Dragon Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota

Dragonboat races aren't just for China and the coastal cities: for 12 years the Dragon Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota has been celebrating the vibrant and growing Asia-Pacific culture here in the Midwest.  This year's event took place July 12-13, right in the thick of Minnesota's festival season. The venue as always is Lake Phalen Regional Park, where a number of dragonboats are permanently stationed for practice through the warm season.

The Twin Cities area is home to a number of businesses and educational institutions with deep links to Asia, and many of them sponsor dragon racing teams, such as Wells Fargo, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Seagate, Hormel, and Target. There are also community and family groups who participate. My daughter's school, Yinghua Academy, also had a team this year!

Team booths

The racing is really a chance to get friends and family together for a day at the lake 

Many corporate sponsors also set up advertising tents. Political candidates' teams were out in force, as well as local cultural centers and gift & bookshops.

Wells Fargo makes a really strong / cute effort to tune its messaging to specific cultural audiences.  The company has also just recently opened its first office in Beijing & they brought materials used to kick things off there to show folks here in MSP.

In addition to the boat races and vendor / sponsor booths, there were also a number of stages for performances and fun-fair activities for kids.

The festival has consistently advertised and gotten PR from local media - free events are always popular but it is nice to see strong turnout from the general Twin Cities population (also helped by the diverse participation among the racing teams.)

Practice sessions took place during morning hours, and competitive heats in the afternoons.  Competitive matches would be between two teams, two races each, best time overall advancing to the next tier. There would be four boats on the water at any given time so you would get to see a race every five minutes or so; one pair racing while the other pair paddled back to the starting point and rested... 

From the shore it was easy to hear the drumming and chanting of the race teams

And plenty of excitement for each heat!

Food of course is terribly important when celebrating Asian culture! I think back to our first visit in 2006 and being disappointed at the range & quality of offerings -so was thrilled at the diversity available this year!  Food trucks are catching on in MSP & were here, as well as a half-dozen local East and SE Asian restaurants.  Two different places selling bubble tea! 

We need to get some of these guys into the Minnesota State Fair! They all certainly proved they could crank out high-quality tasty dishes for a festival crowd.

Cheng Heng restaurant, St. Paul, MN

There's kind of a running joke in the Twin Cities about restaurant reviews in the local media that all the places to eat here are located in Minneapolis or rarely its western suburbs. On the St. Paul side of the line, there's nothing except the same five joints that our grandparents went to when we were kids.

While it offends the civic pride of those of us on the eastern side of the fence, it has meant that there's more seating available for us at some really exceptional places. However, starting next year our downtown-to-downtown LRT goes live, and I suspect a lot of people are going to discover the gems scattered along what we call the Midway district, and in particular the "Little Mekong" neighborhood just west of our State Capitol building.

One such restaurant we've recently tried is Cheng Heng - a family-run place featuring Cambodian dishes.

The phrase "hole in the wall" definitely applies - it's in a tiny strip mall on the south side of University Avenue. There's a small parking lot next to the building and a few on-street spaces - but the Western Avenue LRT stop is a half-block away and that's going to be extremely convenient for visitors staying in either downtown.

There's nothing pretentious about the decor - but it reminds us of so many places we've eaten at in Asia: a small shrine in the entryway, hand-painted murals, wood carvings from the old country. There are two good-sized seating areas, and they were both almost full at lunchtime on a Saturday! Lots of families, and a nice mix of all the different people who live around here coming in. They have a case of bakery items and cold plates for take-out, and the sit-down service was speedy (we were getting plates within 5 minutes of ordering.)

Prices are very affordable - my wife, daughter, and I had lunch for less than $30.

I had the Banh Hoy - steamed rice noodles with stir-fried beef and shrimp. The beef melted in my mouth and the shrimp were very fresh.

My wife had the Chha Mekatain - with the chicken and brown sauce (they also do it with a curry which also looked wonderful.) The fun noodles were perfectly cooked and the Chinese broccoli was crisp and clean.

We look forward to eating here again and bringing friends - a couple years ago I would never have considered even getting out of the car in this neighborhood, but I'm glad to have put away my skepticism. From talking with the restaurant owner, it's plain to see the determination of these businesses to not just survive but succeed - and with the imminent start of the train service, I think this area will be the new pride of the Twin Cities!

Que Nha Restaurant, St. Paul, MN

 Now that our little family lives in the heart of the Minneapolis / St.Paul metro area, we've been able to explore many new neighborhoods and restaurants that we just couldn't quickly reach before. St. Paul's University Avenue corridor is a short hop away now, and this neighborhood is in the middle of significant changes - first, a strong increase in Asian populations and businesses, and second, the building of the Twin Cities' second light-rail line - which will connect the two downtowns in 2014.

We checked out the well-reviewed Que Nha Restaurant tonight, located on the corner of University and Victoria (immediately on the Green Line's Victoria station, very convenient.)

The restaurant is spotless, and at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon, ready to serve that evening's customers. They have a deli counter as well as sit-down service, so great for grab-and-go lunches.

  

The extensive menu covers all the Vietnamese classics, with a strong selection of seafood (and even goat), with a broad set of southern Chinese dishes available as well.

Our daughter heard they had congee - and talked about it nonstop on our drive there...  here's the big, happy pot it came in (about 2/3 gallon):

And inside was a generous helping of beef, plus ground peanuts, cilantro, green onion, and garlic.

My wife had a grilled chicken on rice with crispy vegetables. The glaze on the chicken was very light, with a nice BBQ tang.  Chili oil in the sidecar for dipping.

They weren't able to make Banh Xeo tonight, so I ordered a curry chicken with vegetables and was mightily impressed.  Ate the whole thing...  the curry was not overpowering & had a nice sweetness from just a bit of coconut milk and crushed peanuts.  The sauce was really nice when I mixed it with rice; the gentle heat from the curry felt good after being in Minnesota's blustery cold.

And the congee was a big hit ... our girl ate three bowls of the stuff (and I had a bowl too.)  Enough for leftovers to have for breakfast tomorrow!

Riding the Dragon

Sometimes we need to stretch to find cultural relevance. Sometimes it's just around the corner in a place you don't expect.

OK, this is clearly not in China much less Asia. In Minneapolis / St. Paul we have two zoos - the older / smaller / free one is in St. Paul and is located in Como Park.  Lots to do there - swimming, concerts, a lake to walk around, good golf course, picnic grounds, and a small amusement park.

Como is only a few blocks away from the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, which start in a couple weeks. My daughter wanted to use up her ride-pass card before the Fair and the start of school.

There's actually a decent array of rides there for younger kids -  nothing for teenagers.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this metal-track kiddie coaster!

Nice work with a Chinese dragon head. St. Paul has a big Asian population & it's becoming a cultural hub because of that. So you know people on staff cared to get it right...

Very impressive styling work - it looks like a Dragonboat!

The ride was not really designed for someone of my size - I had to hold on tight to keep from falling out in a couple places - but my daughter had a blast!