Restaurants in Fridley

Chefs at Copper Pot Indian Grill fire up clay tandoori ovens to bake yogurt-marinated chicken and prawns seasoned with carom seed and red-chili powder. The chefs pick recipes from different parts of India to feature the country’s varied flavors, rotating their selections every four to six months, or whenever they complete a game of Monopoly. They stock a lunch buffet with fresh naan and pudhina paratha and maintain a well-rounded wine list with varietals from California, France, New Zealand, and Argentina.

The former owner of local hotspot Taco Morelos, restaurateur Gaspar Perez now reigns over the kitchen at Las Teresitas Mexican Grill. Here, he's ramped up his well-known Mexican favorites with high-quality ingredients and bold flavors, and this time, he's keeping the entire operation in the family. According to City Pages—which awarded Las Teresitas the 2012 Best Taco award for its chorizo taco—Perez's wife waits tables as his cousin cooks up fajitas, mole chicken, and tacos stuffed with brisket, Mexican-style barbecue pork, or beef cheek. The family's even in the restaurant's name, which Perez chose in honor of his mother (Teresa) and his daughter (also Teresa), who gained popularity at Taco Morelos for greeting customers at the door with a smile and fresh tortilla chips.

The free chips are still a thing. In the center of the casual dining room stands a complementary chips-and-salsa bar, showcasing a spread of nine colorful homemade salsas in varying degrees of heat. Perez encourages guests to sample these salsas—which include tomato chipotle and chili de arbol varieties—and use them to customize their meals or secretly spice up a friend's horchata.

C&G’s Smoking Barbecue's owner and head chef Greg Alford has spent 40 years perfecting smoked barbecue ribs, tender beef-brisket sandwiches, and crispy, in-season perch that Heavy Table writer Jason Walker called, "the best I've had in a while". Rather than adhering to contemporary trends, the restaurateur dazzles Minnesota mouths with his unique blend of traditional cooking techniques borrowed from both Louisiana, where his family hails from, and Detroit, where he was raised. His ribs––which attracted Minnesota Monthly's July 2010 feature on the best barbecue spots in Minneapolis––are the joint's most popular item and arrive with an even tenderness that is the result of a three-hour smoking and heat-distributing process. Barbecue sauce is served on the side, according to the preference of both Greg and his regular customers, who believe that the best meat should be seasoned and balanced enough to perform alone or with the subtle accompaniment of doo-wop-singing french fries.

Pastoral services take place daily at the nonprofit Café El Meson, which provides literature and camaraderie in order to bridge the gap between Christian religious practice and daily life. Beyond a nook containing the sandwich counter and the espresso machine, wood tables spread out under an A-frame ceiling, and armchairs cozy up to a fireplace. Visitors sup on the El Meson sandwich, a ham, turkey, and pepper-jack shindig held on a focaccia-bread dance floor, and they imbibe blended drinks flavored with mango, peach, and other fruit flavors. Musical instruments displayed near the entrance evince a commitment to creative collaboration, and a gurgling fountain on the patio reveals what regular speech therapy can do for a puddle.

Sprays of flowers in petite, glass vases perch atop each table, a lush reminder of the local fields where 128 Café culls the seasonal fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients which comprise its rotating menu. Mélanges of veggies mingle with pasta and couscous or provide a crisp counterpoint to tender chops, tenderloins, or barbecued baby back ribs, a house specialty. Chefs whip up each dish to be served in the softly lit dining room or from 128 Café's food truck, which frequently rolls to festivals, boulevards, and photo finishes at pinewood derbies.

Using natural meats from local farms and culinary inspiration from all across Asia, skilled chefs craft dishes such as tom yum noodle soup and Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches filled with Korean BBQ pork. Patrons can customize their orders of Japanese shoyu ramen with an assortment of meats and veggies, including pork belly, calamari, bok choy, and wild mushrooms. Kinsen Noodles & Bar also offers an array of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options, which diners can devour while seated inside a cozy booth or standing atop a table. The restaurant's wall of mirrors reflects the cool blue glow of the bar, where mixologists concoct fruity drinks ranging from classic sangria to rum punch with coconut milk.