Two weeks ago, I posted the second edition of my Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation. At the end of that post—and also at the end of my most recent review of Oro, posted a week earlier—I referred to another upcoming Twin Cities restaurant list, one whose purview would not be limited only to “fine dining” restaurants. Here now is that list. I call it the Twin Cities 52. The title might put you in mind of the long-running Eater 38 but, unlike that list, mine does not seek to provide a “heat map”. Indeed, many of the Twin Cities’ hottest restaurants are not on this list (just as they’re not on either edition of the Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation). I wouldn’t know what was hot if I were sitting on it. Instead, this is simply my current list of the 52 Twin Cities restaurants that I would go out to eat at in the Twin Cities over the next year if I were here all year and wanted to eat at a different restaurant each week (we very rarely eat out more than once a week when not traveling) with an eye on variety and our budget. As such, it will give you a better sense of my/our family’s preferences than the Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation might.

That’s because if you were to count you’d see that the list only contains 13 restaurants that are in the current edition of the Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation. That’s because the majority of our eating out happens at the affordable end of the spectrum. As I’ve said before, while the local food media’s attention is given largely to the high end—to restaurants with p.r agencies and Beard awards or aspirations—I think it’s really at the affordable end that the Twin Cities food scene really shines in diversity, quality and bang for the buck. We certainly enjoy eating at our favourite high-end restaurants in the Cities but a) we get as much pleasure at many of our favourite affordable restaurants and b) we couldn’t afford to eat out at the high end every week anyway.

As with the Fine Dining Rotation list(s), this one does not seek to be comprehensive. There are a large number of plausible contenders at both the high and affordable ends of the spectrum that we have just not eaten at yet. Unlike, the Fine Dining Rotation list(s), this one is not ranked in any way. Where those lists present restaurants in tiers, this one is simply alphabetical—though I don’t think you’d be very unhappy if you just ate through the list in sequence. Please note as well that is not an alphabetical presentation of my top 52 Twin Cities restaurants either. There are a few restaurants here that wouldn’t make that list if I were to compile it; in those cases, they’re on here because they serve our favourite version of/in a genre we would like to eat at at least once over the year.

The first version of this post contains just the list (and a slideshow of a dish each from each of the entries), I will be coming back over the next day or two to annotate the entries. I’d planned to do that before posting it at all but I am currently heavily jet-lagged (I just got back from Delhi last evening) and have not had the energy to get it all finished yet. So, either come back in a day or two to read the completed version or check back every once in a while to see how many I’ve updated in the interim. Clicking on the names below will take you to my most recent write-up of each place and you can find more of a sense there of each restaurant and of what to order.

Alright, here’s the list.

The Twin Cities 52, 2025 Edition

• 112 Eatery: I had them in the “Once a Year” tier in both editions of the Twin Cities Fine Dining Rotation and so it’s no surprise I’d list them here as well. And though this list is alphabetical, there’s also something fitting about this Minneapolis classic leading it off.
• All Saints: All the restaurants in the top three tiers of the Fine Dining Rotation are on here as well. All Saints, Diane’s Place, Khaluna and Meritage join them from the next tier. All Saints’ combination of a casual vibe, interesting food, good cocktails and relative affordability is what gets them on.
• Alma: Considering we normally eat at Alma at least three times a year, it shouldn’t be a surprise they’re on the list.
• Andale Taqueria: As I never get tired of saying, the Twin Cities has a far stronger Mexican food scene than people outside the area (or even some within the area) are aware of. Thanks to some tv fame, Andale is one of those with wide name recognition; happily, it deserves it. I’d eat there for the tripa tacos alone.
• Babani’s: We really need to go back to Babani’s soon; especially now that I have gone from despising to loving eggplant.
• Bangkok Thai Deli: A Twin Cities classic that has anchored the local Thai scene for a long time, and which begat two more of the Thai restaurants that are on this list. Their long menu contains more standout dishes than we can cram into one, two or even three visits.
• Basil Café: Just a few blocks up from Bangkok Thai Deli on University Ave. in St. Paul, Basil Cafe’s stylish dining room will appeal to those who want their Thai food in a less chaotic setting than at Bangkok Thai Deli. The food’s pretty good too.
• Biryani Stop: Speaking of casual settings, Biryani Stop’s truck stop location in South St. Paul might put some people off. But if you like North Indian food, you should really go and try their hearty Pakistani buffets on the weekends.
• Bolé: And we really need to go back to Bolé soon too. With Ghebre’s and Fasika gone, they and Demera are the Twin Cities’ standard-bearers for Ethiopian cuisine.
• Bucheron: We loved our first meal here this year and I’m really looking forward to going back in 2026.
• Bull’s Horn: Don’t call it a gastropub. And it’s not exactly a dive bar either. What it is is a bar with excellent beer and even better casual food cooked to the standards of one of the Twin Cities’ greatest chefs. If we lived in South Minneapolis, we’d be there all the time.
• Cheng Heng: Happily, the Twin Cities’ long-time standard-bearer for Cambodian food is still around. Like too many people in the area, we’re guilty of taking their presence for granted. We need to go back here next year as well.
• Demera: See above. Where Bolé is a bright space where plenty of non-Ethiopians can be seen eating, Demera’s dining room is much darker and could feel intimidating to outsiders. But you should get over that because in fact the people are welcoming and the food is great.
• Diane’s Place: A double threat for brunch and dinner, Diane’s Place may not be our favourite of the Cities’ two new fine dining Hmong restaurants, but it’s very good on its own terms.
• Dosa: A consequence of the fact that I’ve been going back to Delhi multiple times a year in the last couple of years is that eating Indian food in the US generally, and in the Twin Cities in particular, is not a huge priority. That said, there are now a number of excellent Indian restaurants in the Twin Cities metro, all serving South Indian food, and Dosa is certainly one of them.
• El Itacate: I mentioned above that the Twin Cities has a much better and more extensive Mexican restaurant scene than many people realize. Small taquerias of high quality dot the metro; if you’re up in Maplewood, El Itacate is the place to go for excellent pozole and more.
• El Sazon Tacos & More: And if you’re in Eagan then the original gas station location of El Sazon will do right by you. Alas, their newer fine dining location closed this year before we could eat there. But it’s good to know that their shrimp tacos and birria ramen are still on the go in Eagan.
• El Super Taco: El Super Taco now has multiple locations in the metro. My pick is the location in Burnsville and my go-to dish there is the gorditas. Ask for a separate meat on each of the two gorditas and get lengua on one and tripa on the other.
• Godavari: Now Godavari I eat at every year on account of their proximity to a standing late-summer appointment. Their weekday lunch thalis are a very good deal and their lunch buffets are an even better deal.
• Grand Szechuan: Ah yes, our family’s favourite restaurant in the Twin Cities. If you haven’t been there yet, take a look at my ordering guide and go.
• Hai Hai: Hai Hai’s pan-Southeast Asian menu is a lot of fun as is the restaurant itself (though it’s better if you’re sitting outside in warm weather as it can get pretty loud inside). It’s also a very good value.
• Hmong Village: Okay, so this is the first of a few instances of cheating on this list as I’m not recommending a particular vendor in Hmong Village but the entire food court. Though when I’m there, I’m always going to have the Crazy Steak from Santi’s on the table.
• Hmongtown Marketplace: And this is the second instance of cheating. Same as the above: the recommendation is not of a particular vendor but the whole food court (spread across two buildings). Get some papaya salad, get some noodle soup, and get some fried meat.
• Homi: I’ve read some worrying things about Homi (someone noted on Facebook recently that there was a “For Rent” sign in their window) but I would prefer to believe that they are not going anywhere. I’ve yet to try their weekend buffet (new this year) but like almost everything on the regular menu.
• Hot Grainz: Hot Grainz came out of nowhere recently and deposed our long-time favourite Thai restaurants in the metro. The food is great and if you want heat, they bring it like nobody else in the area. It’s been hard for us to point the car anywhere else for Thai food since we started eating there.
• House of Curry: Still keeping the Sri Lankan flag flying in Rosemount, House of Curry is as solid as ever—and their watalappan is still one of the metro’s best desserts.
• Khaluna: My only knock against Khaluna is that their menu has barely changed since they opened. This is why they’re in the “Once Every Two Years” tier in my Fine Dining Rotation, which has far fewer meals allotted to it. But they certainly belong on this list of 52 meals without repeats. I’d always be happy to eat their laab heed, duck fried rice and passionfruit cremeux.
• Kolap: The Twin Cities and St. Paul’s other Cambodian restaurant, Kolap always seems closed when we drive by it but appears to still be open. That’s a good thing: their versions of classic Cambodian dishes, especially their various sour soups, are truly excellent.
• Kramarczuk’s: European settlers having been in Minnesota for more than a century now, we don’t usually think of their cuisines as ethnic or immigrant. But for this recent South Asian arrival, Kramarczuk’s Eastern European fare is as exotic as it gets. I’m always happy to pair a quick lunch here with a visit to Surdyk’s.
• Krungthep Thai: Until Hot Grainz came along, Bangkok Thai Deli’s satellite location in St. Paul had been our favourite Thai restaurant in the Cities, overtaking both their parent establishment and On’s Kitchen (see below). We should really go back there soon.
• Legendary Spice: As I noted in my most recent review of Legendary Spice, they might quietly have become our pick for best Sichuan restaurant in the Cities—even though Grand Szechuan remains our favourite. Eat their Sole Fish Fillet with Mapo Tofu Flavour and you might see why that is.
• Los Ocampo: One of our original favourite Twin Cities Mexican restaurants (at least since La Sirena Gorda in the Midtown Market closed), Los Ocampo are still doing their thing at their various locations. Their huaraches are always very good, as are their tacos or sopes with chicharron verde or prensado.
• Mañana: Yes, the Twin Cities has a lot of good Mexican restaurants but don’t sleep on this Salvadoran gem in St. Paul. Their pupusas are best in class.
• Mercado Central: Another cheat, as I’m recommending not a particular restaurant but the entire lineup at Mercado Central on Lake St. in Minneapolis. As it happens, you can get excellent pupusas here too at Restaurante El Rincon. But you can’t go wrong at any of the counters.
• Meritage: Like Khaluna, Meritage is a shoo-in for the extended purview of this list, even though they don’t crack the yearly tier in my Fine Dining Rotation. I do always wish meals here were 10-20% cheaper but I do also always enjoy my meals here. Adult food in an adult (but not stuffy) setting.
• Midtown Global Market: Yet another cheat and a particularly egregious one as none of our old favourites are still around at Midtown Market. Moroccan Flavours, sadly, is closing/closed this year; Mama D’s is gone, as is the Los Ocampo counter. However, Manny’s Tortas is still there and Midtown Market remains, at any rate, an essential part of the Twin Cities’ cultural scene. I look forward to trying the food at some of the newer counters next year.
• Myriel: We were not impressed by our first meal here a few years ago but liked our second this year enough to catapult them into the “Once a Year” tier in the Fine Dining Rotation. I do wish they’d post at least recent menus on their site to give people an idea of what to expect in terms of dishes and price.
• NY Gyro: Another restaurant that I would go back to often if I had more reasons to be all the way up on Central Avenue in Columbia Heights. Despite the name, their specialty is Pakistani food, and their halwa-puri is a very pleasant way to embrace early cardiac death.
• On’s Kitchen: Once our favourite Thai restaurant in the Cities, On’s has entered a new generation with the retirement of their namesake chef. They’ve also expanded. We haven’t eaten at any of their locations in a while, but they’re here out of respect. We should go check them out soon.
• Oro: Our last couple of meals at Oro were not entirely convincing but the high points were still pretty high (and mostly in the smaller plates section of the menu).
• Pho Pasteur: There’s really a wealth of Vietnamese restaurants to choose from in the Twin Cities, and especially in St. Paul. Pho Pasteur has the benefit of feeling like a real neighbourhood restaurant.
• Pho Tempo: The little restaurant connected to Saigon Market in Burnsville serves up all the fare standard to Vietnamese restaurants in the metro, but also features a number of dishes on their specials board that you won’t see in very many other places.
• Plaza Mexico: Yet another cheat, Plaza Mexico, also on Lake St. in Minneapolis, is chock-full of Mexican restaurants and counters. We haven’t yet got past El Chivo Crazy there but hope to try more of the other places next year.
• Ramen Kazama: Now, Ramen Kazama certainly wouldn’t be in my list of top 52 restaurants in the Twin Cities. But I would like to eat one ramen meal in the hypothetical scenario this list imagines and they are the best of a not-very-good lot in the Twin Cities. Faint praise, yes, but the ramen is above average.
• Soul Lao: At the opposite end of W. 7th St. in St. Paul from Hot Grainz sits Soul Lao. We made it there for the first time a couple of months ago and will be going back for sure next year to try the rest of their menu.
• Spoon and Stable: Like Meritage, a grown-up restaurant serving grown-up food, Spoon and Stable is both a safe choice when you’re spending >$125/head and also a very reliable one.
• Tacos El Kevin: Tacos are in their name but it’s the pozole we liked best at our first meal here this year (that’s not to say that we didn’t like the tacos).
• Taqueria Los Paisanos: Another taqueria—this time in St. Paul, not too far from Mañana, we ate here too for the first time this year and really liked everything we tried.
• Tenant: Start out with a cocktail at their bar, literally Next Door, and then move to the small dining room for a playful menu surprise anchored by some of the best pasta in the Cities.
• Trieu Chau: Of the long-standing Vietnamese restaurants in the Cities, Trieu Chau remains our favourite with some of the best pho around.
• Vinai: We loved our first meal here in 2024 and may have liked our second meal this year even more. We’ll be back for sure in 2026.
• Zao Bakery + Café: Like Ramen Kazama, Zao Bakery + Cafe wouldn’t be in my list of top 52 restaurants per se but with a not very inspiring dim sum scene in the Cities, it’s a nice play to go for a selection of buns and dumplings and noodle soups that are done well.

And here is a slideshow with an image of a dish we really enjoy (or enjoyed) at each of these places. These images are from the original reviews and in the case of some of the older ones the name of the dish is not in the title/caption—if you want to know what anything is, just ask in the comments.

Babanis’s 2: More eggplant that I did not eat. This is stuffed with ground beef and some of those who ate it said it was the best thing on the table.

Demera: If you like beef tartare you will like their kitfo.

Kolap: The fish is under there.

Kramarczuk: With meat.

As I said, I’ll be adding brief annotations to the list over the next day or two, so come back to see how far I’ve got. Alright, it took a few days but I’ve got all the annotations done. As I was filling those out I began to argue with myself over some of the selections and omissions. If there are any that you particularly take issue with, please let me know in the comments. Please remember, again, that restaurants we have not been to do not appear here for that reason.

This may well be the last Twin Cities food post of the year. There’s a chance we might go out to eat somewhere or the other this weekend and if that happens I will write it up next Wednesday. However, I will definitely be completing my reports from our visits to Kyoto and Delhi in July before the year is out.