Best New Restaurants 2018

Our critics' annual year-end list of their top 10 (OK, 11) resto openings—plus, our chef of the year!

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After 12 months of eating out, we toast 10 (OK, actually 11) new additions to the local food landscape—and the chef of the year. Dig in, Twin Cities, here's where to eat now.

Centro & Popol Vuh

Chefs arrive at the restaurant trade by many roads. José Alarcón began his restaurant journey in Morelos, in the central south of Mexico. After driving north 16 years ago, after his father passed away, he took a dishwashing job to help out his family. That decision led him to research and learn everything he could about kitchens and cooking: the prep, the sauces, the traditions and hierarchies, all of it. That’s how he ended up cooking on the line at Brasserie Zentral, a former downtown Minneapolis star of this list, working alongside Justin Sutherland. 

That’s the secret history behind Nordeast’s new combination taco spot Centro and finer-diner destination Popol Vuh (vuh rhymes with coo). The moles here taste like a sweet bonfire at dusk. The delicate ceviche appears silky with avocado and pretty with Beauty Heart radishes.

“For our mole, my mom used to make that sauce for me,” says Alarcón. “My mom knows so much. When I first was grinding my own masa and making tortillas, I called her up every day, again and again. ‘They’re falling apart, Mom. Help me!’”

But Alarcón didn’t feel bound by cultural convention. Consider the tuna ceviche: “In Mexico, we have a tradition of marinating fish overnight in lime juice,” he says. “But when I saw the beautiful tuna I could get, I can’t do that to this tuna. I go to the techniques I learned from other chefs.”

Alarcón created this restaurant with go-getter co-owner Jami Olson, after the two met at Lyn 65. And they’ve put together a perfect restaurant for today: rooted in something real, executed with elegance and precision, and, on top of that, available at prices either basic or bonus. 1414 NE Quincy St., Mpls., 612-345-5527, popolvuhmpls.com

Bungalow Club

How on earth did the term “comfort food” come to mean mashed potatoes? Comfort doesn’t have to be a heavy blanket, culinarily speaking. In the comfort food sweepstakes, we challenge the mashed potato with any plate from Longfellow’s Bungalow Club. Here, comfort food can be a deep bowl of housemade pasta swimming with a seasonal vegetable: say, agnolotti with sweet corn, in August; or cavatelli with squash, in October. It can be your favorite Brussels sprouts, this week amped with a touch of chili honey. Because comfort can be a bit adventurous and enlivening, especially when it’s served by gracious people at a warmly familiar neighborhood spot. 4300 E. Lake St., Mpls., 612-866-3334, thebungalowclubmpls.com

Grand Catch

Grand Catch exists to boil crawdads, to be sure. But, more than that, this collab aims to break down cultural barriers and inspire curious eaters. The project started with the chefs. Palestinian brothers Sameh and Saed Wadi found a true love for the Viet-Cajun cooking of their Vietnamese friend Thien Ly at Cajun Deli, his restaurant in Brooklyn Park. And they schemed to open a place where they could all jam together in the kitchen, playing Middle Eastern flavors against Southeast Asian ingredients, in the style of Southern kitchens. The eaters’ job here is to try bowls brimming with clams in a spicy Isaan sauce, or crawdads scented with chilies. We put on the bib, and we’re never taking it off. 672 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-348-8541, grandcatchmn.com

Hyacinth

Italians came to Minnesota at the turn of the 20th century to work in Iron Range mines and on St. Paul railroads. But soon enough, the authentic St. Paul Italian restaurant was born. Hyacinth joins the noble chain of establishments founded by different generations, like Cossetta’s (founded 1911), DeGidio’s (1933), and Luci Ancora (1988). But Hyacinth, with its spectacular seasonal salads, fits surely in the present. The young chef, Rikki Giambruno, obsesses over his peppercorns and fusses with his farinata. And everything in the Grand Avenue space looks as light and bright as an Instagram fantasy. 790 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-478-1822, hyacinthstpaul.com

Lat14

Unlike some chefs, Ann Ahmed isn’t afraid of the suburbs. In fact, she loves them. Her Lemon Grass Thai restaurant has flourished in Brooklyn Park for more than a decade. So she held zero qualms about opening her newest, Lat14, in Golden Valley. Starting with the old and tired shell of a Perkins, Ahmed re-envisioned the space as a hot spot for cuisines found around the 14th latitude of the globe. Filipino, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian dishes crowd the menu. In turn, eaters pack the place, even past 9 pm—on a weekday! Slick style . . . ample parking . . . tom yum ramen with housemade noodles? Time to make a pilgrimage out of the city. 8815 7th Ave. N., Golden Valley, 763-400-7910, lat14.com

Pearl and the Thief

What’s star quality when it comes to restaurants? Is it the way everyone buzzes about the how a particular tentacle lies on the plate, changing your perception of octopus? Or how a particular hot-Tennessee-chicken treatment inspires you to rethink the bird? Is it the jostle for the blue barstools at the wide, white marble bar—the prime seats that let you catch a glimpse of the chef you’ve seen on television, joking here with his line cooks? All that is happening at Stillwater’s Pearl and the Thief, where chef Justin Sutherland has turned a classic 19th century rivertown bar into something so pulsing, so magnetic, you can’t look away. 112 N. Main St., Stillwater, 651-342-0972, pearlandthief.com

Meyvn

A great bagelacts something like a polka—stomping with big flavors, gliding lightly with tenderness, springing with expression. Meyvn boils those polkas, so to speak, then cooks them in a wood oven until they’re vibrant with smoke. Get yours sliced and served with a bright-green scallion cream cheese. And marvel at the wonder of what happens when a rising-star chef like Adam Eaton takes on the job of doing something simple in the best way. Meyvn is an urban Uptown drop-in where every order of Israeli fried chicken and honey old-fashioned feels like a slide out of the workaday world and into the realm where life dances. 901 W. Lake St., Mpls., 612-315-4608, meyvneats.com

Fhima’s

How easy it can be to label a restaurant space as cursed, just because a few concepts come and go. How easy it can be to label a chef as cursed, just because he takes risks and shoots for the moon, which can’t always be successful. Perhaps the space and the chef are merely waiting for the right marriage to ignite magic. It’s possible we’re seeing this love story occur right now at Fhima’s, in the historic Forum Cafeteria. David Fhima (who earned loyal fans at spots like Mpls. Café and Faces Mears Park) seems more at home than ever, seducing the well-heeled with delicate beef tartare and richly spiced tagines. Likewise, the grande dame of 7th Street (best known for its Goodfellow’s years) glows with new life, a grander oval bar, and three private dining rooms that have already seen their fair share of celebrity parties. (Welcome to Minneapolis, Sting!) Here’s to romance, which is always most fun at the start. 40 S. 7th St., Mpls., 612-353-4792, fhimasmpls.com

Tori 44

You can follow or you can lead. With the recent ramen boom, plenty of noodle shops have popped up to copy the trendiest moves from other cities. But Tori took another path, originally opening its small, porkless ramen joint off Selby Avenue, in St. Paul, in 2016. It followed with a bigger space and an expanded kitchen at Tori 44, in North Minneapolis, this past year. Jason Dorweiler and Dan Prentice continue to prepare their innovative ramen bowls without pork, so that more people can enjoy them. But now they’ve started making all their own noodles, in-house. That’s all fine and ambitious, but the proof has gotta be in the soup. And boy, is it ever. Look for rich bowls with goat two ways, or tahini-laced broths with chewy, gluten-free noodles. We mourn the specials when they rotate off the menu: If you see the Dramen special posted—with its concentrated miso and flame-broiled chicken—order it for our sake? 2203 44th Ave. N., Mpls., 612-345-7078, toriramen.com

Animales BBQ

Is it too early to call Jon Wipfli the new Rib King of Minneapolis? Sure, he’s got loads of fine-dining pedigree, from New York’s Marlow & Sons to The Bachelor Farmer. But that’s nothing compared to the amount of time this man has spent tending meat in a smoker. We could label Animales’s BBQ truck, parked outside Able  Seedhouse + Brewery, as his first venture. But in truth, Wipfli has for years been throwing barbecue parties in his backyard for fellow local chefs and other hungry friends. On his own dime, he smoked whole hogs underground, perfected his brisket, and mastered his smoked ribs. We can’t report anything official yet, but if you think Wipfli is going to be satisfied with one little kitchen . . . that’s probably hogwash. 1121 NE Quincy St., Mpls., @animalesbarbequeco on Instagram

Colita

Though it’s a bit early to make the call, we’re calling it. Colita looks like a semi-magical spot and it cannot be ignored. The latest restaurant from chef Daniel del Prado (of Martina) occupies a former gas station on 54th and Penn. And in this unlikely spot, he’s whipped up a beautiful restaurant that weaves Mexican flavors with his Argentinian/Italian cooking. That means dreamy dishes like the brown buttered spinach salad atop acorn squash, served with a swipe of dark mole. Marco Zappia’s bar program, centered on fermented cocktails, feels like a grownup spin on chem class: First you get tipsy, then you get smitten with your professor. Opening with a menu that leans Oaxacan, Colita plans to shift regional Mexican cuisines as the restaurant evolves. We’ll be eating there a bunch in the coming weeks—look for more Colita in next month’s mag. 5400 Penn Ave. S., Mpls., 612-886-1606, colitampls.com

Chef of the Year 2018

Jamie Malone

In April, chef Jamie Malone landed her chicken-liver version of the stuffed donut called Paris–Brest on the cover of Food & Wine magazine. The banner: “2018’s Best Dish.” In the same issue, the magazine crowned her Grand Cafe, in south Minneapolis, one of the country’s top 10 restaurants. It was that kind of year for the rising-star chef.

Following the departure of partner Erik Anderson for a restaurant in San Francisco, Malone found a fresh groove. She started serving early-bird suppers for the neighborhood, with little pots of cassoulet, pot pies, and beef bourguignon. She presented her messy double cheeseburger at brunch on a silver pedestal.

A little classy, a little sassy. She doubled-down on that style when Nikki Klocker joined the team as director of operations, Bridget Sorenson came onboard for events, and Brit St. Clair joined the kitchen team. It’s easy to see the vibe at work in cheeky social media posts of Cher or Zsa Zsa Gabor dancing, which lay down the challenge, “It’s Friday. Act like it.”

With this powerhouse lady crew, Malone tackled her latest challenge: taking over the expansive (and often empty) Eastside space, near the Minneapolis riverfront. The downtown spot will center on the bar, with a menu focused on large-format plates—a whole duck or a pork porterhouse—that can be shared by a table. They envision revelers drinking from a communal gold swan, snatching bites from platters between sizzling conversations, all lit by hot-pink neon. If Grand Cafe is the good sister, this place will be the girl who sneaks out at night.

Malone and company plan to rename Eastside to reflect the new tone. Evil Twin?