Seasonal restaurants are popping up faster than the daffofils in my neighbor's back yard.

Despite the lingering snow, it really must be spring, because Friday is opening day for Sea Salt Eatery. The seasonal cafe (pictured above, in warmer times last summer) is located in Minnehaha Park's main pavilion, just a stone's throw from the falls, which must be in overdrive, scenic-wise, right about now.

The counter-service set-up is serving its usually swell array of fresh oysters, crab cakes, fried catfish, fish tacos and other well-made, affordable and portable fare. Shock of shocks (for liquor license-phobic Minneapolis, anyway), Sea Salt treats adults like adults and actually serves beer and wine (and a pretty swell list at that). And is there a better restaurant-industry motto than Sea Salt's "proudly serving free Minneapolis tap water for over six summers"? Every time I've visited I've encountered a line -- a long one -- and for good reason: Sea Salt is one of the best additions to the Minneapolis park system in my memory.

Meanwhile, Lake Calhoun's quick-service lakeside food stand, the Tin Fish, has a 2011 opening date of April 23. Crowds will surely follow. How great is it that diners can pull up in a canoe?

Over at Lake Harriet, restaurateur Kim Bartmann (Bryant-Lake Bowl, Barbette, Red Stag Supperclub) is launching her Bread & Pickle around the same time, at the whimsical pavilion next to the bandstand on the lake's northwest corner.

"We're shooting for the 22nd, which would be cool because it's Earth Day, but that could turn into April 29th," she said. That'll be a menu to watch: Barbette's talented chef, Kevin Kathman, is in charge, which means I'm definitely putting Harriet back on my walking/biking/concert-going summer itinerary.

Further north -- way further north -- spring is slow to come to Lake Superior's north shore. Grand Marais' two must-visit restaurants, Chez Jude and the Angry Trout Cafe, aren't opening until May. The story is the same on the south shore, at least in Bayfield, Wis., where luxury-minded Wild Rice plans to reopen in May.