Insane Vegan, located in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood, is a totally plant-based sandwich and pizza shop. What’s so unique about it, though, is that instead of dreaming up veggie-centered dishes, Insane Vegan serves convincing takes on classic subs: The BLT is made with “smoked maple bacon,” the marinara sandwich with “meatballs,” and the club with plant-based versions of ham, capicola, and smoked gouda cheese. The flatbread pizzas, served as hefty diagonal slices, are heaped with chick’n and vegan cheese, veggies, and sauce.

Noyes and Cutler is chef Justin Sutherland’s latest Twin Cities restaurant: As a modern steakhouse, it makes an elegant complement to Sutherland’s pork-focused menu at the Handsome Hog. The downtown St. Paul location, which looks out onto Mears Bark, is outfitted with stately leather booths and a long bar. Try a hangar, ribeye, or porterhouse steak, or make a bet on the butcher’s cut. Noyes and Cutler serves classic sides and add-ons like crab cakes, asparagus in bearnaise, baked potatoes, and broccolini in a truffle soy vinaigrette. (Sutherland was recently in a boating accident that left him seriously injured: Read more about efforts to help cover his medical care here.)

Chef Leah Raymundo and John Occhiato, who also own Cafe Astoria and Stella Belle, have opened Kalsada, a modern Filipino restaurant, in the former Augustine’s space in St. Paul. Kalsada will feature separate day and night menus: Pastries, breakfast items, and coffee from Cafe Astoria are served between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m., and a full menu of modern Filipino fare is available beginning at 4 p.m. For dinner, try starters like roasted carrots ginataan, and entrees like truffled chicken adobo, or munngo made with pan-roasted Lake Superior whitefish, garlic kale, shrimp, and mungbean sauce.

In April, owners Jason Hansen and Peter Sebastian (also of southern European restaurant Estelle) opened Mario’s, a ‘70-style pizzeria on Cleveland Avenue. Come for Sicilian-style pan pizza — everything from simple pepperoni and red sauce arrangements to standouts like the “Supreme,” a sausage, poblano pepper, and oyster mushroom combo — plus East Coast-style hero sandwiches and frosted Oreo zeppole doughnuts. Mario’s opening is a boon for the Cities’ somewhat sparse sandwich scene: According to Racket, chef Evan Vranian is baking Italian sesame seed loaves for the hero sandwiches.

This innovative new fried chicken spot by former Funky Grits owner Jared Brewington opened June 9 on Minnehaha Avenue. The set-up here is unique: To order a meal, walk through the entrance, make an order on the touch screen, and pick up your chicken and fries from a locker that’s built between the kitchen and the lobby. OFC’s menu is understated and intentional, a classic chicken and fries ordeal: Choose between original, buffalo, and barbecue seasonings. (The original chicken, though, is by no means plain — it’s made with a robust, old-school blend of herbs and spices.)

The latest venture by the Travail Collective, the Dream Creamery is Northeast Minneapolis’s newest ice cream shop, equal parts simplicity and whimsy. Milkjam veteran Nate Mickelson is heading ice cream operations — the nostalgia-tinged slate of flavors runs from cereal milk to Grandma Jean’s oatmeal cookies. Dream Creamery also serves lobster rolls and an indulgently messy cheeseburger that’s making its own mark on the local scene.

Guacaya Bistreaux, a Latin-Caribbean tapas bar and restaurant by chef and owner Pedro Wolcott, opened in the North Loop in May. Enjoy a tap cocktail like the Leche de Tigre, made with orange, lime, ginger, and chili, or the Mula Mula — a tamarind and Prairie vodka elixir — on the spacious patio. The tapas menu highlights dishes like sour orange-marinated skirt steak skewers, ceviche, and Louisiana-style house boudin sausage, all in the $12 to $18 range. The restaurant’s interior is tropical-mod — there are plenty of bar stools to grab a seat at the rum bar.

Mara is acclaimed chef Gavin Kaysen’s new restaurant at the Four Seasons hotel in downtown Minneapolis. The interiors alone here are enchanting: curved booths nestled into shimmery alcoves, green glass lamps dangling from the ceiling, elegant curved features in the bar and a tiled fireplace tucked into the corner. Kaysen’s main menu centers Mediterranean influences from his time traveling in the region — look for dishes like cured ocean trout, salt-baked branzino with tzatziki, and olive oil cake with labneh sorbet. The cocktails run fruity and aromatic, like the “Aquarian Delights,” made with peach, cherry bar, mahlab spice, and brandy. Reservations are not required for the bar.

Late-night neighborhood bar Little Tijuana reopened in the Whittier neighborhood June 17. A long-time Eat Street favorite, Little T’s has kept the name and changed the menu: New owners Dan Manosack, Travis Serbus, Ben Rients, and Bennett Johnson, all members of the Petite León team, are serving an intriguing menu of snacks and small plates, sandwiches, and housemade pasta (think potato pelmeni and exceptionally tender mapo rigatoni). There are slushie machines, too, and a heavy-hitting cocktail menu with plenty of mezcal, pineapple, and craft bitters. The ambiance, happily, has stuck around — Little T’s feels like a party. Old cassette tapes and vinyl records are spinning behind the bar.

Chicago’s Very Own, a hoagie, popcorn, and cookie shop, has set up shop at the corner of Lyn-Lake. Helmed by Richard Spencer, a Chicago native who moved to the Twin Cities 25 years ago, Chicago’s Very Own will be serving Supreme Steak sandwiches (a Chicago classic, says Spencer, made with premium meat cuts), a menu of other hoagies, popcorn, and dense, buttery shortbread cookies. Spencer says the restaurant’s other goal, besides serving quality sandwiches, is being a good neighbor in the Lyn-Lake neighborhood, and helping support the community. A small army of people congregated for the opening on June 15.

Revival Smoked Meats started as an immensely popular but short-lived stand at Keg & Case Market in St. Paul — unfortunately, the pandemic shut down operations there in 2020. But the barbecue restaurant was resurrected this May in the former Corner Table space on Nicollet Avenue, with a full-service menu. Revival does Southern barbecue and leans toward Carolina-style. The menu ranges from classic like brisket and smoked hot links to cumin crusted pork belly and char-grilled whole chickens. Save room for the sweet corn and jalapeno pudding.