Michael Ryan and Matthew Bickford brilliantly adapted the high-end practices they acquired while working in top Twin Cities kitchens - D'Amico Cucina, Restaurant Alma - into elevating the lowly sandwich.

It was always such a deeply personal experience to dine at this Grand Avenue anchor, because chef/owner Brahim Hadj-Moussa was a solo act at the stove, preparing the spirited and colorful tagines that reflected his Algerian heritage. Next-door neighbor Toulouse was more suited to the shopping mall surroundings, and turned out to be a lively precursor to the company's popular D'Amico & Sons chain. In the 1980s and 1990s, brothers Richard and Larry D'Amico were instrumental in creating a new era in Twin Cities area dining, with their Primavera, D'Amico Cucina, Campiello, Cafe Lurcat and this Gaviidae Common stunner, a glitzy destination restaurant that placed a glossy, risk-taking sheen on rustic southern French-coastal Spanish cooking. Instead, here's a highly subjective list of 20 extinct Twin Cities restaurants that managed to forge lasting impressions. The lamentations on those departed culinary landmarks have been thorough and frequent. The Blue Horse, the Nankin, the Lincoln Del. In the interest of expediency, let's set aside the tentpole establishments of the past half-century, the giants that immediately come to mind: Aquavit. I can still recall the thrill of my 10th birthday party at Farrell's, when a pair of waiters ran around the dining room, holding a stretcher aloft bearing the Zoo, an-over-the-top sundae that served 10.Īs I started compiling a roster of favorite restaurants no longer with us, the list quickly became too lengthy to recite from memory.

I grew up in the Twin Cities area, and have very happy dining memories that reach back to the early 1970s. Think of all the fantastic restaurants that have come and gone over the course of those decades, enriching our lives and our community. It's an especially fun assignment when the subject turns to restaurants. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Star Tribune's Taste section throughout October is a reason to pause, reflect and savor.

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