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Appetites®
Tom Crann and Lukas Levin

Appetites: The best Minneapolis restaurants of 2023 and what's opening in 2024

Person prepares food in kitchen
Gai Noi in Loring Park in Minneapolis.
Photo by Monique Sourinho, courtesy of Tiffany Gerber

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What were the best Minneapolis restaurants of 2023 and what can we look forward to in 2024? MPR News host Tom Crann asked food critic Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl to look into her crystal ball.

“It might be the best year ever,” she said.

“The food truck to brick-and-mortar pipeline is not just an aberration,” she said. “It is the way that people up-and-come these days.” In other words, there’s a lot to look forward to in 2024.

Moskowitz Grumdahl also highlighted the restaurants from 2023 that made it onto her list of favorites.

She had high praise for two spots in Minneapolis’ North Loop area.

“I have been to 25 years of David Fhima restaurants,” and she said Maison Margaux is “Goldilocks perfect.” Then there’s the Argentinian steakhouse Porzana, also on North First Street. “I’ve never seen anything open so strongly,” she said.” “It was just like being a Olympic diving judge just being like ‘10, 10, 10’ walking down First Street.”

But her favorite restaurant of 2023 was Gai Noi in Loring Park from Ann Ahmed.

“I used to write about Lao food and everybody who was a chef would be like, ‘The only marketable thing is Thai food,’” she said. “I have watched Ann Ahmed walk through the doors in the most beautiful way and just be Lao and proud.”

Food in various bowls
Gai Noi food in Prospect Park in Minneapolis.
Photo by Monique Sourinho, courtesy of Tiffany Gerber

Moskowitz Grumdahl is eager to see what 2024 brings.

“It’s the year of the rising stars getting to do their thing all over town. There’s a lot of cool stuff coming,” she said.

Some of the incoming “cool stuff” includes chef Diane Moua’s Hmong-style restaurant and bakery called Diane’s Place in Minneapolis.

The groups behind Petit Leon in South Minneapolis are taking big steps to open another brick-and-mortar restaurant. Located in the building that housed the Riverview Café and Wine Bar, it will be called Lynette.

“2024 looks like: They’re young, they’re hungry, they’re talented and they’re finally getting the place.”