Appetites: Twin Cities restaurants to watch in 2015

We're a week into January, and just as we're recovering from holiday overindulgence, it's time to talk restaurants — and what to expect in Twin Cities eating this year — with Rachel Hutton, editor of Minnesota Monthly magazine.

Let's start big. What would you say is the most talked-about restaurant project in the works?

I think there are two that tie for that honor: The Lexington and Il Foro, both of which are restorations of legendary Twin Cities restaurants, being developed by the same group.

Turn Up Your Support

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.

The Lexington: For years, it was a St. Paul institution, a classy spot for a steak and a martini. It's been closed for more than a year now, but it was recently purchased by a trio of experienced restaurant operators: Josh Thoma and Kevin Fitzgerald, co-owners of Smack Shack, and chef Jack Riebel, formerly of Butcher and the Boar. They have major renovation plans for the historic space — including a rooftop deck — so it won't be ready for several months.

They're keeping the name, but making the concept more casual — though they've promised to keep some version of the original Lexington's famous chicken pot pie.

Il Foro: As if this group didn't have a big enough project on its hands, in the fall of 2014, the team announced that it's also leased the downtown Minneapolis spot made famous by the Forum Cafeteria.

In its heyday, the Forum was an Art Deco wonder, decked out in mirrors and chandeliers and decorative patterns in pale green and black onyx. It was very over-the-top decor for a spot that served quick, inexpensive meals. More recently, the space was Goodfellow's for about a decade. The new concept will be Italian, hence the translation to Il Foro, and the group has taken on a fourth partner, Lorin Zinter, formerly of Heyday, so the partners will have extra help with both projects.

What else should we be looking forward to in 2015?

There are many established restaurant owners who have second or third concepts in the works that sound very promising. In St. Paul, the Strip Club team is working on a place called Saint Dinette.

In Minneapolis, The Bachelor Farmer is putting a cafe in the space that its clothing shop, Askov Finlayson, is moving out of as it expands. Fans of Haute Dish will be looking forward to Nighthawks. The folks behind Victory 44 and Pizzeria Lola have new projects in the works in Linden Hills and Northeast, respectively.

How about first-time restaurateurs?

I'd say Surly Brewing's new taproom and restaurant is currently the most buzzed-about project in the works right now. The new destination brewery complex opened a few weeks ago in Prospect Park, and the beer hall has had lines out the door, sometimes with hourslong waits. They're planning to open a restaurant on the second floor this spring — something a little more formal than the hall. I'm very curious to see how it's received; since we tend to associate beer drinking and tap rooms with a casual vibe, this will be a concept we haven't seen before.

Any others worth mentioning?

On a much, much smaller scale, there's the equally intriguing Herbivorous Butcher. It's a tiny, Kickstarter-funded business making mock meats. While they're working on their retail space, the brother-and-sister duo at the helm has been regularly selling out at the Linden Hills Farmers Market.

I've sampled a few items, which incorporate a lot of the seasonings you'd associate with meat, and they're pretty tasty. I think there's more interest in non-meat proteins these days, which is driving demand. There are commercially available mock-meat products, but there's not a ton of variety and making it yourself can be very labor-intensive. (I once helped a friend make mock "chicken nuggets" by kneading and rinsing a big ball of wheat gluten — it took about half a day.)

With all these restaurants opening, can you predict which ones will be successful? What does it take to break through?

I think that the Twin Cities actually has a fairly diverse culinary ecosystem, with strong demand for a lot of styles of food and experiences, so a wide range of restaurants can be successful. If you look back at 2014, diners have embraced everything from Brasserie Zentral's European fine dining and Hola Arepa's Latin-American street fare.

Those large, high-profile spaces, like The Lexington and Il Foro, certainly attract a lot of attention. But they have a lot of seats to fill, and so can be riskier prospects. One thing I will say is that having a rooftop deck never seems to hurt!