Nick and Eddie

1612 Harmon Place
Minneapolis
http://www.nickandeddie.com/

Nick and Eddie is located in Loring Park just down the street from the Walker Art Center. A vogue spot for restaurants like Joe's Garage and Cafe Lurcat. As a matter of fact they are all on the same street. After a last minute decision to have dinner with my Wife, Sister and Brother, I was able to secure a reservation with them. This has not always worked to my benefit as a food critic. However, something about their menu spurred my appetite so I decided to take a risk. A risk I believe paid off.

Nick and Eddie is a great fit for the area. It has that artsy fartsy aura to it. Emminating from casual manner and dress of the wait staff, to the overall decor of the restaurant itself. It has a large L-shaped dining and bar area with high ceilings which makes it feel bigger than it actually is. We sat in the back of the restaurant, which is not quite as picturesque as the front.

Getting to the food, the menu is not huge. It had 7 appetizers, a couple soups & salads and 7 main courses to choose from, plus dessert. Dinner came with a bread service which was a scary start to the meal. Either jazz it up or forgo it completely. For an appetizer we had the Nick and Eddie Smorgasbord Platter which consisted of blini w/gravlox, whitefish salad w/potato pancake, pirogi, shrimp, and meatballs. Not bad for $10 and a nice sampling of each. For dinner, I had the Spicy Steak with mashed potatoes & collard greens which was really good! I had the impression that it was a skirt steak but when it showed up it was more like a NY strip. Nicely marinaded and spiced with all sorts of peppers, complimented with mashed potato's and perfectly cooked collard greens. My Wife had the Grilled Salmon and my Sister had the Grilled Chicken, both liked their food as well. The only disappointment of the night was my Brother's Prime Rib. Although, he may have liked it more if ordered medium instead of medium rare, per our server's recommendation.

The service was great but its hard to beat when "head waiter" and General Manager Doug Anderson is serving you. Something sort of comforting about having the owner serve you and he was 3-4 with his recommendations

Nick and Eddie was a surprise to me. My expectations were not high considering it was a last minute reservation and they actually had availability on a Saturday night. The food for the most part was really good. I heard they recently acquired Chef Steve Brown (from Porter & Frye) for the kitchen and Doug's Wife Jessica is supposedly a great baker and pastry chef. Maybe this is exactly what the doctor ordered and based upon my meal I would definitely go back. Their Sunday brunch sounds like a good opportunity for this.

Ratings from 1-10:

Food 7

Atmosphere 8

Service 9

Noise 2

Price: Economical