Photos by Jason DeRusha
Hopkins is where it’s at right now for high-quality, high-talent kitchens. There has always been a nice base of quality bar-and-grills on the main street, Mainstreet. Now add Bar Siena, the new pizza/pasta bar of Rhett Roberts and his wife, Emily, which opened Thursday.
First off: Don’t get too comfortable with the name “Bar Siena.” A legal challenge from a Chicago-based deep-pocketed restaurant owner means the name will soon be changing. The new name will be some form of “Hendrix and Siena” reflecting both of the Roberts’ twin 6-year-olds, which feels right anyway. If I were Hendrix, I would have been miffed that I didn’t get my name on a restaurant. (Hendrix Enterprises LLC is the name of the Roberts’ business holding company).
This is a family-owned restaurant, and the soft opening service Wednesday night brought that feeling. About 70 seats in two buildings that have been joined with the help of designer Aaron Wittkamper (who sat near me and immediately said, “We need to adjust the lighting in here.”) This used to be Jasmine Garden and a three-bedroom apartment building—when you walk in, you’ll either go to the main dining space (featuring a counter that overlooks the kitchen) or the bar space with a lot of 2-top tables.
The menu features a large selection of starters—we loved the lemony beans, a nod to Rhett’s Instagram handle. Beautiful giant white beans with marinated broccolini and grana padano ($14). The giardiniera focaccia ($10) was a fun play on the traditional bread—three spears of focaccia with little pieces of pickled veg in the mix. Just a hint of extra flavor, but fun.
The rest of the menu focuses on homemade pizzas and pastas. We tried the chicken tikka pizza ($21), which perfectly mimicked the familiar Indian flavors on a really nice dough. Apricot mostarda and crunchy, tiny chickpea balls rounded out the textures and flavors.
My absolute favorite dish was the lasagna duefoglie ($25): a two-sheet pasta, freshly baked, bringing the edges to a crisp. The white lasagna with fontina cheese, wild mushrooms, and fennel pollen is an absolute home run. There’s a red version, too, with kale and puttanesca sauce.
There are two meat items—a hanger steak and a half chicken parm, which a neighboring table had, and it looked fabulous. Cocktails are from Rhett’s old friend from Petite Leon, Travis Serbus, and they bring the Italian vibe. You’ll find a couple spritzes, a vesper-riff called the Vespa Supersonica ($15), and an amaro boulevardier-style drink called Business Class ($16). We dug them.
The action in downtown Hopkins has been significant over the last year: Pink Ivy Kitchen and Bar now anchors the east end of Mainstreet, K’kinaco Nikkei & Pisco Bar is a new Japanese/Peruvian spot in the center, Brasa and Bar Siena anchor the west end of the street. Why? New housing has popped up in anticipation of the SWLRT line (which should open up within the next 592 years at the rate things are going), proximity to the downtowns and the airport makes Hopkins a draw, and the old, established Mainstreet is another big attraction.
Rhett has cooked in and ran some of the best restaurant kitchens in the Twin Cities—from Vincent, 112 Eatery, Surly’s Brewers Table, Fig + Farro, and most recently at Petite Leon. Bar Siena’s price point, to me, reflects the new reality—it feels high in places (the starters, some of the pastas), reasonable in others (pizza, lasagna, chicken parm). But we’re in a post-fee environment, so if you want to pay the team quality wages and you want it all baked in the menu—you got it.
Bar Siena, 1601 Mainstreet, Hopkins. 612-489-7211, BarSienaMN.com
