112 Eatery, Minneapolis

Wow. This place is fantastic. I picked it out because we were arriving late on a Monday into town, and I did not want to walk into the restaurant at 9:30pm, or even later, and have the staff be disappointed. 112 Eatery is open until midnight, and it was hopping when we got there, with people still arriving at 11pm when we left, and every time in between. It is not a quiet place, and it is not really romantic--but the food is fantastic, the service was swift, and the atmosphere was friendly.

All I had eaten all day peior to getting to the restaurant was a salad at noon, so I was ready to eat as soon as we were seated. They had olives and spiced almonds on the table, which definitely helped, and the bread arrived shortly thereafter. The menu is a bit on the ecclectic side, and we ordered two salads, a pasta, and a main course--we told the waitress we were sharing and she brought clean plates and 2 spoons with each arrival--it is clearly a place where people routinely share dishes and they made it easy.

We started with the sweet and sour crab salad and a razor clam and heart of palm salad--both were outstanding. Light dressing, balanced flavors, and the delicate flavor of the seafood was not overpowered. We followed that with pan fried gnocci and merguez stuffed chicken w/ clams. Both were delicious, and the four dishes were plenty of food for us. The check comes with a cardamon flavored carmel popcorn that could get adddictive, and we left planning our next visit. The chef has another restaurant that is more straight ahead Italian food and that is definitely on our list for the next trip as well.