travels with toby

I recently had dinner with friends at Pracna on Main.  I had never been there before nor have I been to St. Anthony Main in quite a long time.  It was nice to be next to the river again after some 12 or 13 years.  I used to work just across the river and on occasion I would visit this area that has several shops and restaurants and a movie theater.  The last time I was there was when a friend was visiting.  We took the trolley tour and had a great time.  I recommend it highly. It’s a fun way to see the city of Minneapolis and learn a bit about its history.

One of the friends that I met works for the owner of the restaurant and recommended the mini corn dogs to start off.  They are made with sugar instead of corn syrup, and according to my friend, they are sweeter but I couldn’t tell the difference.  She also said that they flash freeze them so that the sugar doesn’t burn when they deep fry the corn dogs.  They were really yummy and they’re served with state fair mustard.

We all had something different.  One had the garlic cheese bread which is described like this: French bread with roasted garlic butter, & mozzarella, served with marinara. We saw a plate of them being served and she just had to have them. My other friend had their French onion soup and it looked delicious as well.  I had their grilled cheese sandwich with cole slaw.  Their version of grilled cheese had three different cheeses: provolone, cheddar and swiss and it’s served on seven-grain bread.  It was fabulous!  The cole slaw was also quite good and a bit sweeter than most cole slaws  that I’ve had.  We ended the meal with these teeny tiny sundaes with ice cream from a nearby shop.  Mini scoops of vanilla ice cream, a little hot fudge and then some caramel swirls on the plate the ice cream cup was on and they’re eaten with tiny spoons.  Oh yum!! It was the perfect amount of dessert and ended the meal very nicely.

The friend who works for the owner told us an interesting ghost story related to Pracna on Main.  Here are her words: “There has been a rumor for years that the guy who started Pracna (Frank Pracna)haunts the place. And for years (not sure if they still do this but it was a tradition for a while) after the wait staff would put up all the chairs and sweep and mop the floors, the manager would let them out to ‘lock up’ and right before he/she would leave they would take one chair from the same table in the front kinda spooky corner table with a view of the Mississippi, and turn it back down. They told the staff the ghost did it, and in the morning when they came in they would find that chair down and thought the ghost of Pracna put down the chair so he could watch the river at night.” She also told us that the area itself is said to be haunted and that there are tours one can take.  It’s true, I found the website!

I highly recommend Pracna on Main.  Their menu is basic but there is something to please everyone.  I sure left there happy.