It’s time to put 2023 — a great year for eating in the Twin Cities — to bed.

Here are eight restaurants we are looking forward to opening in 2024.

Woodbury Bebe Zito

The Burger from Bebe Zito at The Market at Malcolm Yards. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

The ice cream and burger spot’s first three locations — in Uptown, Malcolm Yards Market and Eat Street Crossing — are widely beloved, so I couldn’t be more excited for Gabriella Grant-Spangler and Ben Spangler to bring their operation to the east metro.

Located next to The Gap in the Woodbury Lakes outdoor mall, this outpost will feature the usual wacky ice cream flavors (Vanilla MSG, anyone? But also, frosted animal cookie, PB and J and bruleed salted caramel flan) and bacon-in-the-grind burger. They’ve expanded over the years to include chicken tenders and sandwiches, fries, cheese curds and more. Sounds like just the thing to fortify us during shopping outings.

Opening Jan. 19.

Bebe Zito: 9000 Hudson Road #615, Woodbury; bebezitomn.com

Coastal Dive Bar and Oyster Palace

The exterior of the new Coastal Seafoods building on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Coastal Seafoods)

Something the Twin Cities hasn’t done well in the past is offer seafood in a downscale setting, so we’re very excited about this new venture from the Coastal Seafoods crew.

The menu at the bar and restaurant will be similar to what Coastal Seafoods sells from a little counter-service operation at its Minneapolis location. Expect a tuna smash burger, beef burger, lobster roll, fish and chips and more. In addition, Amdahl said they’ll be serving raw bar items like fresh oysters, shrimp cocktail and poke.

Beverages will be mostly canned beers, wines and cocktails, but good ones, according to those in the know. And when you’re done filling up on oysters, you can shop for some fresh fish for dinner tomorrow.

Opening sometime in January.

Coastal Seafoods: 286 N. Snelling Ave., St. Paul; 651-698-4888; coastalseafoods.com

Bucheron

A chickory salad from Bucheron in Minneapolis, which will launch Jan. 9, 2024. (Libby Anderson / Courtesy Photo)

Co-owners Adam Ritter and Jeanie Janas Ritter are opening this French-American restaurant in the former Corner Table space on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis on Jan. 9, and we cannot wait to see what they do.

Adam Ritter was the chef de cuisine at Gavin Kaysen’s stellar Demi when he left to open Bucheron, so his chops are bonified. The team plans to pair classic French techniques with influences from Minnesota and around the world. They’ll launch with an a la carte menu but plan to add a tasting menu later in the year.

Opening menu items will include things like a mixed chicory salad, celery root tortellini and a 100% Berkshire pork chop in a morita chile-morcilla sauce.

Bucheron: 4257 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; bucheronrestaurant.com

Diane’s Place

Chef Diane Moua, right, and Heather Ann Mady raise a toast on Aug. 10, 2023. Moua, one of the top pastry chefs in the Twin Cities, is opening her first solo restaurant, Diane’s Place, in 2024, and Mady is set to be general manager. (Courtesy photo / Gemma Weston)

Diane Moua, formerly the pastry chef for Gavin Kaysen’s Spoon and Stable and before that La Belle Vie, is breaking out on her own, and into full meals.

Moua’s divine desserts have always been our favorites because they are lightly sweetened, full of flavor and texture and often bordering on savory. We can’t wait to see what the five-time James Beard nominee does with lunch and dinner. Expect French influences but also a heavy lean-in to her Hmong heritage.

Diane’s Place will open in the Food Building in Northeast Minneapolis sometime early in 2024.

Diane’s Place: 117 14th Avenue NE, Minneapolis; 612-489-8012; dianesplacemn.com

Vinai

Chicken with sticky rice and mustard greens at the Vinai residency at Steady Pour in Minneapolis. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

It looks like chef Yia Vang’s long-awaited Hmong restaurant Vinai will open this spring!

Vinai will take over the former Dangerous Man Brewing Company space in Northeast Minneapolis.

I’m still dreaming about the meal I had during a pop-up at Steady Pour in Minneapolis, where Vang showed off his vision of what the restaurant would be.

Construction should start any day now, but the best timeline we have for opening at this point is spring.

Vinai: 1300 2nd St. N.E., Minneapolis; vinaimn.com

Zamboni’s on 7th

The view from the former Eagle Street Grille offers a clear view of the Xcel Energy Center. (Pioneer Press file photo)

The former Eagle Street Grille space has been empty for most of 2023, but it will come back to life as Zamboni’s on 7th, a bigger, more pre-event-friendly version of Zamboni’s Pizza Pub, which had resided next door.

The new spot, which is set to open any day now, is from Greg Awada and Kristi Brunnerof Zamboni’s and Tim Mahoney, owner of The Loon Cafes in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The prime location, directly across from the Xcel Energy Center, will serve mostly the same Italian street-food menu as Zamboni’s — pizzas, cheesesteaks and the like. There will be a full bar, of course. The team is moving a bar around and doubling the size of the kitchen and adding a hood, but the layout of the space will remain mostly the same.

Zamboni’s on 7th: 174 West Seventh St., St. Paul; zambonipizza.com

Centro Roseville

Centro Crunch from Centro in St. Paul’s Highland Park neighborhood. (Jess Fleming / Pioneer Press)

The former Good Earth space in Roseville is slated to become a fourth location for Centro, which recently expanded to the east metro with a new Highland Park location.

The family-friendly taqueria, which serves its own (much better) version of a certain fast food chain’s crunchwrap among other Mexican street food, will be designed by Shea. The 185-seat space will not have the Everywhen Burger Bar component that St. Paul has, but it will have pitchers of tasty margaritas and a new Centro Crunch flavor. There will also be a 56-seat patio off the front of the building.

The 5,300-square-foot space will include many of the design elements of Centro’s other spaces, with a few new surprises and one or two more disco balls. The team is shooting for an early summer 2024 opening.

Centro Roseville: 1901 W. Minnesota 36; centrompls.com

Andiamo St. Paul

Pasta Bolognese at Andiamo Italian Ristorante in Eagan. (Pioneer Press file photo).

Andiamo, the Italian restaurant with locations in Eagan and Woodbury, will open a third location on Snelling Avenue, in the former Buffalo Wild Wings space.

The restaurants are owned by chef Ramon Ruiz, who had previously spent over a decade and a half at Bucca di Beppo in St. Paul. The menu consists of soups, salads (yes, you can get an all-you-can-eat combo), pastas, pizzas and sandwiches.

Expect a January opening.

Andiamo Italian Ristorante: Opening January 2024 at 80 N. Snelling Ave.; andiamomn.com

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