Dining Dish: Public Kitchen and Bar opens, Jamie Malone Leaves Sea Change, and More

Plan your Monday accordingly; the newest restaurant in Lowertown, Public Kitchen and Bar will be opening their doors. Last night I was bellied up to their metal topped bar sipping a spin on an Old Fashioned and popping small plated nibbles like they were going out of style. Standouts were the chicken ravioli, pure as a storybook princess. To-the-tooth pasta was wrapped around succulent meat and was nestled into a bit of golden consommé topped with grassy micro cilantro. Then there was this dish, thinly sliced disks of scallops served with rounds of hearts of palm and spritely little nubs of orange. The menu is built from American classics, but the execution is easy elegance. If this is a sign of things to come, I might be spending a significant amount of time gazing out their enormous windows that overlook Mears Park.

The biggest restaurant news of the week was Jamie Malone’s departure from Sea Change. The chef is joining with another Food & Wine Best New Chef Erick Anderson to open Brut. The duo is shopping for a restaurant location in the North Loop near their home. The two met when they first worked together at Porter & Frye. They worked together again when Anderson led the kitchen at Sea Change before leaving to open the critically acclaimed Catbird Seat. He reportedly returned to Minneapolis, in part to return to Malone. Since there’s no address, there’s no opening date just yet, but they are hosting a pop up on August 8th at the former location of The Lynn on Bryant. Follow @BrutMN on Twitter for details. Meanwhile, Malone’s longtime sous chef has stepped into the lead at Sea Change.

If you’re looking for something to do tonight, there are still tickets available for Cured and Crafted at Muse Entertainment Center. The celebration of prosciutto includes samples from a whole slew of local restaurants and a cooking competition using the stuff. There is also a whole leg as a reward for getting a real tattoo of the Parma crowd. I’m trying to sucker some friends into doing it so I can get some free pig leg to go with my summer melon munching.

On Saturday The Bachelor Farmer hosts their annual Kräftskiva party with buckets of crawfish and plenty of Marvel Bar mixed aquavit to go around. As per their usual, all the cool kids will be there including Haley Bonar, Night Moves, and BBGUN. The party kicks off at 5 p.m. and entry is just $5.

Next weekend the North Loop party heads on down to Borough for their second annual block party. On Sunday August 10th the shindig kicks off at noon. Again, $5 entry and once you’re inside there’s food, entertainment including Sean Anonymous and Solid Gold plus four full bars stocked with their talented stable of drink shakers. Did you say boozy freezy pops? Don’t mind if I do.