31. Shuang Cheng Restaurant
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 378-0208
Address: 1320 Fourth St. SE
Description: On weekends Shuang Cheng, which is located in Dinkytown near the U, draws huge crowds, mainly for the delicious seafood prepared with a tantalizing Chinese flair. The menu includes shrimp, crab, scallops, oysters, clams, lobster, squid, and four walleye dishes. Chicken, beef, pork, and vegetarian options are available. Daily specials are posted on a whiteboard and erased when the item sells out. Shuang Cheng is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Sunday for dinner only.
32. Victor’S 1959 Cafe
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 827-8948
Address: 3756 Grand Ave. South
Description: Serving Cuban and American breakfast and lunch cuisine, this tiny restaurant is packed with photographs and memorabilia of both Cuba and Fidel Castro. The yellow, graffiti-covered walls give a Caribbean feel to the restaurant, as does the Cuban music in the background. The menu includes eggs Havana, mango waffles, ranchero Cubano, the Bay of Pigs pork sandwich, both sweet plantains and fried green plantains, and Cuban coffee. Under no circumstances should you fail to order the fried yucca. The restaurant is a popular neighborhood stop, and with fewer than ten tables inside, the wait to get seated can be an hour or so. Victor’s serves breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Sunday and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 215 Hennepin Ave. East
34. Blue Nile
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 338-3000
Address: 2027 Franklin Ave. East
Description: Blue Nile was one of the first Ethiopian restaurants in the area. The restaurant, in Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood, is in a huge complex including a voluminous dining room, bar, and dance floor. Blue Nile’s menu items include maraka hoolaa (lamb flavored with ginger root and other exotic spices), a shish kebab combo, and several vegetarian options, to name a few. For an overview of the culinary treats offered at the Blue Nile, try the gosa-gosa C, which is a sampler of two of the menu’s vegetarian entrées and maraka (Ethiopian stewed meat dishes). Blue Nile is open for dinner daily; on Tuesday and Wednesday nights the restaurant hosts the Poet’s Groove, the top spoken-word open-mic night in town.
35. Barbette
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 827-5710
Address: 1600 West Lake St.
Description: Barbette is a little snooty, and that’s part of the fun. From the cafe-style sidewalk tables to the insides of the famous pommes frittes, Barbette is a loving re-creation of a Parisian bistro. Chef Sarah Master offers a delectable range of savory dining options and a range of tasty appetizers to savor—whether during a romantic late-night date or just by yourself. Barbette’s open secret is its reasonable price point: The restaurant justifiably likes to quote Star Tribune food critic Rick Nelson’s observation that the food tastes much more expensive than it actually is. The restaurant also hosts a series of top-notch local performers for free Monday-night shows, where they seem happy to be drowned out by the amiable conversation at the busy bistro.
36. La Belle Vie
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 874-6440
Address: 510 Groveland Ave.
Description: La Belle Vie is by general consensus the finest restaurant in Minnesota. As the crown jewel of the several restaurants overseen by top chef Tim McKee—winner of the 2009 James Beard Award for best chef in the Midwest—La Belle Vie offers French cuisine that will make your heart stop. Foie gras, sautéed scallops, duck breast, goat cheese, and—wait for it—truffle poached rabbit are among the options you might see on the menu at La Belle Vie. It’s decidedly an indulgence—you don’t really want to think about what you’re paying for each bite—but for local foodies, this is the alpha and the omega.
37. Vincent
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 630-1189
Address: 1100 Nicollet Mall
Description: Vincent, named for head chef and owner Vincent Francoual (not one for false modesty), is a lovely spot for casual fine dining. Beautiful oak woodwork, high ceilings, and large windows overlooking Nicollet Mall and Orchestra Hall provide the upscale atmosphere for the restaurant’s French-American specialties. The menu changes every two months, but some past dishes include “porchetta” of suckling pig, rosemary-scented chevre cheese ravioli, and roasted Hawaiian barracuda. Vincent is open for lunch Monday through Friday and dinner Monday through Saturday; reservations are recommended, particularly on weekends.
38. La Fougasse
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (952) 835-1900
Description: This hotel restaurant serves a wide variety of elegant French dishes, including onion and caramelized fennel soup, bouillabaisse marseillaise, and a lovely collection of scrumptious desserts. The restaurant also features several Spanish dishes (including paella and empanadas) and two prix fixe tasting menus. Warm saffron, deep red, and azure blue give the restaurant a relaxing Mediterranean look. Reservations are almost always required, as the place fills up quickly with hotel guests. La Fougasse is open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Sunday for brunch and dinner.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 1 East 26th St.
40. Gardens Of Salonica New Greek Cafe And Deli
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 378-0611
Address: 19 Fifth St. NE
Description: Anna and Lazaros Christoforide’s sunny restaurant serves fresh bread with delightful dips, like their zingy skordalia (potatoes, lemon juice, and garlic) and tyro (feta cheese blended with roasted peppers, garlic, and herbs); chicken souvlaki and lamb-and-beef gyro sandwiches; and fancier dishes like rice-stuffed squid baked in red wine sauce and the fresh artichoke-and-braised-lamb dish that’s a spring special. The house specialty, popular for lunch or dessert, is boughatsa: phyllo pastries that come in sweet and savory varieties. Located in a turn-of-the-20th-century storefront on an obscure side street, this family-owned Greek cafe and deli draws patrons from all over the Metro. Gardens of Salonica is open for lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.
41. It’S Greek To Me
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 825-9922
Address: 626 West Lake St.
Description: This restaurant is casual and welcoming, with high pressed-tin ceilings, freshly painted wall murals, and terra-cotta-like tiled floors. It’s also inexpensive, considering that a dinner-size portion of anything costs around $10 and will usually leave you enough for tomorrow’s lunch. The menu offers nearly two dozen appetizers to precede classic Greek specialties such as souvlaki and spanakopita, fried smelt, octopus, chicken gyros, and flaming cheese. Every night the place bustles with couples, small families, and intimate clusters of friends devouring spicy-hot feta cheese spread, roast leg of lamb, or vegetarian dolmades. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday for lunch and dinner.
42. Gandhi Mahal
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 729-5222
Address: 3009 27th Ave. South
Description: Gandhi Mahal is dedicated to the spirit of Mohandas Gandhi, and the proprietors’ goal is to “bring the peace by pleasing the palate.” Whether they’re achieving the former, they’re definitely good at the latter. Many Minneapolitans cite this restaurant—a world unto itself just off the intersection of Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue—as their favorite spot to get a tikka masala fix.
43. Namaste Café
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 827-2496
Address: 2512 Hennepin Ave.
Description: Namaste Café and the Duplex restaurant sit in adjacent houses on Hennepin, with banners advertising their respective merits: best first-date spot for the Duplex, best chai tea for Namaste. In fact, Namaste wouldn’t be a bad spot for a first date either—or a second, or a third. The cuisine is a Nepalese/Indian fusion, with unusually fresh and flavorful offerings. In the summer you can dine on the porch and watch Uptown life go by as you sip your iced chai.
44. Om
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (612) 338-1510
Address: 401 North First Ave.
Description: Minneapolis’s newest Indian restaurant is this swank Warehouse District establishment founded by local celebrity chef Raghavan Iyer (author of best-selling cookbook 660 Curries). The food is excellent, but the atmosphere—complementing Iyer’s daring and contemporary approach to cooking—is another big draw. The restaurant is increasingly programming live music and other events, starting with a monthly Mumbai Saturday Night event featuring Indian musicians, henna tattoos, and street food such as you might find on the streets of India’s entertainment capital.
City: Minneapolis, MN
Category: Restaurants
Address: 931 Nicollet Mall