Isaac Becker and Nancy St. Pierre’s 112 Eatery is celebrating two decades in downtown Minneapolis.

The husband-wife duo opened 112 Eatery, their first restaurant, at 112 N. Third St. on Jan. 13, 2005. Opening night was buzzing, but then it got slow, as it tends to at Minneapolis restaurants in the winter. A couple months later, a favorable review in City Pages helped bring diners in droves, and business has been steady since.

“I feel really lucky that the restaurant’s still around and busy,” Becker told Downtown Voices. “I get a lot of reward from it, working with the chefs that are there, creating new dishes, being there on nights when it's busy and expediting, sending the food out, washing the plates. I still really love it. It doesn't feel 20 years old to me at all, it feels fresh for me.”

During each month of the new year, 112 Eatery will revive one or two dishes from Becker’s extensive recipe binder, including scallops with mushrooms and bibb lettuce with fine herbs (February); country-style pork ribs with salsa picante (March), sweetbreads with porcini mushrooms and clams (April); Chinese fried eggs (May); and veal tongue with soba noodles (June).

One of the dishes Becker is most excited to put back on the menu is a foie gras lardon salad, available at 112 Eatery throughout January.

“I don't even really know why I took it off,” Becker said. “It fits really well with the restaurant’s bistro-like concept, and people really liked it.”

An English muffin bun has returned indefinitely to 112 Eatery’s menu, as an option for its brie-topped burger, along with a brioche bun.

112 Eatery opened at 112 N. Third St. in January 2005. Photo courtesy of Earth Girl Creative

Becker and St. Pierre opened Bar La Grassa in the North Loop in 2009, followed by Burch Steak and Pizza in Lowry Hill in 2013 and Snack Bar in the space below Bar La Grassa in 2019.

In 2021, Burch officially became a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the couple's other restaurants carried on after a yearlong pause.

Becker won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2011 for his work at 112 Eatery and Bar La Grassa.

“I don't have any plans of retiring any day soon, so as long as people are still interested in coming there to eat, we’ll stay open,” Becker said of 112 Eatery.

Located in the Warehouse District, 112 Eatery is open for dinner starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.