On June 13th, my family and I had the wonderful privilege to eat lunch at Diane's Place; a newly opened restaurant by Diane Moua. Diane's place is located at Minneapolis FOOD BUILDING. First walking into the restaurant was a nice pleasant sight, and the decor across the room was simple but cohesive. The restaurant has two rooms with a primary room that consists of a long bar and multiple seating. The second room is smaller with about 2-3 tables for customers. and that's where we sat.
Looking at the menu, one can see a section of pastries and a section of main dishes. We asked Diane herself what was the inspiration behind her menu. She told us that it is a combination of her Hmong background and her traditional French training. Hearing this, we had to try a bit of everything so we ordered 3 pastries and 5 main dishes which in hindsight for a group of 4 is a bit too much, and we had plenty of leftovers. A couple next to us had just finished their meal and remarked it was absolutely ''special'' and suggested we order the Sweet Pork Bowl and Hmong Sausage. We took their advice and added on several items such as Beef Salad .. Pan Fried Bean Thread Noodles, and several different croissant pastries.
The pastries came out first. We had the Sweet Pork Danish, Coconut Pandan Croissant, and Thai tea Croissant. The Danish was quite incredible and super savory. The pork was a cube on top of the Danish, and the flavors just radiated outwards into the Danish. The top of the Danish was crunchy while the inner remained faithfully soft. The pork itself was salty and sweet, which matched effortlessly with the Danish. The two croissants were very similar, and both had inner bliJ.ng. l ne l ha1 tea had a Thai-based filling while the coconut had a matcha base. I particularly enjoyed the Thai Tea Croissant which had a gentle and cool filling that pleasantly mixed with the textured croissant top. The top also had a chocolate glaze and feuilletine ( a wafer-like ingredient) that created that additional crunch. At this point, I was already getting full, but the mains had not even been served.
When the mains arrived I was dazzled by the incredible smells and eye-popping color that each dish expressed. My eyes naturally gravitated towards the Sweet Pork Bowl which had a rice base with mustard greens and super savory pork cubes. The pork cutlets were intensely seasoned which made sense as to why Diane decided to match it with rice and mustard greens. I loved the pickled flavor of the greens which added a dimension to this dish and stopped the pork from overpowering the whole bowl. I already really enjoyed the Hmong sausage, which 1s a large roasted sausage with rice and garnishing. The garnishing of dill and onions helps add an earthy flavor to a dish, balancing out the meal. The sausage was also paired with two delicious sauces, one being green and the other being a red hot sauce. The red sauce is sour and hot. which adds a nice flavor to the rice and sausage, but it is quite intense in the heat factor. There was so much more food that we ate, but can't be expressed in this article, which is why I implore anyone interested in eating an exceptional meal for lunch to go to Diane's Place.
While eating the meal, we saw a familiar face - our friend Erik Sather from Lowry Hill Provisions, formerly of Lowry Hill Meats. He's the one who produces the sausage that is in Diane's dish. Diane's restaurant operates within its community and sources from nearby places, even her family farm which grew the mustard greens. This just makes the food taste and feel fresh, and brings a sense of love to the food. Go experience that love and eat at Diane's!
