UPTOWN. This hip, sleek member of the Wolfgang Puck family of restaurants is right at home in Walker Art Center, where museum-goers enjoy haute New American fare with a decidedly Asian kick. Views of the Minneapolis skyline are prominent as you feast on fresh butterfish, short ribs, tempura shrimp, and roasted Cantonese duck. Ingredients are amazingly fresh, allowing for the food's true flavors to come bursting forth. Don't miss the signature dessert ­ Spoon, Cube, and Cherry ­ which mimics the famous Claes Oldenburg sculpture, Spoonbridge and Cherry, in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.

SEWARD. Smartly decorated Birchwood is a coffee shop and cafe that also moonlights as an art gallery. Food offerings have a strong vegetarian slant and are prepared using fresh, locally grown, organic ingredients. Menu items range from pizzas and sandwiches to Tofu Creole and a quiche of the day. Birchwood also serves non-vegetarian items, including salmon cakes and turkey burgers. Breakfast and Sunday brunch are popular with locals too.

BLOOMINGTON. California Café offers a taste of San Francisco in Minnesota and makes you feel as if you're dining on a garden patio. Dishes like angel hair pasta with pomodoro sauce, grilled swordfish with celery mashed potatoes, and lobster ravioli help make the restaurant one of the Twin Cities' favorites. California Café also serves tasty pizzas like the "Chicken Fajita" and "Margarita," both of which are more than enough for two.

UPTOWN. This snazzy Italian restaurant specializes in outstanding pastas, salads, pizzas, and poultry. Catch a glimpse of the chefs at work in the open kitchen as they prepare spit-roasted chicken and risotto, balsamic-glazed beef short ribs, and sauteed halibut. To finish off, make sure you sample the Italian cookie platter or the chocolate truffle cake. The dining area features elaborate, hand-painted, faux-finished walls.

BLOOMINGTON. This charming restaurant has the distinction of delivering authentic, mouthwatering French cuisine. Elegant Chez Colette recaptures the ambience of a quaint, 19th-century Parisian café or brasserie ­ dark wood accents, banquette seating, and tulip lamps. Favorite dishes include garlic-tinged bouillabaisse, coq au vin, crepes, and braised lamb shank with garlic potatoes.