The burger: I'll admit that I detected the barest, faintest whiff of a sellout when I spied a burger on the lunch menu at the otherwise rigorously disciplined Brasserie Zentral. After all, this all-American staple doesn't really have a profile among the gathering places of Vienna, Budapest, Munich and other sources of inspiration for this remarkable newcomer.
But Zentral finds itself in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, and chef/co-owner Russell Klein is nothing if not a realist. He has a clientele to serve, and some of them are probably going to want to spend their lunch break cozied up to a burger rather than a schnitzel or corned veal tongue salad. "Part of being a brasserie is being accessible," said Klein. "Our concept might be challenging for some people, although I don't think that it is. People see German, they think it's weird. A burger, however, is straightforward, it's easy to understand. Besides, who doesn't like a good burger?"
Ok, sold. And it's not as if Klein doesn't incorporate regional gestures into the Zentral burger. The opposite, actually, making it something of a novelty burger, and an excellent one, at that.
Naturally, the ground beef is seasoned with paprika, that mainstay of Hungarian cuisine. Zentral's house-made version is a special point of pride for the restaurant. Klein has hundreds of pounds of organic red bell peppers – harvested at Riverbend Farm in Delano – dehydrating in the restaurant's vast basement workrooms. They're ground on an as-needed basis, to create vivaciously fresh paprika. "It's an every-day process," said Klein. "They hit the spice grinder, releasing oils and aromas, and the flavor is a night-and-day comparison over all the other paprikas that we looked at. I still haven't found any that compares, even the stuff that we brought home from Hungary."
Klein folds just enough of that pungent paprika into the lean, flavorful, grass-fed beef to lend it a hint of a punch. The patties themselves are heavyweights, portion-wise, and the kitchen takes them to the point where their exteriors boast a rustic char but their interiors are pink, velvety and juicy.
The toppings continue the travelogue-on-the-Danube vibe. Cheese is a gooey, gruyere-like raclette. Granted, it's not the same premium raclette that takes center stage next door at Foreign Legion. That's the Kleins' cheese-obsessed wine bar, where raclette – the dish – is one of the menu's must-order specialties (be sure and get the version with salty, herb-seasoned Italian ham). Opting for a perfectly servicable raclette – the cheese – for the Zentral burger is strictly a cost-cutting move. "Otherwise, we'd have to charge $20 for the burger," said Klein with a laugh.
There's also a generous swipe of aioli that's fortified with horseradish and vinegar-ey gherkins. More much-needed acid comes from a juicy tomato slice, and a pile of soft caramelized onions adds just-right sweet notes.
If that sounds like a lot, it is. "Yeah, it's a messy burger," said Klein, in total understatement mode. Even the sturdy pretzel bun (Klein is obsessed with pretzels; if you're visiting on a weekday, scoot upstairs to the skyway-level Cafe Zentral and pick up one of the kitchen's marvelously chewy ones for the road) isn't enough to hold this monster together, so, yes, you'll be reaching for a knife and fork. Trust me, those utensils won't leave your hands until you've relished every morsel.
