When the Elliot Park Hotel (823 5th Av. S., Mpls., elliotparkhotel.com) opens for business in late September, its Tavola won't be a cookie-cutter Marriott restaurant, said Taryne Dixon, the property's food and beverage director.
"There's no set manual," she said. "We have a lot of latitude to be creative, and to incorporate ourselves into the community."
Chef Aaron Uban — his résumé includes Kieran's Irish Pub, the former Heartland Restaurant & Wine Bar and another downtown hotel restaurant, the former Porter & Frye — is creating breakfast, lunch and dinner menus with an Italian accent and within an "approachable, affordable" framework, said Dixon.
"That's unique for a hotel restaurant," she said. "We want to create an authentic experience and become a part of the Elliot Park neighborhood."
Dinner menu items will include pastas in full and half-size portions, an array of small-plate items and a rib-eye steak for two.
A showy oven has a front-and-center spot in the restaurant's roomy bar, where Uban and his crew will bake pizzas and what Dana Orlando, the hotel's general manager, is calling "a hefty bread program."
"When you bake fresh bread all day, everyone in the lobby wants to come in and see what's going on," she said.
The restaurant will focus on neighborhood residents by offering 10 percent discounts (which diners can elect to donate to a local charity), Sunday night family-style suppers and a daily happy hour that will run from 4 to 6:30 p.m.
