Minneapolis - Downtown

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.

This Italian restaurant doesn’t serve bread but it still serves great pasta dishes. Recommend getting the doppio as a starter to share. All the dishes are rich and delicious. The scene is very city life so expect large crowds and music. Would still be a good data night scene when you’re up for more activity around you.

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!

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.

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).