Why I Love St. Paul, MN: Reason #5

In continuing my series of "Why I Love St. Paul, MN", this reason #5 is for the new Hmong Village that opened its doors almost 2 weeks ago near my house (hooray!) on the East Side of town.  Taken from one of my favorite blogs, HeavyTable.com, here's their great review of the new mall that not only represents a dream come true for many refugees, but has also created more than 500 jobs locally. Nice work!

"The newly opened Hmong Village shopping complex in St. Paul makes no apologies: as you walk among the literally hundreds of U-Store-It-style stalls that fill its warehouse-sized space, you quickly become aware that many, if not most, of the buyers and sellers are first-generation Hmong immigrants. Your English will be of only limited use. Even getting into the building is a challenge; it has cryptic entrances labeled with letters, all of which drop you seemingly at random into a steel and concrete labyrinth. (Once you’re in, wander at random until you hit the wall that’s nothing but restaurants — you’ll know it when you get there.)

“Do you have a Hmong guide with you?” asked the avuncular counterman at Kad’s Deli. “Most people, when they come here, have a Hmong guide to do the talking, and explain,” he added, hoping, I think, that perhaps I did have a Hmong guide somewhere whom I’d simply forgotten to introduce.

Becca Dilley / Heavy Table

When you come to Hmong Village and dine at one or more of its 17 similar food court stall-style restaurants, get ready to:

a) Pay cash
b) Visit some restaurants that only identify their dishes by number
c) Not necessarily know either exactly what you ordered, or whether you got it

Also get ready to:

a) Eat some terrific food for cheap
b) Be charmed by friendly, homespun service
c) Learn to enjoy new stuff

If you’ve eaten adventurously up and down Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis or University Ave. in St. Paul, much of what’s served at Hmong Village will be familiar to you. But there are a number of surprises hiding among the eateries, and the sheer number of restaurants in such a confined space makes the Hmong Village food court a real (if figurative) trip.

The man at Kad’s Deli explained that the restaurant hours are generally 11am to 7pm. That said, when we arrived at 6pm, a couple restaurants were already shut down (no pig uteri for us, alas), and some of the restaurants stayed open until almost 8. “11am to about 2pm is the best time to come,” he said.

Another vendor exhorted us to come on the weekend, when the place was stuffed wall-to-wall with people and we would feel like we were truly in another country. To our mind, even on a Wednesday night: Mission accomplished."

– James Norton

A bowl of delicious Pho for only $6!