Restaurant in Minneapolis, United States
James Beard winner. Book three weeks out.
Owamni won the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant — and it remains the most distinctive dining address in Minneapolis. Built entirely around pre-contact Indigenous ingredients, the 80-seat riverfront restaurant is hard to book (plan 3–4 weeks out minimum) and worth it for a returning visitor who wants to engage more deeply with the menu's progressive structure.
Owamni won the 2022 James Beard Award for Leading New Restaurant — the highest-profile recognition in American dining — and it earned that distinction by doing something almost no other restaurant in the country attempts at this scale: building an entire menu around Indigenous, pre-contact North American ingredients. With a 4.6 rating across 2,476 Google reviews and 80 seats overlooking the Mississippi River, this is the most consequential dining address in Minneapolis right now. If you have been once and are wondering whether to return, the answer is yes. The menu is structured as a progressive tasting experience, and a second visit allows you to move past the novelty and engage with the culinary architecture underneath it.
The setting does real work here. Eighty seats on the riverbank means the room has a genuine sense of place , the Mississippi isn't incidental backdrop, it's the geographic logic behind everything on the plate. Pre-contact Indigenous cuisine means the kitchen works without wheat flour, dairy, cane sugar, or pork: the pantry of post-colonisation American cooking is simply absent. What replaces it is a range of ingredients , wild game, heritage corn, Indigenous botanicals, freshwater fish , that most American diners will not have encountered in a composed restaurant context before.
The tasting progression at Owamni is worth thinking about structurally. For a returning visitor, the arc moves from lighter, more botanical preparations toward richer, protein-forward courses, with fermented and smoked elements threaded throughout. This is not a menu that mimics the European fine-dining format; it has its own internal logic shaped by seasonal availability and Indigenous food traditions. That distinction matters when you're deciding how to pace yourself and what to prioritise , don't rush the earlier courses expecting the main event to follow the usual rhythm.
On atmosphere: the room runs warm and energetic rather than hushed and ceremonial. Noise levels are moderate to high on busy evenings, which makes Owamni a better choice for groups comfortable with a lively room than for conversations requiring quiet. The riverfront position and the open layout contribute to this , the space feels intentionally communal rather than formal. Come early in the evening if you want a calmer experience, or if the table conversation matters as much as the food.
Booking is hard. Post-James Beard Award demand is sustained, and this is a 80-seat room that does not expand. Plan three to four weeks in advance minimum, longer for weekend evenings or parties of four or more. Walk-in availability is not something to rely on. Contact the restaurant directly at (612) 724-3663 or book via their website at owamni.com.
Owamni sits at 420 S 1st St in Minneapolis's Mill District, adjacent to Owamni Falls , the Dakotah name for St. Anthony Falls. The address is walkable from downtown hotels and accessible from most central Minneapolis neighborhoods.
For broader Minneapolis restaurant options, see our full Minneapolis restaurants guide. If you're planning around a stay, the Minneapolis hotels guide covers the leading properties near the Mill District. Rounding out a visit, the Minneapolis bars guide and experiences guide are useful starting points.
Within Minneapolis, Spoon and Stable remains the benchmark for polished New American cooking if you want a more conventional fine-dining format. Hai Hai is the right call for creative, James Beard-nominated cuisine in a more casual setting. 112 Eatery and Brasa Rotisserie are easier to book and better suited to casual group dinners. Blue in Green is worth noting for soulful, ingredient-driven fare at a lower commitment level.
Nationally, Owamni's closest conceptual peers are restaurants that built award-winning menus around specific cultural and geographic food traditions: Atomix in New York (Korean tasting menu), Lazy Bear in San Francisco (progressive American), and Alinea in Chicago (avant-garde tasting format). For pure technical fine-dining benchmarks, Le Bernardin in New York, The French Laundry in Napa, and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg sit in a different register , more European in structure, more expensive, and harder to book. Owamni's distinction is that its tasting architecture is genuinely its own.
| Venue | Cuisine | Booking Difficulty | Occasion Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owamni | Indigenous / Native American | Hard (3–4 weeks+) | Special occasion, curious diner, returning visitor |
| Spoon and Stable | New American | Moderate–Hard | Fine dining, date night |
| 112 Eatery | Italian | Moderate | Casual group dinner, weeknight |
| Brasa Rotisserie | American Creole | Easy–Moderate | Casual, family, groups |
| Hai Hai | Southeast Asian-inspired | Moderate | Creative dining, casual special occasion |
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owamni | Native American (Indigenous) | James Beard Award 2022 Owamni has been recognized with the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. Restaurant Details: • Location: Minneapolis, MN • Chef: Unknown • Cuisine: American • Award Year: 2022 • Award Category: Best New Restaurant Contact Information: • Website: • Address: 420 1st St S, Minneapolis, MN 55401 • Phone: (612) 724-3663 Dining Experience: • Signature Experience: Indigenous cuisine using pre-contact ingredients • Seating: 80 seats with Mississippi River views This 2022 James Beard Award recognizes exceptional achievement in the culinary arts and represents one of the highest honors in American dining.; Esquire Best New Restaurants #7 (2021) | Hard | — | |
| 112 Eatery | Italian | Unknown | — | ||
| Brasa Rotisserie | American Creole | Unknown | — | ||
| Kincaid’s | Steakhouse | Unknown | — | ||
| Lobby Bar at the Peninsula | Modern American | Unknown | — | ||
| Manny’s Steakhouse | Steakhouse | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Owamni measures up.
Owamni's menu is built around pre-contact Indigenous ingredients — ingredients that predate European colonisation — so the dishes you'll find here don't map onto any other Minneapolis restaurant. The kitchen won the 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant on the strength of that approach, which means the menu itself is the draw. Order broadly and avoid filtering by familiar reference points; that's the wrong frame for this kitchen.
Yes, and it's one of the stronger special-occasion cases in Minneapolis. The 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant gives it a credential that holds up to scrutiny, the 80-seat room sits on the Mississippi River, and the concept is genuinely distinct from standard celebratory-dinner formats. Just book well in advance — post-award demand makes last-minute reservations unlikely.
Owamni's menu centres on pre-contact Indigenous ingredients, which means it naturally excludes many common allergens associated with European-derived staples like wheat and dairy in their traditional forms. That said, specific dietary accommodation policies aren't confirmed in available data, so check the venue's official channels at (612) 724-3663 before booking if you have serious allergies or restrictions.
No formal dress code is documented for Owamni. Given its riverfront setting, 80-seat room, and James Beard Award profile, clean, presentable casual fits the context — think what you'd wear to a well-regarded neighbourhood restaurant you're treating seriously, not a white-tablecloth formal room.
For a different kind of locally rooted cooking at a lower price point, Brasa Rotisserie is the practical comparison — Caribbean and Southern-influenced, approachable, and easy to book on shorter notice. If you want a classic Minneapolis steakhouse night out, Manny's Steakhouse is the established option. Neither replicates what Owamni does with Indigenous ingredients, so if that concept is the draw, there's no direct substitute in the city.
At 80 seats, Owamni has capacity for groups, but the post-James Beard Award demand makes advance planning necessary. For larger parties, check the venue's official channels at (612) 724-3663 to confirm group booking procedures — don't assume a standard online reservation will cover a table of six or more without prior coordination.
Three to four weeks in advance is the minimum to plan for. The 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant drove sustained demand, and an 80-seat room doesn't leave much margin for late bookers. If you have a fixed travel date, book as soon as the reservation window opens rather than waiting.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
