Thanks to places like the Indigenous American restaurant Owamni, Minnesota’s food scene has been making waves nationally, earning praise for its diverse, culturally inspired gastronomy. The state is home to significant Hmong, Somali, Mexican, Scandinavian, and Ethiopian communities, among others, whose culinary traditions have deeply influenced local chefs for decades (and, in some cases, centuries). From Indigenous fine dining to Hmong street food, the Land of 10,000 Lakes is also the Land of 10,000 Flavors, where award-winning restaurants transport travelers to global destinations.
Dine at award-winning restaurants in Minneapolis and St. Paul
Guests enjoy creative takes on Vietnamese dishes at Hai Hai, one of Northeast Minneapolis’ most celebrated restaurants.
Courtesy of Explore Minnesota/Paul Vincent
In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, acclaimed chefs have crafted restaurants with cuisine as delightful as the ambiance, making them destinations in their own right. At Hai Hai, the 2024 James Beard Award winner for Best Chef: Midwest, Christina Nguyen, applies Vietnamese training and techniques to craft coconut-rich curries, turmeric-laced crepes, and crispy fried fish, all served in a lush setting filled with plants where guests can dine on the patio on warm days. Spoon and Stable, Gavin Kaysen’s lauded restaurant in a transformed horse stable, is like a love letter to the Midwest with seasonal and comfort-food dishes rooted in the region’s agricultural bounty, such as duck breast and Dorothy’s Pot Roast, named for the chef’s grandmother.
Owamni, the groundbreaking restaurant by Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman, redefines fine dining with a menu free of colonial ingredients like dairy, beef, chicken, and granulated sugar. Options, including bison tartare and cedar-braised venison, showcase the gastronomy of the Midwest’s Indigenous people.
In Southwest Minneapolis, Khâluna’s elegant, tropical-style atmosphere is an ideal setting for savoring Laotian-influenced delicacies like stuffed quail and wild rice congee or red snapper with mango and tangy tamarind. The James Beard Awards recently named the restaurant’s chef, Ann Ahmed, a 2025 Outstanding Chef semifinalist. (You can also try her other restaurant, Gai Noi, which is a staple in Minneapolis.)
Another award-winner, chef Karyn Tomlinson, was honored by Food & Wine as one of its Best New Chefs in 2024 for her farm-driven menu and nods to her Swedish immigrant heritage at Myriel. This small, elegant restaurant in St. Paul offers an à la carte and a curated tasting menu.
Several newer restaurants are attracting attention in Minnesota’s dining scene, too. At Diane’s Place, which opened last year, pastry chef–turned–restaurateur Diane Moua blends French techniques with the flavors of her Hmong heritage. The approach landed her on a recent New York Times list of America’s best bakeries and among the 2025 James Beard Award semifinalists for Best Chef: Midwest. You’ll find her delectable pastries—including the celebrated croissant with mango mousse, fresh lychee, and passion fruit—on display at her restaurant, serving brunch and dinner.
Also a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist (for Best New Restaurant), French brasserie Bûcheron features an intimate dining room where guests split rich dishes of root vegetables, wagyu beef, and steelhead trout. Chef and co-owner Adam Ritter sources many ingredients from his family farm in St. Wendel, Minnesota.
Elsewhere in Minneapolis and St. Paul, chefs lean into bold, inspired flavors. Ann Kim, another James Beard Award winner, turns out blistered, wood-fired pizzas at Young Joni, each bite layered with umami flavors and unexpected toppings. Listed among the 2024 top U.S. restaurants by the New York Times, Oro by Nixta transforms heirloom corn into complex Mexican dishes, highlighting ingredients like wild boar and squid ink. In the North Loop, Daniel del Prado’s Porzana is a deeply personal take on the Argentinian steakhouse, reflecting his childhood roots in Buenos Aires with lauded cuts of steaks in a stylish setting befitting Minneapolis’ hippest neighborhood.
Restaurants here aren’t just about cuisine—they offer exceptional hospitality experiences informed by the heritage of their owners and chefs. At the 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist Vinai (also one of America’s best 50 restaurants according to the New York Times in 2024), chef Yia Vang tells the story of Hmong cuisine through recipes steeped in tradition yet presented with a modern sensibility. Named after the refugee camp in Thailand where he was born, Vinai’s family-style dining experience reflects his family’s warmth and personal history.
This year, Mucci’s Italian was honored by the James Beard Awards for its outstanding hospitality, a testament to the welcoming reputation of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Another spot featuring Italian flavors, Hyacinth is also a 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist and lovingly crafts handmade bucatini and linguini. At the North Loop’s Bar La Grassa, the hum of conversation rises over heaping plates of soft egg raviolo and gnocchi bathed in cauliflower and orange sauce—where pasta dishes are meant to be ordered for the table and passed around like a family meal.
Meanwhile, Bar Brava redefines the wine bar experience with an adventurous, all-natural wine list that pairs perfectly with its Basque-inspired small plates. There’s no actual wine list at this 2025 James Beard Award semifinalist—just a glass case of bottles when you walk in the door that immediately inspires conversation among guests.
Eat at Minnesota’s must-visit international restaurants
Dine on flavors from around the world at the Market at Malcolm Yards, an international food hall.
Courtesy of Explore Minnesota/Paul Vincent
Along with stand-alone restaurants, Minnesota’s food culture thrives in several singular food halls. In Minneapolis, Midtown Global Market fills with the scents of El Taco Torro’s slow-simmered mole, curry bowls at Momo Dosa, and warm rose petal and lemongrass tea from the Indigenous Food Lab Market—many of which are prepared by immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs who have built small businesses. The Market at Malcolm Yards brings together an eclectic mix of vendors, from savory Argentinian lomito sandwiches with filet mignon, ham, vegetables, and chimi mayo to steamed bison dumplings from Momo Dosa.
Other mainstays focus on a particular culinary and cultural community. St. Paul’s Hmongtown Marketplace features rows of stalls turning out steaming bowls of pho, crispy egg rolls, and plates of sticky rice served with spicy dipping sauce. Holy Land, a Northeast Minneapolis restaurant run by a beloved Palestinian family that’s lived in the neighborhood for decades, offers a taste of the Middle East. Find ingredients and staple foods at its small halal market, bakery, and deli, serving fresh pita, falafel, and shawarma. In Eden Prairie, Asia Mall is an exciting mix of East Asian flavors, featuring an expansive grocery store, bubble tea shops, and restaurants specializing in favorites like dim sum, Korean barbecue, and Vietnamese street food.
Outside the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, small-town restaurants also showcase the deep culinary heritage of immigrant communities. German traditions run strong in New Ulm, where Schell’s Brewery pours crisp lagers and malty bocks, best paired with a stop at Kaiserhoff for classics like sauerbraten and bratwurst. In Willmar, where East African and Latinx communities have reshaped the food landscape, a stop at Faafan Restaurant or Mubarak Food & Grocery offers an authentic taste of Somali flavors, from sambusas (a savory pastry) to goat stew slow cooked with fragrant spices. Lindström, a Swedish sister city in central Minnesota, is a popular weekend getaway where Gustaf’s on Main Eatery serves Scandinavian-inspired dishes of Swedish meatballs and cardamom rolls.
Attend Minnesota’s food festivals and fairs
Join in on the fun at the Minnesota State Fair, where innovative new fair foods are the talk of the town every August.
Courtesy of Explore Minnesota/Paul Vincent
Minnesota’s love for eating shows up in its many annual food-centric celebrations. Every late summer, the Minnesota State Fair becomes a pilgrimage site for those craving innovative fusion foods and deep-fried creativity, not to mention fair-food staples like freshly fried cheese curds, pronto-pups (similar to a corn dog), and butter-drenched sweet corn. Each year, vendors dream up new fare—bite-sized pastries filled with African spices, grilled purple sticky rice with Hmong beef jerky, and kettle-chip flavored ice cream—that push indulgence to the limit.
In nearby St. Louis Park, the MinnesoTHAI Food Festival brings together Thai chefs and home cooks for a weekend of fragrant street food, sizzling woks, and papaya salads dressed in fiery fish sauce. At Kraftskiva in August, take part in the Swedish tradition of the crayfish party with long tables draped in newspaper, where guests crack open the bright-red crustaceans under glowing lanterns.
Minnesota food experiences include the SPAM Museum in Austin, which pays homage to the state’s most famous canned export. Visitors can take in a wall of vintage advertising and sample creative interpretations of the world’s most iconic pork product.
In Minnesota, food is sustenance and storytelling. Whether sitting in a trendy dining room in the North Loop, grabbing a hot bowl of noodle soup in a crowded market, or raising a glass at a small-town brewery, the hospitality and creativity of Minnesota’s restaurant scene is a culinary experience worth savoring.
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