About Hai Hai
The name Hai Hai — Vietnamese for "two two" — is a nod to the building's previous life as the infamous 22nd Avenue Station, a dive bar and strip club that occupied this Northeast Minneapolis corner for decades before Christina Nguyen and her husband Birk Grudem transformed it into one of the most celebrated restaurants in the Midwest. The bones of the old bar are still there — the industrial framing, the generous floor plan, the sense that this is a room with a past — but everything else is Nguyen's.
Nguyen won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest in 2024, the most significant recognition her kitchen has received among years of consistent acclaim. The restaurant also appears on the World's 50 Best Discovery list, and Andrew Zimmern has been a long-standing champion. But the awards tell an incomplete story. What Hai Hai does, at its core, is cook Southeast Asian food with the kind of personal authority that only comes from someone cooking their own history — the dishes Nguyen grew up eating at home, at family celebrations, in Vietnamese Sunday school basements, and across multiple trips to Southeast Asia.
The menu features dishes that range from familiar Vietnamese comfort to regional Southeast Asian preparations most Minneapolis diners have never encountered. The approach is bold flavors, bright acid, satisfying textural contrasts — the Southeast Asian palette operating at the highest level. The cocktail program, designed around Southeast Asian ingredients, is among the best in Northeast.
The Summer Patio
From late May through September, Hai Hai's outdoor patio becomes the most animated dining experience in Northeast Minneapolis. The street energy of University Avenue, the generous outdoor seating, the cocktails arriving in vivid colors, the food built for sharing — all of it produces an atmosphere that is genuinely festive without requiring any effort. This is the environment in which first dates work best: lively enough that silence isn't uncomfortable, intimate enough that it rewards conversation, and positioned in a neighborhood that has its own character to offer.
Why Hai Hai for a First Date
The menu at Hai Hai is ordered to share, which means the logistics of the date and the logistics of the meal are identical — you are both engaged in making choices together, building a table of dishes, reaching across for what the other person has. This physical engagement with the food creates a natural intimacy that is absent from plated-course formats where everyone faces their own plate in parallel. The food is adventurous enough to generate genuine conversation about flavor and experience, but accessible enough that the evening isn't a challenge. And the patio, in summer, does the atmospheric work for you.
The price point — among the most generous for this level of cooking in the city — means the evening doesn't carry financial weight. You can order freely, try widely, and share without calculation. That ease communicates care without ostentation.
The Menu Philosophy
Nguyen's menu is not a tour of "greatest hits" Southeast Asian — it doesn't anchor itself to pho and pad thai as the familiar reference points it could easily exploit. Instead it moves through lesser-known regional dishes alongside personal creations that use Southeast Asian flavor palates to arrive at something original. The larb is extraordinary. The noodle dishes carry the kind of acid balance that is almost impossible to achieve without the specific knowledge of someone who has grown up eating this food. The coconut desserts are worth ordering regardless of appetite.
Reservation Notes
Hai Hai takes reservations via OpenTable. The restaurant also accommodates walk-ins, particularly for the bar and early evening seating. For patio reservations during summer months, book at least a week in advance. The restaurant is at 2121 University Ave NE, easily accessible by car and transit, with street parking along University Avenue. Call (612) 223-8640 for group inquiries.