I'm sure there are many folks who know about this bit of Prince lore, but I thought I'd make a thread about it for those who aren't aware and especially for those coming to Minneapolis next month and are wanting to see as many Prince-related spots as they can.

-

Back in the 80s, when Prince still ate meat, he and his associates/proteges used to frequent a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis called Rudolph's BBQ and Grill. He and the band would often go there late at night after rehearsing, but other times Prince would go by himself. Rudolph's was a pretty popular restaurant (they also had/have a bar area) back then and other celebrities, when they were in town, such as Eddie Murphy, would eat there. Also the MN Vikings players were frequent patrons. I remember going there quite a few times myself in the 80s when my friends and I would make the 'Prince trek' to Minneapolis; we always hoped we'd run into Prince, but unfortunately we never did. We did though see Jam and Lewis there with their wives? girfriends? one time, and my friend who went to the Lovesexy shows in MN in September of 1988 went to Rudolph's after the concerts and saw a lot of the band, and also Jill Jones, there that night.

-

I've read that Prince's first apartment was in a building right behind Rudolph's, and also that he liked the shrimp there more so than the ribs. (I personally loved their BBQ chicken, and at the time they made THE BEST thick cut fries with some kind of coating or something on them, but they've changed a lot since back in the 80s and don't make their fries like they used to. I haven't eaten there in so long so I don't know if their BBQ items are as good as they used to be either...

-

I personally think that, besides liking the food and the fact that the restaurant always made sure Prince got 'his' table towards the back so he was secluded away from the main part of the restaurant, Prince liked Rudolph's because of the theme -- it was named after Rudolph Valentino, and the decor (which I'm sure has been changed somewhat since I used to go there 30 years ago) was done in a very retro style and there were tons of photos from classic films everywhere on the walls, photos and murals of movie stars, and of course lots of pictures of Valentino! Lastly, and I don't think they do this anymore, but back in the day all the menu items were named after movies stars or classic films, which I always thought was cool.

-

I Googled a bit and found a few references to Prince and Rudolph's BBQ:

*

*

http://webcache.googleuse...&gl=us
Douglas, Minneapolis
"Like so many others, I have great memories of his amazing music and also of meeting Prince twice. The most memorable was in 1986 at Rudolph's BBQ at 2 a.m., when three purple Volvo limos rolled up. It was just me and my girlfriend, Prince, Lisa and Wendy in the entire place. Peace to Prince!"

*

http://webcache.googleuse...&gl=us (this article has a few other touching remembrances of Prince by people that encountered him by chance, or by employment, etc. it's a nice read)
"One of Prince's favorite places to eat was Rudolph's Barbecue in Minneapolis. A waitress told of his favorite table, one in an obtuse corner where he could eat somewhat in privacy. The owner, manager and staff were very protective of the legend and he honored them by leaving huge tips."

*

http://pyx106.iheart.com/...-14630614/
Short video by a guy who remembers seeing Prince at Rudolph's one night in his specially reserved spot, with the rest of "his (Prince's) crew" all with him.

*

Okay, this last one the guy (a music critic and author with Minneapolis roots) even says might not be true, but like he also says - I hope this IS true because it would be a very funny and very Prince thing to do.

https://twitter.com/bobme...7045473280
"Fave Prince story I heard in Mpls was how he'd go to Rudolph's BBQ & eat ribs while wearing lace gloves, then leave soiled gloves as a tip"

--------

For anyone interested in stopping by while in Minneapolis, the address is: 1933 Lyndale Ave South, Minneapolis, MN (but like I said, the place - and the food/menu - is different nowadays than when Prince and associates hung out there)

http://www.rudolphsribs.com

-

A few pictures:

Thanks for posting. Added to my list of places to visit when I eventually get to Minneapolis.

I like posts like this..

Thanks!

Thank you for sharing. This is quite interesting. The visual of P eating BBQ with lace gloves is hilarious...and very Prince-ly.

[Edited 9/15/16 23:49pm]

I know floors like the black and white one here are common, but I wonder if P saw it early on and thought "I'll have this on my stage one day."

Krystalkisses said:

Thanks this is really cool and I remember hearing stories of Prince going there. Interesting, my first apartment in 1999 was a block away and I read years later( I think in per Nelson's book that Prince used to have an apartment maybe one street over from my old place. Small world!

That's cool! It is a small world truly. When I was finding pictures online of Rudolph's, and found that second one down, I wondered if that brown building is the one Prince lived in?

TechnicolorClimax said:

Technically speaking, Rudolph's is near downtown, but it's not actually downtown. It's just south of downtown off of the Lyndale exit from I94. They remodeled probably 6? years ago, but the last time I went in it was still pretty nice. I lived in the neighborhood until 8 years ago, and they had a fabulous late night happy hour. That has changed - still good, but not as good. Overall, totally recommend.

Thank you for the info about where Rudolph's is located and the remodeling. i definitely haven't been in there since that was done! Did you go there back in the 80s? The pics i found, the bar area looks different than how I remember it -- I don't remember the checkered floor and I remember that section being very GREEN...like maybe green carpeting, walls, tablecloths? My memory isn't so wonderful anymore so I don't know if I'm remembering correctly or that part about the bar area being decorated in mainly green is a figment of my imagination? Thank you again for your comment!

luv2tha99s said:

I know floors like the black and white one here are common, but I wonder if P saw it early on and thought "I'll have this on my stage one day."

I honestly don't remember if the floor was like at Rudolphs that back in the 80s...but First Avenue has a b&w checkered floor also!

Thanks for the nice comments, everybody. Glad to contribute something to the Org and hoped people would enjoy and find it interesting to read about. thanks again for the comments!

Thank you for posting this! This is the kind of thing I just eat right up, I love hearing tidbits of this sort and I'm especially fond of tales of Prince in Minneapolis.

Luv your post, thank you for sharing.

slowlywiltingflower said:

My first apartment was a block and a half away. Prince was long gone from the area then, though. We hung out there a fair amount when I was in my 20's.

I actually went to Rudolph's with some old friends that were in town in May and the waitress still told Prince stories (I think one of us had a Prince T on and, of course, he had recently passed so the whole town was still talking about him). If you go, don't be afraid to ask.

Thank you for posting! I had a coworker telling me how her dad used to live in Minne and he ran into Prince often at "Rudolph's." I had no idea what she was talking about! So cool.

CarrieMpls said:

My first apartment was a block and a half away. Prince was long gone from the area then, though. We hung out there a fair amount when I was in my 20's.

I actually went to Rudolph's with some old friends that were in town in May and the waitress still told Prince stories (I think one of us had a Prince T on and, of course, he had recently passed so the whole town was still talking about him). If you go, don't be afraid to ask.

I had no idea it was an old stomping gourounds for him. I stay up the street from there now. So cool!

so... we should eat crappy BBQ there........ because Prince used to eat yummy BBQ there?

oh my gosh, that's amazing. Excellent.

slowlywiltingflower said:

TechnicolorClimax said:

Technically speaking, Rudolph's is near downtown, but it's not actually downtown. It's just south of downtown off of the Lyndale exit from I94. They remodeled probably 6? years ago, but the last time I went in it was still pretty nice. I lived in the neighborhood until 8 years ago, and they had a fabulous late night happy hour. That has changed - still good, but not as good. Overall, totally recommend.

Thank you for the info about where Rudolph's is located and the remodeling. i definitely haven't been in there since that was done! Did you go there back in the 80s? The pics i found, the bar area looks different than how I remember it -- I don't remember the checkered floor and I remember that section being very GREEN...like maybe green carpeting, walls, tablecloths? My memory isn't so wonderful anymore so I don't know if I'm remembering correctly or that part about the bar area being decorated in mainly green is a figment of my imagination? Thank you again for your comment!

Nope. I may have gone once in the mid-to-late 90s, but I lived in the neighborhood in the 2000s.

eightiesbrat said:

Thank you for posting this! This is the kind of thing I just eat right up, I love hearing tidbits of this sort and I'm especially fond of tales of Prince in Minneapolis.

I love stuff like this as well...just hearing stories about his everyday life and especially back before everything was so known to everybody b/c of social media, and you had to get your info and tidbits through word of mouth or magazines or the like. I was lucky living so close to Minneapolis and knowing people who lived here, so I'd hear things which is how i learned about Rudolph's. Now I live here so I enjoy hearing of the places he frequented, back then and in recent years, that I'm familiar with. I'm glad you enjoyed.

CarrieMpls said:

My first apartment was a block and a half away. Prince was long gone from the area then, though. We hung out there a fair amount when I was in my 20's.

I actually went to Rudolph's with some old friends that were in town in May and the waitress still told Prince stories (I think one of us had a Prince T on and, of course, he had recently passed so the whole town was still talking about him). If you go, don't be afraid to ask.

That's so cool.

Krystalkisses said:

slowlywiltingflower said:

That's cool! It is a small world truly. When I was finding pictures online of Rudolph's, and found that second one down, I wondered if that brown building is the one Prince lived in?

If I remember correctly the book said Bryant Ave I think, it even gave the address which is how I remembered it was close to my apartment on Aldrich. I will try to find in in the book if I can. I remember it being a cream colored building but you know how fragile memory can be.

That would be interesting if you can find that! The article I saw just had a quote from someone saying (paraphrased) how 'Prince lived in his first apartment at the time, right behind Rudolph's'. I just read that recently so we're dealing with a lot of different memories, and I surely do know how fragile memory can be.

StopIt said:

so... we should eat crappy BBQ there........ because Prince used to eat yummy BBQ there?

oh my gosh, that's amazing. Excellent.

I apologize for my stupidity at starting such a dumb thread. Thank you for pointing it out to me.

StopIt said:

so... we should eat crappy BBQ there........ because Prince used to eat yummy BBQ there?

oh my gosh, that's amazing. Excellent.

Stop it.

slowlywiltingflower said:

StopIt said:

so... we should eat crappy BBQ there........ because Prince used to eat yummy BBQ there?

oh my gosh, that's amazing. Excellent.

I apologize for my stupidity at starting such a dumb thread. Thank you for pointing it out to me.

Don'y apologize. There are plenty of fans like me who don't live in/have never been to Minnesota who enjoy these interesting little tidbits of fun P related facts. Don't let haters make you feel sad.