Vinai

Perks

• Complimentary curry rice ball any time you dine at the restaurant

About

Fresh off its one-year anniversary (it opened July of last year), Northeast Minneapolis' Vinai has already become a national darling, with spots on New York Times’ “50 Favorite Places in America" List, Esquire’s “America’s Best New Restaurants” List, and Eater’s “14 Best New Restaurants in America” List. and Time Magazine’s “World’s Greatest Places” List of 2025. (And that's not even to mention their 2025 James Beard “Best New Restaurant” Semi-Finalist nod!) Chef/Owner Yia Vang, building on his work at Union Hmong Kitchen, created Vinai as a deeply personal tribute to his parents, naming the spot after the Ban Vinai refugee camp where his parents met (and he was born). Appropriately, he and his protégé, hosting CDC Timmy Truong (himself a culinary force with two projects, SoulFu and Chelas under his belt), are channeling modern Hmong family traditions through dishes like the Braised Beef Rib with sour bamboo and mushrooms, sizzling Catfish with market vegetables, rice noodles, and nam prik, and Roasted Eggplant with garlic, cilantro, chili, and purple sticky rice. "After enough time, I really felt like my culinary understanding of food expanded," MSPMag wrote after their visit there.

Category

• Restaurants