The first restaurant from celebrated Minneapolis chef Diane Moua will open on April 6. Diane's Place is the restaurant opening that's been at the top of every list of anticipated opening list.
For those who might have missed previous news bits about the restaurant, we're happy to give you the rundown on why we've been stamping our feet and clutching pearls over every announcement out of Moua's corner. Now we'll all be excited when those doors inside the Food Building open in just a few short weeks.
1. The Diane Moua.
This is the chef who wowed dignitaries with her desserts at La Belle Vie. The same one who would later go on to create the bread program at Spoon and Stable when it opened and had us all fighting over butter plates. And the same one who led Spoon's dessert program. She was also the first to twirl laminated dough and stack dozens of crêpes into croissants and crêpe cakes at Bellecour. She's been at the top of every game she's played, and expectations are that she has always brought the delicious goods.
2. All that, and a bag of chips.
The chef who did all that (see above) from the pastry station is taking a solid step into the savory world. Moua was always someone who balanced her sweet with a little salt, and we are ready for what comes from the other side of that flavor line.
3. It's been a long time coming.
Moua first announced plans to leave Bellecour and the Gavin Kaysen-led group of restaurants to build her own restaurant all the way back in October 2022. Does anyone even remember what they were doing back then, besides constantly humming Lizzo's "About Damn Time?" That's just a suggestion to play in the car on the way over to northeast Minneapolis after April 6.
4. We have all day to enjoy this food.
Never one to do things in a small way, Moua told us back in November 2023, "I want Diane's Place to reflect my heritage, and everything my parents taught me, including their work ethic, hospitality and love of food." With that, the food will be served the way she likes to eat: from morning until night. While we don't have exact hours pinned down yet, the prospect of an all-day neighborhood cafe means more hours to taste what she's cooking. Moua said that she's a fan of brunch soups, and we've been dreaming of breakfast pho ever since. Why isn't brunch soup more of a thing?
5. She's not in this alone.
Moua is working with Heather Ann Mady as general manager, and Mady's warm hospitable ways have been on display locally for years. The two met back in the glory days of La Belle Vie, but anyone who has dined at Mucci's in St. Paul in recent years has likely felt the warm glow of her hospitality.
6. It's already a food building.
Diane's Place will open at 117 14th Av. NE in Minneapolis, inside what's known as the Food Building. It has been an incubator for small food businesses and producers. One of Diane's neighbors is chef Erik Sather's Lowry Hill Provisions, which took over the space and some operations from the lauded Red Table Meats. Lowry Hill has already made a Hmong sausage, the porky links seasoned with lemongrass, galangal, ginger and chiles to Moua's specifications. Fingers crossed that's going to be a featured item on the menu.
7. Did we mention she has cool friends?
While we're still waiting on more details about what will be served behind the bar, Moua tapped Marco Zappia of 3 Leches to serve some of his sophisticated nonalcoholic drinks inside the event space with plans to stock his beverages for all-day sober sips.
8. She's a farm kid at heart.
Moua is the oldest of six children born in America to refugee-immigrant parents who still work the family's 120-acre farm in central Wisconsin. Growing up, she helped pluck peppers and prepare huge feasts for family events. From those roots, she worked professionally in the finest of fine dining kitchens, but the meals she'll prepare at Diane's Place honor the entirety of her journey, and the one her parents took get her here. That's why she named the restaurant in honor of the American name her parents gave her.
9. She hasn't abandoned sweets.
Let's not throw the croissants out with the pastry creams. Moua will not forsake her laminated dough arts, but she's going to stretch her creativity. Last year she elaborated on plans by saying, "I travel to New York all the time, and you'll see Korean American bakeries, Chinese American bakeries, but never Hmong American bakeries," she said. So alongside the chocolate, we're primed for pandan coconut croissants. It's an idea whose time has come.
10. Go back to point one: There to here again.
She's a longtime industry professional, but she's also a daughter, mom, Hmong-American and resoundingly respected by all who have worked with her or are familiar with her work. Opening this restaurant has been a journey for the chef and we cannot wait to follow her into this next era.
Diane's Place, 117 14th Av. NE., Mpls., dianesplacemn.com, Instagram
