Green Line Checklist Update Part 4: Spicy Feta to Kinzo Udon
The Churn for Friday, July 11, 2025
In this week’s edition of The Heavy Table’s Churn newsletter, we continue our revisiting of the Green Line Checklist, dining on sushi, tacos, udon, and more. It’s the Green Line Checklist Update, and if you dig it, consider supporting us by subscribing, and you can read all the forthcoming editions in full.
From Bundt cakes to momo, Chef Yia Vang serves rich stories and rich flavors in a new season of "Relish." Stream now on the PBS App.
GREEN LINE CHECKLIST UPDATE, PART FOUR
We get out to some of the western bits of the Green Line with trips to Spicy Feta, Las Twins, Okidoki Sushi, Mu Mu Tea, and Kinzo Udon.
By M.C. Cronin, James Norton, Becca Dilley, and WACSO
If the eastern reaches of the Green Line feel like bushwhacking through culinary rough country, the western stretch feels like walking back into town and rolling up to a strip mall. This isn’t a commentary on quality of food (as we’ve had great stuff and mediocre stuff at both ends of the street), but rather how polished and user-friendly restaurants in the western end feels compared to the eastern reaches of the University Avenue.
Gyros and tacos notwithstanding, this installment is mostly a voyage through trendy and hyper-trendy Asian fare, from sushi to boba tea to house-made udon noodles. One of the most joyful things about stretches of terrain like University Avenue is how welcoming they are to global cuisine, and the Japanese / Chinese vibes we picked up on this trip were as entertaining as they were generally delicious. – James Norton
Thanks to Bill Childs for joining us on this edition of the Checklist.
SPICY FETA | 2400 University Avenue West, Saint Paul | 651.219.4438
This place used to be The Naughty Greek. And really, it still kind of is. The space hasn’t changed much. Same warehouse bones, same soaring ceilings, same rope wall dividing the kitchen from the dining room. Even the “TNG” logo is still visible, painted faintly on the wall like a ghost from the past. It makes you wonder why they even bothered with a rebrand after the place changed ownership. (Aside from some provision in the sale, perhaps.)
But then again, it’s not as if The Naughty Greek was broken. So, maybe that was the smart move—change the name, let the vibe stay. It works. The long communal tables are still slab-wood solid, the wicker basket lights still cast their soft amber glow, and the space still manages that rare trick of being cavernous and cozy at the same time.
The menu is largely the same as well. So the big question is, did they manage to maintain the quality of the Naughty Greek’s food? Let’s just say you can order Spicy Feta while you sit at Dual Citizen Brewing just around the corner. And being a few beers deep before ordering is probably the ideal way to experience their menu. – M.C. Cronin
The ghost of The Naughty Greek really lingers around the menu of Spicy Feta, the restaurant that replaced TNG after the retirement of its founder and a subsequent buyout of the business by the operators of Ariana Bistro.
The most prominent example is the Naughty Greek Wrap ($14.50), which falls short of its original namesake in at least three ways: It has far fewer fluffy, flavorful fries stuffed into the gyro, its meat is dryer and less flavorful, and - most glaringly - the wrap itself is essentially made of dry lefse, rather than pillowy soft pita. The Naughty Greek's pita wrap was an A+ gyro; this thing is a C-, if you're being generous.
Spicy Feta's Meze Sampler ($14) is a bit random - a forgettable but competent hummus, overly seasoned but edible falafel, really tasty spicy feta dip with a palpable zip to it, and exactly the pillowy, delicious pita bread that should have been cradling the Naughty Greek Wrap. If we weren't familiar with the meze sampler at Baba's Hummus we'd be inclined to give this high marks, but Baba's reigns supreme quite comfortably.
The less said about the loaded Spicy Feta Fries ($10) the better. They were double fried (great if that happens to be your thing), and the feta and hot peppers seemed thrown on top of them rather than incorporated in any meaningful way.
So: mediocre, passable, pointless, and then onto dessert: superb. The restaurant's Galaktoboureko ($8) is a custard pie that is some kind of wonderful hybrid of honeyed baklava, light whipped custard, and flaky cinnamon-kissed pastry. One for four isn't a terrific track record, but damn - that's a hell of a pie. – J.N.
Join Heavy Table contributors Stacy Brooks and Amy Rea as they join the Minnesota Historical Society in leading the West End Food & History Tour along historic West 7th in St. Paul. The tours will dive into the rich history and food culture of that storied street and give participants the opportunity to meet some of the restaurateurs and try samples while learning how immigrants shaped the street, then and now.
The tours are 90 minutes long and cover about 1 mile of walking, from Forepaugh's to Waldmann's Brewery, with several stops in between. Six tours are offered in 2025: July 12 and 26, August 9 and 16, September 13 and October 11. For more information or to register, visit the Minnesota Historical Society's events pages.
LAS TWINS | Food Truck (Often) at Dual Citizen Brewing, 725 Raymond Avenue, Saint Paul | 612.225.8379
One of the joys of our loose-and-limber way of doing things is the freedom to veer. To call an audible. We were heading somewhere else entirely when we spotted the Las Twins food truck outside Dual Citizen and immediately changed our plans.
The truck looked serious. Menu printed on the side. Photos taped in the windows. A giant whiteboard packed with hand-scrawled specials. The kind of setup that can either be confidence-inspiring or paralyzing, depending on how hungry you are. The choices seemed endless. There were tacos, tortas, bowls, quesadillas, oh my. And proteins galore.
Thankfully, the owner was friendly and decisive. He gave us direction on what to order, and we mostly listened. But it was the cabeza—cow’s head—that jumped out. You don’t often see cabeza featured alongside standards like al pastor or chicken on the main menu. So that alone earned it a try. – M.C.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Heavy Table to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.