Mona

Rating:

Pop quiz: Identify the Accenture Tower on the Minneapolis skyline. You can't, right?

That's a bummer for chef Lisa Hanson. Her Mona Restaurant & Bar is located just off the swank, marble-swathed lobby of the edifice formerly known as Lincoln Centre, Metropolitan Centre and Andersen Consulting Tower, and while the House of Hanson isn't particularly easy to find, the payoff for doing so can be considerable.

If I didn't know any better, I'd wager that Hanson's menu, roughly two dozen eclectic and well-constructed small plates, is catered to appeal to my own personal dining-out habits. You know, a little of this, a little of that, with affordable, user-friendly forays into unfamiliar territory.

For those curious about elk, here's your opportunity: Hanson selects a lean, deeply flavorful grass-fed rib-eye (like most proteins on Hanson's menu, it's a sane 3-ounce portion), grills it to coax out a gorgeous crimson color and dresses it with a mellow rosemary-scented Hollandaise and golden, thin-cut fries. It's an unintimidating $13 foray into game meats, repackaged in the more familiar guise of steak frites, and it's not to be missed.

Rabbit and foie gras get a brilliant double-header, the former braised to supreme juiciness and served over a bread pudding laced with the latter, its richness cut with tart rhubarb. More rhubarb plays against more liver in the form of a chicken liver pâté, swiped on toast and dressed with a tangy rhubarb compote. Another open sandwich treat: creamy, decadent beef bone marrow, spooned from carefully brined and roasted bones, with a sweet apple butter and raisins balancing out the beefy bite.

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