All Saints opened in the heart of Northeast Minneapolis this fall with wood-fired cuisine that goes heavy on veggies. Along with creative starters like salt and pepper mushrooms dressed with scallion dip-dip, the sleek setup also serves grilled prawns with miso turmeric butter and swordfish surrounded with eggplant caponata and pine nuts. Creative cocktails like the Mac are filled with rum, macadamia, lime, fino sherry, and vanilla.

Twin Cities couple Richard Xiong and Mary Vang found a permanent pad to send out the same beloved barbecue its Smok’n Outdoors food truck was known for. Opening offerings from its brand new St. Paul address include beef or pork ribs, pulled pork, and brisket, plus sides like sweet cornbread, apple kale slaw, sticky rice, chili cheese fries, and mashed potatoes. The family-owned business smokes its meats with all-local oak wood to bring out the taste of the outdoors.

Chef Sean Sherman (of the James Beard Award-winning cookbook the Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen and the local cooking school in Midtown Global Market) and co-owner Dana Thompson have teamed up on space that aims to decolonize the restaurant format with a menu that puts indigenous cooking at the forefront. Here, no flour, dairy or refined sugar is present in kitchen, as well as an absence of beef, chicken, and pork products — plus, any other foods that “did not exist in America before white people stepped onto this soil.” What’s left in its place is one of the most exciting, much-overdue spots to have opened up in Twin Cities — perhaps, let alone, the whole country.

The Minnesota Farmers Union debuted its first restaurant in the former Spoonriver space in late August, bringing the historic Mill District neighborhood a new sit-down spot for hyperlocal meats, cheeses, and produce. A coffee bar serving State Fair maple cream nitro opens daily at 7:30 a.m., followed by a lunchtime menu full of appetizers, soup, salad, sandwiches, and picnic platters from executive chef Kris Koch. Dinner recently joined the mix with Minnesotan-influenced dishes like walleye “tots,” bison wild rice meatballs, fried cheese curds, and wild rice Waldorf salad will change with the seasons.

A historic building in Downtown Minneapolis just welcomed a new Indian restaurant from a tenured local chef. Situated in a prime location near U.S. Bank Stadium, Spice & Tonic serves North Indian staples like samosas, lamb shahi korma, and chicken tikka masala. Chef and owner Joginder Cheema has sprinkled 15 Indian restaurants across the Twin Cities since 1993. He came out of retirement to open Spice & Tonic with his former business partner Manjit Singh and his son, Shan Cheema. Once a liquor license arrives, look for cocktails like a masala chai martini to go along with imported Indian beers and wines.

The former site of Lyndale Tap House and Hickory n’ Hops flipped into a lively new neon-lit spot to sample a dizzying array of Latin American dishes from its Guatemalan chef Cristian Deleon. Highlights include chimichangas, daily ceviches, birria tacos, and American wagyu beef hot dogs topped with pickled jalapenos and served with a side of yucca fries. The bar sends out a long list of margaritas that includes a comically large “El Cantarito” for five that fills a clay bowl with a whole bottle of tequila ($100).

The international market has a brand new stall for fried chicken sandwiches, all-day breakfast, smoothies, cold-pressed juices, and baked goods. The Kitchen comes from South Minneapolis native Destinee Shelby, whose Baked Brand empire also includes Got the Juice, Got the Tea, and Homebody Candle Co. Her proprietary Budda Sauce enhances dishes like a turkey leg stuffed with baked mac and cheese and vegan cauliflower wings. A small retail area is also stocked with products from small businesses that don’t have their own brick-and-mortar presence just yet. Open daily, with extended hours in the new year.

Rising chef Ann Ahmed (Lemongrass, Lat14) adds to her Southeast Asian restaurant empire with the opening of Laotian restaurant and bar Khâluna in October. Menu highlights at her third area eatery include a variation of pa crispy rice salad, elevated with smoked fish and fresh herbs and vegetables from her cousin’s garden, as well as a beautifully prepared bowl of pineapple noodles with shrimp, green mango, shrimp flakes, coconut milk, Thai chili, and micro cilantro. The sleek space (formerly Harriet’s Inn) also features a retail component she plans to use for private events and cooking classes.

Edina’s ode to New Orleans opened in December with a Cajun-leaning lineup of steaks, chops, soups, seafood, and homemade beignets to go along with theatrical takes on Sazeracs and Hurricanes. Louisiana lover and local chef Tommy Begnaud sends out comfort classics like oysters, crawfish gratin, boudin balls, crawfish etouffee, andouille mussels, and short rib stroganoff. A next-door sandwich shop called Mr. Paul’s Po’Boys and Jams also recently opened with to-go po’boys and snacks like pimento cheese and deviled eggs.

Tibetan and Japanese cuisine collide at Ama, which replaces the 50th and France space that formerly housed Hana Bistro. At Ama, Tibetan brothers Sonam Nyorie and Rinpo Yak build upon the same fusion theme at Momo Sushi, the Northeast Minneapolis sister spot where Nyorie is a head sushi chef. Offerings at Ama swing from Tibetan momos (steamed dumplings) to offbeat rolls like the Lungta, which plays up colors in a Tibetan prayer flag via spicy salmon, tuna, yellowtail, avocado and tobiko. There’s sake flights available, too.

Mendota Heights’s new catch-all cafe and bar from the team behind The Green Mill and Crooked Pint kicks off the day at 7 a.m. with breakfast staples like pancakes, oatmeal, and egg sandwiches served until 3 p.m. At night, the versatile venture flips into an after-work hotspot with $5 Roku and tonic cocktails and bar bites like calamari and brie and cranberry bruschetta. Dinner entrees all $20 and under include flank steak, wild rice stuffed chicken, a lightly breaded walleye sandwich, and sizable “Mac Daddy” burger. The 145-seat setup with a big patio also houses a grab-and-go deli stocked with fresh macaroons, pastas, potato salad, and quiche.