Barbette

Rating:

Barbette recently marked its 10th anniversary. Ten years? Maybe it's a mark of my own advancing age, but the Uptowner sure seems as if it has been a firmly entrenched landmark on the local dining landscape for far longer. In a good way.

Owner Kim Bartmann -- the impresario behind Bryant-Lake Bowl, Red Stag Supperclub and Bread & Pickle, the concession stand next to the Lake Harriet bandshell that will open in late April -- has installed a number of chefs in the Barbette kitchen (I can rattle off four without resorting to Google) since converting her former Cafe Wyrd coffeehouse into bistro-minded Barbette.

Despite the semi-constant leadership upheaval, the restaurant has not only survived, but thrived. Still, my hope is that Bartmann's latest hire, Kevin Kathman, is going to stick around for a while.

Kathman, a Cold Spring, Minn., native with a starry résumé, returned to his home state a little more than a year ago.

He's inserted his sharp skills and refined sensibilities into a format that could have slid into staleness but hasn't.

The dishes I've been eating forever at Barbette continue to be dispatched with aplomb: spot-on tartares, tender steamed mussels, meticulously produced terrines and pâtés, generously stuffed buckwheat crêpes, a marvelous daily quiche, fresh oysters, cute little late-night cheese fondues, a go-to noon-hour Nicoise salad, crisp weekend waffles.

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