Restaurants in Maplewood

Since 1986, Champps Americana's kitchen has sizzled with burgers and classic American dishes, satiating sports fans and families with a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere. Amid the sunlit dining room, diners at wooden tabletops have views of 25 TVs broadcasting sports games, competing with a cluster of arcade games for eyes' attention. Chefs cater to taste buds by plumping up pastas with chicken, shrimp, and vegetables and piling rolls with beef patties, barbecued pulled pork, and spicy buffalo chicken. Behind the bar, bartenders whip up specialty cocktails and margaritas and fill goblets with an expansive selection of draft beers and wine. The bar and grill draws guests with regular specials and events throughout the week, including daily happy hours, Thursday-night trivia, and Sunday brunch. Every Tuesday, the restaurant serves up free meals to children, as a magician saunters table to table, entertaining kids with tricks and balloon art, crafting replacement siblings on request.

Cooks at Pita Plus Sandwich Grill wake up early every morning to grill steak, roast turkey, slice fresh hand-selected vegetables, and boil stockpots to prep for the day. Drawing on family recipes and classic sauces from the former Jimmy’s Lemon Tree restaurants, the cooks slice roasted, unprocessed gyros and stack cranberry-turkey sandwiches with swiss cheese, house-made berry spread, and bacon just like they would in their secret kitchens.

As its name suggests, Capital View Café showcases a magnificent view of the Minnesota State Capitol building, but it's really the Mexican and American cuisine that keeps regulars coming back. The Ramirez and Lucken family brought the restaurant to life in 1993, after a family friend had tipped them off about a small café full of untapped potential that was in need of new owners. The family relied on many years of experience in the restaurant business to open a friendly neighborhood diner specializing in housemade breakfasts and lunches and generous portions. Capital View Café's breakfast menu includes both American and Mexican mainstays, and the lunch menu ranges from salads, soups, and sandwiches to authentic Mexican lunches. Their Mexican lunch roster catalogs burritos, fajitas, and the chipotle red pork dish, served in a zesty chipotle sauce alongside a stack of warm tortillas, a tastier stack of hot disks than frisbees toasting over a camp fire.

Most of the items on Lakes Tavern & Grill’s menu sum up the eatery’s concept with just their description. Take for instance, the goat-cheese and tomato “pizzas” baked atop naan bread, or the classic chicken salad dressed with mango and curry. The combination of classic American eats spiced up with a few global punches speaks to everything the inspired chefs have strived to create. And though it’s a mouthful to say, their self-penned description—“American contemporary casual upscale dining”—sums up the eatery in every respect, even beyond the food.

A cobalt blue dining room sets the scene for the casual munching to commence. Spotlights embedded in the ceiling cast a comfortable light across cherry-wood tables and booths fit for parties of four. In the bar area, patrons can enjoy the luminous glow of eight big-screen TVs, each broadcasting seasonal college and professional games. On occasion, a live band will grace the stage and belt out songs. If the rabblerousing is too much for larger parties, groups of 10–12 can slip into the Lakes Lounge, where they'll find two leather couches and a 65-inch television perfect for watching footage from some other family’s vacation.

When a national chain delivered him a pale imitation of a pizza, Eddie Lane thought, “I can do better than this.” The winner of more than 37 Minnesota State Fair ribbons put his money where his mouth was, laboring away until he perfected Pizza Three's stone-cooked thin-crust pies. Eddie and his culinary team craft more than 10 specialty, veggie, and chicken pizzas ranging from classic pepperoni to a loaded-baked-potato pizza topped with garlic mashed potatoes and bacon. Their culinary innovation extends to dessert with the s'mores pizza, a chocolate-, graham-cracker-, and marshmallow-topped pie that evokes memories of sitting around campfires in the Coliseum. Chefs also fold pizzas into calzones, douse wings in award-winning barbecue sauce, and whip up pastas from some of Eddie's Blue Ribbon–winning recipes.

A silvery wand dips into a carafe of fresh milk, which will be used to form the foam that tops a steamy cappuccino. The smell of freshly brewed Arabica beans wafts through the air, countered by the buttery aroma of a crepe cooking on a circular griddle. Serving up sandwiches at lunch as well as sweet and savory crepes for breakfast, the staffers at Brix Coffee offer visitors a taste of Europe without the unpleasant aftertaste caused by chewing on a map. After meals, the café's daily-made custard can be blended into shakes and smoothies or scooped into sundaes or waffle cones.