Xelas by El Sazon | Stillwater, MN

Xelas has been open in Stillwater for a while so when my sister suggested it for dinner I was pumped to finally get to try it out.

The original restaurant, El Sazon, is located inside a BP Gas Station in Eagan and I have been hearing about how great it is for years, so I was very excited when they opened this larger location; Xelas by El Sazon in Stillwater. As far as I can remember, I haven’t had Mayan cuisine before, and not to ruin the review but you should just know up front it was delicious.

Panda Fest Twin Cities | Bloomington, MN

I found out about Panda Fest about a month ago and immediately scooped up tickets for me and husband to go the weekend before our birthdays – food outings are sort of our tradition since we both love trying new things/places.

Panda Fest is happening until tomorrow, July 13th and it is currently sold out, but it looked like they were selling limited tickets at the gate and online some people are reselling if they can’t go so if you’re interested there is still time!

Read through to check out all the food items we tried and get my honest review about the experience.

Fiesta Mexican Grill | Stillwater, MN

I’m going to apologize ahead of time, because we were in a group of 5 and I did not pay attention to what everyone was ordering I was too keyed up waiting for queso dip….so make sure you check out the menu below for all the details.

Fiesta Mexican Grill is in the same strip mall as the Kowalskis in Stillwater. Technically the city is Oak Park Heights, but everyone just refers to the whole area as Stillwater…the Stillwater High School is next door.

Barbette | Minneapolis, MN

I was excited to grab lunch with friends at Barbette to celebrate our friend’s birthday as it was my first official time. Previously I had only been there for patio drinks.

The food definitely lived up to the hype!

Maynards | Excelsior, MN

What better day to be a Maynards first timer than on the 4th of July to sit on the patio!

2025 Food and Drink Review | Duluth, MN

Husband and I were planning a trip to Duluth, Minnesota, but we only had about 36 hours to spend, so I went on a mission to find some of the best rated breweries, distilleries and city spots to check out.

We didn’t make it everywhere, but truthfully you can only eat and drink so much in such a short amount of time haha so below I’m sharing the spots we went (spoiler alert, I would recommend every single one of them).

Brick & Bourbon | Stillwater, MN

I previously reviewed Brick & Bourbon back in 2020, but we recently went for date night so it felt like a good time to refresh!

Olive & Lamb | Northeast Minneapolis, MN

Last Friday I had a Northeast Minneapolis girls night with some friends starting with dinner at Olive & Lamb and ending at some of the local Northeast establishments for cocktails.

This was my first time eating at Olive & Lamb and actually gave me a strong sense of nostalgia as I used to live a few blocks from that building and had been there for lunch when it was a deli…I miss that neighborhood!

Angelina’s Kitchen | Woodbury, MN

Angelina’s Kitchen in Woodbury was actually one of mine and husband’s first date night spots back when he was trying to impress me so it was fun to go back and revisit now after over 2 years of marriage.

Manger Restaurant | Bayport, MN

Husband loves French cuisine so Manger Restaurant & Wine Bar in Bayport, pronounced “mon-g” and meaning “eat” in French, has been on our list for a while. We decided to celebrate an early Valentine’s Day with a dinner reservation last week and I’m excited to share!

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Food & Drink spots throughout the Twin Cities (Minneapolis + St. Paul) and Minnesota.

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