Here are three Twin Cities area restaurants worth the construction confusion.
Chef Shack Ranch
Fans of this brick-and-mortar iteration of the popular Chef Shack food truck will have to work around the closed Franklin Avenue bridge for chef/co-owner Lisa Carlson's affordable ($15-and-under) roadhouse fare. The menu features one of the city's top-performing burgers, a dreamy smoked brisket sandwich, an inventive daily taco and a spectacular iteration of the Southern meat-and-three platter. Dessert? Hot-from-the-fryer mini-doughnuts, of course. Dinner Wednesday through Saturday, brunch Saturday and Sunday.
3025 E. Franklin Av., Mpls., 612-354-2575, chefshackranch.com
Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant
Yes, the remake of Nicollet Mall feels as if it has been going on forever. Allow chef Derik Moran to take the edge off the construction jitters with a garden-fresh spring vegetable soup, pan-seared scallops with pickled ramps, a lively gumbo with fried okra and andouille sausage and gleefully fatty pork belly with asparagus and chiles. Dinner daily.
1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., 612-332-1010, dakotacooks.com
Yum! Kitchen and Bakery
Hwy. 7 is a mess, meaning that access to the Home of Patticake (owner Patti Soskin's belt-busting chocolate layer cake slathered with vanilla buttercream icing) isn't exactly a cakewalk. But persevere, for the chicken salad sandwich (on toasted, house-baked challah), the fragrant chicken soup with matzo balls, the excellent fish and chips, the addictive mini-cheeseburgers and anything (coconut cake, anyone?) that comes out of the baker's oven. Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
4000 Minnetonka Blvd., St. Louis Park, 952-922-4000, yumkitchen.com
