On my annual trip to Fargo to see my dealer at Arctic Audio, I called him earlier in the day and asked him if he had a restaurant picked out for us to go to that evening. He said that he had booked a reservation at a new place over in Moorhead by the name of Rustica. When I asked him what kind of food they served, he replied, "Well, it ain't vegetarian..." That sounded good to me.
Actually, Rustica is in the same space that used to house John Alexander's, a nice little restaurant that I'd been to before. (Click here to see the entry on John Alexander's.) The owners moved to downtown Fargo after closing the doors to the Moorhead location in April of this year.
Eric and Sara Watson, who own the highly acclaimed Mezzaluna in downtown Fargo as well as Mosaic Catering, ended up taking over the full space at the corner of Main and 4th St. S. just across the Red River of the North from Fargo. (see map) Rustica takes up the first floor of a historic building known as the Kassenborg Block which was built in the late 19th century. Over the years, the building has been the site of offices, apartments and what my dealer told me "a kick ass rock and roll bar" a few years ago.
The Watsons moved into Rustica this summer and opened the restaurant part of the place in the old John Alexander's in August. When I was there, they were heavily renovating the space next door that they were going to turn into the Rustica Tavern. (I believe the tavern portion of Rustica was scheduled to open sometime earlier this month.)
My dealer and his wife made reservations for us for 7:30 p.m. My dealer and I went ahead while his wife finished up some things at home. We were greeted by the manager on duty, Mason, upon entering the restaurant. There's a small bar area near the host stand beside the kitchen. I was told that the Watsons didn't have to do much to do to the space after they took it over from the John Alexander's people.
We were seated along the brick wall on the east side of the restaurant. Mason dropped off some menus for us and shortly thereafter our server for the evening, Travis, came over to greet us. Travis seemed a little nervous waiting on us. We were guessing he was a newby when it came to being a waiter.
After my dealer's wife joined us, they were pointing out a number of people that they knew in the restaurant that evening. The president of a local bank that my dealer had installed a sound system for was having dinner with the president of North Dakota State University. Another lady who he did a big system for - including a pair of the Focal Utopia loudspeakers - was having dinner with her brother and some other friends. And at the table next to us was Peter Kelly, one of the partners at the former Green Market Kitchen in Fargo (click here to read the review on Green Market Kitchen). Peter was dining with a young man who was identified by my dealer's wife as a local chef at a prestigious restaurant. It turned out that Peter and this chef were embarking on a new restaurant venture and hoped to be up and running soon. (We may have to try that place on my next visit if it's open.) So in the short time it has been open, Rustica seemed to draw a well-heeled crowd.
The menu at Rustica consists of a number of locally sourced food items. This somewhat eclectic menu features beef, chicken, pork and lamb dishes, along with three pasta dishes with pappardelle pasta and your choice of smoked salmon, chorizo or chile-braised beef. It is truly more of a rustic menu than what you may find in an urban restaurant.
There are also a number of starter appetizers on the menu. The have an antipasto plate that sounded good, as well as the chile-braised beef tacos with tomato relish, roasted garlic and a creme friache - basically a rich sour creme. But what we ended up getting was the crispy pork belly with an avocado/basil salsa with a sun-dried tomato pesto. It was absolutely fabulous. The pork belly was tender and flavorful, and the avocado/basil salsa with the sun-dried tomato pesto was a perfect compliment to the overall taste of the pork.
A number of the entrees sounded pretty darned interesting to me. The pan-roasted beef tenderloin medallions came with caramelized cipollini onions, a wild mushroom and bacon barley, and sweet tomatoes. The Salisbury steak was topped with a fried egg, broiled portobello mushrooms and sherry wine-caramelized onions with parmesan cheese mashed potatoes on the side. The chianti-braised beef tenderloin tips also came with the parmesan mashed potatoes and roasted sweet bell peppers. It all sounded so good.
Mason came over to ask us if we had any questions about the menu and I told him that I was sort of up in the air on a couple things - the peppercorn broiled walleye with garlic shrimp entree or the bone-in pork chop. He said, "Oooo... Tough choices, but I think I'd go with the pork chop."
When Travis came back that's exactly what I ordered. The pork chop was thick and juicy and it was topped with fresh sage and prosciutto. A grilled vegetable medley came on the side. Mason didn't steer me wrong. It was just fabulous.
When I mentioned that I was interested in the peppercorn broiled walleye with the garlic shrimp, my dealer said, "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna get." When I go out to eat dinner with my dealer and his wife, we're always sharing bites off of each other's plates so I knew I'd get to try some of the walleye. And it was fabulous. It came with a smoked tomato sauce that wasn't overpowering. The fish was fresh and absolutely wonderful in taste.
My dealer's wife got the bacon-wrapped lamb medallions with a garlic and olive oil glaze. I usually find lamb in the U.S. to be fatty, but she said it was very lean. She cut one in half to give to me and I have to say that it was, indeed, very lean and very good.
I forgot to mention that I had ordered up a bottle of the 2004 Ontañon Reserva Rioja, a nice Spanish wine that was light and not as forward as a cabernet. It was so good that we ended up getting second bottle as we were finishing up our meals. My pork chop was so big and so good - and considering the extra bites of other food I tried - that I was getting full. But my dealer's wife insisted on trying one of the desserts. We let her order and she got the flourless chocolate cake with macerated (marinated) fresh fruit berries. I did try a couple of the blueberries and raspberries that came with the cake, but I didn't have any of the cake. She said it was "simply delicious".
Our first experience at Rustica was a very favorable one. The food was interesting and very good. Even though Travis showed some inexperience and stumbled over himself a couple times, his service was fine. And Mason continually checked with us to see how things were going. It was a great evening of catching up on business and personal things with my dealer and his wife. We were very happy with our experience at Rustica.
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