Restaurants in Forest Lake

From its humble origins as a soda fountain in 1930s Saint Paul, Green Mill Restaurant and Bar has grown into a franchise with more than 28 locations all over Minnesota and the Midwest. As TV screens blast sports news in the background, patrons at each eatery dine on a menu of classic American and pizzeria fare. Thick, hand-pressed burgers form bunned towers with hefty toppings such as smoked bacon, haystack onions, and chipotle mayo. Families looking to bond can practice fractions on regular, deep-dish, or thin and crispy pizzas or group juggling acts with samplers of 27 juicy wings. In addition to pastas and salads, each location's bar carries a varied drink menu that includes draft beers such as Blue Moon and Samuel Adams alongside wine, martinis, and margaritas.

Spices ranging from rosemary to cardamom to shawarma lamb seasoning perfume the air at Ethnic Foods Company, a warehouse shop stocked with ingredients for traditional dishes from around the world. The savvy staffers guide visitors through aisles of cookware, beans and lentils, massage oils, and ready-to-cook gourmet international dinners, such as Indian-style dal masala and Moroccan-style bean tagine. Newbies can learn the basics of cross-cultural cooking in demonstration-based cooking classes, which focus on simple international recipes significantly tastier than Antarctica’s much-maligned ice-based cuisine.

Successful restaurateur Supenn Harrison made her first foray into the restaurant business more than 30 years ago, when she bought a burger joint in the Twin Cities. For Supenn, slinging patties wasn't enough to satisfy her love of the culinary arts; the Thailand native and former teacher quickly traded deep fryers for woks and opened her first Thai restaurant.

She eventually launched the first Sawatdee in 1983 in an abandoned warehouse, transforming the unlikely setting into something you might see in the heart of Bangkok, with gold-leaf ceilings and traditional artwork. Now, Supenn owns seven Sawatdee restaurants throughout Minnesota and has expanded the menu to include sushi dishes. Besides sharing her culinary skills through hands-on cooking classes, Supenn has disseminated her authentic Thai fare by catering birthday celebrations, family reunions, and the Rolling Stones' anti-retirement party.

After immigrating to the United States at age 20, Greece native Dino Adamidis cut his teeth in the restaurant industry as an employee at his sister’s steakhouse. He enjoyed the work, but still aspired to own his own business, a dream he carried with him from Greece. In 1982, he and his wife Vona decided to pursue that dream by opening a small white and blue stand at a local art fair where they sold gyros to spectators, often cinching a sale with free meat samples, saying, “We knew if the people would try it they would love it.” Love it they did, but it wasn’t until 1986—four years and several food stands down the road—that the couple opened the first freestanding Dino’s Gyros with only eight booths and a single particle accelerator.

Today, Dino’s is run by the two oldest children and serves quick Greek and Mediterranean cuisine from six locations. The menu still highlights the classic gyro, often with innovative twists, such as the Greek Philly, a gyro-meat mound sautéed with onions, green peppers, and swiss cheese. Catering services offer the same delicious fare as box lunches, family-style buffets, or busts carved from gyro meat.

Bollywood Bistro’s colorful menu takes its cues from the uplifting songs, bright clothing, and constant menu-reading of Bollywood cinema. The friendly staff is committed to the convention of "Atithi Devo Bhava"—putting guests at the center of attention—and aims to make each meal a memorable feast. Bouquets of spices and exotic ingredients drift from the kitchen on plates of tangy garbanzo salads, punjabi curry, tikka masala, and Indian-style tiramisu.

At Mama Valenti's Pizzeria, descendants of Italian-born Rose Valenti adhere to her century-old recipes as they hand-toss dough made fresh daily and coat it in house-made sauce, loaded with garlic and herbs. A recipe circulating throughout the Valenti clan since the 1800s dictates the in-house craftsmanship of the sausage, one of many toppings on a menu of customizable and house pizzas. The Carne Amore pie, like Snuffleupagus's T. rex trap, comes loaded with five varieties of meat, and patrons exercise artistic license over build-your-own pizzas, sculpting personalized sustenance with up to five toppings such as pickles, bacon, and jalapeños scattered across a crust canvas up to 20 inches in diameter.