Health and faith, fitness and food: Nicollet Avenue has it all

BY DEBRA KEEFER RAMAGE

A big old church and other caring organizations

Near the northern end of Nicollet Avenue there stands a beautiful old building that embodies some of the best values of Minnesotans – religion-based but nondoctrinaire, justice-oriented but also with attention to the arts and personal growth, liberal in the best sense of that oft-abused word.
This is Plymouth Congregational Church, an entity of which you may have heard more than usual lately because its lead minister, Rev. Dr. DeWayne Davis, is running for mayor of Minneapolis. Plymouth Congregational, which was founded by 18 members in 1857, now resides in a beautiful stone edifice built in 1909 located at 1900 Nicollet Avenue. It houses one of the most famous organs in the world, and its organist and internationally acclaimed music director is Philip Brunelle, founder of Vocal Essence. The congregation founded Groveland Food Shelf, Beacon Interfaith Housing, and other notable nonprofits; it also houses the Conn Theater, a performing arts venue that has hosted the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera and St. Paul’s Youth Performance Company.

Across the street from the church is Old School by Steeple People, a thrift store that is the mission of another large old liberal Protestant church, Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church. This store, which City Pages chose as the Cities’ best in 2018, dates back to 1979, but moved to its current location of 1901 Nicollet Avenue in 2018.
Simpson Housing Services (Simpson HS) Shelter is now temporarily located a few blocks away from where it used to be. The current location of the shelter is 128 W 33rd Street in a Lutheran church building. The Simpson UMC congregation, located in a 100+ year old building on 28th Street just east of Nicollet, went inactive a few years ago and transferred the building to Simpson HS, the nonprofit it had created earlier. As a shelter, the building had ceased to be adequate. Their website reports that Simpson HS is rebuilding a new shelter along with affordable housing on the church site. It will include 72 shelter beds, 42 supportive homes, a health clinic, a commercial kitchen with dining room, and access to green space.
Allied Veterinary Emergency and Referral clinic is a different type of vet clinic, providing both an ER and an urgent care clinic for animals, as well as being a referral clinic for advanced surgery cases. But there is something else that makes it special, too: Allied is an employee-owned group of practices, and this is a rarity in the profession. According to their website, “Over the last decade, large, private equity backed corporations have purchased thousands of animal clinics across the country, creating distance between patient, pet owner, and practitioner, while placing an emphasis on finances instead of access to care.”

One of the many wellness sites on Nicollet Avenue

Wellness Paradigm, at 4450 Nicollet Avenue, is an incubator and setting for various kinds of natural healing. It was founded by multidisciplinary healer Kinshasha Kambui and business development and administration expert Sindiswa Georgiades. If Kambui’s name sounds familiar to you, it’s because she hosted a natural health show on KFAI radio for decades.
In addition, the site also holds a collective of other natural healers, offering services such as affordable massage, naturopathy, cranio-sacral therapy, Quantum Neuro Reset (QNRT), Reiki, physical therapy and counseling. You can see a list of current therapists at paradigmofwellness.com/practioners.

Places to eat and drink on Nicollet Avenue – Eat Street and beyond

Ichiddo Ramen, 2710 Nicollet, is a nationwide chain, but unlike most chains, they make almost everything on the menu from scratch, including ramen and other types of noodles and complex broths to go with them. The menu goes far beyond ramen: go to minneapolis.ichiddo.com to see the options.

Quang Restaurant, 2719 Nicollet, is one of Minneapolis’s favorite Vietnamese restaurants. You don’t have to know its origin story to enjoy the delights of its food offerings, but the story is a delight in itself. A brief history of founder Lung Tran is told on the website (quang-restaurant.com) but also read this great piece in the Star Tribune, tinyurl.com/DKRatSSP-chefmoms, for the follow-up story of Tran’s daughter, Khue Pham, and Pham’s son, chef Eric Pham of Khue’s Kitchen (along with three other pairs of chefs and their moms with similar stories.)
Tammy Wong’s farm-supporting, award-winning Rainbow Chinese, 2739 Nicollet, is also one of the popular old stalwarts of Eat Street (Nicollet Avenue from Franklin to the Midtown Greenway.) Their bar is open Wednesday through Sunday, 4 – 9 p.m., and they’re open for dining Thursday through Sunday, the same hours.
Hola Arepa, 3501 Nicollet Avenue, was originally a food truck. In fact it was one of the earliest Minneapolis food trucks, launched in 2011 by a self-trained chef, Christina Nguyen and her fiancé, now spouse, Birk

Grudem. The restaurant opened in 2014, and the couple went on to open a branch in NE Minneapolis, and then Hai Hai, a fine dining (but funky) restaurant featuring Nguyen’s Vietnamese cuisine as well as other SE Asian street foods. Nguyen won the James Beard award Best Chef, Midwest in 2024.

Eat, drink, and watch a show!

If you like to make a big deal of going out to eat, go somewhere where you can watch a show along with your dinner, or brunch. Nicollet Mall and Avenue feature at least two such places.
At 1333 Nicollet Mall you can go to Roxy’s Cabaret and Nicollet Diner, for entertainment ranging from Drag Show Sunday Brunch to one of the Twin Cities’ favorite Karaoke nights. A big draw of Nicollet Diner is that it’s open 24 hours with 24 hour breakfast and a full bar from 8 – 2 a.m., a true rarity in this city of early birds and health nuts.
Icehouse, in the middle of Eat Street at 2528 Nicollet Avenue, is a more traditional venue with quite traditional food, but it still can get pretty wild, showcasing a very diverse group of musicians and performers. You can go to Icehouse just for dinner

(starting at 6 p.m.) or just for a show without dinner, or for brunch on Saturday and Sunday (10 a.m. – 3 p.m.). There are also dance parties and other musical treats without food service. Ticket sales will tell you what will be available.
A list of random June events shows the breadth and variety:
• Sunday, June 8, “Dead on the Block” brunch show at 2 p.m. with full food and drink available. Features Grateful Dead tributes from Dosh, Grateful Gals, Eddie Christmas, and more.
• Saturday, June 21, “A Juneteenth Burlesque Brunch.” Featuring an all-Black cast, this powerful and playful show blends culture, liberation, and sexy burlesque over delicious brunch vibes. At noon.
• Saturday, June 28, 6:00 pm, “Mikaela Davis in the Courtyard,” an outdoor show with a singer-songwriter of renown, full food and drink available.
Get tickets and a full schedule of more amazing events on the website – icehouse.turntable.com.

Services on Nicollet Avenue

Tri Tang, an agent for Farmer’s Insurance, is one of the small businesses and agencies that dot Eat Street and other stretches of Nicollet Avenue. Tang has been with Farmer’s for over a decade, keeps office hours to 7:30 p.m., and speaks Chinese, English, Hmong, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Green Garage, a branch of Nelson’s Automotive Group, is located at 2749 Nicollet. There has been an auto repair business there for decades, and Nick Nelson, owner of a small local chain of garages, bought it in 2018. They employ ASE-certified mechanics and have a good rating on Google and other consumer services.
Ellwood Automotive at 3948 Nicollet advertises “Locally Owned And Operated For Over 24 Years” and provides full service for all makes and models. The owner is ASE-certified Master Mechanic Bob Evans. You can make an appointment via their website or by phone and get a quote before authorizing work. They have lots of positive reviews from longtime customers.

Nicollet Avenue’s diverse retail offerings

Marigold NA Bottle Shop is a unique store operated by the owner of Honeycomb Salon next door. They have a huge array of zero proof spirits, nonalcoholic wine and beer, mixers, bitters, functional drinks, and THC drinks. They also sell beauty products and merch.
Hot Comics and Collectibles is a favorite source for the serious connoisseur of comics and related collectibles. They are located in the Hub shopping center in Richfield at 26 W. 66th Street. They are part of a small local chain, with other stores in North Minneapolis and Jordan.