';North Dakota'; eatings

I recently had someone ask me this on a non-travel related forum. But they wanted to know where to eat in North Dakota where they could experience the ';food culture'; of North Dakota.

Although I grew up there, and can come up with weird things like Lutefisk, Lefse, pickled herring and of course the ';hotdish'; (which people outside of MidWest think is weird).

The problem is I can only think of getting these things in Church basements or at home around Christmas time. Does anyone have any restaurant ideas for these things? Or Rocky Mountain Oysters (Prairie Oysters)? Or maybe some good czech/bohemian/german food?

Although I haven%26#39;t lived there in 20 years or so, I don%26#39;t really see these things on menus when travelling home?

';North Dakota'; eatings

Ooops .. I meant to post that in general North Dakota ... It doesn%26#39;t have to be in Fargo. Anywhere in ND is fine.

';North Dakota'; eatings

Krolls has that German menu in it. Here in Bismarck the drugstore downtown has a cafeteria in it with some Germanic type stuff. The HoDo in Fargo tries to incorporate North Dakota products but its not really homestyle cooking. The other thing is just about every little town that still has a little cafe in it will serve up homemade mashed potatoes with beef on it, smothered in gravy with a white roll and veggies...plus homemade pie. To me that%26#39;s the food culture of ND I grew up with!

I%26#39;ll second the vote for Kroll%26#39;s Kitchen in Bismarck and most small town restaurants. A quick web search found the German Hungarian Lodge in Dickinson and LeipzigerHof Restaurant in New Leipzig. Also, there%26#39;s a German Folk Fest this Sunday in Fargo.

The Depot in Jamestown has Knephla Soup and Germans-from-Russia offerings every Thursday. The Dairy Treat in Medina really has authentic stuff like fleischkiegle and cheese buttons on the menu (so I second the small-town cafes--in my experience, that%26#39;s where the good stuff is!). Perkins in Jamestown serves %26amp; sells kuchens on Wednesdays. To re-create some of these experiences at home (including the mighty hotdish!), you can pick up local cookbooks. My favorite is the Stutsman County Homemakers Cookbook, which was just revised and reprinted. I know you can buy it at the National Buffalo Museum gift shop in Jamestown, and I%26#39;ve also seen it (and some other local offerings) at Creative Kitchens in West Acres in Fargo.

The restaurant at the Oasis truck stop in Bismarck is advertising a German buffet on Mondays and Wednesdays.