When Minneapolis chef Isaac Becker (formerly of D'Amico Cucina and Café Lurcat) and his wife Nancy St. Pierre (a decade in the front of the house at Cucina) opened their homey little downtown restaurant with its cozy booths, they changed the face of fine dining in Minneapolis. First, there's finally a spot for chef-created food until 1:00 a.m., every night except Sunday, when they're closed. Second, there's a bacon-and-egg sandwich that will just about make your head fly off your shoulders with pure propulsive joy: a high-heat-fried, still creamy egg, sweet, chewy thick-cut bacon, white toast, a swipe of smoky harissa, that north African red-pepper paste, and a fresh sprig of cilantro. The real revolution here, though, is that, while they excel at fine dining, they're really Minnesota's first fine-dining industry insider's restaurant, a place designed to meet the very high, and very specific, fine food and fine wine expectations of people who spend their lives in the world of fine dining, but have the tax returns of an everyday Joe. And the newly opened upstairs makes room for a lot more of those Joes. American Posh. $$-$$$, Notable Wine List, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

This inconspicuous, lowbrow, dead-cheap little neighborhood bakery is actually run by a former pastry chef from the Plaza Hotel in New York--and the pastries are dazzling. The lemon bars are golden squares of French lemon tart, so full of butter they project a certain glowing luminescence and melt on the tongue, the crisp crust providing a sweet crunch of backbone for the rich filling. When you order this delirious bit of sunshine, the high school girl behind the counter picks it up with waxed paper and unceremoniously chucks it into a paper bag. Part of you wants to scream, "Quit! Would you chuck the Mona Lisa?" Part of you knows, yeah, they would. This place is just like that. Coffee and Confections. $, Desserts, Kid Friendly. (Link to this Review)

Wander into this extremely plain-looking Como Park deli and you will find yourself in a wonderland of lovingly crafted Palestinian treats, all made by Bishara and Izabelle Ailabouni, who are basically the Palestinian Christian Arab grandparents you wish you had. The Ailabounis make everything from scratch, mincing the parsley for their fantastic, light, and lemony tabbouli by hand, and spending two days making the sauce for tomato-touched, spicy grape leaves that have the intense flavor of that much attention. Pita breads are about two billion times more tender and lovable than the store-bought kind. Baba ghanoush is radiantly smoky and intense, and always available in the deli to-go case. In fact, the Bisharas do a lot of catering; call in advance and they’ll make as many batches of pita, silky hummus, or even gorgeously light and chunky baklava as you like. Set them all out on your table and when your friends ask you how you did it, you can just say, Oh, it’s an old family recipe. This will be true. Just be sure you walk away before they ask whose family. Mediterranean & Middle Eastern. $, Deli, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

A red-sauce southern Italian restaurant with some lovely golden lighting, miles of seating, and a few contemporary non-Italian restaurant treats like crab cakes, Al Vento is as popular among Minneapolis's south siders as kids, dogs, and televisions. And who can blame them? The Caesar salad is as perky as a frisky Pomeranian, but comes with a much higher-grade Parmesan cheese. The fennel sausage pizza is covered with chunks of sausage as chubby as campfire marshmallows. The house-made fettuccini with clam sauce is as fresh and zesty as an episode of Desperate Housewives, but easier to talk about at the block club meeting. A lovely summer patio rounds out the restaurant--so why don't you join the rest of the Lake Nokomis area and blow young chef Jonathan Hunt a kiss? He's made the good life on the South Side just that much better. Italian. $$-$$$, Breakfast / Brunch, Notable Wine List, Outdoor Seating, Pizza, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

The big-splash restaurant of 2007, B.A.N.K. is something of a conundrum. On the one hand, it’s physically the most gorgeous restaurant in Minnesota--the machine-age luxury of the former Farmers and Mechanics Bank is nothing short of heart-stopping and breathtaking: With its acres of teak and the period Diego Rivera-esque chunky glass and brass details, the space is truly more fitting for a Roman Cathedral than a Minnesota restaurant. Without question B.A.N.K. is a must-visit for any artist, architect, designer, or plain old tourist stopping through town. On the other hand, the food is distinctly Midwestern Hotel Safe and Lackluster--which might be fitting, in that the former bank is now a Westin Hotel, which is why they have a hotel at all. Back to the food, though: Order safe, and you’ll generally be safe. The tomato soup is the best thing they make, followed by the Caesar salad, the devilled eggs, the burger, and the steak. The cocktails, however, are fantastic--in the summer they have a fresh blueberry mojito that tastes like summer in a glass, and the white-grapefruit Cosmo is a sweet and tart joy. So, should you go? Definitely, as long as you bring expectations adjusted for what the restaurant is capable of delivering, and opera glasses to allow you to study some of the room's glory and grandeur. American Posh. $$$$. (Link to this Review)

A Caribbean vacation on the edge of downtown, Babalu offers flair, pop, verve, live music, and cocktails full of mint and fruit. Including hotel-style fancy foods like a dish of grouper wrapped in potato slices and fried to a golden brown, served in the mildest of all possible guava-habanero sauces, a sauce so mild, in fact, that you can bring your entire Orono bachelorette party here without fear of scaring them off. Conversely, good, spicy Latin American comfort foods also abound. Desserts are particularly strong here, making it a premier drinks-and-dessert birthday destination. World. $$$, Great Bar, Romantic. (Link to this Review)

A cheapskate's hall of famer, the Baja Sol is that rare place where you can consume fresh, vibrant, lively food and walk out the door having spent less than $6. Tacos, burritos, fajitas, and quesadillas, all made with fresh tortillas, are the foundation at these cafeteria-style cafés. But the hot chip and salsa bar is the real draw: hot, mild, tomatillo, fire-roasted, mango peach, grilled corn, it's a mix-and-matcher's delight. There's desserts like hot churro pastry or sopapillas and pecans with caramel and chocolate so, indulge. Lunch, dinner. Southwestern & Mexican. $. (Link to this Review)

If you mix them, they will come! Bar Abilene has proved this, building an almost cult-like following with their 16-ounce margaritas made with fresh juices and top-shelf tequilas. Truly, people drive in from the farthest corners of the metro area for these jewel-bright drinks made from some 90 tequilas and 30 juices. All hail the beauty of fresh squeezed lime! The kitchen produces some clean, fresh, slightly elevated versions of Mexican favorites. The guacamole is made before your eyes, at tableside, and because of that it’s as fresh and good as possible. The chili, made with sirloin steak and black beans, is both rib-sticking and sophisticated. A Frank Gehry-meets-Hopalong-Cassidy interior, and the biggest television in Uptown round out the experience. Southwestern & Mexican. $$, Great Bar, Outdoor Seating, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

This unprepossessing Grand Avenue house is our local Casablanca, our outpost of sunny Moroccan flavors, Tunisian spices, and casual Provençal style. Skip the tired standard menu items in favor of fantastic specials like b'steeya, a Moroccan dish of shredded chicken in a slow-cooked custard sauce, baked inside a phyllo-dough pie, drizzled with cinnamon and orange-blossom water, and topped with pears, figs, and apricots. Brahim Hadj-Moussa--everyone calls him Hadj--also makes a mean crème caramel and a formidable poached pear with mascarpone and Grand Marnier. The restaurant's a perennial fave with vegetarians and dinar pinchers; if you want summer patio seating, arrive early. Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. $-$$, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

Like a Prada-clad sophisticate roaming around with a purse jammed full of Twinkies and Gummi Bears, Bev's Wine Bar is a charming study in contradictions. The place has a gorgeous view of soaring Minneapolis, a prettily modern and understated decor, a lovely beer list, accommodating service, a quiet, conversational vibe, and a smart set of regulars who respond well to the spare bruschetta-and-salad menu, lovely view, and flattering candlelight. But if "wine bar" usually means sommeliers gushing passionately about this vintage and that cru, Bev's has only a modest list composed largely of the young, the fruity, and the inexpensive. Connoisseurs are left to wonder, Is that all there is?, while bar-hoppers and fans of the Warehouse District admire this funny lass for what she has, not for what she lacks. American Posh. $, Great Bar, Notable Wine List, Romantic, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)

Fancy pan-Asian cuisine with gourmet ingredients--like shiitake mushrooms and daily-fresh noodles--for less than $10? No wonder these mall spots inspire two-hour waits on the weekends. Sometimes I just can't believe how much I like this upscale chain, but the truth is they just do what they do really well: First class ingredients, thrown together at the last possible second, fresh as can be. The sesame noodles are hand-made, resilient and graced with a nutty, earthy sauce; Chinese chive wontons have pure wintry greens at their heart; not only can you taste the chicken in the tamarind grilled chicken, but you can taste the fresh tamarind, all gingery and puckery. The focus on the ingredients is no surprise when you consider that the place was founded by food writer Bruce Cost--author of the reference book of record, Asian Ingredients. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. Asian. $-$$, Great Bar, Kid Friendly, Notable Wine List, Vegetarian Spoken Here. (Link to this Review)