New York Times lists two Minneapolis restaurants among its favorites of 2024

National accolades continue to pour in for our local restaurants. This time, Oro by Nixta and Vinai are the two that earned coveted spots on the New York Times' annual list of the 50 best restaurants in America right now, both praised for their chefs' personal stories and cuisine.

Oro by Nixta has been basking in the glow of local and national praise since Kate and Gustavo Romero opened the full-service restaurant, which started during the pandemic as a tortilleria and takeout business. It was named the 2023 Minnesota Star Tribune's Restaurant of the Year, was a 2023 finalist for the Best New Restaurant James Beard Award, and most recently was among Bon Appétit's 20 Best New Restaurants of 2024.

"Imagine a taqueria with a tasting-menu restaurant's ambitions, and none of its pretensions," wrote the Times' Brett Anderson.

While Oro has been open since spring of 2023, Vinai opened on July 30 — right across the street from Oro. The restaurant has been in the works much longer. Chef Yia Vang announced his vision of fine dining, named for the refugee camp his family lived in before moving to the United States, in 2019.

Vang wrote on Instagram, "In less than three months I've seen a team of people come together because they believe in the vision of two poor Hmong refugees who fought and sacrificed for their sons and daughters to have a chance of a future. Vinai is built on the idea that there's always a space for grace within our doors." He went on to thank his staff, who he said have carried the restaurant to this success.

The restaurant specializes in family-style meals in an open and airy space in northeast Minneapolis. Anderson writes, "The chef's personal take on [Hmong cuisines] is arresting, packed with chile and citrus, often streaked with wood smoke, and always suffused with back story."

Previous Minneapolis restaurants recognized were Gai Noi in 2023, Petite Leon in 2022 as well as Owamni by the Sioux Chef and Sooki and Mimi in 2021.

Oro by Nixta, 1222 NE. 2nd St., Mpls., nixtampls.com/oro; Vinai, 1300 NE. 2nd St., Mpls., vinaimn.com.