Welcome back, Peter's

Welcome back, Peter's

It sure is great to see the doozy of a sign outside Peter's Grill (114 S. 8th St., Minneapolis) lit up once again. The landmark 92-year-old local treasure is scheduled to reopen today after a five-month hiatus. Former owner Peter Atsidakos, nephew of Peter's founder Peter Atcas, has bought back the business he sold to Cyril Davies and Daphne King in 2003. Atsidakos' retirement didn't last long.

"It's better to be here," he said with a laugh. The food, like that iconic sign, is just as it was during the Atsidakos era. "It's going to be like the original menu," Atsidakos said. "All the stuff just the same way we did before."

That means, among other things, the towering apple pie, the roast turkeys, the signature vegetable soup. The famous Wednesday afternoon special is poised for a comeback, too: a quarter chicken, potatoes and cole slaw for just $4.15. Peter's is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.

Such a deal

Holiday season discounted gift cards are becoming more and more popular among Twin Cities restaurants. A few examples: At View in Minneapolis, diners can buy $100 in cards and get a $20 bonus; at Pizza Luce in Minneapolis the ratio is buy $100, get $10. David Fhima's two St. Paul restaurants, Fhima's and LoTo, offer a straight 25 percent discount on any gift certificate amount. Following a $100/$25 formula is jP American Bistro in Minneapolis and the entire Parasole family of restaurants: Manny's, Figlio and Chino Latino in Minneapolis, Muffuletta in St. Paul, Good Earth in Roseville and Salut Bar Americain and Good Earth in Edina.

Parasole partner Phil Roberts thinks that his company was the first locally to offer the discounted gift cards, about nine or 10 years ago. "I don't know if it's big for us, but customers love it," said Roberts. "It's a little like billboards. You can never measure how well they do, but you can't take them down, either."

In the news

In the December issue of Food & Wine, chef Isaac Becker's lamb scottadito at 112 Eatery (112 N. 3rd St., Minneapolis) was lauded as one of the magazine's 10 best restaurant dishes of 2006. "The lamb chops, seared to perfection and served with pesto-spiked goat's-milk yogurt, are the kind of food a ravenous cook might throw together at the end of a shift -- a primal dish that's eaten standing up, utensils be damned," raved editor Nick Fauchald, a former Minnesota Monthly food writer.

Earlier this month, D'Amico Cucina (100 N. 6th St., Minneapolis) was in the Wall Street Journal's coveted "Power Tables" hotseat, the column that dissects a restaurant's bold-face name clientele and their regular tables. Cited bigwigs included U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (table 45), attorney Michael Ciresi (table 56) and Garrison Keillor (table 14).

"San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has been known to swing by with a bus full of players to pick up 15 double orders of the house specialty -- $25 lobster gnocchi -- to go," reported the newspaper.

RICK NELSON