Best New Restaurant Pivots

It's the year that has, and continues to, change everything. As we face a new shutdown, it's more important than ever to celebrate and support the restaurants and bars that we love.

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On a night in March, we celebrated our last restaurant issue—the MSP50, with the Golden Fork winners. Exactly one week later, all restaurant dining rooms were ordered to close.

March was a heady month. But as battered and tested as our local food people are after the last seven months, they have proven their grit. They’ve rallied for each other and for their community. They’ve overhauled, tweaked, and pivoted their business models on the fly like no other industry. They are indomitable.

Given how our local restaurants and bars have suffered, and continue to struggle, we decided to ditch the food trend lists and skip the typical Best New laudations for 2020. Instead, we champion the businesses and the people making it happen—for their compassion, their drive, their charity, and their guts. Never have we lamented the loss of so many great restaurants in so short a time, and never have we been so grateful for the fighters we have left. Love your cities, love your neighbors, love your restaurants, eat local. —S.M.

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Pickup window at Broders Cucina

Pickup window at Broders Cucina

Broders’ Cucina Italiana

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Tori Ramen's Pickup window

Tori Ramen's Pickup window

Tori Ramen

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Pickup window at Heather’s

Pickup window at Heather's

Heather’s

Pickup Windows: Safety on Both Sides

Every time a door shuts, a window opens. And if you’re smart enough, you trick out that window to be a portal of tasty goodness. You keep your employees safe and distant while still getting the goods into our hot little hands. It’s a change we’re happy to walk up to again and again.

Broders’ Cucina Italiana:

Just because you’ve been a neighborhood staple for nearly 40 years doesn’t mean you can’t rejigger when rejiggering is needed. Behind the new window is the same South Jersey hoagie, the same lasagna di spinaci, the same foldable New York pizza by the slice that has held you together before. 2308 W. 50th St., Mpls., 612-925-3113, broders.com

Tori Ramen:

Carved out of the side of the dining car turned ramen shop, this window opens for noodles. There’s a no-pork rule, but the chicken- or veg-based broths aren’t missing a thing. Especially the mind-bending Korean ramen or the whitefish shoyu. You can also grab fresh noodles and a bottle of sake for later. 603 W. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-340-5866, toriramen.com

Heather’s:

When you open during a pandemic, everything is new! You don’t have to worry about messing with people’s habits; you’re just setting them. Heather’s baseline is this window, where you walk up for an egg sandwich or a Hale burger, then pop back for pasta carbonara to bring home. 5201 Chicago Ave., Mpls., 612-445-8822, heathersmpls.com

Takeout Only: 

Nixta

Gustavo Romero has been very patient. All he really wants to do is convince you of the sacred beauty of heirloom Oaxacan corn. He’s done pop-ups and residencies and one-man tortilla shows, but so far he hasn’t launched a full restaurant. Not in this moment. Instead, his new Nixta is a small production and takeout spot in Northeast where you can score some of the most amazing and pliant heirloom corn tortillas in the state, along with take-home meals that ring bright with spice and vibrant sauces. In a way, it’s almost better that you take the braised meats and wrap them in the tortillas at home, because the sounds you end up making while you eat may not be appropriate in public. 1222 NE 2nd St., Mpls., nixtampls.com

Food of the Revolution:

House of Gristle

House of Gristle was never about following the norms—in fact, it was about dismantling the norms. Jametta Raspberry founded her catering and pop-up concept with the idea of re-imagining and shifting her past kitchen experiences as a Black woman chef. While the shutdown might have put some of her plans on hiatus, she found a calling during the George Floyd protests. Every day, Raspberry and her crew of volunteers gathered donated funds and food, which they used to cook for the protesters and the neighbors who had lost their grocery stores and food sources. Collaborating with local restaurants, using their otherwise closed kitchens for prep, Raspberry cooked about 5,000 meals in the first month of the unrest, giving people nourishment and hope to keep going. And since hunger doesn’t stop when the cameras go home, House of Gristle continues to make free food for those in need as part of its unwavering efforts to make a difference. houseofgristle.com

Meal Kits:

Grand Cafe

Jamie Malone took a different approach to pandemic restauranting. “Part of what’s lovely about restaurants is you don’t have to think for a bit,” she says. “Someone else tells you what’s beautiful, what’s delicious, and makes everything perfect for you.” So Malone and crew fill a meal-kit box with flowers, like you’d find in Grand Cafe; all the elements and instructions needed for a spatchcocked chicken with herbs or a blueberry Dutch Baby; a sketchpad and watercolors; brownies; and chef-made jam. The “Big Kit” has treats and delights for a delicious week. There are smaller boxes, too—and don’t forget to go to Spotify for the Grand Cafe playlist so it sounds like the Grand Cafe as you gaze at Grand Cafe flowers and eat Grand Cafe food. “Creatively, I really enjoy it,” says Malone. “Everyone wants to go back to normal, but that’s not going to be the world for a while. So maybe we find the parts of restaurants that were essential for people feeling good and put them in a box.”  3804 Grand Ave. S., Mpls., 612-822-8260, grandcafemn.com

Food Truck: 

Nashville Coop

We didn’t even know if we would have a food truck season in 2020, let alone a breakout star. But brothers Kamal and Arif Mohamed believed in the power of fully hot chicken and sallied forth. Even when they hit cult status, with hot sauce–slathered fried-chicken sandwiches rolling through all your social media feeds, they kept parking outside of hospitals during lunch hours to help feed post-shift health care workers. Now with two trucks and a recently launched takeout-rooted restaurant, they are selling out of chicken and proving that small can be mighty. 300 Snelling Ave. S., St. Paul, 612-388-8306, nashvillecoop.com

Takeout Team: 

Potluck at Rosedale Center

Teamwork makes the dream work. Who knew that we’d be finding this kind of synergy at a mall? But there you go: 2020. The independent high-caliber restaurants that came to populate the food court at Rosedale Center seem to form a successful whole, better than most of the other food halls we have. During the State Fair promotion, each counter offered a special bite, and there wasn’t a stinker in the bunch: from Smack Shack’s lobster corn dog to Burger Dive’s burger curds to Nordic Waffles’ strawberry-Oreo craziness. Potluck  just added Adam’s Soul To-Go to the collective and looks forward to creating more reasons and programs to lure you to the mall. Rosedale Center, potluckmn.com

Give-Back Program: 

Hope Breakfast Bar

Brian and Sarah Ingram had no idea that the chosen name for their first solo restaurant would become so meaningful in 2020. As soon as restaurants had to shut down and thousands of workers lost their jobs in March, Hope transformed into a community kitchen. The Ingrams started gathering donations, capturing food from other closed restaurants, and doling out their own money to help feed anyone who needed a meal. From the homeless to out-of-work single parents to hospital workers, protestors, and National Guardsmen—anyone who needed a meal could find one at Hope. As restaurants reopened, Hope kept giving back to its community by holding a drive-thru prom for area teens, raising funds to help feed community members, and making free meals. Now three restaurants strong (including The Gnome and Woodfired Cantina), the Ingrams’ Purpose Driven Restaurants group has pledged to give 3 percent of yearly profits back to the community from now on—no matter what comes. 1 S. Leech St., St. Paul, 651-330-8996, hopebreakfast.com

Andrew Zimmern on the impact of his Independent Restaurant Coalition 

The most vital issue of our time—from a food perspective—which helps decrease unemployment, keeps our food chain stable, increases tax revenues for states and municipalities, and provides stability for an industry that creates almost 5 percent of America’s GDP is the passage of the RESTAURANTS Act. The Independent Restaurant Coalition is laser-focused on achieving that goal of getting the $120B relief so that restaurants can stay alive during the next year. Without it, the negative impact to our economy will be over $240B, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. We founded the IRC to do one thing: effect positive change and protect our industry with legislation. Independent restaurants are the lifeblood of our communities, employ many special populations, keep vital industries alive (70 percent of seafood in America is served in restaurants!), and deserve federal relief.  The IRC has a national network of restaurant, food, wine and hospitality people, and I believe in those folks to get the work done … food people are the smartest, most creative and determined folks I know.

Collabs:

Even Better Together

As worn as the saying “We’re all in this together!” has become, there’s no better example than the restaurants and businesses that have teamed up to survive and thrive in 2020. 

B.A.D. Wingz and Glam Doll Donuts: The owners of Soul Bowl wanted to launch a custom chicken wings shop. But who’s up for signing a big lease right now? Instead, they launched the counter inside of the sassy Northeast donut shop, not only creating a mutually beneficial business partnership but giving us full permission for a donuts-and-wings dinner. 519 Central Ave. NE, Mpls., badwingz.com

Bellecour Bakery at Cooks of Crocus Hill North Loop: Gavin Kaysen decided to close his French restaurant in Wayzata this year, but he couldn’t quite abandon those chocolate croissants. A bakery pop-up in the Cooks space, across from Spoon and Stable, seemed a balm for sad hearts, so Cooks bought the bakery equipment and built out a spot to make it permanent. 210 N. 1st St., Mpls., bellecourbakery.com

Burger Joint at LynLake Brewery: The brewery guys had a kitchen where cooks would visit and serve up fresh ideas, but that was in The Before. So when they found a bit of magic, in the form of Oklahoma-style onion burgers, they held on. Burger Joint turned out to be the right kind of portable, beer-friendly comfort that the neighborhood needed. 2934 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls., 612-224-9682, lynlakebrewery.com

Continual Re-Invention: 

Saint Dinette

As the industry was shutting down, Tim Niver was one of the first to boldly look forward and say, Fine. How can we come back better? He knows how to face change. Just look at how Saint Dinette has handled the last seven months. Playfully rebranding itself as an homage to In-N-Out Burger at first, the team then took some time off during the summer for a breather. But they came back strong with sourdough fried chicken and burgers and then morphed again into OPE!—a tribute to our love for Snickers salad and bar pizza. As the waves of whatever comes next start rolling toward us all, count on this team to be riding ahead. 261 E. 5th St., St. Paul, 651-800-1415, saintdinette.com

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Takeout counter at Travail

Takeout counter at Travail

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takeout order on a cart

takeout order on a cart

Travail Marketplace

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Travail takeout bag

Travail takeout bag

Travail Marketplace

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Many takeout bags

Many takeout bags

Travail Marketplace

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Steaks in vacuum packs

Steaks in vacuum packs

Chef-butchered meat cuts

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Steaks with all the fixings

Steaks with all the fixings

Meal kits with all the good ingredients

Restaurant Marketplace: 

Travail 

The shutdown didn’t just close restaurants; it stopped deliveries, changed supply lines, and made some harvests moot. Recognizing that the farmers and makers who contribute to Travail’s unique flavor and quality of cuisine were in jeopardy too, Travail became a grocery store of sorts. Keeping its purveyors on task, the team takes ingredients and turns them into meal kits, makes special batch sauces, and breaks down whole animals into consumer cuts that can be ordered online and now delivered right to your door. All these efforts keep the foragers foraging. Which means you can take your home-cooking game to a pro level and we all get to keep small family farms on deck for the next season. 4134 Hubbard Ave. N., Robbinsdale, 763-535-1131, travailkitchen.com

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Axe throwing establishment

Axe throwing establishment

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outdoor dining

outdoor dining

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guitar player from behind the stage

guitar player from behind the stage

Lumberjack, in Stillwater, is using all the outdoor space it can

Patio Pals:

Stillwater

Outdoor dining became the most important accoutrement for restaurants in 2020. Diners and workers felt safer outdoors, and with limited capacities inside, a good patio situation became vital to survival. As it became clear that city governments would have to loosen their patio permit restrictions to help their local businesses meet the state’s guidelines, no one acted as creatively or aggressively as Stillwater. Props to Mayor Ted Kozlowski, who championed the closing of streets, and to the city council for opening up municipal parking lots and spaces so that restaurants could have expanded outdoor seating. More government action like this. 

Cocktail Kits: 

P.S. Steak

Pandemic or no, birthdays and anniversaries just keep happening. And what are you going to do, not raise a glass? That would simply compound the tragedy. Moments must be celebrated! And if you’re a Minnesota cocktail lover, likely nothing will do but the best of old fashioneds. So, do this. First: Make a liquor store run! Pick up Far North Roknar Rye, for the spice-minded locavore, or maybe Gamle Ode Celebration Aquavit, for the on-trend? Next: Get a P.S. Steak Old Fashioned Kit. (Don’t forget to add everything else you need to celebrate, like steak and maybe a little carrot cake!) Unpack your star-bartender mix, your good garnishes, your big ice. Shake. Pour. Clink. Celebrate. 510 Groveland Ave., Mpls., 612-886-1620, psmpls.com

Outstanding Team: 

Tomme Beevas and Pimento Kitchen

Pimento Jamaican Kitchen had planned to weather the pandemic storm like many others: by leaning into a robust takeout effort. And the Jamaican One Love special of saucy jerk pork and chicken seemed a perfect fit to help lift our worried hearts. But then George Floyd’s death changed everything.

Pimento never closed during the uprising. Instead, it stayed open as a refuge and resource for protesters and community members. Pimento’s team gathered and distributed water, food, diapers, and health care essentials because, as Tomme Beevas says, “This is about me; this is about us. That could easily have been me instead of George Floyd.” He and his crew watched over Eat Street and became a beacon of hope for the community.

But Beevas knows that the change needed isn’t going to happen overnight. “I believe in Minneapolis,” he says. “We have the community; we have the brainpower; we have the creativity, the willpower, and the resources to fix this.” Just because the neighborhood has returned to a beautifully diverse street full of immigrant-owned businesses doesn’t mean the work stops.

As a former Cargill executive, Beevas knows the power of organization and teams. He and his team just launched Pimento Relief Services as a special benefit corporation to provide operational resources to leaders on the frontlines of racial justice. Beevas and team plan to build the movement economically, socially, and politically by asking: What does liberation mean to you? How do we heal AND grow the city and its people? How do we connect with the people doing the work and give them the best resources we can? If ever there was a reason to tuck into a bowl of One Love, this would be it. 2524 Nicollet Ave. S., Mpls., 612-345-5637; Keg and Case, 902 W. 7th St., St. Paul, 651-808-1628, pimentokitchen.com

Bar Survival Technique: 

Meteor Bar  

Bars have had it the roughest during the pandemic. Without a food program or the addition of cocktails to the takeout-drinks allowance, it’s been hard to survive. Don’t even get us started on the lax party bars that resulted in the loss of our barstools in Minneapolis. All the while, Meteor quietly carried on, selling T-shirts and stylized hot dogs for loyal fans. Opening for indoor drinks, minus the bar, which is half the room, they’ve managed to create an intimate experience called Meteor Interrupted. Over an hour and half, you get to sip three innovative cocktails and snack on small bites, and for a moment you are back in that small and sparkling bar life we all took for granted. 2027 N. 2nd St., Mpls., 612-886-2483, meteormpls.com

We’ve lost some significant restaurants already in 2020, but that hasn’t stopped the industry cold. These brave souls all pushed forward and launched their businesses this year. Cooks are going to cook, no matter what.

Opened in 2020

Maybe Open/Coming Soon:

  • Bull and Finch Pub: In the former Jake O’Conner’s, Excelsior. 
  • Coquette and Colibri: New coffee café and wine bar, Northeast.
  • El Travieso Taqueria: Hector Ruiz’s redo of the former Don Raúl, South Mpls.
  • Sooki and Mimi: Ann Kim’s redo of the Lucia’s space, Uptown.
  • Petite León: Jorge Guzman’s redo of the Blackbird space, Kingfield.
  • Vinai: Yia Vang’s Hmong eatery, Northeast.
  • Viv!r: Relaunch of the Popol Vuh space, Northeast.

This article originally appeared in the November 2020 issue.