Harry's Food & Cocktails

Poutine will be on the snack menu at Harry’s Food & Cocktails, which opens this Thursday at 500 Washington Ave. S. in Minneapolis. The restaurants of Montreal offer interpretations of poutine made with everything from foie gras to pineapple, but chef Steven Brown will feature the classic version of this Quebec specialty on his snack menu. “People here love cheese curds and they love french fries and they love gravy,” Brown said. “It ought to be a home run.”

Brown built his reputation creating haute cuisine at the Loring Cafe, Rock Star and Restaurant Levain (all now defunct), but the menu at Harry’s will have a more down-home flavor. “Our motto in the kitchen is, ‘nothing fancy, everything tasty,’ and our alternate motto is ‘good food tastes good.’”

This time around, Brown promises “great value,” and original renditions of familiar dishes — gourmet burgers like the Espana, topped with smoked paprika and Manchego cheese ($9); and daily specials like meatloaf on Mondays ($12), an all-you-can-eat Wisconsin fish fry on Fridays ($16), and a Sunday supper of martini, pork chop and salad ($18).

The former Nochee space was completely gutted and redesigned by David Shea of Shea Associates — who seems to be designing every new restaurant in the Twin Cities. “The place is going to have the ethos of a sports bar, a neighborhood place,” says Brown. “If you want to come and watch the game, you can do that.”