James Beard Award winning chef Isaac Becker’s Italian eatery is perpetually packed. Small and large plates are available and are best shared with friends. The crowded, boisterous dining room is always humming with activity.

Parlour Bar’s more upscale sibling restaurant with beautiful plates of food and a wonderful side patio for lingering on when the nights are warm. The food is fancy enough for date night, but casual enough for a post-work hang. The open warehouse dining room has wood and metal finishes.

This subterranean bar is known for high-end cocktails, friendly bartenders and an absolutely insane diner-style hamburger. There are dark corners and giant booths for chilling with someone special or a crew of friends.

The unlikely home of great lobster in the heart of the country, Smack Shack is a large warehouse space with a perpetual cauldron roiling, waiting to kick off another lobster boil. This giant room with hard spaces can get a little loud, but it’s always a freewheeling, fun time.

Upstairs is a casual neighborhood eatery serving breakfast through dinner and downstairs in a nouveaux-dive bar with a food-service window. The mac and cheese is legendary, as are the friendly, fast-pouring bartenders.

This shop was an immediate hit and the bagels continue to draw the lines and fans. Office heroes are made by stopping by early and sharing several everything bagels and a tub of scallion cream cheese.

Grab a bite at the upstairs Bachelor Farmer before heading into the below level speakeasy. (Enter through the unmarked door facing the parking lot.) These boundary-pushing cocktails are the kind of thing mixology nerds geek out about, but are also divine to simply sip.

What if Minnesota cuisine could be elegant and groundbreaking? That was the presumption that Eric and Andrew Dayton used to open this landmark restaurant that led the charge to changing the North Loop dining scene. The room mixes fine-dining elegance and country chic like the cornflower blue and white wallpaper.

Gavin Kaysen changed the conversation around Minnesota dining when he left New York to open his first restaurant in his hometown. Three years after opening, this remains one of the most sought-after reservations in town.

This warm wood and leather filled chill space at the base of the Hewing Hotel is experiencing a culinary renaissance under its chef Matt Leverty. The dishes are total Instagram-bait with beautiful plates and occasion-worthy flavors.

A throwback to another era, Monte Carlo hasn’t changed a thing in years to create a 50’s style dining room with ice cold martinis. In the warm months there is an expansive patio, but the can’t miss dish here are the wings. Massive and coated with a carefully guarded secret spice rub.

A casual neighborhood gathering spot, Red Rabbit is especially popular before a Twins game. The menu stars pizza, pasta and other Italian-influenced dishes. There is also a full bar with a deep and long cocktail menu worth diving into.