WEEKEND: DAY FOUR - SECTION FOUR

Aug 9

7 min read

Updated: Aug 18

FEAR THE CHEESE

RECOMMENDED TIME WINDOW: 12:00pm - 1:30pm

CASH IS MANDATORY FOR THIS SECTION!!

Personal car users: type in Matt’s Bar and Grill into your Map App. Parking is a bit tough on Cedar Avenue, which is in front of Matt’s. If you park on 18th Avenue, a block west of Cedar, you’ll have better luck.

All checked out of the hotel? Time to order an Uber/Lyft. We’re off to Matt’s Bar and Grill to consume the king of all Twin Cities food icons, the last visit in our series of Icons!!! The last visit of everything!!

Now, before the ride gets to us, here’s the skinny on where we’re headed and what we’re about to eat:

The Jucy Lucy vs. Juicy Lucy.

The “Jucy Lucy” or “Juicy Lucy” is essentially a cheeseburger with a patty stuffed with cheese instead of cheese on top of the patty. This creates a melted core of cheesy goodness. Others might call it molten lava if you eat it too soon after the burger is delivered to you at the table.

Seriously: WAIT!!!! If you’ve ever burned your mouth on a Hot Pocket or Pizza Rolls because you got impatient in your hunger, you’ll know something of the regret, the loss of taste for three days, the pain in general. The wait staff at Matt’s will sternly warn you about waiting, as well. It’s a big deal!!! But good things come to those who wait . . .

Now, why all the hoopla for a burger patty stuffed with cheese???

Because the Twin Cities wanted to have a claim to fame like a Hoagie, a Cuban, Buffalo Wings, Chicago Style Chili Dog, Kansas City BBQ, New Orleans Beignets, etc. Between Ju(i)cy Lucy’s and Tater Tot Hot Dish, the former is easier to find. You’d have to go to a Minnesota potluck for the latter. Or restaurants further outside of the center of the metro, and still those restaurants don’t hold a candle to Aunt Midge’s famous version of the casserole with her secret ingredient, Aunt Ethel adds chili pepper to hers, the barista friend Jonathan who lives down on 34th Ave. with his dinosaur shaped tots. You get the idea: homemade Tater Tot Hot Dish is as important as the Lucy, but harder to come by. So, the winner for our purposes . . . ?

That leaves this burger with the internal power of a small sun . . . (Doc Ock: " . . . in the palm of my hand . . .")

We’re also headed into the middle of a small local war . . .

Two restaurants in Minneapolis claim to have invented this burger. And, a plethora of other restaurants and bars have their version of it in the area.

Both restaurants claiming to have been the inventor are coincidentally on Cedar Avenue in South Minneapolis, three miles from each other: Matt’s Bar and the 5-8 Club.

Matt’s says that the bar’s former owner, Matt Bristol, made it before he opened the bar in 1950. The bar popularized it. Another account states that “the burger was invented by a customer in 1954 who remarked ‘Oooh, that’s one juicy lucy!’ after biting into it.” The 5-8 Club doesn’t have an origin story, but they were a speakeasy in the 1920’s, so . . . were they skirting Elliot Ness’ goons while secretly melting people’s tongues???

The two restaurants also have different versions of the burger. Matt’s calls theirs “Jucy Lucy” because they supposedly misspelled it on a menu back at the time of the origin. The 5-8 Club spells is “Juicy”, and the staff have shirts saying “if it’s spelled right, it’s done right”. Matt’s advertising says “Remember, if it is spelled correctly, you are eating a shameless rip-off!” The 5-8 Club offers several varieties of cheese, whereas Matt’s only does American cheese. (Jucy Lucy Wikipedia)

So why are we going to Matt’s Bar and Grill? Did they win the war? Are they the actual originators of this beef oddity???

Well . . . a couple things in their favor (remember, this is my personal opinion):

Do you remember the old Saturday Night Live skit where Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd worked at the Chicago staple, The Billy Goat Tavern? They were notoriously short with customers who asked for simple items like hamburgers, fries and Coke. They would shout, “No hamburger, cheeseburger!” “No fries, chips!” “No Coke, Pepsi!”

Matt’s is a little like that. Which carries a bit of authenticity to it. They have a very simple and succinct menu. No substitutions.

They only take CASH (they do have an ATM onsite if you forgot this tidbit in the prepping for the Weekend Experience).

They’ve been featured on the Travel Channel’s Man vs. Food and Food Wars, where they won the award for best tasting “Jucy Lucy” in town. If you’re catching the probable technicality here . . . does this encompass Juicy Lucy’s in general??? Or just “Jucy”, which is just them!

Another thing that goes highly in Matt’s favor: the Wikipedia page on this particular burger does not list it as Juicy Lucy, but JUCY Lucy. Points awarded!!!

And lastly, Barack Obama visited this site in 2014 to have their Jucy Lucy and NOT The 5-8 Club. That pushes the needle, the spinner, in Matt’s favor!

The lack of diversity in burgers lends itself to them focusing on just the ONE AND TRUE JUCY LUCY. Therefore, this wins out for the last experience of the Weekend!!!! It's like a crown for everything we've done the last couple of days! A crown in the shape of a greasy burger (I don't recommend putting it on top of you head).

Next time you come back to the Twin Cities, I encourage you to visit other famous establishments peddling their versions, including: The 5-8 Club, The Blue Door Pub (with their famous bleu cheese Blucy) and The Nook (which won “Best Juicy Lucy” by Bon Appetit magazine!).

Here’s to a smooth ride to Matt’s, and to an even better lunch experience!!! JUST WAIT TO EAT THE DANG OL’ BURGER A MINUTE!!!!! Eat the fries, have some of the Grain Belt beer from the pitcher, just . . . wait.

Fear the cheese . . .

Once finished with lunch . . . it’s time to say our goodbyes.

ENDPOINT

WOW!!! YOU DID IT!!!!

You did the largest, most extensive Introduction to the Twin Cities ever!!

You learned some history of both cities, the region in general, with the Origin of the Twin Cities Tour, Cathedral Hill, backstories here and there.

You took in some of our best forms of outdoor recreation, including Saint Anthony Falls, Como Park, Minnehaha Falls, and Lake Harriet.

You saw our premiere tourist traps: the Science Museum, the Sculpture Garden . . . THE MALL OF AMERICA!!!!

You had your faces melted/feet smokin' at our cultural touchstone FIRST AVENUE!

You wined and dined on some of our more unique and top rated offerings: the poignant Indigena by Owamni, Mickey’s Diner, Cossetta, W.A. Frost, Hell’s Kitchen . . . YOU BURNED YOUR TONGUE ON A JUCY LUCY AND LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT!!!

Guys, what can I say? It’s been an absolute pleasure touring around this vast metro of ours with you!

But I have to stress: even though it’s been nonstop since Friday afternoon, you’ve only seen the tip of the tip of the iceberg that is the Twin Cities metro.

WHAT NOW?

This Intro is really a vast Introduction to Loreways in general. Everywhere that we’ve gone fits into the narrative of the main Loreways site, which starts with Book 1: History of the Twin Cities. Every couple of weeks, new Itineraries are added to the pile. These Itineraries range from the historical to the food tour, pub crawls to movie marathons, out-of-city/state trips to full on themed storylines!!!

If you’re residents who played tourist, this is mainly for you!

If you’re from out-of-town but want to partake in more Itineraries once you’re back, this is also for you!!

Consider becoming a Member so that you can get 100% access to the entire Loreways Vault!! New challenges, restaurants, adventures galore await!!!

In any case, I hope that you’ve gained a good understanding of why the Twin Cities is an amazing place to live and visit. This was just one guy’s way of introducing this amazing place to those who might not have known why it was amazing. I hope you liked what you saw!

With that final bit of Twin Cities praise . . .

It is time to end the Weekend Experience.

I wish you safe travels to whatever corner of the globe you call home.

More importantly, I hope you find the adventure that you’ve been seeking. I hope this particular adventure checked at least some of your boxes!

See you on the next Itinerary!!!!

-Peter

For further information on everything we visited, and the sources of information used in the creation of the Weekend Experience, consider checking out the following links:

ORIGIN OF THE TWIN CITIES:

-St. Anthony Falls - Wikipedia

-Minneapolis - Wikipedia

-Mill City Museum

-Upper Lock and Dam - US Army Corps of Engineers

-Hennepin Avenue Bridge (Wikipedia)

-Grain Belt Beer Sign (Wikipedia)

-Nicollet Island (Wikipedia)

-Butler Ryan Iron Bridge

-Nicollet Island Inn (Wikipedia)

-Merriam Street Bridge

-Saint Anthony Main (Wikipedia)