Hell’s Kitchen – Minneapolis, MN

We sure have interesting restaurant names here in the twin cities eh?  Here’s another one that we tried almost a month ago when some friends were here from northern Minnesota.  It was also their 28th anniversary.  How nice of them to spend it with us (?). Ha ha. They came down to see their daughter sing in a performance of Carmina Burana and wanted to get together with us too.  It just happened to be their anniversary too.

I had heard of this place a while ago and when I learned they were staying downtown I suggested it and everyone was amenable.  It’s in the basement so you really feel like you’re descending into hell!!  Plus, the place is decorated with dark colors and wait until you see what they have in the bathroom!  I will get to that in a bit.  We parked in a lot that was conveniently connected so we only were outside walking to/from the car to/from the elevator.  I love that about our downtowns.  Both have skyways connecting buildings and parking lots and the saavy skyway walker never is affected by the elements.  And we have a lot of those elements during the loooooong winter months here.  Here’s the entry – Hell’s Kitchen Damn Good Food:

The view from the top of the stairs:

Once you descend the stairs you find the place to check in where they sell Hell’s Kitchen items:

I was able to make a reservation online earlier in the day.  They only had 5:15 or 8:30 so 5:15 it was and we all got there about the same time.  We had a nice corner booth and it was cozy.  Here’s the view looking out from our booth:

There was a fabulous jazz band playing too!  I found that unusual since it was so early.  Usually music doesn’t start until later in the evening, so that was a pleasant surprise:

Here’s the interesting thing in the bathrooms (hubby told me they had similar portraits in the men’s bathroom).  There were three portraits which I’m guessing were a mother, father and child.  When you moved you got a different view.  A normal view:

And then the hellish view:

Here are the happy couple and a couple of diners (hubby and another friend of ours):

Hubby couldn’t help but notice familiar paintings on the walls.   I wouldn’t have known this, good thing he tagged along ;) They had Ralph Steadman paintings on the walls near our table so I took a couple of shots of them.  Ralph Steadman was Hunter Thompson’s illustrator and lookie, he has a website.

I haven’t even gotten to the wonderful food!! Alas, I forgot to take photos of the food.  I don’t recall what everyone else had but I do know that everyone was happy with their food.   I remember what I had and it was hellishly delicious!!  They serve breakfast items all day long and I was intrigued by their juevos rancheros which is described thusly: A crisp flour tortilla with buttery hash browns, spicy black beans, soft-scrambled eggs and a 3-cheese topping, all baked to a golden brown. Topped with hand-chopped salsa and a dollop of sour cream.  MMMMMM!! YUM!!

I highly recommend this restaurant and if you’re in Minneapolis and staying downtown, high tail it over here for some good eats!

Hell’s Kitchen