Why not test-drive a new restaurant this week?

Chef Josh Brown turns lunch at the Walker Art Center's Gather into an adventure, with meticulously prepared seafood, gorgeous salads and inventive sandwiches. The bar shakes up all manner of delicious nonalcoholic drinks, and dessert is a treat. Dinner is served Thursday evenings, the night when the museum's galleries stay open late.

At Joan's in the Park, longtime friends Susan Dunlop and Joanne Schmitt are collaborating (Dunlop cooks, Schmitt hosts) on a neighborhood food-and-wine destination for Highland Park. Menu items include flatbreads topped with bacon and caramelized onions, a whole roasted black sea bass and an 8-ounce filet mignon paired with a roasted tomato hollandaise. Dessert? Red velvet cupcakes.

While it's not new, the recently relocated Wilde Roast Cafe certainly feels that way, with a wildly spacious and attractive new riverfront setting, camera-ready views from its long stretch of sidewalk tables and a full roster of easygoing and affordable breakfast, lunch and dinner options. Oh, and a gelato counter, which is exactly what this stretch of walkable Minneapolis was missing.