Counter Intelligence: Hotel-restaurant combo joins the neighborhood

Last update: February 20, 2008 - 5:18 PM

Hotel-restaurant combo joins the neighborhood

There's a big new hotel in Bloomington, with a big new restaurant. Make that two. The Hilton Minneapolis/Bloomington is home to both the ChopHouse Restaurant and Olive (3900 W. American Blvd., Bloomington, 952-830-5200).

At the ChopHouse, chef Chris Hammer (a vet of both the Marriott City Center Hotel and the Depot Renaissance Hotel in downtown Minneapolis) follows a fairly strict surf-and-turf menu: porterhouse, New York strip, ribeye and tenderloin cuts ($33 to $39) along with prime rib, lamb chops, salmon, lobster tail and crab legs ($25 to $49), paired with classic sides (twice-baked potatoes, mac-and-cheese) and starters (onion soup, iceberg wedge salad). Lunch entrees ($9 to $22) include nearly a dozen sandwiches along with a regionally appropriate hot dish, made with locally raised grass-fed beef, and grilled chicken with wild rice. There's weekend brunch, too. The more casual Olive serves breakfast, lunch and dinner daily, along with a late-night menu.

The Chophouse is a small-but-growing chain, with branches in Kansas City, Mo., and Milwaukee, Madison and Lake Geneva, Wis. It's owned by Marcus Corp., the conglomerate with its fingers in all kinds of hospitality and entertainment pies, from the Crowne Plaza Northstar hotel in downtown Minneapolis and the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, to golf courses, water-park resorts and the Marcus Theatres cineplex chain. The ChopHouse-Olive-Hilton partnership is the second hotel-restaurant combo in the neighborhood in less than a year, joining the Whitney Bistro and Onyx Bar (5120 W. American Blvd., Bloomington, 952-698-4864) in the Country Inn & Suites.

The big show

Here's what I would do at this weekend's Twin Cities Food & Wine Experience: I'd get my hands on a ticket (an additional $10 beyond the $60 entrance fee) and sit in on "Critique This," a panel discussion at noon Sunday featuring three restaurant critics: Patricia Unterman of the San Francisco Examiner and two Minnesota natives, Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post and Brett Anderson of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Oh, and if you can't get in to the main show -- Saturday is already sold out -- consider hitting its kickoff event: Macy's Gourmet Gathering ($60), which will feature cooking demonstrations (by Rick Kimmes of the Oceanaire Seafood Room and Rino Baglio of Pazzaluna, among others) along with food and wine samplings, fashion shows and more. It's being held tonight (5:30 to 8:30 p.m.) at Macy's downtown Minneapolis store, 700 Nicollet Mall. Tickets for all events are available at www.foodwineshow.com.

RICK NELSON