The look on Mike Brown's face was one every diner hopes to see.
Like all the other Victory 44 employees -- and there are just a handful -- Brown does double duty, working both the kitchen and the dining room. Hustling toward our table, sweat trickling down his face, a sprawling charcuterie platter in his hands, Brown's facial expression, beaming with pride, telegraphed, "Wow, would you get a load of this amazing thing that we just made for you?"
How could you not love that?
Victory 44 would stand out anywhere, but the fact that it's located on the far North Side of Minneapolis, a drop of water on a parched restaurant desert, makes it all that more remarkable. Co-owners Erick Harcey and Jodie Heyerdahl took over the space last spring and implemented a British gastropub format. It was fine while it lasted, but the duo recently rebooted, and let's hope this iteration sticks.
Harcey and Heyerdahl recruited a few Porter & Frye vets, including Brown, James Winberg and Geoff Hausmann. Smart move. Clearly cooking their hearts out, this resourceful and highly collaborative group has quickly pushed Victory 44 beyond its neighborhood-hangout comfort zone without sacrificing its moderate prices and casual aura. I smell a winner.
This crew has a knack for turning clichés on their ear. For example, they know how to do small plates. A modestly sized hunk of glazed pork cheek, gloriously fall-apart tender, was paired with stacked sheets of roasted root vegetables, lasagna-style (minus the pasta) and finished with dabs of chèvre and dill wisps. Other highlights: a pair of juicy, tantalizingly caramelized scallops, and slices of lean, charred-on-the-outside, ruby-red-on-the-inside steak flecked with black salt and served with tender, butter-tossed pappardelle.
Back to that charcuterie. I know, I know, charcuterie is suddenly everywhere, the 2010 version of molten chocolate cake. But it's terrific here, both in its obvious quality and impressive variety. The artfully arranged platter --a steal at $14 -- boasts roughly a half-dozen ever-changing styles (especially noteworthy: a fine pork-sweetbreads terrine, a smooth-as-silk chicken liver pâté and a first-rate head cheese) and lavished with lovingly prepared house-made mustards and fruit condiments.
Deconstructivism -- when a dish's key components are yanked apart and rearranged in unexpected new ways -- is another house specialty. It's another trend that can be overwrought, silly, tedious or a revelation, and at Victory 44 it's the latter, with each iteration retaining the dish's integrity yet managing to be playful and delicious.
