Now open: Norman's beefs up downtown dining

Last update: January 10, 2008 - 9:42 AM

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R. NORMAN'S

700 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis, 612-238-7770, www.rnormans.com

Hours: Open for lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday; dinner 4:30 to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 4:30 to midnight Friday and Saturday, and 4:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday.

SEVEN SUSHI ULTRA LOUNGE

700 Hennepin Av. S., Minneapolis, 612-238-7777, www.7mpls.com.

Hours: Open 4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

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There were no fewer than seven steakhouses within walking distance of 7th Street and Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. With last week's debut of r. Norman's, now there are eight.

Some of the players behind nearby Bellanotte are backing this ambitious new venture (including namesake Randy Norman), and to set themselves apart from the beef-shack pack they're playing to the strengths of the location, a beautiful 1920s commercial building that hugs the Pantages Theatre. The place is huge. And big-city sleek. The main dining room, a long rectangle, boasts two-story windows and a fireplace for chilly January nights, and the bar is tricked out in eye-catching back-lit onyx. Upstairs is the vast, slick-looking Seven Sushi Ultra Lounge, where chef John Ames and his crew keep things rolling until 2 a.m. daily, an admirable new late-night downtown asset. There's more: Come summer, the rooftop will come alive as an open-air dine-and-drink venue.

At street level, chef Youssef Darbaki oversees an a la carte menu that sticks fairly close to the steakhouse framework -- crab cakes, oysters Rockefeller, shrimp cocktail, a tableside Caesar, onion rings ($6 to $19) -- along with slabs of aged, salt-rubbed Angus cut seven ways ($32 to $48) topped with a variety of sauces and compound butters, plus Kobe-style tenderloin sold in 2-, 4- and 6-ounce portions ($26 to $78). Grilled fish, whole Maine lobsters, a Kobe-style foie gras truffle burger and a long string of side dishes round out the menu. Dessert includes Key lime pie, and the bar pours a baker's dozen wines by the glass.

RICK NELSON