We stopped for happy hour at Harry’s Food and Cocktails, 500 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, a few weeks ago, about fifteen minutes after they’d opened for business, and found lots of intriguing items on the menu, including starters of grilled beef ribs with garlic and ginger ($11) and braised pork ribs with lentils and escarole ($10). But there was no poutine, the legendary Québécois delicacy of fries, cheese curds, and brown gravy that chef Steven Brown had promised would be on the menu. When asked for an explanation, he said the current menu is just a preview as the kitchen gets up to speed. “Rest assured, the poutine will be there or I’ll be a monkey’s uncle. Part of the issue was getting fresh curds versus frozen, so they squeak.”
The tiny new Hyderabad House Restaurant (1831 Central Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-706-3292), next door to Patel Brothers Indian grocery, bills itself as an “Authentic Hyderabadi Restaurant”—and who are we to doubt it? Hyderabad, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, has a reputation for great cuisine, which it traces back to the Moghul conquerors. Prices here are extremely reasonable (entrées range from $4.99 to $6.99), but the award for the first Hyderabadi restaurant in the Twin Cities would go to Kabob’s at 7814 Portland Ave. S. in Bloomington (612-636-7786).
Oh boy, it’s a sushi tsunami in downtown Min-neapolis! We’ve already got Origami, Nami, Wasabi, and Koyi Sushi in the warehouse district, sushi at Martini Blu at the Grand Hotel, Ichiban on the Nicollet Mall, and Tensuke Sushi in the skyways … and joining them in mid-August, in the former Olive Garden space on Hennepin Avenue, will be Musashi Japanese Restaurant. According to manager Mickey Liu, owner Tyu Di Chen, a native of China, worked at Japanese restaurants in Japan for ten years before coming to the States. Just how Musashi will differentiate itself from its competitors isn’t clear, but Liu says his restaurant’s cuisine will be better.
We found Doug Anderson and Steve Vranian surrounded by clouds of plaster dust at the new restaurant taking shape in the gutted shell of the former Loring Grill on Loring Park. The owner and chef, respectively, of Nick & Eddie are racing toward a late-August opening date. It’s a reunion of sorts, as they first worked together at Jeremiah Tower’s legendary Stars in San Francisco. Anderson now owns A Rebours in St. Paul; Vranian’s résumé includes stints at the California Café and Murray’s.
Enterprising chef Lenny Russo, back at his Heartland Midwestern Restaurant after a stint at Cue, is working with the Saint Paul Growers Association to create a new retail store and distribution center next door to the St. Paul Farmers Market in Lowertown. The retail store will feature locally grown foods—fresh, canned, or frozen—year-round, while the wholesale distribution center will help small farmers cut out the middleman in selling to restaurants and co-ops, whose purchasing volume is greater than individual farmers can handle. The goal, says Russo, is to have farmers keep more of the profits and also spend less time and fuel making deliveries to the metro area. Russo hopes to break ground this summer and open for the 2008 growing season.
Check out the brand-new Jasmine 26, next door to The Bad Waitress at 26th and Nicollet in Minneapolis, which is owned by the same family as the nearby Jasmine Deli. Expect a lot of the same beloved Vietnamese soups, noodle salads, and spring rolls that bring hungry patrons to Jasmine in droves, plus Chinese and Thai specialties and a full bar, all in a much more stylish—and less cramped—setting.
Half a block away, at 25th and Nicollet, Yummy, which happens to be one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, now has another attraction, besides fresh (i.e., live) seafood, daily dim sum, and bargain-priced Peking duck. Monday through Thursday, bottled beer is just a buck, and that includes Tsingtao, imported from China. And, starting this month, the restaurant is open every day of the week.
For more restaurants, food news, and tasting notes from Ann Bauer & Jeremy Iggers visit www.rakemag.com/eatersdigest
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