Waiting for Vinai? Yia Vang Feels Ya

There’s a lot of pressure in being talked about so often. Especially when you have a restaurant concept ready to go, but the universe is just not cooperating. Yia Vang has been excited to bring his Vinai to the Twin Cities for, what, like more than two years now? 

You think you’re frustrated? The James Beard-nominated chef is trying to be patient as money and permits and supply chains all work themselves out, but he’s sort of sick of waiting too. Which is why he’s operating Vinai as a residency this summer at Steady Pour. 

“This residency is not just a preview of the Vinai menu,” Vang said in a statement. “This residency is not a pop-up. This residency is Vinai. Vinai has never been about a specific building or even location. Vinai is a love letter to my parents,” he said.

“One thing I’ve learned from the tenacity of my parents is that you never give up, no matter how hard it gets,” said Vang. “Work the problem and move forward even though it might be just an inch. So I’ve learned that in order to get Vinai built out, it’s going to be a game of inches. So one of the next inches is to start a restaurant residency at Steady Pour. We’re not going to wait for our original building to be finished to open Vinai. We’re not going to wait or make any more excuses. We need to move forward, and more importantly we need to move forward together. We want to invite all of our diners and guests to the table as we get to show them the heart of Vinai.”

This residency follows a successful sold out pop-up earlier this year at Steady Pour on East Hennepin which is raising the game on beverages and cool event spaces. This summer, on weekends through August, dinners will offer five course meals of Vinai menu items paired with beverages selected by Steady Pour’s Jeff Seidenstricker. Tickets are $120 and are reservable starting today. 

So if you’re finally, finally ready for Vinai, you can have it. Rest assured the brick-and-mortar is still coming, but if you’re hungry, why wait?