One night in Toledo, Cincinnati, St. Louis

[aemonfried]

The DH (an architect) and I are planning a road trip to see many of the museums built in the last decade or so. We start in Toledo and make a big half loop to end up in Minneapolis. (On this trip we're skipping Chicago/Milwaukee.) What is the one restaurant in each city that really communicates the local essence? We not necessarily looking for roadfood, but we're not necessarily looking for local-seasonable-sustainable either. (We're from New York so we've got plenty of that already.) Any suggestions would be appreciated and we will report back!

AEM

[tino27]

Probably the most famous place in Toledo would be Tony Packo's. There are several in Toledo, so I'll let you and Google Maps figure out which would be the best one for your route.

[gfron1]

In St. L - check out Niche for sure and have a Ted Drew's. Make sure you go to the City Museum (if its not already on your docket) - that place is the coolest museum I have ever been to.

[prasantrin]

To me, Al's Breakfast epitomizes MSP. It's not the food (you can get eggs benedict anywhere), but the atmosphere. It's as far from pretentious as you can get, and I've met the nicest people standing in line while waiting to get a seat. It's not a dinner place (closes at 2), though, so it may not be what you were thinking of.