Up in the Twin Cities late last year, I was searching out a place to eat one late afternoon. I usually stay in the Bloomington area on the south side of the Twin Cities, so finding new places to try can be sort of tough at times. However, there was one place that I found that I hadn't been to before and it wasn't far from my hotel. I drove over the Northstar Tavern to give the place a try.
Jon Norine grew up on the southside of Bloomington before moving away to work in the food service industry. His wife, Ashley, also grew up nearby and she, too, had worked in restaurants. The Norine's had always talked about owning their own restaurant and they decided to move back to their home base in the Twin Cities to scout out locations for their dream restaurant.
The two scouted locations in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis before they finally came across a building in a shopping plaza that Jon Norine used to ride his bike to as a young boy. The building formally housed a Famous Dave's barbecue joint and the Norine's signed the lease to the place in May of 2018.
The next five months saw a complete build-out of a new restaurant space guided by one of their partners, Nate Hunt, who kept only the sinks and the refrigeration/freezers in the place during the renovation. The Norine's brought in another partner to run their kitchen as the executive chef, Ryan Pasiuk, who previously was the executive chef at The Fremont, an upscale sports bar/dance club in Minneapolis's uptown neighborhood. With everything in place, Northstar Tavern opened their doors for business in October of 2018.
Pictured right - Ashley and Jon Norine. Photo courtesy Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers - Minnesota.
It was a bit after 5 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot at the Normandale Village shopping complex at the corner of Normandale and 98th Street in Bloomington. (see map) I went inside and sort of stood by the hostess stand for a moment before a server showed up and told me that I could sit pretty much about anywhere. Well, I soon find out that "pretty much anywhere" didn't include one of the open high-top tables near the bar. He came up to me and said, "This area is going to be reserved in less than an hour. Are you going to be done by then?" I figured that I probably wouldn't be - or didn't know if I would be - and I didn't really want to be rushed if I wanted to linger a bit longer to have another beer after dinner. He moved me to a regular height four-seater in the dining area of the restaurant just past the bar.
I had done a little on-line scouting of the place earlier on and I expected to find a nice little upscale sports bar/restaurant. While it was comfortable and cozy, I sort of expected it to be a little more classy than it was. There was a stone hearth fireplace in the dining room, but there was a corrugated tin awning with the Maker's Mark logo that was above a number of booths along the wall. It was a popular place with the bar completely full and many of the tables and booths filled with people in for an early dinner - like me.
My server for my visit was a young guy by the name of Aarin. He dropped off a food menu and I asked what kind of beers they had to offer. He produced a beer list that had their current selection of two dozen beers on tap. Quite honestly, I was sort of surprised that they didn't offer more local beers on their beer menu as they had beers from Deschutes in Oregon, Goose Island in Chicago, and Boulevard out of Kansas City. They even had Coors on tap. I think out of the 24 beers they had on tap, only 9 or 10 were from Minnesota or Wisconsin. I just ordered up a Lagunitas IPA and took a look through the food menu.
The Northstar Tavern offered a variety of appetizers on their menu. They had the normal fare - chicken wings, pretzels, and nachos - but they also had fried walleye fingers, a barbecued pork quesadilla, egg rolls that were stuffed with shrimp and candied cayenne-seasoned bacon, loaded sweet potato tots with ground turkey, jalapeños and an avocado cream sauce, and wontons stuffed with roasted jalapeños and an avocado cream cheese.
They have a unique system of being able to order sandwiches or burgers at the Northstar Tavern. You have a choice of a protein - grilled chicken, burger patty, grilled salmon, beer-battered walleye, etc. (vegan options were also available). Then you have your choice of the "set up" which are the toppings on whatever you pick. They had some suggestions like "The Teriyaki" that consisted of a teriyaki glaze, grilled pineapple, red onions, and a charred scallion aioli; "The Cream Cheese" which had an herbed cream cheese, red onion, cucumbers and mixed greens; "The Buffalo" which had a spicy buffalo wing sauce with a creamy blue cheese dressing, shredded lettuce and tomato slices; and "The Tangy California" which featured goat cheese and avocado slices, with lettuce, tomato, and red onion slices. Then you had your choice of the "holder" which was a choice of a ciabatta bun, lettuce wrap, tortilla wrap, honey wheat bun, or a pita bread among some of the choices.
Regular sandwiches such as a reuben, a Philly cheesesteak, and a slow-roasted barbecued pork sandwich were also available at the Northstar Tavern. And they also had pizza available - both as a build-your-own or featured pizzas such as a meat only pizza with Italian sausage, pepperoni and a candied cayenne bacon spread; or a traditional margherita pizza, or the Vietnamese-style Banh Mi pizza with chopped pork carnitas, pickled onions, cucumbers, and carrots, along with jalapeños, cilantro, and finished with a teriyaki barbecue sauce, and an aioli drizzle that is mixed with Cry Baby sauce, a pickled jalapeño and garlic hot sauce that is made in Minneapolis.
I have to say the menu was definitely interesting and a couple three things caught my eye. They had some entrees that included a Cajun chicken and shrimp pasta, and a meatloaf platter with mashed potatoes and gravy. I seriously contemplated getting the meat loaf almost breaking my rule of not ordering meat loaf away from home as I really could have used a "stick-to-your-ribs" kind of meal that evening. But in the long run, I ended up getting what amounted to the house burger.
The house burger consisted of a half-pound beef patty topped with a thick slice of smoked cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion slices, and dill pickles on a toasted brioche bun. It came with a side of fries in a metal cup and it was all served on a small metal cookie sheet. I asked Aarin if I could get some bacon on the burger and he said it was no problem.
Quite actually, the burger was very good. It was thick with juices oozing out of the beef patty as it rested on the bun. The bun held together very well for what turned out to be a multi-napkin burger. The veggie toppings were all fresh and didn't over power the great beef taste in the burger. The smoked cheddar and bacon helped give it another gear in flavor. I had asked it to be cooked medium and it was the perfect temperature when served to me with a hint of pink in the middle of the burger.
The fries were actually pretty good, as well. I normally don't eat many fries when they're served to me, but the ones at the Northstar Tavern had that great crispy outer shell with a nice warm flaky potato inside. It was pretty tough to stop eating the fries when I finished with my burger.
Maybe I was expecting a little more in terms of atmosphere at the Northstar Tavern, but I have to admit that the surroundings didn't detract from the delicious house burger that I had while I was there. The menu was very interesting, and even though I was a little underwhelmed with the selection of beers they had on tap, I was still able to find one that I enjoyed. The service that I had at Northstar Tavern was quick, efficient and friendly. The Northstar Tavern is a nice little place and it's easy to see how it's become a local favorite in their just under 18 month existence. I'd say give it a shot the next time you're in the area.
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