Oro by Nixta

About Oro by Nixta

Oro by Nixta is the full-service restaurant from chef Gustavo Romero and Kate Romero, at 1222 NE 2nd Street in the Northeast Arts District of Minneapolis. It grew out of Nixta, the couple's pandemic-era project making heirloom-corn tortillas through traditional nixtamalization, which began as pop-ups and weekly takeout before becoming a sit-down room. When it opened in 2024 it was named a James Beard Award nominee for Best New Restaurant and made Bon Appetit's list of the year's best new restaurants.

The kitchen puts masa and corn at the centre of the plate rather than the side. For more of the city's range, compare the Latin cooking at Martina, the Indigenous menu at Owamni and the Hmong cooking at Vinai. For the category, see our Mexican guide.

The Kitchen

Corn is the star. The kitchen nixtamalizes heirloom corn in house to make some of the country's more complex tortillas and masa, then builds the menu around them: tacos with beef tongue, shrimp or pork confit; quesadillas de huitlacoche, the prized corn fungus; house moles; pozole; and ceviches. Chef Gustavo Romero, raised in Tulancingo in Hidalgo, Mexico, cooked in Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Florence and Oakland before settling in Minneapolis and pivoting to masa during the pandemic. Prices sit in the mid-range, and the cooking turns corn from an overlooked side into the thing you remember. It is the rare full-service masa kitchen.

The Room

The room is a relaxed, full-service bar and dining space in Northeast Minneapolis, a step up from the takeout window that came before but still informal and warm rather than hushed. The mood suits a dinner with friends or a low-key date, and the open approach to masa gives the meal a sense of craft. It sits at 1222 NE 2nd Street in the Arts District, with street parking and nearby lots. Demand has been high since the James Beard recognition, so booking ahead is wise, especially at weekends.