A Lake Street fixture, Barbette is an ideal stop for crisp-edged waffles and beautiful composed salads. On the weekend, drop in next door at their newly opened bar Trapeze, an ideal stop for reasonably priced bubbles.

Lake & Irving has all the charm of a neighborhood pub with a fantastic beer selection and a host of killer cocktails. The restaurant has built a rock-solid reputation on a fantastic fried chicken sandwich, but the restaurant also does fancy date night fare with aplomb.

Every mornings —weekday or weekend—the line is always out the door at this Uptown bakery and cafe. While their bakery case houses everything from crisp, sugar-studded scones to impossibly chewy coconut macaroons, the biggest draw at Isles are the “puppy-dog tails”: cinnamon-sugar braided into stretchy, vanilla-scented brioche and drenched in cream cheese frosting.

Housed in Meyvn’s old space on the corner of Lake and Bryant, the newly open Minneapolis outpost of Mucci’s is bringing new twists (and a new wood-burning oven) to the Montanara-style pizzas served at the St. Paul original. Also new to the menu are a selection of gorgeous cocktails and a liquor list packed with local distilleries.

It’s been a very long time since the Replacements or Husker Du could be spotted holding down a barstool at an Uptown watering hole, but thank goodness some of the beloved dives where they might have done so still remain. The CC still maintains all of its gritty charms including strong and cheap lowballs, and a stacked jukebox for remembering the glory days.

When it’s time to get elegant, bounce directly across the street from the CC over to Nightingale, where Carrie McCabe Johnston and Jasha Johnston run one of the nicest mom and pop restaurants in town. Locals love it for its mix of high and low cooking (cheeseburgers to pistachio-zucchini bruschetta,) DJ brunches, and come-as-you-are attitude.

At Chef Alejandro Castillon’s new Uptown venture, happy hour is the place to be. With $4 chabela margaritas, $3 tacos and $2 chips + house salsas, there’s no way to go wrong. From the full menu, make sure to get an order of the air tacos: corn tortillas filled with deeply savory refried beans, served three to an order and fresh from the fryer, piled high with avocado salsa and pico de gallo.

Tucked into the corner of an unassuming strip mall along Hennepin Ave, India Palace opens up into a roomy dining room, full of natural light streaming in from the east-facing windows. On weekdays the lunch buffet is a hands-down must, with unlimited access to platters of pliant naan, fragrant vegetarian and chicken biryanis, and a rotating selection of items from the tandoor.

A Twin Cities institution with locations on either side of the river, the Egg & I serves reliable diner classics with a spin. Order tender, eggy slices of french toast, freshly fried breakfast potatoes draped with melted cheddar, or one of the “Biggest Cakes in Town”: buttermilk, buckwheat, or sourdough pancakes stuffed with berries and toasted walnuts.

Right at the northernmost edge of Uptown, Isaac Becker’s Burch Steak offers options for every kind of celebration dinner: classic fine dining in the warmly lit first floor space, and a buzzy basement pizza bar downstairs. Though steak dominates the menu, the sleeper hit is the dumpling section: semolina fried in brown butter, potato pierogi dusted with poppyseeds, and so many more.