Aaron Johnson is known as a godfather of the Twin Cities' high-end cocktail scene. He earned this status as the co-owner of two cocktail-focused restaurants, the Town Talk Diner in south Minneapolis and the Strip Club Meat & Fish on St. Paul's East Side.
Now comes his toughest test: Can he make it in Eden Prairie, an affluent west-metro suburb? Johnson's gastro sports pub, Prairie Ale House, opened there in mid-November and is dabbling in all the goodness we've come to expect from him -- meticulously crafted cocktails, regional boutique beer and finely tuned bar food. Crowds have packed the joint every weekend.
Johnson sold his stake in the Town Talk Diner in 2008. But anyone who loved what Johnson and company did at the Town Talk will feel a striking sense of familiarity at Prairie Ale House. The style of food and drink here suggests an old friend.
The Ale House is essentially a twist on a big sports bar. However, the food is a notch above. Chef Tommy Begnaud has loaded the menu with heavy, hearty plates. There's a bacon-wrapped meatloaf sandwich ($10). The Kraut Muncher is a brat burger topped with gruyere and spicy sauerkraut ($11). There's the "bacon steak," which is exactly how it sounds -- a fat slab of bacon ($5). I love the gravy-slathered, cheese-curd-bombed poutine fries ($7). And when's the last time you ate truffled duck confit ($25) at a sports bar?
On opening weekend, the mixology vets behind the bar were also keen on schooling curious customers on the nerdy semantics of craft cocktailing ("A daiquiri is not a martini," one of them informed a patron.) Still, for all this cocktail fanfare, pints of beer far outnumbered cocktail glasses along the massive steel bartop.
"The first couple of weeks people were scared," Johnson said. "But they've come around. Now they just come in and say, 'Make me something.'"
On a recent Sunday, two of Johnson's bartenders planned a night of Prohibition-era cocktails in celebration of Repeal Day (Dec. 5, 1933). Johnson wants to host monthly cocktail events, where his bartenders can conduct informal seminars about the craft of the cocktail. He said he's taking the Cosmo off the drink menu, and wants to make room on the menu for a half-dozen new cocktails that he hopes customers will explore. (Don't worry, you can still order a Cosmo if you must.)
"We're trying to do it in a nice manner -- trying not to be in their face," Johnson said. "We'll get them all hooked eventually."
Coming from the Godfather, that sounds like an offer no one should refuse.
