Restaurants in New Ulm

Aladdin's Restaurant & Cafe offers fresh-made and eclectic menu selections of Mediterranean-inspired fare in a stylish café setting. Start a day of sailing through jet streams, land water, and meat cravings off right with the sustentative gyro breakfast, a pita piled with eggs, gyro, cheese, and veggies ($5.49), or hop across nearby Lake Minnetonka for a hearty Greek turkey melt panini, served with a side of savory cucumber sauce ($6.49). Aladdin also offers salads ($4.49+) and 10" pizzas ($8.99+), along with a full menu of coffee bar creations, such as the caramel macchiato ($2.80 for a small, $3.40 for a large), a steaming sweet treat strong enough to revive even the most exhausted former mermaid.

With a fire burning in a stone hearth and a porch overlooking the iridescent lake, the main dining room at Lord Fletcher's Old Lake Lodge recreates a classic lodge setting. The aromas of Chef Thomas Pivec’s gourmet steak-house cuisine fill the space year-round, ranging from grilled boneless rib eyes to cold-water lobster tails broiled with clarified butter. Private feasts are held in five banquet dining rooms, including a pub decorated with English house brass and a nautical room full of sailing artifacts and shelves full of murmuring squid.

Over in Lord Fletcher's newly remodeled Oar House, barkeeps pour more than 50 local, craft, and international beers that complement upscale bar snacks. Ten flat-screen TVs keep viewers up-to-date on sports, and sliding glass doors open onto the Wharf, Lord Fletcher's lakeside deck, which is the size of one football field or 100 one-yard models of football fields. There, chefs whip up casual dishes, bartenders man three full bars, and live musicians keep toes tapping every summer weekend. Competitors serve and spike volleyballs at three lakeside sand courts in warmer months, and broomball leagues kick off each winter when the lake freezes over.

Herradura's kitchen hums with the sounds of simmering Mexican sauces and sizzling meats. Chef Rita Castro fries up fresh shrimp, crab, and scallops for seafood fajitas, stuffs taquitos with beef or chicken, and adorns cheese enchiladas with pork, onions, tomatoes, and bell peppers. Bartenders blend natural juices into pitchers of mango, cactus fruit, and guava margaritas, drawing from an 18-year-old recipe formulated by brothers Raul and Oscar.