Porter & Frye

On Monday, we met a friend of Josh’s, who lives in the Chicago area and was in town on business, for dinner at Porter & Frye in downtown Minneapolis. Little did we know there was construction going on so it was very unclear how to actually get *in* the place. Turns out you had to go through the hotel it is attached to; all three of us ended up walking around the building. Let’s get some better signage, people!

I was super jazzed to try this place because it has a reputation of having amazing chefs (all of whom have recently left: Steven Brown, Joan Ida). Anyway, we walk in and it’s kind of a random space. I was expecting a high-end look from its reputation, but it really wasn’t that way at all. It had the industrial-type ceilings, which would have been fine if they were tall, but since the ceilings were low it was more odd than anything. The tables and bar area were okay, but there are four huge columns in the middle of the room that block your view of most of the dining area. When we got there the room was nearly empty and yet the hostess put us at a table right next to the only other table of people in the room.

The drinks were very good. I had two martinis – first a Ginger Mule (Georgia Mule?) and then a raspberry “Come back, lover” or some similar name. Both were solid but I’d pick the Ginger Mule every time – peachy and gingery, refreshing.

For dinner I had the arugula salad with fennel, pear, ginger and prosciutto. The prosciutto was very crispy like bacon and made a nice addition to the salad. I also had the risotto with smoked chicken, fava beans and cauliflower. It tasted fresh, but not as fresh as the food at Spoonriver. And, while the risotto was good, it wasn’t great, such as what you can get at Risotto or, if I may blow my own horn, the dirty risotto I make at home courtesy of a Giada de Laurentiis recipe.

We skipped dessert as none of the options blew our skirts up, and called it a night. All in all I’d say it was very nice to meet Sarah, but I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to go back to Porter & Frye.