City: Minneapolis, MN

Category: Restaurants

Telephone: (612) 436-2236

Address: 750 South Second St.

Description: The new Guthrie Theater and the Mill City Museum have unleashed a renaissance in the downtown riverfront areas of Minneapolis. Opening right across the street from the Guthrie, Spoonriver is an upscale second establishment for Minneapolis restaurateur Brenda Langton, who also owns Cafe Brenda. As at Cafe Brenda, Spoonriver features local, organic ingredients including grass-fed beef, wild mushrooms, and Lake Superior herring. (Unlike Cafe Brenda, Spoonriver serves free-range animal dishes.) The narrow restaurant with orange and green color scheme positively exudes culinary wholesomeness: If a Jamba Juice somehow morphed into a fine restaurant, it might look like this. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; brunch Saturday from 8 a.m. (or 10 a.m. in winter) to 2 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and dinner Tuesday through Thursday from 5:30 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 5:30 to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m.