Minneapolis

This place is great for very verdant and healthy feeling food. The Agra Bowl with chicken or steak really captures the flavors of their restaurant. It also has the best tofu if you are looking for some.

This place operates as a café in the morning and as a fine dining restaurant at night. The café has great egg sandwiches and plenty of French inspired deserts. If you want a great place to celebrate an anniversary or birthday or some special event, the nighttime scene is a 7-9 course meal (You will need a reservation). They make seasonal changes to the menu, but it is all great food and excellent wine pairings for those who drink. Plus, they offer a great vegetarian menu as well to go with the seasonal tasting ones which have meat.

This place is great for a date night. Very intimate seating and all the food is delicious. They try to create French food with a unique spin, but mostly on the ingredients and plating, not necessarily fusion. The bar makes great mock/cocktails. Note that this restaurant is in the Rand Tower Hotel, and reservation is required.

Fantastic Argentinian-style pizza, along with some really great empinadas!

This restaurant is in the Walker Art Center. It’s also next to Loring Park where pride is always at, so you can make reservations if you are going to be celebrating around then. The food here also gives a similar healthy and fresh taste to Agra Culture. The Baba Ganoush is a great starter, and the fried chicken pita and shakshuka are my favorites. The ambiance is perfect for brunch.

Yet another date night kind of restaurant. The food here is NOT tex-mex, so it tastes closer to authentic Mexican cuisine. The fried green tomatoes are perfect to start off with. The Kansas city ribs and the corn elote were my favorite dishes there. They offer smaller plates so you can try a larger variety of food here. Also, a large selection of great drinks. Again, you will need a reservation.

Some of my coworkers went to eat here close to it opening up. The dishes worth trying are the papaya salad, crunchy chicken wings, and calamari. Everything fried here is light and not oily which is a great combo. Also, it is worth checking out the website, they teach you how to eat with sticky rice!

This restaurant tries to specialize in street food. The dishes here combine sweet and savory very well. A group of people would be good to bring here to taste a variety of dishes. Spring rolls, pork ribs tocino, fried brussel sprouts, and Hanoi sticky rice are all worth getting.

I haven’t eaten here yet either, but my friends have said it is a very nice hipster type bar/restaurant where all the food is delicious. They specialize in cooking with mushrooms from R&R Cultivation.

This bakery is perfect for breakfast and desserts. I like the cakes at Scandinavia better, but the pies here are the best I’ve had in Minnesota. If you go here, you must try the breakfast sandwich. The bread they use is so buttery and thick, and they use a great cheese. They have coffee and lattes too which are made a bit better than typical coffee shops.

My coworker introduced me to this place, and its great comfort food. The bibimbap and ramen are both great choices. If you want meat, you should go for the bulgogi. The building is tiny so be prepared to sit close to others or wait for seating.

Hot pot is honestly an experience everyone should try at least once. You can do the buffet style where you choose a soup base, and you can cook thin sliced meats and veggies from that soup base. The soup base is very flavorful, and they have tons of meats to choose from. This is very much more for those who eat meats, as the veggie options aren’t exciting.

This place only has strips and a sammich. I always get the sammich. The spice level can go very high actually. I think most people will be good with the MN nice to Mini-Coop. I think the Coop level has been my favorite level of spice to flavor level. Its great fried chicken served with fries and coleslaw.

Be prepared for a very earthy meal if you come here. The mushrooms are always the star of the show, so for sure get any seasonal dish they are doing with mushrooms. I haven’t tried their bison, but that is a very common Native American meat used in soups which I for sure recommend trying to get if offered. You have to make a reservation here. Getting a dinner slot can be up to months out, but the lunch time is normally more open and easier to get in.

I really enjoyed the food here. The vegan and vegetarian dishes are the main focus of this restaurant, so you can really try some great takes on traditional meat dishes. I got the market hash for brunch, and enjoyed mixing all the foods together to enjoy.

While I think that almost all pizza is good, I do think the wood fired pizza here at least is very unique in the combinations of toppings they have. I enjoyed their Bianca and Funghi. The scenery is great for date nights as well as a group of friends.

This is a weird one, but still fun to taste. The fusion they went with seems to be more incorporating Japanese ingredients into Italian pastas. They have great appetizers, but the pastas very in taste wildly. Pizzas and yakitori adhere more to traditional tastes. The duck tataki was the best dish, but I did enjoy the okonomiyaki pizza (but for sure this isn’t for everyone).

It might be completely vegan, but it really feels like soul-food. You must start with the For Your Soul Bowl, which is a great blend of mac & cheese, collard greens and cornbread. If they have the jackfruit riblets, get them (but they always run out so the bowl still tastes great without them). The other food here is great as well, but I still think veggie burgers are a bit too sweet for my liking.