Loring Kitchen & Bar

Rating:

All vocations have their pitfalls. Here's one in my line of work: Jerks like yours truly tend to fall all over the innovative, even when those flashes end up landing squarely in the pan. So when yet another meat-and-potatoes joint appears on the scene, critics tend to yawn them off, forgetting -- or is that ignoring? -- that uncomplicated, all-American fare is what the vast majority of Minnesota's dining-out public seeks out on a regular basis. Lesson learned.

What sets the Loring Kitchen & Bar apart from its considerable pack of competitors are its good looks and its front-and-center address. Located on a prime ground-floor corner of a slick new apartment house on the eastern edge of Loring Park, the restaurant's urban and urbane surroundings (the work of Shea Inc. of Minneapolis) are several cuts above the cheap window dressings that are often associated with this dining genre.

It's a long, shallow, window-lined rectangle of a space, and each comfortable seat -- right down to the last stool at the bar -- seems oriented to maximize its park views. Not that we need another reason to hope for an early spring, but here's one anyway: The room is edged on two sides by a four-season portico that, in warmer weather, embraces the outdoors better than any other dining establishment in the city. Looks-wise, the restaurant reminds me of what I imagine a cafe at home furnishings retailer West Elm might resemble, and at night the soft lighting is more flattering than the "evening" setting in the changing rooms at J.Crew.

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