Café Brenda, 300 1st Ave., Minneapolis

If you want to go for fish or flora, Café Brenda Minneapolis’ Warehouse District has all the staples covered. Whether it be walleye, a Greek salad with Bermuda onion or the vegetarian Brenda Burger, good options abound. Founder Brenda Langton originally started working in a 70s vegetarian restaurant in St. Paul called Commonplace. She was the youngest employee there and was determined to learn how to run a vegetarian restaurant.

She began Café Kardamena in St. Paul at the age of 21 in 1976, and due to increasing demand she opened Café Brenda in 1986 in its current space downtown Minneapolis. Although Café Brenda is not completely vegetarian, it manages to please both healthy-eating omnivores and vegetarians. Café Brenda is a great place to try some Minnesota favorites from a venerable figure of the Minnesota restaurant scene.