Chez Arnaud, 3 Squares, Nadia Cakes Featured in Star Tribune Dining Roundup

Maple Grove has three independent restaurants and bakeries featured in a Star Tribune roundup of dining options in the northern and northwestern Twin Cities suburbs. Here are some excerpts:

Chez Arnaud:

Half the fun of dropping in on this sunny strip-mall shop is watching the pastry crew hard at work (baking in French-made ovens, naturellement) behind a long stretch of show-and-tell windows. The other half? Why, eating, of course, through a belt-bursting array that includes divinely buttery pan au chocolat, eye-catching tarts, delicate charlottes, color-soaked almond macaroons, decadent cream-filled éclairs and mouth-melting meringues.

3 Squares:

The restaurant follows the breakfast-lunch-dinner formula without feeling formulaic. Yes, the menu covers the basics, but does it with an anti-Perkins twist, enthusiastically jumping into the offbeat with such memorable items as a walleye-shrimp cake Benedict, a fantastic turkey burger and Cheddar-stuffed pierogies finished with a blazing horseradish garnish.

Nadia Cakes:

Cupcake fanatics will want to immerse themselves in the endless creativity—why, yes, that is an egg nog cupcake—that is Nadia Cakes ...

See the full article at startribune.com.

Related at Maple Grove Patch:

• Meet the Owner: Chez Arnaud in Maple Grove

• Best of Winner: Chez Arnaud

• Bites Nearby: Chez Arnaud in Maple Grove

• Bites Nearby: 3 Squares Restaurant in Maple Grove

• VIDEO: Where Nadia Cakes' 'Unicorn Poop' Cupcake Frosting Comes From

• Ask the Patch Pro: Abby Jimenez of Nadia Cakes