2 Best Restaurants in Stillwater, Minnesota

More than a casual dockfront café, this place serves cutting-edge cuisine in a contemporary setting. It hugs the St. Croix River, providing gorgeous vistas through large windows. During the summer, diners spill out onto the landscaped brick patio. Seafood is strong on the menu, with salads, sandwiches, and entrées featuring shrimp, crab, yellowfin tuna, and Atlantic salmon. Meat lovers will enjoy dishes like shiitake-encrusted chicken or a mixed-greens salad topped with thinly sliced sirloin. Dessert options are indulgent (think key lime pie).

Eating at this restaurant, tucked into a pine forest, is like taking a mini trip to Germany's Bavaria region. It was founded in the 1960s by two immigrants hungry to bring Bavarian foods to Minnesotans, and is still in the same family. On Sunday afternoons a strolling accordian player entertains during a lavish brunch buffet, and is back again on Friday evenings. Lunch and dinner menus include six schnitzels, walleye cakes, and à la carte specialties like spatzle and kartoffelsalat (hot potato salad). Two bratwursts—from a handful of beef, veal and pork choices—come on a platter with sauerkraut and German potato salad. To close the meal, waitstaff present desserts on a tray.