http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/17/travel/a-food-scene-grows-in-sioux-falls-sd.html 2014-10-22 00:19:36 A Food Scene Grows in Sioux Falls, S.D. In recent years, new spots have burnished this Midwest city's culinary reputation. === A city where chain restaurants rule when it comes to going out, Sioux Falls, S.D., has never been known for impressive dining. The cold winters and the three-tiered waterfall that inspired its name, yes, but not the food. Now, that’s finally changing: In recent years, locals as well as transplants have opened noteworthy restaurants, cafes and bakeries that are giving this Midwest metropolis of about 166,000 a newfound culinary fame. Most of the growth is in the 10-block downtown, where Phillips Avenue is the main drag. Visiting these new places has become something of a sport. “The people here are suddenly talking about the ones they’ve tried and what they’re going to check out next,” said Cory Myers, 34, a Inklings of an epicurean trend in this city of about 660 dining establishments started almost a decade ago with the Middle Eastern fast-food place Situated in a former railroad warehouse downtown, Sanaa’s has seats for 80 diners, golden yellow walls adorned with Middle Eastern art and a sky-blue ceiling with antique lamps. Ms. Abourezk makes her extensive range of dishes daily, including gluten-free and regular pita bread and fatayer, a type of Eastern Mediterranean rice and quinoa calzone with fillings like feta cheese and olives or ground beef. Marriage to a South Dakota native also brought the pastry chef Chris Hanmer, 36, to the city. He opened his French bakery, Patrons of his 2,000-square-foot store are greeted by a glass case brimming with petits gâteaux, small cakes, in flavors such as milk chocolate mousse and peanut butter caramel, and eight kinds of macarons (he sells 300 to 600 a day). Just across the street from C. H., the choices switch from sweet to savory at the On Friday and Saturday nights, he cooks a three-course, $26 dinner with the cuisine changing weekly. On a recent weekend it was Indian dishes, which included lentil samosas, chicken curry with stewed chickpeas and a cardamom-spiced pumpkin cake. A few blocks away, Chic restaurants are also infusing a shot of energy into the once drab after-dark scene. The city’s gastronomic transformation continued in May when David Napolitano, 27, the owner of the bread company