But don’t worry – they are jolly. Remember the Jolly Troll, one of the first (1960s) Swedish smörgåsbord buffets in town? This Friday, November 16, 2018, Carole Jean Anderson, daughter of the founders of the Twin Cities iconic restaurant The Jolly Troll, will be at Ingebretsen’s along with some of the animated trolls that watched customers eating.
Back again after her super-popular appearance last year, she’ll bring more stories, music, pictures, and recipes, plus food tastings from special guest Patrice Johnson, author of Jul Swedish American Christmas Traditions.
And don’t be surprised if a special visitor or some of the jolly, animated trolls that inhabited the restaurants actually drop by! A jolly time will be had by all! The event runs from 10 to 4, with talks at 11 and 1.
In January 27, 2012 the Star Tribune revisited the Jolly Troll and its Twin Cities legacy.
Jolly Troll Postcard
Jolly Troll was the original Twin Cities’ smorgasbord, first located in Golden Valley where the Metropolitan is now, and featuring enough Swedish meatballs, pickled herring and cranberry fluff to feed 500 people at once.
The “Jolly Troll heiress” still lives in the Twin Cities. Carole Jean Anderson is the daughter of Ray A. Anderson, who created the Jolly Troll chain in 1964 after an inspiring trip to Scandinavia with his wife, Alice. One of the few living family members, Anderson is a still-reliable keeper of this nod to nostalgia.”
“Customers would line up outside,” [Anderson]said. “You’d go into the kitchen and someone would yell, ‘Busload! All hands on deck!’ It would be insane.”
Customers not only gorged. Some stuffed chickens in their purses and filled up brown bags.
The big draw, though, wasn’t the price (about $3 a plate). It was the cavernous restaurant’s trolls, hammering and stirring, and the magical sets recreated around them, including a workshop and a barn “pretty close to what my Grandma’s house looked like in Sweden.” Kids loved to come to Jolly Troll for their birthdays, Anderson said, often lured there by TV personality Roundhouse Rodney. (Roundhouse shows up at the Jolly Troll at :23)
And if you want a little bit of the Jolly Troll in your kitchen, here are a couple of recipes that appeared in the Star Tribune:
But don’t worry – they are jolly. Remember the Jolly Troll, one of the first (1960s) Swedish smörgåsbord buffets in town? This Friday, November 16, 2018, Carole Jean Anderson, daughter of the founders of the Twin Cities iconic restaurant The Jolly Troll, will be at Ingebretsen’s along with some of the animated trolls that watched customers eating.
Back again after her super-popular appearance last year, she’ll bring more stories, music, pictures, and recipes, plus food tastings from special guest Patrice Johnson, author of Jul Swedish American Christmas Traditions.reliable keeper of this nod to nostalgia.”
And if you want a little bit of the Jolly Troll in your kitchen, here are a couple of recipes that appeared in the Star Tribune: