The list of jazz musicians who have played the Dakota includes Patricia Barber, Charles Brown, Ray Brown, James Carter, Bill Carrothers, Regina Carter, Billy Cobham, Larry Coryell, Joey DeFrancesco, Al Di Meola, Kurt Elling, Sonny Fortune, Von Freeman, Bill Frisell, Benny Green, Roy Hargrove, Roy Haynes, Dave Holland, Zakir Hussain, Ahmad Jamal, Bob James, Stanley Jordan, Billy Higgins, Bobby Hutcherson, Charles Lloyd, Los Lobos, John McLaughlin, Frank Morgan, Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff, Pat Martino, Nicholas Payton, Madeleine Peyroux, Joshua Redman, Wallace Roney, Arturo Sandoval, John Scofield, Ben Sidran, Toots Thielemans, McCoy Tyner, Joe Williams, and Chucho Valdés.

The Dakota opened as a restaurant that featured jazz. Although music has become what it is now most widely known for, food has continued to be a significant part of the Dakota. The Dakota was one of the first Minnesota restaurants featuring "farm-to-table," working closely with Minnesota growers and developing a new "Midwestern Cuisine" under original Chef Ken Goff. The Dakota was one of three midwestern restaurants (along with Prairie in Chicago) to be featured in a major New York Times article about the emergence of a regional cuisine in the Midwest. Since then, the Dakota has continued to emphasize fresh ingredients from sustainable sources and continues its creative culinary approach.

• Urban listening room: Dakota
• "City Pages" Best Jazz Club 2011
• Jazz Police Dakota Jazz Club Review
• "Dakota Jazz Club website". Retrieved 2006-07-31.

44°58′25″N 93°16′31″W / 44.97361°N 93.27528°W / 44.97361; -93.27528