Tucked into a petite stone building on University Avenue in St. Paul, Cambodian restaurant Cheng Heng is a Frogtown gem. Try the fiery red kor koo noodle soup, or the machu angkor, made with winter squash, pineapple, and lotus stems. Save room for the thuck kaw chuew: Beans nestled under sweetened condensed milk and crushed ice.

Don’t let the no-frills vibe fool you. This family-run deli is known for its can’t-miss, perfectly-smoked meats. Expect friendly-counter service, pork ribs with a balanced sweet-smokey glaze, and brisket so tender you can cut it with a plastic fork. Multiple locations.

Mario’s lives on a quiet block of Cleveland Avenue — it’s a sister restaurant to Estelle, another St. Paul star. When it opened last spring, it was an exciting addition to the Twin Cities’ pizza and sandwich scenes. The sandwiches are called heroes here — stuffed with mortadella, salami, soppressata et al., they’re elevated to new heights by chef Evan Vranian’s house-baked sesame seed loaves. The square pizzas are loosely Detroit-style, and the fried zeppole Oreo doughnuts are reason enough to stop by.

Nearly lost in the menagerie of PR-backed restaurants that populate Dinkytown, Korea Restaurant keeps quietly chugging along with a glorious assortment of bibimbap, bulgogi, and potstickers. Lunch is mayhem, but worth every second of wait time. Prepare for self-service and generous helpings, and don’t be shy to refill on the side dishes.

While Giulia is a hotel restaurant in sleepy downtown Minneapolis, it pretty much stands on its own. Giulia shares its vaulted space with the Emery’s lobby, but the hotel overlap stops there. The focus on northern Italian flavors are precise and spot-on — think virtually faultless ricotta meatballs, a play on arancini (here, named suppli) paired with apple, and maltagliati: homemade, silky ribbons of pasta with a tonkotsu-style Japanese stock that’s wildly flavorful.

Eat Street is a hot spot for Vietnamese food in a city that’s, well, a hot spot for Vietnamese food. Quang, a decades-old icon, resides here, as does Lu’s Sandwiches, one of the Cities’ most beloved banh mi spots. But just across the street from Quang is My Huong Kitchen, a tiny gem of a Vietnamese restaurant. The pho here is ample and lightly sweet, the banh mi are packed with springy veggies and deeply satiating. Pair a meal with a sweet French crepe or bubble tea.

Chef Abi Baire takes inspiration from the women in her family — her grandmother, mother, and Aunt Maria — who’ve been cooking Salvadoran food for generations. She brought their time-tested recipes to Minneapolis in 2015, when she opened Abi’s Restaurant on Lyndale Avenue. The entire menu, which has everything from quesabirria to camarones a la plancha, is stellar, but the absolute musts are the flavor-packed pupusas. Mix and match the revueltas, the chicharrón con queso, and the queso con ayote.

One of many standout spots on Nicollet Avenue, Apoy serves traditional Filipino cuisine and a few original dishes of its own. Start with the classic lumpia or tender, caramelized tocino. The Shrimp Bicol Express pairs creamy coconut with piquant ginger in a tantalizing sauce. For dessert, the halo halo, a shaved ice medley of coconut, plantains, jackfruit, and sweetbeans, is the perfect antidote to a hot summer day (or a cold one, for that matter).