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| Enjoy
the new menu designed and orchestrated by our passionate new
chef, Jack Riebel. |
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bar menu is simply a good time with good food. |
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| Ten Most Wanted |
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Lunch at the Dakota
It was not a great year for restaurant lunches. While
I had several every week, the only ones I felt
joy in were from chef Jack Riebel's all-American,
incredibly
creative menu at the Dakota. I went on and on in
print about Riebel's craveable Cobb burger—and
I meant every word. This deconstructed burger
with its well-charred
but very tender patty of environmentally conscientious,
humanely raised beef was decorated with the best
parts of a Cobb salad: creamy avocado, rich
bacon, perky
blue cheese. A blood orange and watercress salad
was as crisp and frothy as a meadow in flower;
peekytoe
crab cakes were a sweet ocean song.
- Dara Moskowitz, City Pages
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| in praise of a burger... |
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In the heart of downtown Minneapolis,
the Dakota uses beef from Creekstone Farms, a Kentucky cattle
company that specializes in humanely raised, vegetarian-fed
animals raised in an environmentally conscientious way. I stopped
in recently and had a burger fit for the local burger halls
of fame: It was delicious, scrumptious, and truly craveable.
I speak here of the Cobb burger ($10.50), an avant-garde creation
whereby a fist of well-charred, extremely tender beef is set
in the midst of a plate adorned with all the good bits of a
Cobb salad—the avocado cut into precious cubes; the bacon
scattered in rich, twisty salty bits; the creamy, perky blue
cheese lolling in wee lobes. Every bite was rich, deep, and
extremely satisfying. The fries were crisp, fresh, and just
right. My lunch buddy and I also tried a beautiful blood orange
and watercress salad ($9) and a fine, light, and herbal peeky-toe
crabcake sandwich ($11).
" Why have you been hiding the Dakota from everybody?" demanded my
lunch date. "People need to know!"
I talked to the Dakota's sous chef, Brian Linehan, who explained to
me that ever since chef Jack Riebel took over the restaurant they've
been doing most of their own butchery in-house. Part of the reason
that Cobb burger is so good is because it is freshly made from the
second cuts that remain once the steaks and tenderloin are reserved
for the dinner crowd. "Generally, Jack or myself will take down
all the protein in-house, from fish to meat, which allows us to put
together products we wouldn't be able to do otherwise," says Linehan.
Like what? Like from the pork that they break down, house-made chorizo
with lots of cider vinegar and cinnamon, potstickers filled with Kahlua-marinated
pork and shrimp, and so forth. The poultry too, says Linehan, is something
you can eat with mindful peace. But back to that burger. If you want
one that's both ethically responsible and completely delicious, this
is my pick.
- Dara Moskowitz, City Pages |
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