We’ve all seen the signs on the lampposts lining Nicollet Avenue in Loring Park, Stevens Square-Loring Heights and Whittier boasting “17 blocks of eating adventure,” but where does Eat Street begin and end? I spoke with the Hennepin County Historical Society to get the official answer.

Eat Street is officially the 17 blocks of Nicollet Avenue between Grant and 29th Streets just south of downtown Minneapolis that hosts an array of restaurants with cuisines from around the world. Ping’s and Sonora are the northernmost restaurants on Eat Street and Pho Tau Bay is the southernmost. The longest-standing Eat Street restaurant is Black Forest Inn, which opened on 26th and Nicollet in 1965, followed by Christos across the street in 1987. Quang followed at 27th and Nicollet in 1989. These long-standing restaurants opened before the Whittier Alliance launched the branding concept of Eat Street in 1997.

Black Forest Inn is the oldest restaurant on Eat Street, pre-dating the branding concept of Eat Street. Photo by Melody Hoffmann

A wave of immigration from Vietnam in the 70s produced a hotspot for Vietnamese food in Minneapolis. In addition to Quang, you can get a variety of Vietnamese food at Pho 79, Lu’s, My Huong Kitchen, Pho Hoa and Pho Tau Bay, or you can buy ingredients from the Vietnamese grocery store TT Market (formally known as Truong Thahn Grocery).

On Eat Street, it's not uncommon to see cuisines from opposite sides of the world next to each other. Pimento Jamaican Kitchen & Rum Bar is next to TT Market, a Vietnamese grocery store, just north of 26th Street. Photo by Melody Hoffmann

Eat Street also offers Mexican groceries and bakery items at Colonial Market and Marissa’s, Jamaican jerk chicken at Pimento Jamaican Kitchen & Rum Bar, and a variety of options at food hall Eat Street Crossing.