Du Nord Cocktail Room opens, offering new neighborhood hangout and New Orleans flair
Shanelle and Chris Montana, owners of Du Nord Social Spirits, know how to pivot. After pandemic shutdowns forced the closure of their cocktail room, they pivoted to making much-needed hand sanitizer, even handing it out to protestors in the wake of George Floyd's murder. Then the distillery was damaged by fire and water from the sprinkler system during those protests.
The Montanas moved to New Orleans. Now, they're reclaiming a spot in the neighborhood, bringing Louisiana flavor back to Minnesota with a restaurant, Lagniappe, which opens on Oct. 15 , and the Du Nord Cocktail Room, which opened this week. Both are located in the recently restored Coliseum Building, also damaged during the 2020 protests.
While Lagniappe will be a sit-down restaurant, led by New Orleans-based chef Brad McGehee, the Du Nord Cocktail Room is more casual. As the name suggests, there's a focus on tipples, but it also touts a New Orleans-inspired menu with quick bites at reasonable prices.
The cocktail list sports approachable spins on classic cocktails, all priced at $13–$14. It's a list that offers something distinct without causing whispered questions around about what this or that ingredient is.
Among the eight cocktails, there's a straightforward Espresso Martini with Du Nord Foundation Vodka and Cafe Frieda. A Negroni that nicely rides the line between sweet and bitter with Du Nord's Prominence Gin, Cafe Frieda, sweet vermouth, and Campari. Or the simple, refreshing Smash the Ceiling, a mix of tequila, lemon, orange, and mint, that tastes like a backyard sipper for a summer day without any cloying sweetness.
The menu, all New Orleans without any kind of fusion, has a heavy focus on po'boys. The main courses feature a single burger and nine po'boys. If you read the subtext, the menu is imploring diners to order a po'boy, and they'd be wise to heed the call.
While the Vieux Carre Smash Burger ($16) is good enough, it's the po'boys that shine. Each of them — from the $14 The 1929: French Fry to the $17 Surf and Turf with shrimp and roast beef debris gravy — comes on French bread from St. Paul's Trung Nam bakery with a snappy crunch to the crust.
The FGT po'boy — fried green tomatoes — but servers weren't shy about suggesting an off-menu variation that adds cold shrimp. (Others feature battered and fried shrimp.) With a balance of cold and hot, a touch of spice and acid, it's a delightfully satisfying dish, all pulled together with a tangy remoulade sauce.
The po'boys are a smart featured dish for the dimly-lit cocktail room, a bar that feels aimed at being the kind of post-work hangout that feels a touch fancy but won't spurn someone showing up in a t-shirt and jeans and has prices that don't designate it "for special occasions only."
The Du Nord Cocktail Room also offers small plates like Crispy Fried Oysters, rich Boudin Balls with a cheese curd tucked inside the beef and rice, placed atop a white BBQ sauce with pickled red onions.
With alluring New Orleans fare and oysters in the small plates, diners shouldn't overlook the Southern Watermelon Salad, a simple starter with the expected arugula, watermelon, basil, and feta, but dressed up a touch from the backyard potluck with red onions, cherry tomatoes, mint, and a lime vinaigrette balsamic syrup.
The po'boys and small plates make for enticing elevated bar bites — something offered by a few newly-opened Twin Cities restaurants — but it's also serving a pair of soups on the sides menu that feels hearty enough to be more than a side. The Ye Old College Inn Turtle Soup, particularly when given a drizzle of sherry, is flavorfully thick soup and something infrequently seen on Minneapolis menus.
However, it's the Gumbo Yaya I'd order again (if I was skipping out on a po'boy). While not teeming with shrimp and Andouille sausage, it's a rich stew so dense with flavor that calling it a "side" almost feels like a misnomer.
While the neighborhood has spots for a happy hour drink — such as the nearby Arbeiter Brewing — the Du Nord Cocktail Room brings something fresh to Longfellow, both an unpretentious destination and an accessible neighborhood bar for a cocktail and bite.
