Lush Food Bar

Lush Food Bar represents the direction that queer bar culture has been moving in the 2010s and 2020s — a queer-owned and queer-operated venue in Northeast Minneapolis that is a restaurant and bar of genuine quality rather than a gay bar that also serves food. The Central Avenue NE location places it in the NE Minneapolis neighbourhood, which has emerged as one of the city's most creative and arts-adjacent areas, home to galleries, studios, and the broader creative economy that has established itself east of the Mississippi. The queer community of NE Minneapolis — younger, more gender-diverse, and more arts-oriented than the downtown gay scene — has made Lush its social home. The food is serious; the bar programme is serious; the entertainment and event programming reflects a commitment to queer culture that goes beyond booking a drag queen on Saturday night. The crowd at Lush is among the most diverse in Minneapolis's LGBTQ+ scene: gay men, queer women, trans and non-binary people, and straight allies who understand that the most interesting room in NE Minneapolis on a given night is at Lush. For visitors who want to understand Minneapolis's queer community beyond downtown and the Gay 90's, Lush is the essential visit.