Halftime with Taste Buds: Layered BLT Dip

Football season is back and Taste Buds has you covered with more halftime recipes throughout the fall! This week, Stephanie Hansen is serving up an easy layered BLT dip to satisfy your party guests.

Park Tavern reopens after deadly crash

The Park Tavern in St. Louis Park is reopening on Wednesday, days after an alleged drunk driver plowed into the patio, killing two people and injuring several others. 

MN State Fair, Nur-D and new recipes: Taste Buds

Season two of “Taste Buds with Stephanie” begins at the Minnesota State Fair. Join Stephanie Hansen as she tries Quesabirria Taquitos and Esquites at El Burrito Mercado, a family-owned restaurant that has worked for more than 10 years to get a spot as a State Fair food vendor.

PinKU returns inside Eat Street Crossing Food Hall

A favorite Northeast Minneapolis restaurant that closed during the pandemic has returned inside a food hall in the Whittier Neighborhood. Chef John Sugimura has reopened PinKU with Chef Louross Edralin of Staff Meeting. The spot will serve sushi daily, but on Friday and Saturday nights they’ll offer Omakase by Chef Sugimura. This is a special five-course meal at the ten bar seats. Omakase means chef’s choice. Reservations for August sold out in six minutes. Reservations for September will open on Aug. 25 at 6:30 a.m. Eat Street Crossing is located at 2819 Nicollet Ave. S. It’s open seven days a week.

Chef Yia Vang opens the doors of Vinai

One of the most anticipated restaurant openings of the year is finally here. Vinai is open now in the Sheridan Neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis. The restaurant will be open Tuesday through Saturday evenings. It’s named after the refugee camp in Thailand where Vang’s parents met and where he was born. The restaurant honors both of his parents by utilizing their recipes and methods of woodfire cooking. It’s located at 1300 2nd St. NE, the former location of Dangerous Man Brewing. Vang is a James Beard Finalist. He also runs Union Hmong Kitchen which has two locations, one in the North Loop and one on West Lake Street. He will also serve Hmong food once again at the Minnesota State Fair.

Big Guy’s BBQ Roadhouse: Taste Buds

Summer is here and backyard grills are taking center stage, but a smokehouse in Wisconsin is raising the bar in barbecue, and catching Stephanie Hansen’s eye. Big Guy’s BBQ Roadhouse in Hudson, Wisconsin, is serving up smoked prime rib, candied bacon, and other specialty items that have customers hooked.

Hooked on Shore Lunch: Taste Buds

The lure of sizzling smash burgers and hungry fish brings Stephanie Hansen and the Taste Buds crew to the shores of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis for an epic adventure with Nate P., host of “Shore Lunch with Nate P." on YouTube.