Twee in the Twin Cities - 112 eatery & more

American cuisine is trendoid, of course. And if the 90s was the decade of internationalism, best represented by the ascendancy of salsa to the pinnacle of American condiments, then I think the 00s will be called the decade of playing with our food.

Alinea and Moto are the local leaders in food as humor, commentary and lab experiment, but almost every place is doing it. Okay, the places whose menu descriptions appear to be a laundry list of every fashionable ingredient they can shoehorn into a dish are only inadvertently humorous, so they hardly qualify, but fusion and experimentation even seem to have become key concepts in the Denny's test kitchen. And Mickey D's salad shooter seems to be a direct inspiration for a lot of what Achatz is doing .

I think this is a pretty good thing, and I do like some humor, some experimentation and some interesting juxtaposition in my meal. In fact, it is those things, in combination with tastiness, that I look for in fine dining these days.

Tonight I had the pleasure to dine at 112 eatery in Minneapolis. It is a small place, about 15 tables and a bar, in a historic building in downtown Minneapolis. Long, narrow, comfy space.

We started with complementary walnuts (I think) in a sugar and cayenne coating, a little lighter than brittle, and olives that seemed to be cured in nutmeg. Point made: "Diners, we will be playing with flavors tonight." Nuts very good and not particularly challenging. Olives were thought-provoking, and I still am not sure whether I like them or not.

The menu is organized as appetizers, sides and entrees (plus desserts and beverages), but with the exception of 7 entrees, it really is all small dishes that one can combine any way one wishes. I ordered one of each - lamb scottadito with sheep's goat yogurt (3 crispy little chops in herbed and lemoned yogurt), eggy, lemony, crispy cauliflower fritters, and a bacon, egg, and harissa sandwich (thick base of bacon with a fried egg on white toast with a slather of spicy harissa).

My companion settled on a single, real entree, stringozzi with lamb sugo - long, chewy, curly, fresh pasta with light sauce and chunks of lamb.

We finished with some Izzy's vanilla ice cream.

It was all excellent, except the sandwich which did not come together for me.

The wine list is great - no less than 10 or 11 wines by the glass that were of interest to me. Lots of spanish, obscure southern france, obscure west coast, and sprinklings of other regions like Austria, Alsace and more. Things I have not tried but would like to, and priced reasonably.

Decent value, too, the whole meal was under $70 with 2 glasses of wine and before tip.

Fun place. Good, creative food. Check out the menu here. It is popular, so make reservations or be prepared to wait a bit. But it is also open late.

http://www.112eatery.com/

112 eatery
112 north 3rd street
minneapolis
612-343-7696

Further report from the Twin Cities:

Based on another gush in the City Pages (I do think Dara Moskowitz does a good job with her reviews), I went to sample Market Barbecue's (around 14th Street & Nicollet) grilled chicken. I had no intention of trying their barbecue since I had no positive reports on it, but scanning the menu the first things I read was about how they serve their barbecue without sauce so the meat can show itself. Seemed like the right approach, so I ordered a sampler - 1/2 grilled chicken and 4 ribs.

The verdict: almost.

Ribs had been smoked and almost treated well. But they have a charcoal grill in back, and like to use it. So the ribs were finished on that grill, and ended up dry and overcooked.

The chicken was better, crispy and flecked with black, charcoaled bits. Minimal seasoning, touch of salt, little herbs, and chicken flavor came thru. In fact the thigh and leg were quite good. But I left the breast till last, and by the time I got to it, it was cool, dry and pretty unappetizing. If I had eaten it first, or not become distracted by the ribs and sauce samplings, it might have been better.

Sauces, hot and reg, are ketchupy, sweet probably with a little citrus sweetening of some sort. Fries were thin, crispy and good; slaw was lightly creamed, lots of celery seed, and pretty good.

So there is that report, and if you go, go for the chicken.

My last night I ended up at Zelo. Zelo has that hot spot look and feel - dramatic space with tables dotted around, many with banquettes, rocking bar (it put me in mind of a more tasteful, somewhat Italianate Cheesecake Factory for some reason, or maybe parts of Marche, without the somewhat cavernous industrial space). Northern Italian menu with grilled meats and pastas. Plus some pizzas, and flat bread pizzas. Fairly boring and overpriced wine list, concentrating heavily on California whites and reds.

I was convinced to have a light meal, particularly since I had been overeating all week. After consultation, I started with the Fruit Gazpacho special, it being a 90 degree day in July - Mango and some other fruit bits, jicama, light oj broth, touch of cilantro, and many lumps of peekytoe crab. Not as sweet as I expected since the Jicama dominated and the fruits were not as ripe, sweet and tender as they could have been. It matched fine with an Inama Soave.

To follow, the waitress suggested the grilled salmon salad - wild Alaskan salmon this time of year, grilled and lightly seasoned/salted, with good greens, a simple vinaigrette and a little bit of pink grapefruit. Very enjoyable. The Ruffino Chianti Riserva that we settled upon is a rich, deep, well made wine, but not exactly right for the salad (we knew we were experimenting here).

Dessert was a strawberry shortcake - 3 tiny biscuits sitting in a strawberry broth, dressed with strawberries, dabs of whipped cream, a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and bits of candied ginger.

The meal was fairly pricy at close to $70, but it was interesting and they made good use of seasonal ingredients. My waitress, Erin, who helped me choose did a very nice job. But she, like Marie at Healthy Foods, is only a part-timer working towards a nursing degree.

Zelo
831 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55402-2506
(612) 333-7000

dicksond wrote:I do think Dara Moskowitz does a good job with her reviews...

Prior to your increasingly frequent rpts lately, Ms M's have been the most reliable to date over the last few years, even as I've learned that they need to be ingested with a grain of salt--reflective as they are of the context of what's available in the Twin Cities.

Steve Drucker wrote:Prior to your increasingly frequent rpts lately, Ms M's have been the most reliable to date over the last few years, even as I've learned that they need to be ingested with a grain of salt--reflective as they are of the context of what's available in the Twin Cities.

Didn't you know that you handed off the road warrior baton to me when we lunched in Atlanta?

A little too much travel of late, actually, but things will be settling down a bit, now. Still, it is useful to have a store of reports about places around the country when one goes to travel, isn't it? The search function makes it so easy to find places.

As to the context of Dara's posts, I agree that she does seem to take a somewhat missionary approach at times, encouraging people to try new places and support adventurous chefs. Her post on 112 is more than a bit breathless, giving credit to the chef as much for his adventurousness as his ability to execute, IMO. Judge for yourself. http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1265/article13017.asp. I read one review before my visit where she said something like, "If you are one of those people who keep emailing me that I need to try Baker's Square one more time because it really is quite tasty, don't bother to try this place..." Had to chuckle. The fact that a fairly serious restaurant critic feels a need to write that does point out a different dynamic in her market, doesn't it?

But one needs to understand where every reviewer is coming from, including all of us here, before taking their advice, don't we?

112 eatery is still going strong. By complete coincidence, many of my dishes overlapped with dicksond's 4 years ago. I tried stringozzi with lamb sugo, tagliatelle with foie gras meatballs, lamb scottadito with goat's milk yogurt, and a chocolate pot de crème. The lamb scottadito was easily the highlight of the meal. It had a great almost gamey flavor, was perfectly browned on the outside, and left rare on the inside. The basil goat's milk yogurt was so good that only the company of relatives kept me from licking the platter, and a sprinkling of lemon zest tied it all nicely together.

Both pastas were beautifully done with excellent texture. The tagliatelle was wonderfully rich and left me very happy. The stringozzi was well executed, but tasted like a very good lasagna; I wouldn't choose it again. Finally the pot de crème was outstanding and so large for its richness that, for the first time in my life, I took half my desert home for breakfast.