Town Talk Diner begins life anew

After several darkened years, it's a thrill to see the Town Talk Diner flashing its razzmatazz marquee once again. That a first-rate restaurant has blossomed behind Lake Street's quirkiest beacon is another cause for celebration, although that should come as no great surprise. The Town Talk's partnership -- chef David Vlach, beverage guru Aaron Johnson and general manager Tim Niver -- possess an enviable food-biz pedigree. What they have made of their potent collaboration is very special indeed.

Members of the TTD triumvirate are adamant about preserving the American diner's rich culinary legacy. Yet theirs is no dipped-in-amber museum, but rather several charismatic enterprises operating in comfortable coexistence. One is a bar that pours clever, campy, seductive cocktails. Another is a laid-back neighborhood drop-in that specializes in contemporary short-order fare. Then there's a high-minded kitchen that doesn't take itself too seriously.

One place where these split personalities intersect is in the tab. There's no more glorious way to drop 10 bucks in this town right now than with Vlach's phenomenal pulled pork sandwich. It starts with a host of house-roasted and ground spices rubbed into pork shoulder that's slow-cooked until the impossibly tender meat falls apart at the tug of a fork. Add a splash of Kansas City-style barbecue sauce, a sturdy onion bun, crunchy slaw and a few teasingly vinegary house-made pickles and the sandwich becomes a prime example of how the seemingly disparate coupling of progressive cooking and roadside-stand traditions can thrive in matrimonial bliss.

By excising the words "greasy" and "heavy" from his vocabulary, Vlach is a virtuoso of the deep fryer. His cheese curds restore honor to what has deteriorated into a carnival-food joke. The mild curds (from Wisconsin's stellar Carr Valley) are battered in a fritterlike concoction of green onions, capers and Miller High Life, and quick-fried to perfection. They stand up nicely to a house-made ketchup steeped in smoky bacon fat.

Also delicious are "Frickles," those fantastic thin-sliced pickles dipped in a tempuralike rice flour batter, fried and paired with a fetching honey-dill-mustard sauce. Then there are the onion rings: he-man cuts of sweet onion dunked in a yeast- and egg whites-enriched batter so light it defies fast-food physics, fried and stacked to resemble a Swedish wedding cake.

Oh, and the fries! If there is a more alluring French fry -- light, golden, deliriously salty -- in the Twin Cities, I have yet to devour it; the garlic version, coated with the stuff and plenty of parsley, could single-handedly tank the South Beach Diet.

Other dishes also honor the diner tradition: juicy burgers, grilled Gruyère-Cheddar sandwiches, hot dogs with the works. But the real standout? Pancakes. The Town Talk was famous for its flapjacks, and Vlach does that heritage proud with a noteworthy rendition, plate-size whoppers with rough-hewn exteriors that reveal tender, cakey interiors. They're served at dinner, but also anchor the weekend brunch menu, which includes a stellar pulled-pork hash, an awesome burger topped with ham and a fried egg and an over-the-top French toast.

From ordinary to extraordinary

A handful of entrees also demonstrate the kitchen's expert savvy with seemingly ordinary ideas: pan-fried chicken, a pork chop with a veal stock-cherry sauce and beyond-decadent mashed potatoes. There's a studiously composed platter of cheeses, sausages, an onion jam and yeah, more of those pickles.

The vivid salads are each a kaleidoscope of color, texture and flavor, particularly a beauty of a beet plate built with thin-sliced pickled yellows and roasted reds paired with poached fingerling potatoes and finished with the crunch of Asian pears and a drizzle of lemon oil.

Vlach and sous-chef Tor Westgard also cook with the seasons via a half-dozen daily specials. Soups sing with deeply concentrated flavor. A spectacular salad tossed chamomile-infused wild rice, toasted cashews and cherries over greens. One night I lucked into an impeccably poached halibut with glazed pearl onions and carrots and a gossamer-light white-wine broth, a truly flawless dish.

Highest praise among the sweets goes to a nostalgic chocolate waffle, nicely crisp, crowned with hazelnuts and cherry-chocolate chunk ice cream.

The former diner itself, a 1946 landmark, has been reborn as a bar. It's a charmer, a shoebox in terrazzo and stainless steel. Even with significant alterations it's probably still recognizable from its 24-hour heyday, when workers from the nearby tractor plant used to stand two-deep behind the long counter, vying for one of the diner's 17 stools. Those seats are my favorite at the TTD, amid the chatter of the jocular bar staff, the latest Flaming Lips tune and the whir of the blenders cranking up the superb ice cream drinks.

If only the smallish dining room had as much pizazz. It's an adjacent storefront, accessed through a cutout in the diner's wall. It's not bad-looking, with exposed Chicago brick, a tin ceiling and colorful checkerboard linoleum floor. But after the retro promise of the snug bar, it feels like a bit of an afterthought, which may explain the harsh lighting and SRO-at-the-Metrodome acoustics. "Would you rather it look like some cartoon of a diner?" asked a friend, making a good point. "This isn't a Johnny Rockets franchise."

Picky, picky, picky

There is a downside. If the well-trained service staff -- spiffy in cute blue cotton jackets -- doesn't hustle, those brilliant fried foods lose their luster with each passing second. Items that should be easy to cook to order weren't. Did I mention the volume?

And if elements of the TTD recall a few well-tuned predecessors (the Modern Cafe and 112 Eatery both spring to mind), big deal. Vlach, Johnson and Niver already had a tremendous source of inspiration -- the Town Talk itself, and its built-in moxie -- and they have shrewdly used that springboard to create a restaurant that truly merits a citywide conversation.

Town Talk Diner ***1/2

Location: 27071/2 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, 612-722-1312, www.towntalkdiner.com.

Hours: Open for dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Open for brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Bar open 4 p.m. to midnight Tuesday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday.

Atmosphere: Cool, convivial bar, a swell 1940s throwback, leads to a generic storefront dining room.

Sound level: Pleasant in bar, deafening in dining room when full.

Recommended dishes: Cheese curds, Frickles, avocado-citrus salad, pork chop, chicken, pork sandwich, ""adult"" malts, beet plate, chocolate waffle.

Price range: Appetizers $3 to $12.50, sandwiches and salads $5 to $10.25, entrees $16.50 to $20, brunch items $5.50 to $12.25, desserts $5.25 to $7.

Wine list: Highly drinkable roster of under-$4 glasses and under-$20 bottles, plus a delectable list of ice cream drinks and a sparkling wine-sorbet float that is not to be missed.

Rick Nelson • 612-673-4757