Good Eats in Lilydale, Minnesota

Author: Nancy A.
Date of Trip: July 2006

We recently took a a short side trip around the Twin Cities, Minnesota. We ended up in Lilydale, which is near Mendota, Minnesota, just south of St. Paul. We found a wonderful restaurant there called Osteria I Nonni.

Try their homemade gelato, especially the chocolate flavor. Menu items are cooked from scratch using fresh foods, they use real white tablecloths and provide excellent service. It’s a family-owned dining and wine experience. (They have their own wine room too). You cannot go wrong when the owner does an after-dinner checkup to see that you had an excellent meal.

All members of our party who delighted in the dinner at Osteria I Nonni came away saying that it was a fantastic dinner and offered super ambience. We’ll all come back again.

Next door is the well-known, (former St. Paul) Italian deli, Buon Giorno. Buon Giorno was in St. Paul for many, many years, and a few years ago, they moved to Lilydale. Buon Giorno makes their own sausage and you can’t go wrong with their specialties. Try out their pizza dough.

We bought some samples of Buon Giorno’s products. If you go, check out the olives — they have Italian herbs with them and taste really good. We’ll go back there again too.

Satisfied customers were we with everything!