Restaurant Guide '10: Warehouse District

Spouses Isaac Becker and Nancy St. Pierre (112 Eatery) collaborate on this hot Warehouse District pasta joint. A big Italian menu is grouped into antipasti, bruschetta, pasta and meats/fish. Chef Erik Sather's charcuterie couldn't be more appealing ("la grassa" means "the fat" in Italian, a worthy name). Likewise a bruschetta topped with tender scrambled eggs and bits of lobster. Pasta selections, mostly available in half- and full-sized portions, include a perfectly rendered veal ragu and fusilli with hearty house-made pork sausage. A half-dozen roasted meats and fish almost feel like an afterthought, but they don't taste that way: Try the salt-crusted prime beef. House-made pastas were not as delicate as they could be; some pastas arrived barely lukewarm, and the desserts felt unsatisfactory. The room, with two bars and a lively mix of early 20th century and 1970s, features tough-to-beat bar seating that overlooks the kitchen. Overall, this big collaborative enterprise combines great energy and wonderfully simple food. --Rick Nelson

The name is Latin for "flavor," and the around-the-world food lives up to it. No other nearby restaurant also features a talent like chef Tanya Siebenaler or her inspired, continent-hopping cooking style. The current menu borrows flavors and traditions from India, China, Morocco, Russia, Italy, Mexico and the American Southwest, and Siebenaler almost always makes it work, beautifully. She routinely fashions a lot out of a little, turning a plain-old Bibb lettuce into a birthday party, dressing it up in tons of herbs, lemon and hints of honey, and makes the combination of tart grapefruit and smoky salmon seem utterly natural. Her soups are gorgeous, whether she's turning potatoes and cream into something as supple as a piece of silk, or putting her reliably light touch on the often-ponderous combination of peas and ham. That sense of economy works its way through the too-brief menu. At dinner Siebenaler offers six entrees (half of them available in either full- or half-size portions), a somewhat skimpy total, particularly when one or two are a little off. Her pastas can be a tad dull; but when they're right on, they're golden. Her fiery kung pao chicken is the last word on the subject, and her Latin American version of short ribs is a dream. The short bar menu features a half-dozen well executed, inexpensive nibbles, including spicy chickpea croquettes with a bright feta-cucumber salad, tasty tube-shaped tacos filled with mashed potatoes, a hearty plate of fish and chips and a decent beef slider. --Rick Nelson

After a single bite of chef Landon Schoenefeld's insanely fatty, insanely delicious mortadella, one of five glorious entries on his charcuterie platter, I probably should have programmed my cardiologist's number into my cell phone as a precaution. Jalapeño- and tequila-kissed head cheese. The creamiest chicken liver pâté imaginable, with a hint of Madeira. A rustic ham-chicken terrine topped with snappy, cinnamon-laced pickled watermelon. Each element radiated an impressive amount of legwork and imagination, and signaled Schoenefeld's passionate love affair with rich foods. But it's more than possible to order lighter dishes before going in for one of the cholesterol-killing courses: A colorful Crenshaw melon soup, finished with berries and radicchio, was as refreshing as a jump in the lake. The vast majority of the menu finds Schoenefeld twisting a familiar dish, each seemingly culled from a retro church cookbook or a vintage food magazine. The kitchen's namesake dish turns meat and potatoes on its ear, marinating, braising and then basting short ribs in various red wine reductions until they take on a luxe, lacquered sheen, then pairing them with ultra-creamy mashed potato croquettes and a modern version of green bean casserole. It's marvelous, a shining example of Schoenefeld's fascination with presenting competing yet complementary textures. --Rick Nelson

Take a second date here for happy hour. Arrive promptly at 4 and snuggle up in the intimate scarlet- and golden-gilded lounge and spend the next two hours sipping on $5 specialty cocktails that will transport you to a steamy night in Cairo. Then order everything on the happy hour food menu. For a mere $3.50 each, you can sample Saffron's genius: the wondrously-spiced mirqaz sausage "tagine," the lush kofta meatballs and the mini lamb "BLT" which provides accessible entree into the wild world of lamb. Then after you become settled and responsible life partners, you can return to Saffron to spice things up all over again. --katvonkluegel

When I first moved to Minneapolis from NorCal, it was this place that cured my sushi withdrawal, which was severe. Yes, you pay for it, but wouldn't you rather pay for excellence than not pay much for mediocrity? Staff is professional and works hard, and the sushi chefs know their craft. There's a little litmus test I've come to trust in sizing up an American sushi bar: I try the miso, some uni, and hamachi kama if they have it. If all three make the grade -- as Origami does -- then I can recommend it to my friends without hesitation. --nordeastMONKEY

Moose and Sadie's. Photo by Chandra Akkari

112 Eatery. Photo by Carlos Gonzalez

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