The Basics
Cuisine: America
Ambiance: Dark Sophisticate
Address: 80 S 9th St, Minneapolis, MN 55467
Neighborhood: Downtown
Phone: 612.332.4700
Web Site: http://www.hellskitcheninc.com
Must Taste (Breakfast):
- Topping: Homemade peanut butter. I really wanted to try this, but didn’t end up ordering anything it came with. I also wanted to bring some PB home with me, but was trying to not check my baggage for the flight home.
- Breakfast: Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes. I also really wanted to try this, but decided to veer off the main path with my dish selection.
- Side: Maple-Glazed Bison Sausage – Savory and sweet with that maple syrup topping.
- Drink: I loved their coffee…it doesn’t say anything about this on their web site, but I believe I read somewhere in the restaurant that the beans are locally roasted (anyone from Hell’s Kitchen reading who can confirm?).
Best For: Date (1 who is either hip or just loves great food…someone too prissy may not gel with the “dark” theme), Group Outing (with friends or co-workers), meal solo for you business travelers
What to Wear: casual-dressy (tennis shoes may be ok, but I wouldn’t wear them personally) to dressy
Good to Know: The restaurant has live music and events – see calendar online for details. Also, the restaurant features a slightly morbid theme (see photos of interior). I actually really like it, but those less open-minded may not.
Fave Points: Fun theme, rockin food, great menu selection.
My Fave Dish: I only got to sample 2 selections due to my business trip being short and my small appetite, but between the 2 I had, my fave was the Maple-Glazed Bison Sausage. I loved the savory-sweet combo of the sausage with the maple syrup topping that tasted almost candied. So good. I also love ordering things in restaurants that I can’t easily find elsewhere, and I’ve never seen bison sausage on a menu before. This is a definite must-try, especially since you can order a single patty for $2 and use it to balance out some of the sweeter breakfast options.
Menu pricing and availability subject to change.
My Dish
I was in Minneapolis, MN on business and noticed the Hell’s Kitchen sign on the way into town. I thought at first that the restaurant was related to one of my favorite shows – Hell’s Kitchen with Gordon Ramsay.
Upon investigation via yelp.com, I realized that this Hell’s Kitchen was a restaurant with its own original flair.
I decided this restaurant was a must-eat on my business trip and made sure to wake up extra early one morning to check it out solo. I was happy there were so many signs to guide me to the restaurant from the street.
Enter from the street, pass a long hallway, and then descend down some stairs into Hell’s Kitchen.
Mind the pointy chandelier (love this) on your way in. If you don’t have a good feeling for the theme of this restaurant, you soon will.
The interior of the restaurant is as dark as you were likely expecting with dark wood, black drapery…
…and interesting artwork.
The menu is where things got really interesting.
There were so many things that sounded interesting, like the Lemon-Ricotta Hotcakes I heard so much about online and the Mahnomin Porridge (a hot breakfast cereal made with rice and other tasty ingredients).
I decided to try the Bread Pudding with Black Currants and Creme Anglaise (from the menu – “We use toasted, buttery brioche bread, baked in a vanilla-flavored custard with black currants folded in. Served warm with a vanilla crème Anglaise – $4.75″) and a single Maple-Glazed Bison Sausage ($2).
Breakfast started with a nice, hot, mug of coffee. I really liked their house blend. It was nice and smooth.
The Bread Pudding with Black Currants and Creme Anglaise came out nice and hot. I thought it was interesting that the sauce on the bottom was completely different from the sauce on the top (at least they tasted different to me – guess I should have checked with the waitress that they were truly 2 separate sauces). I tried to get a little bit of each sauce with every bite because they went so well together.
The bread pudding was quite decadent…much like eating an uber-rich dessert for breakfast. Since I have a major sweet-tooth, this was welcome. I loved the bites of thick pudding with warm cream sauce and bursts of currants.
I balanced the sweetness of the dessert-like breakfast with the Maple-Glazed Bison Sausage. I really enjoyed the spicy, savory-sweet flavor of the sausage and the fact that you can’t order bison sausage just anywhere.
Final Dish
I loved the playful ambiance of Hell’s Kitchen, their use of unique ingredients (lemon in pancakes, bison for the sausage meat, and rice in the porridge), and their most-interesting menu selection. I would try one of everything if I could, the menu was that captivating. I read some reviews on yelp saying that service was slow and unkind, but I thought the hostess was friendly, and she definitely seated me promptly. My waitress was prompt and took great care of me on top of her smiling face. I thought the service was great, though I did go on a slow morning when there were only a handful of tables in the restaurant, so I can’t speak to “rush hour.” The food was the main attraction and definitely lived up to the many reviews I found online. I can’t wait to go back and try some new dishes.
Hell’s Kitchen is exactly the kind of place that I seek out when I go taste-exploring in a new town. Every time I visit Minneapolis, I plan to make Hell’s Kitchen a must-stop and hope to take some of my co-workers with me.
Want to take a taste of Hell’s Kitchen home with you or bring it to your house? They have merchandise and food items available for purchase in the store and online. The also have a cookbook, which is something I look for from restaurants I like. You can also find a video on how to make the homemade peanut butter on their blog.