Nostalgia meets innovation at St. Pierre Steak & Seafood

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. People will happily pay top dollar to see grizzled rock ‘n’ roll vets play their hits, but some legendary bands — like the Rolling Stones — continue to tour and release material that tops the charts, staying relevant into their eighth decade as a band.

That same refusal to coast defines chef-owner Isaac Becker at St. Pierre Steak & Seafood, where he’s reviving fan favorites from Burch and Snack Bar — not as tribute acts or nostalgia plays, but as a foundation for a menu that pushes the restaurant forward. Familiar yet indulgent, the food at St. Pierre is creative but never cutting edge or experimental.

It’s not up for debate: Becker is one of the most influential chefs in the Twin Cities, a hit-making machine who’s been at it for decades, from 112 Eatery, the eclectic and cozy bistro that put North Loop on the map (before it was even called North Loop), and Bar La Grassa, his perpetually packed pasta palace.

There have been speed bumps along the way, like the beloved Burch Steak, with an upscale steakhouse upstairs and a casual pizza bar downstairs, that garnered a glowing review from the Star Tribune in 2013, but closed during the pandemic.

Snack Bar, which opened in 2019 in the same building as Bar La Grassa, was too clever for its own good with fancy pizza by the slice. With labor-intensive food and low check averages, the economics just didn’t work. Even Becker admits that the name itself was “not a good idea.”

In 2025, Becker reimagined it as St. Pierre Steak & Seafood, named after his wife and business partner Nancy St. Pierre. He blended favorites from both Burch and Snack Bar — alongside new seafood dishes and fresh additions to the menu — pivoting to a more viable concept.

Some dishes made it to the St. Pierre menu because Becker says it’d be foolish to let them go. Some are simply fan service, a response to loud customer demand.

Becker could have easily assembled a greatest hits album at St. Pierre and called it a day, but he can’t help himself.

So there are a whole bunch of new, innovative dishes, like the mind-bending Brie de Meaux Parcel, in which a chunk of French brie is folded into a sheet of a fresh eggless pasta dough, baked in butter and then finished with Thai chili powder and fresh oregano. It’s French meets Italian meets Thai? On paper none of this should work. But in reality it’s a rich, creamy, complex and delightful dish that you’ll want to order again and again.

Becker has this innate understanding of how food works. He’s the sort of chef who makes whatever interests him, and St. Pierre has a freewheeling, unconventional menu that liberally hops across cuisines and continents.

The seafood section of the menu pushes Becker into new territory, like the clams in a garlic- and herb-infused broth — a riff on the ​​Provençal aigo boulido garlic soup — accented with crumbled sausage made next door at Bar La Grassa and an untraditional jolt of sliced jalapenos. Or the barramundi in crazy water, Becker’s twist on acqua pazza, poached in a light broth with tomatoes, wine and serrano chiles, served on top of thick bread to soak up the spicy sauce.

Octopus, another Snack Bar holdover, is braised and seared, and comes out beautifully crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The whole branzino with fresh artichokes emerges flaky and luxurious. In a couple of visits, though, there were overcooked pieces of fish that were more akin to hockey pucks. This can happen at St. Pierre: The ideas are there, but every once in awhile, there are shortfalls in execution, like doughy, undercooked gougères.

The steaks come with no sides, so do be sure to order the dazzling potato pavé, with layers of potatoes, cream, butter and thyme garnished with bread crumbs and an airy pillow of grated Grana Padano, as well as the pan-roasted broccolini, served with a vibrant yogurt mint sauce and topped with a crispy nut and spiced dukkah blend.

Beyond the à la carte options, there’s the Snack Bar Prime Hanger Steak — a composed plate that comes with a seaweed salad and a buttery anchovy bagna cauda sauce — that’s so good you will not want to share.

Then there’s the new large-format roast of Ibérico pork for two (really it could feed four). Nestled in a porky, rich ramen broth that takes 14 hours to make and animated by some grilled limes, it blurs the line between familiar and adventurous.

Becker just likes to have some dishes on the menu, even if they don’t sell so well, like the impossibly delicate boudin blanc, originally from Burch. Made with chicken, pork and foie gras, the sausage is currently served with Ranch Gordo Christmas beans in a makeshift cassoulet.

Desserts, guided by pastry chef Kelly Williams, follow the St. Pierre playbook, best exemplified by a nutty, layered slab of carrot cake, topped with whipped cream and candied pecans. The malted ice cream with stracciatella, that’s really just adorned with a housemade Magic Shell, is spectacularly smooth and lush. And don’t miss the Snack Bar Doughnut, a breakfast for dinner situation in which a brioche doughnut, filled with a vanilla diplomat cream, gets brûléed to order for a gratifying, crackly shell.

The servers turn out to be competent guides as you choose your own adventure at St Pierre.: You can have a more classic steakhouse experience with a bone-in ribeye for two, throw down on a bunch of oysters and seafood, celebrate an anniversary in the glamorous booths that seat two in the middle of the dining room, carb load your feelings away on cheesy pasta and dumplings, or just pop in at the bar for a martini, salad and hanger steak.

Menu variety may attract diners, but it’s ambition that keeps a restaurant relevant.

St. Pierre isn’t a greatest-hits tour; it feels like a band still pushing itself, decades in. The hits remain plentiful, for sure, but creativity stays front and center. St. Pierre feels like a restaurant in motion.

★★★

Address: 800 Washington Av. N., Mpls., stpierrerestaurant.com

Recommended dishes: Crab and seabean salad; schupfnudeln; fried eggplant with rosemary honey; garlic-fried octopus; bavette, potato pavé, broccolini; Snack Bar Prime Hanger Steak; Snack Bar Doughnut.

Prices: Appetizers are in the $15-$20 range; entrees are $25-$35; steaks go from $39 for a 7-ounce hanger all the way to $200 for a bone-in rib-eye for two.

Beverage program: The cocktails by Brandi Anderson are fun and creative, including the Afternoon Dill-Light, a martini with a dill aquavit. The NA drink list is long, including multiple spirit-free cocktails, shrubs and housemade tonics. There’s an extensive selection of wines by the glass, often affordable.

Noise level: Medium to loud when the room gets humming.

Worth noting: The playlist, by Isaac Becker, is the same across St. Pierre, Bar La Grassa and 112 Eatery. It’s on Spotify and clocks in at over 24 hours, spanning from the Rolling Stones and Prince to Aphex Twin and Public Enemy.

Surprises and delights: There’s a highly annotated menu that indicates which dishes are gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian, and which can be altered.

★★★★ Extraordinary. Restaurants operating at a nearly impossible level: ambitious, precise, and deserving of local, national and global attention.

★★★ Excellent. Highly recommended. Worth going out of your way for.

★★ Remarkable. A solid, dependable experience that delivers on its promise.

★ Very Good. Worth a visit, but inconsistent at times.