnesota onto a Florida Key and it’d fit in like a hibiscus flower on a Panama Jack button-down. Lakeland’s hang loose attitude is best enjoyed at the Beach Bar, a tropically themed roadhouse that draws Harley enthusiasts, volleyballers (there’s a sand court outside) and professional drinkers. Sounds sort of like a Jimmy Buffet song, doesn’t it? [2070 St. Croix Trl. S., Lakeland; 651.436.5065]

Best Reinvented Northeast Minneapolis Biker Bar
Shaw’s
While the 331 Club gets a lot of credit for turning a former biker bar into a notable neighborhood destination, the same story played out down the road at Shaw’s, and it’s got better food. The Shaw Burger hasn’t been around long enough to be legendary, but just wait: A clown car of a meal, it’s piled high with onions, bacon, cheese, something gooey and, according to the menu at least, a burger patty. If you’re not quite up to the challenge, order the Sun Burger, an homage to—and, thankfully, the only remnant of—the building’s even-divier former tenant, the Sun Bar. Go on a Wednesday and try your luck at the meat raffle. [1528 University Ave. N.E., Mpls.; 612.781.4405]