Best Outstate Restaurant Worth the Drive - Angry Trout Cafe - 2013 Best of MN

The Angry Trout Cafe in Grand Marais, Minn., could live off its postcard-perfect setting, a summer camp-like dockside perch tucked inside the town's picturesque harbor. But co-owners Barb LaVigne and George Wilkes don't coast on their landmark restaurant's charmed looks. Instead, they go out of their way to partner with a network of nearby farmers, foragers and fisheries, forging a deep and lasting culinary sense of place. The cooking is simplicity itself, but from the wild rice pilaf and fizzy maple soda to the expertly fried lake trout and delicate, coral-tinted herring caviar, the kitchen's honesty and integrity never fail to leave a lasting impression, and isn't that the very best kind of souvenir? 408 W. Hwy. 61, Grand Marais; 1-218-387-1265, angrytroutcafe.com