Lunch (and dessert) on the Town

Most days, I eat lunch at home. I work at home, so it doesn’t make much sense for me to make lunch runs on a regular basis when I have everything at my fingertips. I usually reheat leftovers, make a quesadilla, or chop some veggies for tuna salad. It’s best to keep it simple so I can remain focused on my tasks for the day.

Today I decided to switch things up a bit and meet some friends for lunch in downtown Minneapolis at Lyon’s Pub. We had a wonderful lunch full of chatting and food (to be covered on Twin Cities Food Finds) and it got me out of the house for a little bit.

Afterwards, I wandered down to see how the new food truck, World Street Kitchen, was doing on 5th and Nicollet. Last time I was in Saffron, Saed (the co-owner with brother, Chef Sameh Wadi) gave me a little preview of what the food truck was going to offer, so it was really exciting to see a line five people deep waiting for Banh Mi sandwiches, lamb tortas, and the newest Yum Yum Rice Bowl.

Chef Sameh working the crowd

I know I came for the food, but I was really excited about the stickers!

If you’ve ever seen my planner, you know I love to collect stickers. Each year it’s like a mini statement piece, representing places I’ve traveled to or things I’ve done, so I was really excited when Saed told me to take more than 2 stickers. Score!

Since I already ate lunch, I went for dessert: the salted caramel ice cream sandwich.

Yum! The chocolate cookie was soft and the ice cream was firm, a sign of a fresh ice cream sandwich.  While I’m not one for chocolate (maybe a coffee cookie next year?), I do enjoy salted caramel, especially in ice cream form. The dessert was easy to eat which was nice since I ran into some Twitter friends and didn't want ice cream dribbling down my shirt mid-sentence.

If you catch yourself in downtown around lunch time, check out the street food along Nicollet Mall and Hennepin Avenue. Heavy Table has a great guide here. You’ll be sure to find some good eats and in my case, some good company too.