About Oro by Nixta
Chef Gustavo Romero Veytia started Nixta as a tortilleria — a workshop for masa, the ground corn dough that is the foundational substance of Mexican cooking. The tortilleria is still there, still producing masa with the attention to sourcing and nixtamalization that makes the difference between food and a statement of values. Oro by Nixta is the dining room built around it: a full-service restaurant and bar in the Northeast Arts District where masa and the broader vocabulary of Mexican cooking are treated with the same intellectual seriousness that any great fine dining kitchen brings to its central ingredient.
Bon Appétit named Oro one of the twenty best new restaurants in America in 2024. The James Beard Foundation nominated it for Best New Restaurant the same year. These are not coincidences — they reflect a kitchen operating with a clarity of purpose that is rare, and a chef with a point of view that is entirely his own. Romero Veytia's menu changes weekly based on availability and season, which means the restaurant follows Instagram carefully and rewards the curious diner who comes back.
The space occupies a corner on NE 2nd Street in a neighborhood that has become, over the past decade, the most interesting block-by-block dining territory in Minneapolis. The room is modest in scale — perhaps forty seats — and the kitchen is visible, which means you eat with the understanding of what is being done on your behalf. The mezcal and agave spirits program is among the most knowledgeable in the region.
The Masa Philosophy
Romero Veytia's mastery of masa is the organizing principle of everything at Oro. The tortillas are made in-house, daily, from heirloom corn varieties sourced from small farmers in Mexico — the same corn, treated through nixtamalization, that has defined Mexican cooking for millennia. The difference between these tortillas and what most Americans have encountered in the Mexican restaurants of the United States is the difference between a sourdough made with heritage grain and a supermarket loaf. It is not subtle. It is the kind of difference that stays in your memory and makes every subsequent tortilla a disappointment.
The taco preparations at Oro are accordingly not the familiar ground beef and cheddar of popular Mexican-American food, but compositions — botanas, tacos, platos, guarniciones — that treat their ingredients as precisely as a French kitchen treats a composed dish. The protein preparations change with the menu, but the intelligence applied to each one is consistent.
Why Oro for a Proposal
The Northeast Arts District location situates the evening outside the usual loop of downtown or North Loop restaurants, which means arriving at Oro feels like a destination rather than a default. The room is intimate enough that the kitchen knows who is there. If you call ahead — (612) 200-8087 — Romero Veytia's team will handle the occasion with the warmth and discretion of a small restaurant that takes its guests seriously. The mezcal list, which extends to rare single-village bottlings, provides an obvious vehicle for a celebratory toast that will be remembered precisely because it was not champagne from a bucket.
The changing weekly menu means the evening cannot be exactly rehearsed — you will eat what the season and the market have provided, which adds an element of shared discovery that proposal meals benefit from. The two of you are both encountering something new at the same time, which is exactly the right spirit for beginning something new.
The Mezcal Program
Oro's agave spirits program is the most serious in Minneapolis and among the most serious in the Upper Midwest. The list includes mezcals from regions most drinkers have never encountered — San Luis Potosí, Durango, Guerrero — alongside the more familiar Oaxacan producers, and extends to sotol, raicilla, and other regional Mexican spirits that the American market has only recently begun to discover. The staff knows the list with genuine expertise. Ask for guidance and they will steer you toward something that pairs with what you are eating rather than simply what you already know.
Reservations and Hours
Oro by Nixta takes reservations via Tock and welcomes walk-ins as accommodated. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday from 4 PM to 9 PM, closed Sunday and Monday. Reservations are recommended for weekend evenings. The menu is posted weekly on @nixtampls Instagram before service — following the account before your visit gives you a preview of the evening's direction. Located at 1222 NE 2nd St in the NE Arts District, with street parking and several nearby lots.