Details Emerge on Chef Diane Moua’s New Restaurant, Diane’s Place

Chef Diane Moua has shared more details on her new restaurant, which is slated to open in Northeast Minneapolis’s Food Building early next year. First things first, it has a name: Diane’s Place. Moua says the name honors her family’s dreams — it’s also a fitting choice for her first solo restaurant, after years heading pastry programs at some of the Cities’ finest restaurants and racking up James Beard nominations. At 1,900 square feet, the restaurant is shaping up to be quite big, with room for 65 guests inside plus a seasonal patio, according to a press release. (There’s also an even larger event space offering a menu from Moua and other Food Building tenants, like Lowry Hill Meats, Alemar Cheese Company, and 3Leche.)

Diane’s Place will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, offering Moua’s impeccable pastries infused with Southeast Asian flavors of taro, coconut, and pandan; plus savory, Asian bistro-style dishes with roots in Moua’s Hmong heritage (look for chicken soup with fresh noodles, sesame balls, and bamboo from Moua’s family farm). Moua has brought on Robb Jones and Tyler Kleinow, both of Meteor Bar, to create a full bar program; Heather Ann Mady, an alum of La Belle Vie and Mucci’s, among other restaurants, has been hired as general manager.

Kim’s and Bronto Bar are finally here

One of 2023’s biggest restaurant openings is finally here: Chef Ann Kim’s Korean American restaurant and adjoining bar debut this week. First up is Kim’s, which opens Tuesday November 7 with fluffy hotteok, beef and kimchi mandu, stone bowl bibimbap, and more. On Thursday, November 9, Bronto Bar will open in the former Basement Bar speakeasy space — the new cocktail menu is divided into three sections (savory, bright, and spirited) with full, low, and no-proof options for each. (That format is becoming increasingly popular; find it at Herbst and Butcher and the Boar.) Bronto is serving three sandwich-like dishes, too: a smash burger, scratch-made Spam, and egg custard all served on a hotteok bun.

A smattering of local openings

New this week, find Sammy’s Avenue Eatery’s new St. Paul location on the heatmap (Gravy Babies is running a soul food menu on the weekend in the same space). Elsewhere around the Cities, Breva Bar & Grill is open in the Hotel Ivy (adjoining bar Masa & Agave opens this Friday, November 10), Hyderabad Grill has brought lamb biryani and butter chicken to the former Q-Fanatic space in south Minneapolis; and Vikings & Goddesses has finally opened that highly demanded walk-up window for pies, pastries, and coffee cake. Later this month, look for an Irish bar opening in the former Kalsada space, and a new outpost of the Los Ocampo empire at Marshall Street and Cretin Avenue.