By Maria White
Like many Twin Cities restaurants, the menu changes seasonally at Tilia , a laid-back eatery in Minneapolis' Linden Hills neighborhood. Choice ingredients, from beets and kale to chicken livers and scallops, support the straightforward philosophy that “good food tastes good.” We like the gorgonzola burger with bread and butter pickles and the fingerling potatoes spiked with capers. The restaurant's simple-yet-good concept is also mirrored in the décor: hand-blown glass light fixtures and streamlined metal fans adorn the small, one-room dining space, which features an open kitchen. The handsome bar artfully presents an assortment of 21 draft beers, including a Belgian-style farmhouse ale and a Northern California-brewed hard cider.
It's a cinch spotting Rat Pack-era relic Murray's Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis. Vintage signs beef up the old-school dining hall's kitschy exterior while simultaneously plugging the signature menu item, the Silver Butter Knife Steak. Of course this 28-ounce strip sirloin, a generous hunk of beef meant to be shared, comes at a hefty price—$105, last time we checked. It's a meat feast that also includes a choice of soup or salad and potato or seasonal vegetable. Another house favorite is the garlic toast, still made according to Murray family matriarch Marie's original recipe. For dessert, the buttermilk chocolate cake with hot fudge and whipped cream should finish you off nicely.
If you're hankering for the classics—wedge salad, buttery escargot and mouthwatering filet mignon—enjoyed in an elegant dining room with terrific views of Rice Park, there's no beating The St. Paul Grill in The Saint Paul Hotel . Throw caloric caution to the wind and start with an extra-thick slice of Nueske's bacon, then move on to a homey chicken pot pie, an aged New York strip steak, lamb chops with jalapeño-mint jelly or almond flour-dusted, pan-fried walleye topped with pecan butter sauce. Then kick back with Minnesota lawmakers at the timeless bar, praised for its expansive collection of rare scotches, whiskies and cognacs.
Plenty of pizzerias claim their pies are the best in town, but with dozens of people's choice awards under their belt the dough-spinners at Pizza Luce can do more than just brag. Since opening in the Minneapolis Warehouse District in 1993, the business has expanded to eight area locations, with several offering everything from breakfast scrambles to vegan hoagies like the Mock Muffuletta, filled with mock duck, an olive mix and “cheese” made from tofu and cashew nuts. If the all-embracing bill of fare puts you in a dithering panic, just order The Luce. Topped with Italian sausage, garlic, onion and mozzarella cheese, it's affectionately referred to as “the pizza that started it all.”
Founded in St. Paul, Punch Neapolitan Pizza is the epicurean love child of two Johns: John Soranno, who spent his youth worshipping wood-burning ovens and mozzarella di bufala in Milan, and John Puckett, co-founder of Caribou Coffee. Cooked at 800 degrees for just 90 seconds, Punch's mouth-watering pies range from the gloriously simple—the Napoli, fresh mozz and oregano—to the Mattozzi, which adds prosciutto and mushrooms. You can also get your pizza without sauce or with a gluten-free crust.
Barbette embodies the best traits of its longtime home, the funky Uptown district, quite possibly the coolest neighborhood in Minneapolis simply because hometown son Prince once penned a song about it (check the Purple One's “Dirty Mind” album). Vibrantly colorful paintings hang on the walls, and local musicians shake things up most nights inside the intimate space. Fortunately this eclectic bistro isn't all style and no substance; the kitchen produces a parade of stellar French dishes, from a smoked salmon Niçoise salad and chicken liver pate to steak frites. And the lemon tart with blueberries is simple but divine. Wear your raspberry beret here, and you'll fit right in.
Its name a blending of the words “merit” and “heritage,” Meritage also represents the culmination of another union—the marriage of the restaurant's owners, who held their wedding reception at this space in downtown St. Paul's historic Hamm Building before opening a brasserie in 2007. Trained in New York City at the acclaimed French Culinary Institute, chef Russell Klein whips up two-bite appetizers like a tuna tartare taco or an escargot popover and delectable entrées (steamed mussels with smoked pancetta and house-cut pommes frites, cassoulet with garlic sausage, pork, duck confit and white beans), while his wife Desta Maree manages front-of-the-house affairs.
An architectural gem accommodates the W.A. Frost & Company, a casual lunch, dinner and weekend brunch spot in St. Paul's historic Cathedral Hill district. Pressed tin ceilings, stained-glass windows and fanciful brickwork evoke a mixed bag of bygone eras, as both original fixtures and salvaged design elements went into the 19th-century building's restoration. But when the weather's agreeable most everyone clamors for a seat outside, and the romantic, foliage-cloaked patio prevails as one of the most popular open-air hangouts in town. The seasonally changing menu emphasizes American cuisine that takes advantage of locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
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