The 12 Fargo Restaurants That Prove They’re Eating Very Well Up North

In the interest of full disclosure, I was skeptical on my first trip to Fargo years ago, when I picked up the Dakotas as part of my day-job territory. It was May, and they’d already canceled my return flight before we landed, thanks to the incoming blizzard.

But then I started eating around this city, because what else are you going to do when snowed in? I discovered Fargo has wood-fired pizza made with North Dakota-grown wheat, a pastry café that earned James Beard attention, and a run of restaurants from Ryan Nitschke and Nikki Berglund that has helped give the Fargo-Moorhead dining scene its current shape. Inside Brewhalla, that means steamed buns, noodle bowls, oysters, crudo, hot dogs, and wine counters built for a crowd moving between beer, dinner, and whatever the next round is.

What I’ve learned on many trips since that first one is that this city’s best restaurants don’t move in one lane. There’s bison meatloaf in a revived supper-club space, Northern Thai curry from a former Wasabi chef, shawarma and hot tea at a counter-service Middle Eastern spot, and a downtown restaurant where the wine list matters as much as the seasonal menu. The better places here tend to be practical and ambitious at the same time, which may be the most Fargo thing about them.

Here’s where to eat in Fargo right now.