In Better Know a Twin Cities Suburb, Racket readers write love-letter travelogues to their suburban hometowns. Why? Because us city rats could stand to learn a thing or two about our vibrant and increasingly diverse neighbors! Want to sing the praises of your suburb? Hit up jay@racketmn.com.
Eden Prairie
Founded: 1858
Population: 64,198
Celebrities: Eden Prairie Center played the lead role in Mallrats (1995). Also notable Minnesota Twins player-turned-announcer Dan "The Dazzle Man" Gladden resides here.
Eden Prairie got its name from the American writer Elizabeth Fries Ellet, who toured the area in 1852 and admired its scenic beauty, calling it “the garden spot of the territory.” While the prairie has been (mostly) plowed under to create housing and highways and yes, the mall, there’s more to the city when you explore further.
But first, I conducted a very scientific survey (note, the survey was not scientific) and asked people who knew the area, “How would you describe Eden Prairie?”
The top responses:
“In Eden Prairie all roads lead to the mall.”
“Eden Prairie? More like Hidden Prairie.”
“Eden Prairie: the left corner of I-494.”
OK, clearly Eden Prairie has an image problem. Somehow, it went from Paradise on Earth to an anonymous outer-ring suburb.
What could explain this fall? For starters, the current city was literally planned around the mall. In the time between the 1850s and the 1960s, Eden Prairie was a small farm community. But city planners saw the growth of neighboring cities and realized it was time to prepare for the influx of development. Grids were sooooo inner-ring suburbs. Instead, they designed a single massive area with ringed Valley View Road and Prairie Center Drive centered on the intersection of I-494 and Hwy. 5/212—a commercially fertile bullseye.
And, because this was the 1970s and people went places by car, they just… didn’t plan anywhere else to shop. Aside from the mall, there’s a mini-mall on Hwy. 5 and Eden Prairie Road, a few tiny strip malls next to gas stations, and that’s pretty much it. This means the rest of the city is a sprawl of housing, leading to little differentiation between the neighborhoods. Not only that, but it’s laughably un-walkable. The grocery stores are either at the mall, the mini-mall, or way east on Hwy. 169. Live in the north or the south? Better own a car or you’re gonna be hungry.
But that’s all changing now as Eden Prairie enters the Gilded Age of railroads! The Green Line light rail extension is definitely, fingers crossed, for sure, maybe going to enter service by 2027. No mere mass transit fig leaf, the track winds its serpentine path through some tempting locations: The park-and-ride terminus is gorgeous, and the stops in Eden Prairie are either near housing or shopping or offices or a combo of all three. While this won’t fundamentally change Eden Prairie’s car-centric neighborhoods, it’s a step in the right direction.
There’s also a lot more to enjoy if you go off the beaten path.
Tons of Nature to Explore
Just across from the light rail park and ride is Purgatory Creek Park. “I thought this was Paradise on Earth,” you might say. “Now it’s Purgatory?” Well, it turns out the creek is named after its upper swampy headwaters in Minnetonka. Ah, that explains it: Purgatory is actually Minnetonka.
The creek winds its way through all of Eden Prairie, but just southwest of the mall are the best walking trails in the city. They loop around Purgatory and follow the creek south to Staring Lake, which also has its own walking trail loop. Staring Lake is home to the single best sledding hill in the metro, a disc golf course—it even has an observatory!
If you’re enjoying the city by pedal power, you have to try the Minnesota River Bluffs Trail. The trail bisects the city on a diagonal running all the way from Hopkins to Chaska, descending gradually down the river bluffs via an old railroad grade. It’s separated from car traffic, marked with maps every couple miles, goes right past lakes and beaches, and the view from the bridge over Hwy. 101 is worth the trip alone.
One of the other gems in the city is Bryant Lake Regional Park. Part of the Three Rivers Park system, it has a wonderful swimming beach, a boat launch, hiking and biking trails, disc golf, and a fantastic dog park.
The final highlight, the Richard T. Anderson Conservation Area, is my absolute favorite. A small parking area with a natural freshwater spring leads to a network of trails looping up and down the bluffs through maple forests, natural streams, oak savannah, and, yes, even small bits of prairie. In fact, the river bluffs are the only place in the city with any remaining prairie. The views from the top are just as beautiful as Ms. Ellet described.
Man-Made Attractions
OK, I’ve danced around it plenty: Yes, Eden Prairie has a mall, the 1.4-million-square-foot Eden Prairie Center. It’s exactly what you’d expect. All the stores and restaurants are chains. There’s not much else to say about it.
But you know what mall people are talking about? The Asia Mall! Racket has been a fan since 2022. Seriously, it’s amazing. If these recommendations aren’t enough to get you to visit Eden Prairie, I don’t know what is.
My final pitch for your entertainment dollars is the Wings of the North airplane museum at Flying Cloud Airport. The airport itself isn’t a place to visit—unless you’re an executive at a local Fortune 500 company—but on the northwest side is a small museum run by a dedicated staff of absolute plane nuts. There’s a rotating display of working WW2 aircraft and more, but the best part is the people. Go and ask questions, or share a story about someone you know who served; these people are the nicest group you can imagine.
The organization also used to do an air show that turned Eden Prairie into the Battle of Britain for a weekend each summer, but unfortunately its future is uncertain.
Eden Prairie Restaurants
Eden Prairie’s best restaurant is the Lion’s Tap. It’s the best because it does one thing and it does it to perfection: burgers. Racket just did a full writeup recently and nailed it. I wouldn’t change a word.
As much as I’m praising the work of other Racket writers so far, we need to talk about their awful pizza rankings. (I’m not the only one who’s pointed out their incredibly wrong takes.) First of all, who goes to Pizza Luce and orders the Athena as the signature pizza when there’s literally a pizza named THE LUCE on the menu?? Second of all, only defining a “chain” to have three or more locations eliminated Detello’s, which is an unforgivable omission. [Editor's note: Please forgive us!] You’ll need to go all the way to the northwest corner of the Eden Prairie (or to their second location in Chaska) to find this place tucked into an aforementioned tiny strip mall next to a gas station. The thin crust is the right blend of crispy and doughy, the sauce is savory and not too sweet, the booths are properly wood-paneled, and there’s even a working, old-school, push-button jukebox. It’s perfect.
I’m intentionally not profiling the places around the mall because they’re mostly nondescript chains, with one major exception: Baker's Ribs. For some reason, a legit Texas BBQ chain with five locations decided to slather its sixth onto Minnesota. All the divine meats are slow cooked over hickory in their custom barbecue pit overnight. I’ve never had a bad dish on the menu. Unfortunately, they had a minor fire a year ago that shut the restaurant down for a few months, but now it’s back open.
My final recommendation is the House of Kai in, you guessed it, a tiny strip mall next to a gas station. It’s as close as you’ll get to Lyn-Lake’s (now closed) Szechuan Spice out in the suburbs. All the classics are well-represented, but my favorite is the kung pao chicken.
Eden Prairie Is More Than the Mall
For better or worse, most of the area’s notable features are near the mall, as the city was designed that way.
Yet Eden Prairie still feels like a unique, integral part of the metro area. Yes, it’s the definition of sprawl, but I can ride my bike from here all the way to Target Field on a dedicated bike trail. The Minnesota River valley ties the city to its neighbors and its history, and to the Mississippi. There are some excellent restaurants and some really fun things to see. And, at some point in the future, you’ll be able to visit via the Green Line. Probably.
Until then, Eden Prairie isn’t even that far from Minneapolis. If you leave downtown on I-35W, it’s 17 minutes to the mall, exactly enough time to listen to Iron Butterfly’s acid-rock masterpiece, and then you too can be “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.”
Previously in Better Know a Twin Cities Suburb...
- Champlin: This riverside north metro 'burb is home to sprawling parks, ample yarn, killer BBQ, and one beloved dinosaur.
- Monticello: There's more than swans, RVs, and flags inside this booming outer-ring 'burb.
- Hastings: A new-ish resident’s deeply subjective guide to Rivertown.
- New Hope: New Hope is the suburb you forgot because it’s impossible to know when you’re there.
