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A whole fish in red sauce over couscous on a white plate.
Whole fish at Stepchld.
Stepchld

15 Essential Restaurants in Northeast Minneapolis

Berbere-spiced birria tacos, borscht, and Chicago dogs in Northeast

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Whole fish at Stepchld.
| Stepchld

A stone’s throw from downtown on the Mississippi River’s east bank, Northeast Minneapolis often feels like a city unto itself. Historically an industrial hub, the abandoned warehouses and old grain mills that shaped the neighborhood in the early 20th century later played host to a thriving arts culture. In recent years, a development boom has created concerns about the neighborhood’s identity changing — but at the heart of Northeast is still an eclectic mix of long-held family establishments, immigrant-owned restaurants, and newcomers. From baba ghanoush and fresh mistah bread at Emily’s Lebanese Deli, to massive chimichangas at El Taco Riendo, to crispy pork belly and shrimp banh xeo at Hai Hai, Northeast is one of Minneapolis’s most essential dining destinations. Here’s a map of great restaurants to try in the neighborhood.

Note that these restaurants are listed geographically.

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Kramarczuk's Sausage Co. Inc.

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A beloved Ukrainian bakery, delicatessen, and restaurant, Kramarczuk’s first opened in Northeast Minneapolis near the Nicollet Island bridge in 1954. Anna and Wasyl Kramarczuk came to Minnesota from Ukraine as refugees in the late 1940s — several years after settling in Minneapolis, they bought one of the city’s oldest butcher shops and made it their own. Today, Kramarczuk’s is beloved for its vast array of savory sausages and its restaurant menu, which features favorites like pierogi, borscht, and hefty pastrami brisket sandwiches. The James Beard Foundation named it an America’s classic in 2013.

STEPCHLD

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Chef Kamal Mohamed opened Stepchld in Northeast Minneapolis in 2021. Stop by for inventive dishes like salmon sambusas, lavender nori shrimp, and berbere-spiced birria tacos. The restaurant might be the best spot in the Cities to get a glass of orange wine (there are eight on the menu). It also serves a great burger — the “Cooper Burger” is served with an impressive layer of Cooper’s white American cheese, tangy, thick-cut house pickles, and aioli made with mitmita, an Ethiopian spice blend.

Emily's Lebanese Deli

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A longtime Northeast favorite, Emily’s Lebanese Deli is a family-run operation serving Lebanese dishes in a small building on University Avenue since 1973. Order a few salads to go, or sit in and enjoy fresh grape leaves stuffed with lamb and rice, a fried kibbi sandwich, or flaky spinach pies warm from the oven. Save room for baklava (Emily’s has prominent notes of rosewater) and crema, a Lebanese orange blossom custard.

A hand holding a piece of baklava half wrapped in tinfoil.
Baklava at Emily’s Lebanese Deli.
Justine Jones

The Anchor Fish & Chips

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A Northeast institution, the Anchor serves Irish classics in a warmly lit, wood-paneled space. The eponymous fish and chips — flaky Alaskan cod and thick-cut wedges of potato, fried until golden — are a must. Elsewhere on the menu, try the rich shepherd’s pie or poutine, and round out the meal with a Guinness or Smithwick’s Irish red ale.

Oro by Nixta Tortilleria

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Beloved takeout operation Nixta’s dine-in space, Oro, is now open. Chef Gustavo Romero’s Mexican menu preserves and celebrates heirloom corn varieties, which have suffered in recent decades due to hybridization and industrial tortilla production. As tasty as Romero’s dishes are for takeout, they shine in a plated, dine-in format. Tender hunks of pollo rest in a chocolatey pool of mole; pork belly is served with a tangy pastor adobo. On Oro’s menu, masa takes a number of unique forms: chochoyotes (potato-requeson dumplings), tetelas (triangular nixtamal cakes), and tlayudas (large, crunchy tortillas) alongside tacos, sopes, and tamales.

Chochoyotes in a rich red sauce on a white plate.
Oro’s chochoyotes.
Justine Jones

Young Joni

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Young Joni, by James Beard award-winning chef Ann Kim, is known for its exceptionally crackly thin-crust pizzas. The spicy lamb sausage pizza is finished with fresno chili, feta, and mint; La Parisienne is a prosciutto-and-gruyere homage to the City of Light. Also notable are small plates like Korean sweet potatoes and charred savoy cabbage. After dinner, slip into the back-alley speakeasy for cocktails.

Uncle Franky's

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This tiny roadside restaurant is the Twin Cities’ finest purveyor of Chicago dogs. Get one run through the garden, topped with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and a zippy, jewel-like relish. (Hold the ketchup for a traditional Windy City bite, or add it — this is Minneapolis, after all.) Uncle Franky’s also serves a great Reuben and a noteworthy Juicy Lucy, if it’s a burger kind of day.

A hot dog in a bun dressed with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and relish on white paper.
A Chicago dog from Uncle Franky’s.
Eli Radtke

Ideal Diner

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Ideal Diner, a tiny, sunshine-yellow diner on Central Avenue, has served Northeast Minneapolis since 1949. Today, it’s one of the few spots in the Cities you can get a cup of coffee for $1.75. Breakfast dishes are served all day — the Polish Man breakfast, a combo of eggs, Polish sausage, and hash browns, nods to the neighborhood’s Eastern European immigrant roots. The buttermilk short stacks are served with a generous dollop of butter.

A yellow-painted restaurant exterior with a sign that reads “Eat Ideal Diner” against a blue sky.
Ideal Diner sits on the west side of Central Avenue.
Justine Jones

Animales Barbeque Co.

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Chef John Wipfli’s Animales serves exceptional barbecue out of a food truck at Bauhaus Brew Labs in Northeast Minneapolis. These ribs don’t come slathered in sweet sauce — they’re dry-rubbed, a bark of crushed peppercorns and salt stealing nothing from the meat’s oak-smoked flavor. The menu changes often, adding pork shoulder congee bowls, beef cheek banh mi, and hot beef sandwiches to the mix. Get there early, as Animales often sells out.

A white dish filled with barbecue ribs, sausage, and vegetables.
Animales at Bauhaus.
Justine Jones

Centro is a fast-casual restaurant with a succinct menu of tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and enchiladas. Try the carnitas en adobo tacos or the nopales, made with cured cactus and mushrooms. Save room for a chocolate mole cupcake. Chef Jose Alarcon and co-owner Jami Olson’s other ventures include next-door Vivir and a new Eat Street location.

A plate of fried fish tacos garnished with cilantro and pink radishes on a wooden table.
Fish tacos from Centro.
Kevin Kramer / Eater Twin Cities

Maya Cuisine & Bar - Minneapolis

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Maya Cuisine first opened its Central Avenue doors in 2012 — in the decades since, it’s become a go-to for Mexican cuisine in Northeast. Grab a seat in the restaurant’s colorful courtyard-style space and order carne asada, tamales, or alambres from the sit-down menu, or grab a burrito to-go from the cafeteria-style counter. The salsa bar here is excellent, and Maya Cuisine also serves a popular brunch every Sunday.

Hai Hai

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From a verdant, intensely savory banana blossom salad to herbaceous beef laab lettuce wraps, James Beard-nominated chef Christina Nguyen has crafted a compelling menu at Hai Hai. Take a look at the cocktail menu: The rotating selection of slushies (think passionfruit and lychee) and jackfruit sangria are a must. Grab a seat on the patio or in the restaurant’s breezy interior, dressed in tropical hues of emerald and turquoise.

A brightly colored open-air patio with low turquoise stools and oilcloth covered tables
Hai Hai’s patio.
Kevin Kramer

El Taco Riendo

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El Taco Riendo might just serve the best chicken tinga in the Twin Cities. This marinade doesn’t overload on heat — it balances the tomatoes’ tang with the chipotle peppers’ smoke, rounding it all out on a slightly sweet note. Order it on tacos or up the ante with a chicken tinga chimichanga, which pairs well with an ice-cold horchata. El Taco Riendo is a cornerstone of Northeast’s Central Avenue dining corridor — owner Miguel Gomez rebuilt the restaurant after it was severely damaged in a fire in 2020.

A white dish of chicken tinga tacos.
Chicken tinga tacos from El Taco Riendo.
Justine Jones

Francis

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Vegan restaurant Francis is up and running in the former Sen Yai Sen Lek and Dipped & Debris space in Northeast. The Francis team — Lindsey Johnston, Garrett Born, and Brendan Viele — serves a vegan bar food menu (think Impossible burgers and bean burgers, chicken sandwiches and nuggets made with a seitan-tofu blend that’s breaded and fried, and crispy french fries). There’s also a bar with fully vegan cocktails.

A vegan burger topped with vegan bacon with fries and ketchup in basket lined with white-and-black checkered paper.
Francis’s Baconator burger, topped with seitan bacon.
Lucy Hawthorne/Eater Twin Cities

Chimborazo

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Located in cozy, bright storefront on Central Avenue, Chimborazo is a neighborhood institution. Serving Ecuadorean and Andean fare all day, seven days a week, it’s an ideal spot for anything from breakfast to late-night snacks. Don’t miss the patacones con queso — fried green plantains stuffed with cheese and served with an intensely herbed aji crillo — or the exceptionally tender seco de pollo.

Kramarczuk's Sausage Co. Inc.

A beloved Ukrainian bakery, delicatessen, and restaurant, Kramarczuk’s first opened in Northeast Minneapolis near the Nicollet Island bridge in 1954. Anna and Wasyl Kramarczuk came to Minnesota from Ukraine as refugees in the late 1940s — several years after settling in Minneapolis, they bought one of the city’s oldest butcher shops and made it their own. Today, Kramarczuk’s is beloved for its vast array of savory sausages and its restaurant menu, which features favorites like pierogi, borscht, and hefty pastrami brisket sandwiches. The James Beard Foundation named it an America’s classic in 2013.

STEPCHLD

Chef Kamal Mohamed opened Stepchld in Northeast Minneapolis in 2021. Stop by for inventive dishes like salmon sambusas, lavender nori shrimp, and berbere-spiced birria tacos. The restaurant might be the best spot in the Cities to get a glass of orange wine (there are eight on the menu). It also serves a great burger — the “Cooper Burger” is served with an impressive layer of Cooper’s white American cheese, tangy, thick-cut house pickles, and aioli made with mitmita, an Ethiopian spice blend.

Emily's Lebanese Deli

A longtime Northeast favorite, Emily’s Lebanese Deli is a family-run operation serving Lebanese dishes in a small building on University Avenue since 1973. Order a few salads to go, or sit in and enjoy fresh grape leaves stuffed with lamb and rice, a fried kibbi sandwich, or flaky spinach pies warm from the oven. Save room for baklava (Emily’s has prominent notes of rosewater) and crema, a Lebanese orange blossom custard.

A hand holding a piece of baklava half wrapped in tinfoil.
Baklava at Emily’s Lebanese Deli.
Justine Jones

The Anchor Fish & Chips

A Northeast institution, the Anchor serves Irish classics in a warmly lit, wood-paneled space. The eponymous fish and chips — flaky Alaskan cod and thick-cut wedges of potato, fried until golden — are a must. Elsewhere on the menu, try the rich shepherd’s pie or poutine, and round out the meal with a Guinness or Smithwick’s Irish red ale.

Oro by Nixta Tortilleria

Beloved takeout operation Nixta’s dine-in space, Oro, is now open. Chef Gustavo Romero’s Mexican menu preserves and celebrates heirloom corn varieties, which have suffered in recent decades due to hybridization and industrial tortilla production. As tasty as Romero’s dishes are for takeout, they shine in a plated, dine-in format. Tender hunks of pollo rest in a chocolatey pool of mole; pork belly is served with a tangy pastor adobo. On Oro’s menu, masa takes a number of unique forms: chochoyotes (potato-requeson dumplings), tetelas (triangular nixtamal cakes), and tlayudas (large, crunchy tortillas) alongside tacos, sopes, and tamales.

Chochoyotes in a rich red sauce on a white plate.
Oro’s chochoyotes.
Justine Jones

Young Joni

Young Joni, by James Beard award-winning chef Ann Kim, is known for its exceptionally crackly thin-crust pizzas. The spicy lamb sausage pizza is finished with fresno chili, feta, and mint; La Parisienne is a prosciutto-and-gruyere homage to the City of Light. Also notable are small plates like Korean sweet potatoes and charred savoy cabbage. After dinner, slip into the back-alley speakeasy for cocktails.

Uncle Franky's

This tiny roadside restaurant is the Twin Cities’ finest purveyor of Chicago dogs. Get one run through the garden, topped with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and a zippy, jewel-like relish. (Hold the ketchup for a traditional Windy City bite, or add it — this is Minneapolis, after all.) Uncle Franky’s also serves a great Reuben and a noteworthy Juicy Lucy, if it’s a burger kind of day.

A hot dog in a bun dressed with tomatoes, peppers, onions, and relish on white paper.
A Chicago dog from Uncle Franky’s.
Eli Radtke

Ideal Diner

Ideal Diner, a tiny, sunshine-yellow diner on Central Avenue, has served Northeast Minneapolis since 1949. Today, it’s one of the few spots in the Cities you can get a cup of coffee for $1.75. Breakfast dishes are served all day — the Polish Man breakfast, a combo of eggs, Polish sausage, and hash browns, nods to the neighborhood’s Eastern European immigrant roots. The buttermilk short stacks are served with a generous dollop of butter.

A yellow-painted restaurant exterior with a sign that reads “Eat Ideal Diner” against a blue sky.
Ideal Diner sits on the west side of Central Avenue.
Justine Jones

Animales Barbeque Co.

Chef John Wipfli’s Animales serves exceptional barbecue out of a food truck at Bauhaus Brew Labs in Northeast Minneapolis. These ribs don’t come slathered in sweet sauce — they’re dry-rubbed, a bark of crushed peppercorns and salt stealing nothing from the meat’s oak-smoked flavor. The menu changes often, adding pork shoulder congee bowls, beef cheek banh mi, and hot beef sandwiches to the mix. Get there early, as Animales often sells out.

A white dish filled with barbecue ribs, sausage, and vegetables.
Animales at Bauhaus.
Justine Jones

Centro

Centro is a fast-casual restaurant with a succinct menu of tacos, quesadillas, nachos, and enchiladas. Try the carnitas en adobo tacos or the nopales, made with cured cactus and mushrooms. Save room for a chocolate mole cupcake. Chef Jose Alarcon and co-owner Jami Olson’s other ventures include next-door Vivir and a new Eat Street location.

A plate of fried fish tacos garnished with cilantro and pink radishes on a wooden table.
Fish tacos from Centro.
Kevin Kramer / Eater Twin Cities

Maya Cuisine & Bar - Minneapolis

Maya Cuisine first opened its Central Avenue doors in 2012 — in the decades since, it’s become a go-to for Mexican cuisine in Northeast. Grab a seat in the restaurant’s colorful courtyard-style space and order carne asada, tamales, or alambres from the sit-down menu, or grab a burrito to-go from the cafeteria-style counter. The salsa bar here is excellent, and Maya Cuisine also serves a popular brunch every Sunday.

Hai Hai

From a verdant, intensely savory banana blossom salad to herbaceous beef laab lettuce wraps, James Beard-nominated chef Christina Nguyen has crafted a compelling menu at Hai Hai. Take a look at the cocktail menu: The rotating selection of slushies (think passionfruit and lychee) and jackfruit sangria are a must. Grab a seat on the patio or in the restaurant’s breezy interior, dressed in tropical hues of emerald and turquoise.

A brightly colored open-air patio with low turquoise stools and oilcloth covered tables
Hai Hai’s patio.
Kevin Kramer

El Taco Riendo

El Taco Riendo might just serve the best chicken tinga in the Twin Cities. This marinade doesn’t overload on heat — it balances the tomatoes’ tang with the chipotle peppers’ smoke, rounding it all out on a slightly sweet note. Order it on tacos or up the ante with a chicken tinga chimichanga, which pairs well with an ice-cold horchata. El Taco Riendo is a cornerstone of Northeast’s Central Avenue dining corridor — owner Miguel Gomez rebuilt the restaurant after it was severely damaged in a fire in 2020.

A white dish of chicken tinga tacos.
Chicken tinga tacos from El Taco Riendo.
Justine Jones

Francis

Vegan restaurant Francis is up and running in the former Sen Yai Sen Lek and Dipped & Debris space in Northeast. The Francis team — Lindsey Johnston, Garrett Born, and Brendan Viele — serves a vegan bar food menu (think Impossible burgers and bean burgers, chicken sandwiches and nuggets made with a seitan-tofu blend that’s breaded and fried, and crispy french fries). There’s also a bar with fully vegan cocktails.

A vegan burger topped with vegan bacon with fries and ketchup in basket lined with white-and-black checkered paper.
Francis’s Baconator burger, topped with seitan bacon.
Lucy Hawthorne/Eater Twin Cities

Chimborazo

Located in cozy, bright storefront on Central Avenue, Chimborazo is a neighborhood institution. Serving Ecuadorean and Andean fare all day, seven days a week, it’s an ideal spot for anything from breakfast to late-night snacks. Don’t miss the patacones con queso — fried green plantains stuffed with cheese and served with an intensely herbed aji crillo — or the exceptionally tender seco de pollo.

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