Anyone who has even been
properly introduced to Minneapolis has been taken to the
Matt's Bar: a narrow, seventies-outfitted local that just happens to be "
home of the Jucy Lucy" (the misspelling is part of the charm). If you can find a seat - which is rare, because the place is always packed - you squeeze through the crowds and park yourself where you will likely be in view of a Gopher-related sports event. The corner of the bar is home to a weency little grill where a tired looking cook is always busy - cooking arguably the best thing to happen to burgers since the bun.
The Jucy Lucy, for those of you unfamiliar, is a burger in which is contained a molten combination of onions & cheese, in a format that looks much like a jelly donut. Only beef. And cheese. Served on waxed paper - with or without onions (which are fried or not fried) - a la carte, and with a red plastic basket of fries and a Leinies, if you know how to do it, the Jucy Lucy is a local phenomenon of the Minneapolis area.
We are slaves to Matt's, and always find time in our schedule to saddle up to a formica table, when we're back in the city. My husband has also started created Jucy Lucys at home, adding jalapenos, peppercorns, or mushrooms - but whenever we head back to Matt's we realise we've still got a lot to learn.
It's probably the simplest of burgers - just cheese, onions, and beef - and is served without frills (chucked down on your table by a sweaty waitress with a paper cup of ketchup), but being in some of London's modern restaurants makes me realise that a lot of people pay big money for simplicity, when really they could get it for a fiver, in a little bar on a run-down corner of a great city...
Links:
City Search -
http://twincities.citysearch.com/profil ... s_bar.html
City Pages -
http://www.citypages.com/dish/detail.asp?CID=1376
Thrifty Hipster -
http://www.thriftyhipster.com/minneapol ... matts_bar/
Reader's Ride -
http://www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/2003/57/reader57.htm
