where to eat!

hello flying in to st paul airport friday night around 8 pm and wanted to know if anyone recommend a decent good place to eat around the area or on the way towards Duluth Minn as that is where we are driving to from St paul! Italian Steak whatever not too too fancy but not a dump either and preferably not a chain restauarnt that we have here in chicago! any suggestions would greatly help!

Thanks

where to eat!

St. Paul Downtown Airport or MSP? Makes a difference in how fast to get out of the airport being as late as it will be. First thought was Tobies in Hinkley (about 1/2 way) but that might be too late by the time you get there. It%26#39;s sort of an institution and has a very large menu.

Closer to The Cities you might see what%26#39;s around Forest Lake. ZA! Italian is rated fairly well. I%26#39;ve eaten at Upper Deck and it was pretty good but is more of a sports bar. Famous Dave%26#39;s is BBQ (and a bit of a local chain) but I think has steaks.

Otherwise there are a number of higher end restaurants in downton St. Paul - Kincaid%26#39;s for steak and Pazaluna for Italian come to mind.

where to eat!

Honestly, if you%26#39;re arriving around 8 pm and then heading up to Duluth, I%26#39;d probably get something to eat on the road. French Meadow Bakery (local, yummy, organic) in the airport has a great gourmet deli with salads, sandwiches and lots of good road food.

You could probably eat in the cities, of which I could make many recommendations, but that would have you arriving in Duluth around midnight. I personally don%26#39;t like to travel that way.

Some good points made by others, are you talking about MSP (where the commercial flights fly into, Northwest/Delta, American, etc.) or downtown St. Paul (private flights)? Also, considering your arrival time, what time do you want to arrive in Duluth? You may have already considered it, but arriving into St. Paul, you%26#39;re looking at about a 2 hour drive to Duluth. That said, a midnight arrival into Duluth isn%26#39;t unrealistic with a dinner stop.

That said, I tried to take all that into consideration. You might want to check out Axel%26#39;s Bonfire. There is a location in MSP itself, or a location not terribly far from downtown St. Paul airport, both open until reasonably long enough from an 8PM arrival time. www.axelsbonfire.com. This is a local chain, but good food from when I visited another one of their locations. Menus available online, nice atmosphere at the one I visited.

Axel%26#39;s would be good. Just get your luggage from luggage claim, then head up the escalator one floor and look for it in the main terminal.

Otherwise, I%26#39;ve driven that drive from Minneapolis to Duluth and there aren%26#39;t that many notable restaurants that I can remember.

There is a casino in Hinkley with multiple options.

It%26#39;s not even a mile to the east from the Hinkley exit on 35.

www.grandcasinomn.com/Dining/Dining.aspx

About 80 miles from the airport, en route to Duluth.