Cheese-stuffed burgers, Hmong sausage, sambusas, and more great things to eat in Minnesota’s most populous city.
LessThe neon sign near Owamni’s entrance reads “You Are On Native Land,” and it serves as a reminder of the restaurant’s mission. The menu relies on decolonized ingredients native to North America, which means you won’t find any dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar, beef, chicken, or pork. Instead, dishes center Indigenous cultures and seasonal flavors, like tacos filled with mushrooms and mustard greens and sorbet made from wild rice.
With wicker chairs, an abundance of natural light, and a covered patio lined with potted palms, a dinner at Khaluna feels like you’ve stepped off Lyndale Ave. into an exclusive island retreat for the rich and famous. The decor’s light color palette is just as colorful as most of the dishes, like the tropical fruit salad garnished with fresh flowers and multi-hued rainbow rice. Be sure to try the sakoo, mushroom-stuffed dumplings made from tapioca pearls, and the bucatini talay.
Spoon and Stable is great for romantic dinners because of the soft lighting, floor-to-ceiling glass wine cellar, and giant cones of cotton candy. The seasonal menu includes housemade pastas and entrees like venison with cranberry jus, but you’ll definitely want to save room for dessert. Although the menu changes frequently, it always features elegantly-plated riffs on the classics, like a chocolate sundae garnished with popped sorghum and kumquat.
Manny’s Steakhouse is the sort of white-tablecloth place where Fortune 500 executives meet to close big deals and couples celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary. Servers glide through the dining room, wheeling a cart displaying raw steaks for you to choose from. If money’s no object, get the $117 50-ounce bludgeon of beef to share. The $61 filet-cut baseball steak is another good option if want the same dry-aged flavor but simply must have a plate of beef all to yourself.
Tenant only has 20 seats and a minimal, whitewashed interior, but your focus and attention should be on the food anyway. The ever-changing, six-course tasting menu takes a homey dish like cheese-stuffed pasta and elevates it with a filling of funky, locally-crafted Camembert-style cheese. Since chefs double as servers, the ingredients and preparation of each menu item are explained in the same level of detail as a hardcore comics fan describing the latest Marvel movie.
It’s called the Bungalow Club for a reason: the atmosphere is a nod to the craftsman bungalows spread throughout Minneapolis, with wooden bar shelving styled like built-in bookcases and vintage-inspired blue wallpaper. The three-course, prix-fixe menu is served family-style and changes weekly, but always includes housemade pasta like tortelli filled with sweet potato and blue cheese and hearty meat, seafood, and vegetarian dishes like Minnesota-raised wagyu hanger steak and risotto.
Dinner at Alma reminds us of Thanksgiving dinner, only with much fancier plating. The prix-fixe meals start with a spread of antipasti and individually-plated salads and light bites like grilled sourdough and a pear and endive salad. Then, you’ll get a family-style main such as roasted lamb loin with fennel confit and seared striped bass with lentils and bacon. The recommended wine pairings are definitely worth it, but you also can’t go wrong with the aquavit-based dill martini.
Petite León wears a lot of hats—it’s laid-back enough to be a comfortable neighborhood spot, but it will impress your date with fine dining flourishes like leather banquettes and top-notch service. The food draws inspiration from the cuisine of the Yucatán, where the chef grew up, and also incorporates flavors and preparations from around the world, with dishes like steak tartare with smoked queso fresco and Yucatán spiced chicken with piri-piri sauce.
Al’s is a true old-school Minneapolis gem. This 14-seat diner has been open since 1950 and is beloved by generations of students from the nearby University of Minnesota. We’ve been told it’s the narrowest restaurant in the city and some regulars even still buy meals with prepaid tabs, tracked via the stacks of yellow booklets behind the counter. Be sure to try the plate-sized blueberry pancakes served with Minnesota maple syrup and the “fancy scrambled eggs” loaded with cream and butter.
With bright blue chairs, teal walls, and plants dangling from the ceiling, the dining room at Hai Hai is a leafy respite from the snow in the winter and the perfect place to sit outside and have lunch on the patio in the summer. Start with an order of salt and pepper fried tofu and then try the Hanoi sticky rice, which is topped with ground pork, wisps of pork floss, Chinese sausage, and pickled vegetables (substitute mock duck to make it vegan).