When Minnesotan couple Kelly and David Backes tried out STALK & SPADE—Steele Smiley's new vegan fast-food burger restaurant that debuted last year in Wayzata—they were immediately intrigued. Now, the Backeses are opening the first franchise location of Stalk & Spade.

Seasonal menu items. Pop-ups. The fading away of tipping culture and a renewed focus on workers’ rights and benefits. Here’s what’s trending for 2022 and beyond from local restaurateurs and chefs Brian Ingram and Jametta Raspberry, plus Shea design guru Tanya Spaulding.

From new non-alcoholic beer and cocktail offerings at queer soccer bar Black Hart of St. Paul to crafty dog menus and winter ice games at Craft & Crew locations, Twin Cities bar owners innovate to meet the changing needs of their customers—and employees.

Despite the unavoidable drop in traffic from college students and tourists last year, Winona restaurant owners and managers of Acoustic Café, Beno’s Deli, Sammy’s Pizza and Signatures kept the lights on—in large part because of community support.

One of the largest Taco Bell franchisees has broken ground on building a 3,000-square-foot, two-story model which will feature four drive-thru lanes, dubbed “Taco Bell Defy.” Border Foods plans to open the new restaurant design in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota by spring of 2022, according to franchisees and brothers Lee and Jeff Engler. Based in New Hope, Minnesota, 35-year franchise partner Border Foods owns and operates more than 200 Taco Bell restaurants spread across the Upper Midwest in Minneso

As if operating multiple restaurant concepts in the Twin Cities wasn’t enough, Justin Sutherland has his own show on TruTV called “Fast Foodies” and is planning to launch a multi-unit national chain soon.

After the drama of his Kickstarter campaign, the first time Chef Yia Vang laid eyes on the building which would become his first-ever, brick-and-mortar restaurant, he thought to himself, “eh.”

Drive-thru business used to represent about 60 percent of sales at Tamra Kennedy’s Taco John’s locations throughout Minnesota and Iowa. Now that both states have mandated restaurants close their dining rooms due to COVID-19, drive-thrus represent 100 percent of business.

Many in the Twin Cities are familiar with Breaking Bread Café in North Minneapolis, which first opened in 2015 and is run by nonprofit Appetite for Change. The nonprofit opened Station 81 Drink & Eatery in St. Paul on December 6, 2019—the day of the big tree lighting outside Union Depot where Station 81 is housed.

St. Paul’s Frogtown seeks to become the most sustainable and eco-friendly neighborhood in the city. The neighborhood already encompasses various urban farms, parks and gardens, including Frogtown Farm, one of the largest urban farms in the country.

Thousands of students and supporters marched Saturday in St. Paul as part of the worldwide “March for Our Lives” demonstration to protest gun violence.

Olympic sisters Hannah and Marissa Brandt return home to Vadnais Heights with a message for young girls on International Women's Day.

A gym dedicated to “bouldering” — rock climbing on lower walls that requires no harnesses or ropes — will be the first of its kind in the Twin Cities to serve beer, and eventually wine.

Hill-Murray gave Mark Nyman the foundation for his successes. After his death, his school will get $3 million for scholarships so others may benefit, too. The second-largest gift in the Maplewood Catholic school’s history will make it possible for 20 students to receive scholarships toward tuition each year.

With roughly 100 law enforcement personnel watching from the ground and sky, a relatively small group assembled outside a University of Minnesota building to protest a speech by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.

A St. Paul dental clinic that has served needy patients for more than 50 years is expecting to expand its services after moving into new quarters earlier this month.

In 2015, the Met Council found a mere one in 10 homes developed in the Twin Cities region were affordable. That year, Shakopee developed just 26 homes that would be considered affordable, and 74 that exceeded it.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken told an auditorium of immigrants, refugees, dreamers and activists Saturday that he’s both optimistic and apologetic about the fear and anxiety wracking their community in the wake of President Trump’s plan to end a federal program that protects young immigrants from deportation.

About 20 people protested Canterbury Park’s Extreme Race Day Saturday, an event featuring camels, ostriches and zebras racing, in addition to horses.

A new community paramedics program at Scott County Jail in Shakopee, Minn. provides more hours of care for inmates.

Shakopee's Canterbury Park hosted exotic animal races at Extreme Race Day on July 15, 2017. The 96-degree day seemed to siphon people Saturday, where numbers dropped from 18,000 last year to 13,315 this year.

Akshay Vankayala is the kind of 15-year-old who stacks books for hours during the summer, but earns a third-degree black belt in kung fu.

Lincoln and Leland Hanson developed Type 1 diabetes at 12 and 14 months old. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation selected the Shakopee twins, now 5 years old, to be a part of Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C., this week — marking the twins’ first airplane ride.

Rides, cotton candy, Soak City Waterpark — Valleyfair has it all. But did you know Valleyfair also boasts a high-flying extreme sports show in its amphitheater?